My Early 296 Ownership Impression

From where I sit, that sounds like you made an excuse to go out and drive the car again!

Damn circuit tripped 10 times today

 

I just purchased a 24 296 GTB with 300 miles on it. The spec was just what I wanted and its MSRP was 417K. I purchased it for 331K and it was essentially a new car. Still breaking it in.

 

GTBs got the crap kicked out of their invoice price. Dealer said lots of GTB owners traded theirs for GTS. I had a 2023 GTS (invoice $488K) and 900 miles (demo) which spent more time in the shop than in my garage. Check engine light kept coming on. Chassis had unbearable squeaks that made it sound like an old jalopy. Traded it for an F8 Spider but wanted to get a 296 new. Dealer felt sorry for all the issues and allowed me to ordered a new one in October - got it slotted in December, built in Jan-Feb and on a boat in March. Arrived in port late March and should be delivered this month. I love the car but that one was a lemon. 2025 model has a new steering wheel that should help with haptic (non-response) issues. While I bought it to drive it, I'm hopeful they fixed the problems and the value holds up. They also have a new hybrid warranty that covers the battery for 8 years. These are all indications of the issues they had originally. As for battery life, drive it in performance and it will only allow the battery to drain to 50%. Put it on a normal outlet with the supplied charger at home - the battery will last longer that way.

 

Great deal. Heck of a car for the money.

 

you've done good!

 

I did want to add this is clearly the best car I have owned. The quality, fit/finish and of course incredible performance. It’s an improvement over my Hurucan Performante which says something.

 

it really is an amazing car. Noisy but amazing. I tried listening to music on the highway yesterday. Total waste of time. I paid extra for the premium JBL. Besides the music the motor makes is all you need anyway. Lots of road and wind noise though. Probably not much of sound insulation materials to keep the weight down. It's not a GT boulevard cruise type of beast. And that's Okay!

 

pictures...

 

This is the factory photo of the 2025 GTS in BLU Elettrico I ordered that is theoretically at the port - status 91. Image Unavailable, Please Login at the port now.

 

Try reducing the bass in your sound system settings. It really helps hear the radio on the freeway.

 

I am absolutely smitten by the 296GTB AF. It is now my favorite amongst many great cars. Fit and finish is excellent. The car is tight and raddle free. Simply amazing buying almost new in the aftermarket.

I really don’t understand why so many are on the market.

 

My guess because everyone diched the GTB for the GTS. Also my guess is that when everyone ordered the GTB it was when you could sell used for more than new and everyone resold their cars at the same time and drove price. complete guess. others would know better.

 

I’m sure that’s part of it. And that always happens with the new models when made in GTB/GTS.

I bought a fantastic spec car for over $100k off sticker with 1700 miles. What a deal and I love it.

It may now be advantageous to buy in the secondary market instead of new- especially because so many don’t even use their car.

No games too.

 

Yes you got to be real happy with that buy.

 

I love my GTB so much I wish I had another one! Put over 900 miles in less than 2 weeks of ownership from new.

 

I have both GTB and GTS. My GTB is on the market now and have a killer spec. As of today there were 147 GTBs on pre-owned.ferrari.com in the US.Mine is on the market because I love the GTS more. Out of all the F cars I have bought since the year 2000, my projected loss on the 296GTB is higher than the rest. Its shocking. The first week I had it, I thought it was one of the two best mid-engines from Ferrari since year 2000. I still think that. I just want the GTS variant more.

I remember when the 812SF were panic sold onto the market. This was about the time the SF90 was announced. It took a similar % hit that the 296GTB is now. Once people saw that GPF was now on all 2020 cars because of an EU reg, the supply went from 150 cars to 1/3rd of that quickly. A $475K MSRP car that was marked down to $360K went back to $400K in several months. As of today, there are 21 812SF on pre-owned.

So all it takes is for somethingng great about the current model disappearing to make supply dry up.

Right now, people might say its about it being hybrid. Well a future model might be different and lack something the 296 has…..like the way the EU wants to force sound volume to way below what the 296 is at. And then the pre-owned 296s of today will be seen as amazing buys. If the EU sticks to the “sounds are too scary,” we will be talking about the days that cars made sound.

 

Given the DA and my sub par shift around 120, pretty damn quick! 5.23 100-150 is moving. The 100-200 km/h was 4.52. Definitely can do 4.4 which is Ferraris claim. I think sub 1000 DA and nailing the shifts the 60-150 time drops to 7.5 seconds which is wild. 765 measures about 7.0 seconds on a good run from 60-150, for comparison sake.
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In almost 3000DA too ️, this car is soo much fun.

 

I asked chatGPT to correct the runs for slope and DA (assume sea level) like a magazine would. 60-130 5.06 seconds and 100-150 5.02 seconds, corrected. I’ll never get those times from the car, but it validates that they can definitely improve!

 

Is that qualifying and race settings?

 

Yes. Haven’t tried CT off yet.

 

If you do, you have more cajones than me. Any personal opinions on the tires?

 

CT Off still keeps stability control on, just not traction control. Definitely something to wait until you are very comfortable with the car, and conditions permit, but worth giving a try.

 

Ridiculously low price. Great buy!

 

That is amazing - was it an asseto fiorano? Mine was a 24 with MSRP of 470 and I purchased for 370 a few months ago. I was happy with that!