What I have leaned as a new 612 driver, Do’s & Don’ts

Re #3, I don't think it does anything to the clutch itself. I think it puts pressure on the throw out bearing or pressure plate or somesuch...someone will clarify...

Re #6, why? I've not heard that and turn my car off in 1st all the time...anyone know more about this?

 

+1

 

Interestingly enough, I think some of this is not at all applicable in the OTO. In my OTO, 1-4 simply don't apply. I use mine in Auto in town all the time-- especially when driving slowly in a parking lot. On the other hand, I never use it on the freeway.

The big drawback for auto in the OTO is that if you floor it and it kicks down a couple of gears, WATCH OUT!

Auto shifting is also not quite as smooth as manual shifting. However, you can learn to force the auto to shift by lifting off the gas at the right point, and then it's smooth.

As for #6, I used to believe that. However, lately I've been parking on hills quite a bit, and I feel more comfortable leaving it in gear. Furthermore, I've had no problems starting. I believe that some early 612s could get into an issue under those conditions, but there was a transmission upgrade which fixed that for all the cars.

I do notice that if I shut the car off in gear, then put it in neutral before starting, it does a weird hesitation before the engine cranks.

I would add one more: if you are starting the car when it's cold, and it seems to be running poorly, immediately shut it off and restart it. Otherwise, some computer errors can trigger, and it can cause the check engine light to come on and stay on.

 

Interesting...the manual for my car says to always leave it in gear - just like one would with a true manual shifted car...

 

Has your car had the transmission update done?

Either way, while that's probably true for the older cars, it doesn't seem to be true for the OTO. The transmission is one of the biggest differences between the OTO and pre-OTO cars.

 

Chett- You have some good ideas, but they are a little mixed up for early 612s. For one thing, the 612 has a constant contact throw-out bearing, so it is always in contact, but it is still a good idea to put the car in neutral at stop lights. The clutch will be open while stopped, unlike most cars when stopped and in neutral, where the clutch will be closed.

Whenever you start the car, you should first select neutral, just like it says in the owner's manual. So key to on, brake on, and, while waiting for the Check OK indication, pull both levers back to select neutral, then start after Check OK illuminates.

There is nothing wrong with leaving the car in 1st gear before shutting down. It is a back-up for the parking brake. On hills, make sure you do not use 1st gear alone to keep the car stationary. This can be rough on the cam belts, so use the parking brake, too. 1st gear is lower than second, so is the preferred gear when shutting off the car.

I have never used Auto in my car, which has the same F1 system as yours except for the Reverse-1st lever. I agree with using the paddles to select 1st gear. No choice in mine, but that little lever set is $4000+ in your car, so the less use the better.

On start, as soon as the rpm drops from the initial cold start high idle, it is safe to drive off, keeping the revs below 4000 rpm until the oil is warm.

