My Early 296 Ownership Impression

So far it’s wearing well. I was worried about that too. I just wipe it off and I try not to step on it with dirty shoes. I love how it lightens up the interior though.

and on the sills, ya it wasn’t an option I trimmed the sucker out with all the leather available.

 

Thanks! Ya, they look incredible and are surprisingly comfortable. Not supportive enough for serious track driving but for how I use the car they’re great.

 

All that red and ... black calipers.

 

I think by the looks of them they are the XL seats, correct? I found it to be a big difference with the L when it comes to track / spirited driving. Not as comfortable for longer commutes or trips, but do offer more lateral support.

 

Sometimes less is more.

 

My spec is locked and I have a red strip down the center of the seat. Kinda regretting it.
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also wish i got tan carpets instead of black not sure what i was thinking
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The stripe is tasteful and adds a bit of depth to the interior.

 

If the seats are carbon in black, then the red works. Like the TDF or F12, looked great. Agree, kinda tough with tans.

 

Don’t regret it, that looks good!

 

Thanks! Hopefully it comes off well in person

 

I think the red stripe looks good as well.

 

Ok thank you! There's one on autotrader that has this but I'm a little torn.

also If anyone disagrees won't hurt my feelings btw.

 

Found some tests over on German car forum, the 296 and Veyron SS are essentially identical in acceleration. I remember watching top gear test the Veyron SS in my 20s not even considering being able to feel performance like that in my lifetime.
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And to think, the W1 will do 0-200 in 5.8 seconds with RWD only. And 0-300 in 12.7

 

I think the interior is holding it back. You either love it or it is a hard pass

 

Was able to do some testing today. Hit 172 effortlessly. 100-200 km/h in 4.5 and 60-130 in 5.2. Conditions are pretty perfect so I don't think the car has a lot more in it however I only have 450 miles so that'll likely improve some. I think the acceleration times posted by Drag times and AutoTop (100-200 km/h in 4.43 and 200-250 in 3.96) are pretty much what the car can do. I do wonder if this is a car that produces better times from PS than from a roll. It doesn't pull as violently as the 765 and is about .5 seconds slower from 60-130 per my initial testing however in drag races online it wins, so that's a head scratcher for me at the moment.

Another observation is that the gear box in the 765 is tuned MUCH more aggressively in auto than the Ferrari. A sniff of the throttle and the Mclaren will kick down from 7 to 3 and fire off. The Ferrari is happy to hang out two gears too high even with full throttle. I prefer the Mclaren gearbox logic.

I drove about 100 miles today in total and mostly highway miles. Amazing car. Comfortable, confidence inspiring, and so quick. I could do a road trip in the car easily. It is sort of the best of all worlds. Serious supercar performance when you want, playful when you want, quiet when you want, comfortable when you want. And in the sun today the paint plus the lines of the car are drop dead beautiful. Fantastic car! Can't think of a better at the moment for the used prices.

 

To me the 296 transmission in auto is the least bad of any Ferrari but it's not even as good as Sport+ PDK in Porsche non-RS. Like other Ferraris, I don't think it gets more aggressive with Manettino mode.

It is however almost usable for slightly spirited driving, because of perhaps the extra electric torque, unlike even pretty recent Ferrari v8 and v12 which are more like "I will drive for you while you sip your coffee" settings.

 

who drives in auto though. all the ferraris i have owned immediately shift too early and go to 7 immediately

 

296 is better at that not because it doesn't still shift too early but seems like more torque fill in the higher gear it's in, though it might also downshift a bit faster in auto than prior ones?

But agree it's still not good or really a primary option for me unless I am cruising around on a call/on highway.

 

It’s hard to fault Ferraris gearbox programming given the clientele. I was initially frustrated by it also, and think RACE should be much more aggressive. I think it’s that they don’t want the cars to end up being crashed because some idiot got the rear wheels loose in a kick down out of a corner. That Pista video form the Netherlands still makes the rounds all these years later and I’m sure it drives Ferrari mental.

Manual mode is a must in these cars unfortunately. You’re in 3rd gear before you leave your driveway if not.

 

This is true of the Porsche PDK-S (in their GT cars), and even more so in the PDK in their "regular" cars/

 

I have found Porsche’s PDKs auto mode to be vastly more usable than Ferrari’s for spirited driving. In fact for me, Ferrari’s auto mode is useless. Of course- Paddle shifters are always better than auto in the Porsche too.

 

I would argue the Porsche PDK shifts even quicker in the GT’s

 

Just saw a new Dragtimes where he tested revuelto again and it was insane at 2 sec 0-60 and 9.4x in the 1/4. Brooks noted in his 2.5 years owning the SF90 he couldn’t get to that level. I think the 296 looks better and used is $250k less!