My Early 296 Ownership Impression

Thanks for your interest. I may have already mentioned a few already during certain discussion but the full contents i prefer to keep private if you don’t mind. I can tell you i dont have any chevy or anything of that nature. Only fully legit.

 

Just the F cars ?

 

Because they are inconspicuous and fit in with the “regular folks”! LOL

 

yeah he had me until he referred to other people as regular folks

 

So what do you consider inconspicuous? Just give a couple of your F cars. I must admit that with such strong opinions I am curious.

 

Definitely nothing so plebeian as a Chevy!

 

Imaginary cars

 

hey bro what's wrong with american muscle?

this guy must be a riot to hang around with.

 

My take was Z06 sounds pretty damn good, faster than I need, didn't love vis vs. Ferrari mid-engines. Transmission pretty good, not at P or F level, but livable. Biggest issue was it just felt heavy and wide, but I find the same for a lot of mid engine $$$ cars people love. Sold a 458 this year after getting into Porsche GTs, will prob wind up with 296 as it felt dartier/smaller and sounded pretty good.

Wish I had liked Z06 enough though esp at current $120k ish prices, it'd be less "stand out", and 296 Power15/battery warranties for the future are unknown $ wise and could be pretty dear.

 

That is not a 765 LT that you show under a cover elsewhere , perhaps it is imaginary

 

Nothing - respect a lot of muscle cars esp the ones which stay true to their roots. Just lost respect for that model as the direction it took attracted the wannabe exotic segment which are predominantly try hard posers.

 

I agree. I haven’t driven the Z06, but have driven the C8. I prefer the look of the C7, but just never loved them enough to buy. I hope you like the 296. by all accounts, it is a brilliant car!

 

I want a direct comparison of the 296 with the 750

 

I bought it, got it yesterday. Loving it. Will post impressions on a separate thread.

Re: C8 - again just my take but I don't like the fish lips look of the C8 but the Z06 sounds a LOT better to be in many ways (on and off throttle) and is stupidly fast like the 296 though I found it easier to modulate than the Z06. Steering felt much more electric and car heavier though.

 

Someone wanted to see the 750 vs Rev, here’s a 765LT.

 

50 more miles tonight as the weather finally broke. Fantastic driving experience. Getting better as I’m getting more used to fitting in it. And it looked amazing parked outside of my city club.

 

So are you grabbing the keys to this over the 765?

 

For now.

 

Big endorsement! Thanks for the constant updates my man, really appreciate it. It’s not the weather by me to even test drive one of these right now so living vicariously through you

 

My 296 GTS just went 10R. I started this odyssey with a 296GTS demo I bought from the dealer in Scottsdale. The car had 900 miles on it and immediately had issues. Check engine light came on 3 separate times, gas cap flew up while driving, and the car made creaking sounds like a jalopy. It was a 2023 and probably one of the first produced. Not a big fan of the haptic stuff since it was not always responsive. After 3 months of the car being in the shop more than my garage, I traded it back to them for an F8 Spider. While the F8 is a great car, I still wanted the 296, and actually built a spec which they submitted since the experience with the demo was so bad. My thinking was that by now, Ferrari has been paying for its initial mistakes with that car and has made improvements. One major improvement is the new steering wheel on the 2025 that has more buttons and less swiping. I'm assuming they fixed some of the other issues as well and I'm sure the software has improved. Overall, I like the 296 GTS better than the F8 in many ways. It sounds better, and the hybrid ability to drive through the neighborhood silently or kick in the engine on demand is very cool. It is also much faster and more solid feeling than the F8, which I somehow feel like the front end is too light at speeds over 70 and less grippy. Not the case with the 296. So take it from someone who had a BAD experience with a 296 and ordered a new one anyway, there is a lot to love about that car!

 

You should have your car for the northern summer

 

Guys, the haptics. Perhaps its time to simply accept that haptics are here to stay.
Once the car is set to your preferences you rarely have to deal with the settings. If you want to set the temp etc you can short cut that with one step.
ALL OF THAT SAID, the issue isn't haptics, its the actual UX. The menus and sub menus are a little much. At the end of the day, settings like you want them and then forget it.
We are all blessed to have these 'problems'.
Merry Christmas!

 

Well, at least Hyundai is going to back physical buttons.

Not saying Ferrari is Hyundai, just saying that it isn't a given that haptics are here to stay.

https://www.carscoops.com/2024/11/hyundai-going-back-to-buttons-because-american-buyers-dont-like-touchscreens/

 

The F80 also got rid of a ton of haptic buttons on the wheel compared to rhe 296 and SF90, so it appears even Ferrari is listening to the customers.

physical buttons are king (for hvac and vol at least). In terms of Ferrari wheels, the one in the F8 is the best they’ve had so far.
Don’t get me started on yoke wheels or flat top and bottoms (Audi).

@09Scuderia interface is poor though, but hopefully that will be fixed at some point. They’ve already made some changes to the 2025 wheel so who knows.

 

I'm hoping the car is done and delivered by March. The dealer told me this will be the last year for the 296 - that something else is planned for 2026. As far as haptics go, I agree the user interface could be improved, but with my demo the crosshair haptic on the right side of the steering wheel was not always responsive so you couldn't easily navigate the interface (menus and submenus). As the owner of a software company, I understand how the UI could be updated in virtually innumerable ways, but the physical controls for navigating the UI (slider, buttons, mouse, etc.) are critical. I believe that's why they changed to buttons on each part of the crosshair to eliminate the inaccuracy and hassle associated with the swipe action. They also needed to adjust the sensitivity. For example, the icon for folding the mirrors might take 3 or 4 touches before it worked. Again, this was the crappy demo I had, so I'm hopeful it was just one more of the things wrong with that car. My advice - never buy a Ferrari demo. I'm guessing the folks who test drive these demos may be more extreme than the average Joe test drive at a Nissan dealership!