after pressing the Suspension button, I didn't seem to notice and indication of any kind of whether or not I was turning it on or off - so my question is, how do you know what setting it is on?
If you're talking about the button that looks like a shock absorber it will illuminate a little shock on the display where it shows you you're in Race mode or whatever mode you're in. At least that's where mine is.
The little shock absorber symbol will display the SOFT suspension setting when the manettino is set in Race, CT Off or CST Off only. There is a good description about this in page 81 of the owner's manual.
hmm, yea that must be the issue, as I am driving in "sport" mode, and when I press the button, nothing happens, other than the word sport showing up on the display.
yes there are 3 suspension levels, full soft, sport and race. The damper button takes the dampers between race and full soft in Race and CT/CST Off. Sport has its own setting between the two and the rain mode is full soft, neither can be modified with the damper button. Race + damper off and rain mode are the two to use, I personally see no point in the sport mode. The TC is so superior in the Scud to previous systems on the 430 and 360, even the rain mode is way better than sport on previous generation cars.
Agree with the sentiments above - I find Sport a complete waste of time as it's harder than Race with Soft suspension on - go figure! I hope they get this right with the 458 - I see the button's been moved to the steering, now they need to make the setting "lockable" so when you select Soft it stays there no matter where the mannetino is. Going over expansion joints and other highway debris is just too hard in Race - you need German-style autobahns to really enjoy it. If the only thing Schumi did was to separate the suspension from the Race setting - what a difference over the CS. To have a comfortable ride, the hair trigger throttle response and 60ms gear****s - what a car!
Are you driving in slippery surface or Sport mode in the manettino? In this two modes, the button doesn't work. Once you drive in Race mode, CT-OFF or CST-OFF, the button will switch between Soft and Hard, the dashboard will show an indicator with a car and a bumpy surface when in Soft mode.