Driving in Automatic

I don't think that's right. While I don't drive aggressively in auto too often, I thought auto with manettino in race mode is quite snappy, as fast as turbo s. Maybe that car has been babied for too long and needs to adapt it's shift logic to a heavier foot?
Even if car wasn't downshifting aggressively, it still should have lots of torque at any rpm in gear 1-5 thanks to the hybrid boost to give you lots of speed very quickly. Maybe try another one to be sure.
In McLaren, comfort mode and auto is just like what you said, super laid back so the wife doesn't crash the car

 

Hope it works out for you. I try to be objective and not drink the cool aid, but for what it's worth i think the 296 would be an incredible daily. It's very versatile and refined.

 

You need to be more aggressive with the throttle.

On a test drive, generally people are not going to be aggressive with the throttle, even if they say they are, they aren't. Either out of courtesy, or just subconscious guilt.

 

The Automatic mode in the 296 is just not aggressive enough. Especially if you drive in Sport mode. At minimum put the car in Race mode.

I drive with CT OFF and the Auto mode does have a bit more snap. The Auto mode is essentially for warmup and traffic. Use manual whenever you can.

Chet

 

Automatic is better by a bit than on the v12s and 458 but I think mainly because of hybrid.

And it doesn't seem to tune at all (unlike Porsche) with Mannetino mode. Unlike RS PDK which will even hunt down in gears as you slow down.

So I always drive in manual unless it's stop n go traffic in which case it's "adaptive cruise light".

But then again I do the same in just about anything with DCT/PDK.

 

I recently tested the auto mode- as I always use the paddles. I was surprised how good the race mode (performance setting) was when driven aggressively in auto- the car aggressively down shifted unlike any of my prior Ferrari’s which were all comparatively awful in auto mode. Interestingly, Porsche has always had a much better auto mode and the 296 is better than my Porsches. Driven lightly in auto mode the 296 isn’t very responsive and the hybrid makes it much better than prior models. IMO.

 

In my experience the automatic mode can be pretty good if you drive the car aggressively - it's like you have to tell it how you want it to work.

For example, my car will upshift in automatic from second to third at 6K revs; and the aggressive downshifting is good fun - again if you drive/brake the car hard.

(I'm driving twisty UK country roads)

 

In auto, you need aggressive pedal applications in both acceleration and braking to get the gearbox to do anything “aggressive”. Even then, downshifts are much more aggressive than upshifts. I drive in CT off / manual mostly.

 

Exactly this! My NSX, McLaren and Corvettes all kept lower gears than the 296. Just takes a little time to adjust and using the paddles is amazing!

 

Rule of thumb #1: never drive in auto - shifting when you decide is the way to go. Besides, there are "protections": car we'll never stall, and it will downshift automatically if the revs are too low because you forgot to do it; if it works like on older cars, if not in "race" mode it will also upshift automatically to avoid over-revving (in "race", it used to stay at the limiter).