1996 Ferrari 456 GT Review - The 'Everyday Practical' Manual V12 Ferrari!

Ferrari? Check.
Manual? Check.
Big V12? Check.
Four Seats? Check.

Sounds like a recipe for a bargain Bahnstormer to me!

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[iracohen]

I have been driving my silver 456m for 6 years now and it has been nothing less than a pleasure. The fact that it is "invisible" helps when I'm in a hurry and the maintenance has not been as pricy as I feared it might be. And that gated shifter is a thing of beauty to behold and use. Mine doesn't have any aftermarket mods, so it is fairly quiet below 4k rpm as well. A roomy trunk, cold a/c, and 2 extra seats in case of 'emergency" really does make this (except, of course, the dismal gas milage) an ideal car if you've always a Ferrari and you're not a gazillionaire

[Ratarossa]

Love it the 456 is such an underrated car. Im a little bias though for obvious reasons

[itsjoel]

You seem to be featuring all of the cars that I simply lust over at the moment. For me, if I had a spare £50k lying around, I’d buy a 456 instantly. Not the reason for it, however I do believe in a decades time these might be worth 3 times that!

[minatormyth]

Back in 2008 I took my family across Europe to Italy In a silver/red ferrari 456. My wife and my two 11 year old sons.
10 days of bliss driving across the Alps and swiss/Italian countryside.
Although the 456 lacked in the sound department compared to the screaming ferrari V8s.
Some of the best memory of a family holiday. Love them. Visited all the supercar makers museums and had factory tours with ferrari, Lamborghini and the Zonda factory. Epic stuff.

[imnotamechanic]

This is one of the few Ferrari's I would have, it's just so classy, and I do like the curves, so very 90's. I think because it doesn't look like a Ferrari, but has a V12 and 4 seats, you can blend in, and only people who know will notice. Would have it in the dark blue.

[visionist]

It's gorgeous! The Sultan Of Brunei had an estate custom made called the Venice and it's probably the best looking estate car ever

[billybellend]

Ferrari 456, Ferrari 355 and early 90’s Lamborghini Diablo. Childhood dream cars.

[byronmills]

These are fantastic. The same basic underpinnings as the 550 and 575 that followed. A very understated and classy Gt tourer.

[jon]

Surprised you don't think it's especially good looking. It's one of my favorites in the looks department. Simple, timeless, gorgeous.

[bensmithkent]

This, 406 coupe and alfa 156 my favourite 3 cars as a teen of the mid - late 90s.

[gurenduben]

You can daily any car if you're rich and brave enough

[nakoma]

The mature gentleman's Ferrari, for non posers, beautifully discreet, classy but unpretentious. You won't find immature rich kids distastefully showing off and degrading the image of this model on youtube.

[Grttter]

Hate to nitpick Jay, but the 456 wasn't followed by the 550 Maranello - they were produced concurrently and represent different segments within the Ferrari lineup.

The 550 Maranello is a 2-seater Coupe, so it's lineage would be:
Testarossa (84-96) >>> 550 Maranello (96-02) >>> 575M Maranello (02-06) >>> 599 Fiorano (06-12) >>> F12 (12-17)

456 GT is a 2+2 Coupe GT, which has its own lineage:
365/400/412 (72-89) >>> 456 GT (92-97) >>> 456M GT (97-03) >>> 612 Scaglietti (04-11) >>> FF (11-16)

[future]

3 pedals, 6 speeds, 12 cylinders, ZERO TURBOS... God is real

[Pyotr_Velikiy]

Understated, underrated, the first of a new generation of 2+2 Ferrari's, a fine example of a dying breed.

[stephandolby]

...and for people like me who could never afford a Ferrari, a V6 Peugeot 406 Coupé would be a proposition if I wanted a nice Pininfarina design and respectable performance.

[edwardtiangco]

You gotta love the old gated shifter in this beauty.. always a treat..

[anastassiosperakis]

I like it, a practical, proper GT. Emil, my high school classmate who was the president of the Ferrari Club of Greece, and now its honorary Prez, was actually selling a 2002 456, Bordeaux exterior, manual, and when we had our annual potluck lunch in his magnificent gardens of his summer home (a very scenic, enjoyable 20 km drive from my summer home) he told me he had it in his garage there, but I did not ask him to see it, with prices being what they are these days, it's a seller's market. I did see his 612 silver Scaglietti in our last year's meeting. He has an F40 in a garage in Switzerland and a few others elsewhere. DOn't laugh now, but his daily car is a lousy Fiat 700 (but he did use his Range Rover to come to our 50th reunion)

[Sophiechic]

Still have a burago dark blue 1.18 scale of the 456 in my loft mint condition along with tons of others from the 80s and 90s

[MrAaaVee]

There is not much content on 456 in YouTube, which was a main reason why I offered Sam from SeenThroughGlass to have a drive in my ‘94 456 GT (maybe you’ve seen that video from June). Now there is also your review - that was a pleasant surprise in my YT timeline! 🙂