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Ferrari F12 Berlinetta takes home 2014 Robb Report Car of the Year [w/video]

In what is being called an "unprecedented landslide decision," those who have the right to cast votes have anointed the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta as the 2014 Robb Report Car of the Year. Standout features that have helped the Ferrari earn such a runaway victory include its 0-60 blast of 3.1 seconds, its 211-mile-per-hour top speed and the exhaust note of its 731-horsepower V12 engine.
After being driven by a team of journalists and 100 or so members of the private Robb Report Club, the grand tourer beat out a total of 13 contenders that included the Audi R8 V10 Plus, Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 Roadster, Aston Martin Vanquish Volante, Bentley Continental Flying Spur, Jaguar F-Type V8 S, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe, Maserati Quattroporte GTS and Dodge SRT Viper GTS.
This is the 21st year that Robb Report has selected a Car of the Year. Scroll down below for the official announcement and video, and feel free to read more about the F12 Berlinetta and some of its worthwhile competitors over at Robb Report.

Ferrari going with turbo V8s, hybrid V12s

More for less – that's what automakers are striving for: more output with less fuel. For some that means downsizing and employing turbochargers. For others, it means going hybrid. With its latest models, Ferrari has embraced both – or rather, either – but don't expect its twelve-cylinder engines to get a set of snails, or its V8s to get an electric assist. The latest intel paints a picture of Ferrari going two different routes. As it is, the company offers (much like it has for the past several decades) both V8 and V12 supercars, and it's bringing both types into the modern era, but in different ways. As demonstrated with the California T and 488 GTB, Maranello's eight-cylinder models will shrink in capacity but add turbochargers to increase their output while decreasing their fuel consumption. Meanwhile the engine in the LaFerrari showcases the direction in which its twelve-cylinder models will go: hybrid V12 powertrains. "There will be no turbos on our V12s," an unnamed source reportedly told Autocar. "Expect instead to see 48-volt systems on the next generation." With the eight-cylinder models already having adopted their turbochargers, that means we can expect the replacements for the FF all-wheel-drive shooting brake and F12 Berlinetta two-seater to go hybrid in their next iteration. We'd expect the former to arrive first, with the hybrid F12 to arrive sometime thereafter. The company first toyed with the prospect of a hybrid twelve with the 599 HY-KERS concept showcased at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. The first production application for the hybrid system was on LaFerrari, but of course the Scuderia developed a much smaller 1.6-liter V6 that's both turbocharged and electric-assisted for Formula One. Related Video:

This rare vintage Ferrari is not like the others

This particular Ferrari profiled by Petrolicious is attached to many of the vital names we've come to associate with the brand, like Dino, Scaglietti, Ascari, and Formula 1. What it doesn't have is the kind of engine we've come to associate with Maranello: at the front of that delicious bodywork is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 172 horsepower. The car is a 1955 Ferrari 500 Mondial Series II Scaglietti-bodied spider, its engine derived from the 2.0-liter engine used in the Ferrari 500 race car that Alberto Ascari used to win the F1 World Championship in 1952 and 1953. We can only wonder if any of today's cars will provide the same joy at being a barn find as this one did for its affable owner, retired US Navy Admiral Robert Phillips. He discovered it in the back of a dealership in 1960 - it had been sitting unused in Ohio and California for years - and almost walked away from it. He only bought it when he realized it had a four-pot engine. He paid two-thirds of his yearly salary at the time for it, the handsome sum of $2,225. In today's money that's about $18,000. Phillips says there are only three left with the original engines, so odds are that his car's value is exponentially more than the inflation-adjusted purchase price. One of them is going on the block with RM Auctions next month which looks a lot like this one, and they've listed it as "Price on Request." Phillips is our kind of owner, though - one who believes his car is meant to be driven, and who wants to pass it on to another driver when the time comes. His vehicle has quite the history, too, making its way to the Americas thanks to a call from the president of Venezuela to Enzo Ferrari. Check out the video for its beautiful story. Related Video: