Sweet V12 Treats for Less | Six of the Best

The V12 is entering an interesting era. Its long-foretold demise has not yet arrived. Instead, the configuration is being preserved for a new generation by brands like Lamborghini and Ferrari, and idolised by niche manufacturers such as Gordon Murray Automotive. It’s all borrowed time, perhaps – but as long as 12 cylinders remain a lightning rod for a certain kind of money-no-object enthusiasm, they’ll stick around, albeit at ever-increasing premiums. Fortunately, there’s the second-hand market, which can offer you all the finery for a fraction of the cost. Barely run-in Mercedes SL 65 AMG with 612bhp from its 6.0-litre, Hammer-of-the-God’s unit? You’ll get a tenner back from £85k. Bosh.

Of course, Mercedes’ turbocharged monster is a leftover leviathan from the 20th century. The Rolls-Royce Ghost is interesting because, unlike several major rivals (and well aware which side its bread is buttered on), it will continue with its regal 6.75-litre V12 until 2030. Sure, the maker could point more environmentally-conscious customers towards the Spectre, but for those who hate change, twelve cylinders will remain a monolithic presence in the line-up for years to come. That should help keep the prices of decade-old examples accessible to the common folk. Here’s a lovely example with the older 6.6-litre unit for fifty quid less than £90,000.

If the Roller is too focused on rear-seat comfort, how about a manual DBS with no rear seats? Granted, it wasn’t Aston’s finest hour in terms of model distinction back then, but it’s easier to appreciate it for its own sake now – especially when you choose the ratio you want to sit in with Bond-like precision. The seller estimates that just 61 examples of the DBS were built in Lightning Silver with the six-speed manual, and it looks suitably timeless with an Obsidian Black leather interior. It also has a full Aston service history, having racked up just 31,000 miles since 2009. To die for, right?

If £90k is way too expensive for your blood, how about £19k? Obviously the Flying Spur is shaking things up a bit by not having a V12 – although the inimitable W-shaped configuration hasn’t stopped Bentley selling far more twelve-cylinder engines than pretty much anyone else in the last 20 years. We don’t need to tell you that previous examples are plentiful for hatchback money in the classifieds, with the usual mix of pomp and circumstance, but we like to remind people that the experience is very different to any other. Particularly when you’ve paid a fraction of the retail price for a car with a single previous owner and a Bentley-stamped service book.

For anyone who simply must have the full, fat hit of V12 goodness in its most distilled form, there’s no better supplier than Ferrari. And perhaps no better exponent than the groundbreaking F140 series, which began more than 20 years ago with the Enzo and rightly continues in the forthcoming 12Cilindri. The more exotic variants rightly cost the earth, but used examples of the 599 GTB – as good a front-engined car as Ferrari has ever made – are probably among the best bargains per pound available anywhere right now, if you’re inclined to believe that its 620bhp, 6.0-litre V12 is one of the finest petrol engines ever made. And we are. This one, with 29,000 on the clock, fits the bill nicely.

Finally, on a different note. It goes without saying that Jaguar’s relationship with V12 engines is extensive and sometimes epic. Between 1971 and 1997 it built 161,583 examples of its flagship, many of them the fuel-injected 5.3-litre V12 that takes pride of place in this gorgeous-looking XJ-C. The coupe version of the XJ has its own lively history to speak of – not all of it exemplary – but given that this is now a nearly 50-year-old classic, we can simply put any pitfalls into a box labelled ‘TLC required’. This one clearly enjoyed plenty of it from its first and only owner. If you want to be the second (following a six-figure restoration), the asking price is a very reasonable-sounding £65,000.