Ferrari 599XX

Start with the price and the shape of the field changes. Ranked as the 41st most expensive car in this 600 car catalogue, at around £2,000,000 used, the Ferrari 599XX asks to be judged against the rarefied end of the collection rather than the broader Ferrari range. The performance numbers explain why. It sits 83rd for power and exactly 83rd again for 0 to 100 km/h, placing it ahead of 517 other cars here. Those are not isolated figures. They describe a machine that occupies the upper reaches of the catalogue by objective pace while taking an unusually focused route to get there.

That route is what separates it from familiar road going expectations. This is a track only, two seat coupe with rear wheel drive, powered by a naturally aspirated 6.0 litre V12 producing 720 bhp and 700 Nm. Within the catalogue there are only 54 naturally aspirated V12 cars, and just 68 combine a V12 with rear wheel drive. Those numbers matter because they reveal how selective this recipe has become. The engine is not simply large or powerful. It belongs to a small corner of the collection where capacity, aspiration and drivetrain come together in a combination that now appears infrequently.

The acceleration figure of 2.9 seconds to 100 km/h places it firmly among the catalogue's quickest machinery, even if its 315 km/h top speed ranks 198th. That contrast is revealing rather than contradictory. The emphasis falls on immediate performance rather than chasing the highest possible terminal speed. Its cost per bhp of £2,778 also underlines that this is not an exercise in buying output alone. The appeal lies in the complete proposition rather than in a single headline statistic.

Italy contributes 118 cars to this catalogue and Ferrari accounts for 53 of them, yet this example still occupies a distinctive position within both groups. Founded in 1939, the marque is represented here in many different forms, but very few combine a naturally aspirated V12, rear wheel drive and a track only brief in quite this way. Choosing this car means accepting a deliberate compromise. It exchanges broader usability for an uncompromising focus, and in doing so introduces a very specific kind of performance into a collection, one that shifts attention away from versatility and towards the singular experience that only this configuration can provide.