Ferrari's New "creep" feature in the California

I am canceling my order!

 

This seems to be a "carry-over" of Fiat owned technology from the Maserati Granturismo. The first time that happened (at least to my perception) in my GT it felt so strangley abrupt that I looked in my rearview to see if the car behind me bumped me.

I have gotten used to it, but will be curious to see if you are able to get any information on whether or not it can be de-programed.

 

I had noticed this too, but thought I had noticed that it only does it if in "automatic" mode. I could be wrong, but I thought if I pressed the button to turn of "automatic" mode, then it behaved like my F430 and was in "N" and rolled only if on a hill.

 

It is no big deal, really. It took a few days to get used to just like everything else with the car. But to cancel a California because of this is like dumping a 6' redhead female with biguns that loves you because she insists on making love every day rather than once a week. Sorry but it (the creep) actually comes in handy regularly.

One thing that was spooky until I figured it out was put it in neutral then pull the parking brake thing to put it in "hold". I do that when I pickup my 14 year old daughter at school. The Cali is parked on a very slight slope. After about 5 minutes (not sure of the time) suddenly it moves backward about 1/4 inch then stops. It is going from neutral to Park. Unverving the first time I felt it, thought the car was moving on its own but it just was going into park. And that is fine too, just something to get used to.

This really is one of the greatest cars in the world, and I have not had any warm weather yet to enjoy the top down!

 

I'll try to test that out more in the next few days. I drove the car a bunch in the first two months I had it (Sept/Oct), then proceeded to tear my ACL and meniscus playing soccer. Between the injury and surgery and recovery, it has been basically parked until yesterday. Now that I'm driving it again, I'll check that out. I had never noticed the creep until yesterday, but I almost exclusively drive in manual mode. Yesterday, in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I played with automatic mode and had a "woah" moment when the car crept as I let off the brake on clearly flat ground.

As for the car - I think it is a wonderful and amazing machine. I'm glad I'm driving it again - I missed it!

 

Tested it on the way home tonight (with sleet falling as I hurried to get home before it built up too much). Manual mode has nothing to do with it. Here is how it seems to work.

Slow down from whatever speed to a stop or near a stop and the clutch disengages.

Touch the gas and it starts to engage like it should, but hit the brakes right away and it stays in the creep mode for about (should have measured it exactly) 10 seconds. Then it fully disengages. It is simply trying to get ready to go since you hit the gas telling it to go.

It is really no big deal and 50%of the time comes in handy.

Is the car perfect, nothing is perfect except for possibly Claudia Schiffer (sp?). I started mine once at night and the guages did not light up. I shut it down and restarted it and all was fine. Also, I have heated seats and if they are turned on, when I start the car after the engine checks are done the green check OK does not come on although the yellow engine light goes out. No big deal for sure. Hopefully they are still available in three years because I will certainly buy another then!

 

Rick,
I didn't see the heated seats as an option when I ordered mine the other day. Are they in the full electric seats option?

 

Yep, come with full electric. They heat OK, could be hotter though. My S550 will get too hot but these are not quite fast enough to get hot. But far better than nothing in northwest Ohio.

 

Rick,
Only kidding about canceling! It is just my passione coming out! I thought we had it tough in NC. Clifornia out in the sleet! You are a brave man!

 

i would bet that the 458 will be set up the same way since it's usually convenient.

 

Not too brave, we had an inch of snow with 30 mph winds last night, no Cali today. Tonight it is already about 6 degrees above zero ... BUT the roads are pretty dry driving home tonight so I MAY drive it to my office in the AM. Probably will take the S550 in at first then grab the Cali at lunch.

The car is so great I find every opportunity to drive it ... except if therre is snow on the road.

 

I wonder if this function is something for the US market as my car certainly doesn't do it.

 

It is also easy to stop the creep ... just pull both levers and it goes to neutral, then pull right lever for first. I have been doing that lately at stop lights when I have pulled forward a little and pulling in the garage. Since the California will go into the proper gear at any speed after a neutral selection, this works great. So, turn off the creep, just put in neutral for a second.

 

I'm glad this feature can be disabled at will. It sounds like an annoying gimmick. Paddles are bad enough as it is.

 

Hey Rick, the weather is sure coming around in NC. Has OH been letting you get her out much? Mine is supposed to be in this month. I will post pictures ASAP. I am also pondering trading my QP for a Panamera.

 

Same here. It's just too unfortunate that the QP's start feeling cheap after about a year.

On the Cali Creep....i actually like the feature. Especially in moving around in the driveway, etc. Much better than the 911 PDK which i almost ran into the garage door...that's why i sold it. The only thing i haven't figured out is when i'm "creeping" backwards into the garage to park, stop and turn it off, i get this "car wash mode" message and cant pull the key out for a couple seconds. Wierd.

 

Got mine Dec 5 and already well over 3,000 miles on it! This past week drove it around with the top down 4 days in a row! Just wait ... you will not believe how much attention it gets!

 

Car wash, it goes there when leaving in in neutral too, the idea is leave the key on so the steering is not locked, and the tranni not in park so the car wash can drag it through. Although mine is a daily driver (except for snowy days) I certainly would not ever take it through a car wash! Just what you need is a piece of rusty junk busted off of the previous car beating up the California.

I simply put it in first before shutting it down. Even putting it in the garage, as I start in, the creep sets in so I pull it into neutral then first immediately, it coasts with no creep then once stopped I can shut it down and it goes direct to park, no wash mode. On yours after backing in I would pull the right lever putting it into first, then shut down.