296 Values and Used Market

Since there's been a lot of talk of 911 in this thread, I recently sold my Turbo S when I bought the 296 GTS. Absolute night and day when it comes to driver engagement and excitement. The Turbo S was quick, but was just a little boring by comparison.

 

Indeed, and I stand by it!

 

I wouldnt buy a Ferrari without the race seats, unless they are not offered. I find I just feel the rear end of the car better with the race seats, I dont like the way they do the padding on the “comfort” seats. But everyone has a different build and setup. I think they did an amazing amazing job on the 296, and the only issues are the pricing, presentation of the electric stuff, and the presentation of the warranty coverage.

 

I have regular plush comfort seats in my 812GTS- wish I had the race seats instead.

 

So my read on the seats is “try before you buy,” or is it a case of it being too hard to really know in a short test drive? I always found the 911 race seats and the Artura race seats not very comfortable. I would have thought full electric seats would win hands down here.

 

the 296 buckets are no where near as tight as the 911 and Artura seats. They are kind of like luxury buckets in my opinion haha. I would definitely choose them in any case

 

Don't discount the electric seats. They offer adjustability, unlike the race seats. You can tighten bolsters as needed, and if you have passengers that are not tall, it gives them an option to see out the window. Not as pretty to look at, but they have their place. Also, they don't squeak like the race seats do....at times.

 

Thanks. The squeak is a new piece of information. That would really bother me.

 

That’s not all of them, but I’ve experienced that. Of course, they look so good, one can get over it.

 

Until the 296 I have never been comfortable in the race seats. For me they offer great support, space (being lower) and padding to their predecessors and my GTB was one of the most comfortable cars to drive at any speed.

Sadly my wife could not get on with them so my GTS has full electric and after a long journey I am not as comfortable.

Next car I am going to push for driver race and full/partial electric for passenger and see if they decline again!

 

I have both seats. The race seats do not squeak more. They both can squeak from the seat belt of from touching the rear of the seat back against the interior.

 

Another small advantage of the comfort seats is the memory function. I like to sit pretty close to the pedals, and thus my knees aren't far from the front of the door opening. This means I really have to contort myself to get out if I don't slide the seat back. It's possible, but it's awkward.

So, I set M1 at my seating position and M3 to go all the way back. When I get out, I hit M3 and hop out. When I get back in, I hit M1 and am back in my preferred seating position. With manual seats I'd either have to do the contortionist thing (that much harder with race seats) or feel for the right slot every time I get in the car.

When I spec'ed my F8, I thought I was going to drive it daily, and ordered the comfort seats for this reason. I then bought my Lusso which I use more as I often need the back seats. Knowing that, if I had it to do again, I'd have gone with the race seats in the F8. But anyway, that was my rationale at the time.

 

Haven’t noticed any squeaks in race seats. But then, my exhausts are loud as they should be!

 

Awesome! LOL!

 

Any thoughts on colors as it relates to cars holding value? I would have thought that Rossa holds its value best, probably followed by Giallo Modena, then probably Blu Tour De France? However, AI seems to disagree with me, and I'm a bit surprised at the results. Not sure if it is model-specific driven, or true across the spectrum.

FWIW, there's rationale behind my question... First, I really like the Grigio palette, but rethinking that, now that I see it as dead last -- I know, "buy what you love, etc.," but it's still worthy of some consideration.

Here are the results (attached pic):

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I would think if you do something really unusual, you're taking a risk. Otherwise, I wouldn't think it would matter much. Red might be the most popular color for resale, but presumably it's also the most common. Blues, grays, yellows, greens, whites, blacks should all have a solid market. Probably smaller than for red, but I'd imagine this will generally be reflected in supply, not just in demand.

 

Amen! My race seats have been fine in my cars, but I noticed the less solid build quality of the dealer’s demo. That was a very noisy race seat in a 296. Made me wonder if quality had gone down, it maybe just a one-off.