The OTO has a completely different clutch and transmission derived from the 599, as is the F1 system, and I have not been able to get reliable info on all aspects of the set-up. The owner's manual is wrong in many cases, such as stating the car still has a single plate clutch. It has a dual plate clutch, same as the 599. I would still be careful in reverse, which may be a much higher gear than 1st, especially if the OM is correct on gear ratios. The 599 reverse is not much higher than 1st, but the only data says the 612 reverse is real close to 2nd, and that is high and rough on clutches.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Wow, you've been reading way too much fchat "wisdom" IMO. I basically disagree with all but #7 and #9. Well, #1 just seems a no brainer, but I've used the little lever on the console to no ill effect at times. It’s just not as convenient as the paddle shifters;
But to be more concise:
2) I use the auto mode in traffic, in cities when I want to pay more attention to the traffic or sights than driving, in rush hour stop and go when I tire of playing with the gears or whenever. The auto mode works as well or better than most people I’ve ever met who say they know how to drive a stick shift. It’s not an autobox, but it does well.
3) My 2005 612 had close to 50K miles on it when I sold it and I never did this and yet still had over 80% clutch left on it when it was sold. Current car (08 OTO) with 20K miles on it has approximately 3% wear on the clutch as of last service and no noise in throw-out bearing so I’m not sure why I would do this other than to assuage some fchat driven sense of impending doom.
4) When cruising at speed on the freeway I leave it in manual mode. Auto mode would be fine, but mostly I leave it in manual mode except in case as stated above. There’s so much torque there’s no need to have it downshift at slight throttle inputs and when you want to pass, just quickly hit the left hand paddle several times and it’ll hit the lowest gear possible and take off like a titan missile.
5) I’ve left my car sitting for several weeks at a time without the charger to no ill effect. But then, when I drive it, I drive for at least an hour, usually many hours at a time, so the battery gets a full charge from the alternator when I drive.
6) I always shut it off in first gear: that’s the gear it’s in when I come to a stop. It holds hills better than the parking brake. Never an issue on start up, and no, I don’t put it in neutral first: my sart up routine: Get in car, insert key, start car and drive as soon as infotainement system boots so I can see out rear view camera while I back out, up the hill… 
7) Valets have had issues finding reverse: ask them if they know before giving them the key. I’m about 50?0 doing valet or self parking, depending really on a gut feel of how I feel about the valet.
8) While I wouldn’t drive it like a slushbox auto in reverse, I also don’t have any problem backing up hills in reverse. See #3 above: I’ve parked on some pretty steep inclines in Seattle and San Francisco and others and still have plenty of clutch left for more use. I imagine the clutch will last easily beyond 100K miles before needing replacement.
9) Start it, wait for most of the little lights to go out, and start driving (OK, I usually don’t even wait htat long). Don’t floor it, run it to 7,500 before temps come up, but it’s a waste of time and gas to sit there warming it up.
So that’s my take: many will totally disagree. That’s fine. I’ve driven close to 75K miles on two 612s, and think the car is awesome. Go out and give it what for and lighten up and enjoy the drive!!!!

 

Don: I just had my car into service a few weeks ago for the second time for poor cold start issues in the past coue months and after much trouble shooting the ecu was sent back to Ferrari for them to take a poke at reprogramming it to solve the issue. According to the techs this is something that is starting to show up in the OTO cars specifically as they get some miles. So far, the fix has taken and my car is starting much better. Although I never got any check engine lights. It just stalled after trying to find a good idle speed at cold start.

 

Eric-- have you noticed any difference between your original 612 and your OTO in terms of transmission behavior?

In particular, I've noticed that if I park my OTO in first gear, if I go to neutral before restarting it, it does a weird thing where it cranks once, stops, then starts cranking again. If I leave it in first, it simply goes immediately to neutral and starts normally.

I have heard the problem the OP described on other early 612s, but I thought the transmission fixed it-- but apparently not.

You have probably put more miles on 612s than anyone else in North America-- thanks for the info!

 

In both cars I've always just started it without first going to neutral. The OTO sometimes seems to "think" before cranking the engine, but that seems infrequent and only seems to be for a moment, then it just starts cranking and starts.

Biggest difference I notice in the two transmissions is the immediacy of the shifts in the OTO. At WOT in Sport mode it just seems sometimes like its side stepping the clutch pedal like I used to do in my 67 mustang. We called it speed shifting, and it tore the clutches (the springs in the pressure plates actually ate it the worst) to pieces in those cars. The Ferrari seems to just eat this stuff up and asks for more.

I think the one thing I would add to the OP list is in a pre-OTO car to always leave it in the sport mode, never normal (Sorry if I got the terminology wrong:its been a few years since my 05 car). The normal shift mode seemd to slip the clutch way too much between gears, and in the sport mode it was much more affirmative in its shifts. It just always seemed like the normal mode would be so hard on the clutch, so I never used it.

The OTO in normal mode is more firm and assertive in its shifts than the early cars in sport mode.

 

Eric- Guess I just read the OM, which says start in neutral on the 575M and the early 612. Otherwise it does it for you and selects neutral for a start. Backing up hills in a 612 will get you a smell of burned clutch and your early 612 had exactly the same clutch as my 575M. Reverse ratio is 2.384:1 vs 1st at 3.153:1, nearly as high as 2nd at 2.176 .

Sounds like you had a lot of highway miles on your car and not much city driving. You are correct, I disagree with a lot of what you said.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

This is why I made sure to get a 6-speed : )