The Testarossa is Back! New Ferrari 849 Testarossa

The new Ferrari 849 Testarossa has landed. And let’s be honest, at first glance it looks like Ferrari have raided a Scalextric box, glued an SF90, a jet fighter and a waffle iron together, and then slapped on a badge that makes every thirty-something man instantly Google “finance calculator.”

They’ve called it Testarossa. Except it isn’t. There are no side strakes. No cocaine-era Miami Vice soundtrack. No Don Johnson’s hair fluttering in the wind. What we actually have is a car that, if you squint, looks more like the Batmobile went on a juice cleanse. It’s as if Ferrari’s design office accidentally left the wind tunnel running for six weeks and when they came back, this thing was sitting there glaring at them like a very angry wasp.

And then there’s the name. 849. Which sounds less like a Ferrari and more like the number on a lost parcel at your local DHL depot. Turns out it means eight cylinders and 499 cc per pot. Very clever. Very neat. Very boring. It’s like naming your child after their BMI. “This is my son, Ginger 22”.

Still, under the daft name and cartoonish styling sits a powertrain so deranged you almost wonder if the engineers have finally gone clinically mad. A revised 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, boosted by three electric motors. Together, they produce 1,035 bhp. That’s not a number. That’s a threat. The V8 alone is kicking out 818 bhp, which is basically a Challenge Stradale with another Challenge Stradale strapped to the roof.

The results? 0-60 mph in 2.3 seconds. 0-124 mph in just over six. And it won’t stop until 205 mph. At which point, presumably, your brain will have leaked out of your ears and your passengers will be quietly praying to whatever deity covers “oops, I’ve gone supersonic.”

And yet, because this is 2025, it’s also a hybrid. You can sneak around silently for about 16 miles on battery power, which is roughly long enough to get you from your garage to the nearest Costa drive-through while pretending you care about the planet. But let’s be real - nobody’s doing that. You’ll try it once, then you’ll prod the start button, the V8 will snarl awake, and all your good intentions will evaporate faster than your bank balance.

Ferrari have even given it the same modes we had in the SF90. E-Drive. Hybrid. Performance. And, brilliantly, Qualifying. Which is exactly the one everyone will use because it basically translates to “ignore everything sensible and go very, very fast.” It’s like they’ve built in a self-destruct switch and then told you not to touch it.

Price? About £400k for the coupe and £430k for the spider before adding any options, with the Assetto Fiorano pack alone adding another £36,500. First deliveries are expected mid to late 2026.

Inside, it’s more screens, more buttons, and less of the haptic nonsense that didn’t work with sweaty fingers. But who cares, because the rest of the car is so outrageous you’ll forgive it. The aero is borderline absurd - a double-deck wing, fins everywhere, ducts big enough to vacuum small dogs off the pavement. It’s less a car and more a weapons-grade blender.

And here’s the thing. I can sit here and moan about the silly name, the styling that looks like it was sketched by a hyperactive child with a ruler, and the hybrid virtue-signalling. But let’s not kid ourselves. When this thing hits the road in 2026, it’s going to be biblical. Faster than anything else. Probably not louder, but certainly sharper and more demented. It’ll turn you into a gibbering mess within half a lap of Fiorano.

You’ll sneer now, but deep down you know what’s coming. This is Ferrari turning everything up to 11, bolting on a flux capacitor, and daring you to say no. And you won’t say no. You’ll ring your local Ferrari dealer, sell your house, your neighbour’s house, maybe your kidneys. Because as much as you want to hate it, the 849 Testarossa will be exactly what it says on the tin: a Ferrari that makes absolutely no sense, and therefore makes perfect sense.

Written by: Paul Pearce

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