RumorDudes SF90 impressions

After shipping delays (original delivery was supposed to be mid-October!) I finally took delivery yesterday on my SF90. Here in Seattle, the weather has been dark, cold, and wet, so this makes for an extra exciting time to fiddle around with cars.

Skipping past the beauty of the car itself, there are many things I have learned which I haven't seen other talking about that were somewhat surprising to me. But before I get into that, it's worth noting a high level - this car is not so much like a car as a spaceship. Many have complained about the steering feeling detached and such - but I am telling you that driving this is way more like playing a driving video game than driving a car. It is just a weird and unusually surreal feeling to drive. The seats are wonderful, the touchy-feely screens all over the place are quite nice once you get used to them. (I haven't tried with gloves yet, but I am guessing that will be an issue).

I've not been able to get too hard on power yet given the conditions outside, but I have done a few point and squirts - and it is squirty but very solid. If I point and squirt the 458 amaziale or f12tdf, they tend to skip around a bit and wag their tails - I am sure I will find that point in this car, but I haven't had it happen yet. I've only felt a very slight amount of understeer so far and it was mostly driver induced anyway.

The cabin feels big and refreshing, albeit a little bit dark (I'm sure there are lights i haven't figured out yet). The footprint of the car feels a little larger than the amaziale, but definitely smaller than many other cars. It feels wide but isn't really; I think that is because the gap from the end of the door to where the chair is just is a bit further than most cars.

But the most important thing of all is that this car is SUPER EASY TO DRIVE. Not like whomping around (again, it’s cold and rainy), but I mean it doesn’t have weird quirks or annoying things that make it a chore to drive. It is a smooth, very comfortable ride. You could drive for months and never get sore: It’s just really nice! This is a car that anyone, or any skill level will be able to get in and jaunt about town in a friendly, pleasant way without fear of dying or pressing the wrong buttons. I am totally amazed how incredibly well built the car feels and how functional everything is. And if you’re a sim-racer, you’ll feel right at home, from the very solid feel of the steering wheel (with not-so-much ground feel), to the video game-esque paddle shifter "clicks", it’s spaceship quality.

Fun things I have learned but I haven’t heard people talking about much:

* The "performance" screen has a G-meter. While my AIM system in the 458 and 488 challenge had one, it wasn’t in my face like this one. Kind of fun!

* I was nervous about the rear visibility with the tiny window. turns out that while you have a tiny window, there is also a spot where you see out through the engine glass. Yes, when you look int he rear view mirror, you have a split view: the window, and then another view through the engine bay cover. It is totally trippy but completely functional.

* The car locks itself when you walk away.

* The hybrid/edrive stuff is cool, but is really weird when you go back to performance/engine-on mode. Here, I found that I was putzing around maybe 35 mph in e-drive mode, and turned the engine back on. I barely heard the engine as it was only around 1k rpm’s. What I didn’t notice was that I was going 35 mph in like 8th gear. So coming out of e-drive and to motor mode is quite an unusual experience. It is doubly unusual in that while in drive mode, you are not blapping paddles, so you sort of need to remind yourself to downshift like 5 times.

* When plugging the car in, you need to first plug the adapter doohickey into the wall, and THEN into the car. Supposedly there are reports that doing this the other way around can drain the battery, instead of charge it.

* The nav system map thing is nice when in ‘full screen’ mode, but on many of the other display modes, it’s really hard to tell wtf is going on.

* When the car first turns on, it will go in electric mode (hybrid) Even if the car is in ‘manual’ operation (I.e. use paddles), taking your foot off the brake lets the car creep forward, like an automatic car would do. The creep is pretty aggressive on a flat surface!

* Like many hybrids, there is a neat little summary screen after a drive to tell you how much time you spend in which modes, how many trees you saved and such. It’s just fun.

* The (single) drink holder is perfect size for holding my big iPhone. It’s a little low, but easy enough to see. And it won’t spill.

* There is a little wire-pull (f40-esque) on the inside of the door in case you get ‘locked in’ the car. Since the door locks are electric, you don’t want to get stuck there. Similarly, there is a space for a physical key under the door opening thing that you only can see when you push the handle open.







Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Mk, so now I'm on day 3 or whatever and there are some more things i have discovered / realized. Note that it is still very rainy/dark/cold so I have not been able to push.

* When coming off throttle in any mode, but especially when the combustion engine is running, the 'compression braking' effect is pretty big. I woul go so far as to say it is even more aggressive slowing than a tesla when off throttle. Obviously this is a brake regen thing, but it is actually extremely beneficial -- it actually does help throw the weight of the car on the front axle, even without touching the brake, and if you are "maybe not so fast" transitioning from throttle to brake, this makes up for your slow foot movement.

* You have to use the USB port for apple carplay (DUH!).

* While I hear/read a lot about people complaining about the touch screens, i have not really had any issues inadvertently hitting them. However, I have inadvertently hit the lane change indicator accidentally a few times. This has happened to me while fishing for the 'next track' selector behind the steering wheel -- the top of the lane change blinker actually hooks over the top of the steering wheel and has part of a tab come down the back side that turns it on, too. I'm sure the person behind me was exciting to watch me turn into the trees, but obviously it was an error

* There are quite a few settings I didnt realize at first buried deep in the menus, from things ranging from 'dash brightness when it is daytime vs. nighttime' so a lot of things I dont fully understand. For example, on one of them there is a picture of the car with redness near the tires. I am certain this is not because the tires are warmed up; I figure it has something to do with charging.

* You can use the engine to fully charge the battery if you want to by just selecting performance mode and driving normal. It charges pretty quickly -- about 1 mile of battery maybe every 90 seconds.

* In 'stop and go' traffic, the hybrid or edrive mode is really great. This is true for all hybrids, but especially so for this car as it is pretty thirsty.

* There are also some very funny things I have seen in the paperwork that came with the car. Some of them are just pleasant to read, but there are two weird ones. First, the second sentence of 'how to identify your sf90 stradale...' and i am now wonderingn if i should concerned about the treatment of emu's by ferrari (jk)


Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

right, so i threw another 60 miles on the car this evening, with still cold everything, but less rain and standing water. and now it is starting to make a lot more sense to me now. the sf90 has a new style of dialogue with the driver!

the f12tdf, even the wonderful 458 amazalie are cars you need to respect and appreciate. if you ask them to do bad things, they will do bad things to you. the sf90 is not like that. it is doltishly easy to drive stupid fast. where the tdf is like "hey amigo, you pushin' me? i will kill you!", the sf90 is like 'hey, woah now, let me help you be an idiot... i will keep you alive!'

now i am starting to get why they will sell them to anyone. this car wants to be your best friend! it keeps you out of ditches, away from trees, and perhaps most importantly, unequivocally, wants to be your driving soul mate. It likes you. It loves you... no matter how you treat it.

what a ****ing ridiculous car. for anyone.

 

Share your spec!

the "amaze-iale" is my word for the speciale. of the 12 or so ferrari's we own/have owned, this is the only one where she says she doesn't want me to sell it... hence it must be even more amazing than special...!

 

Well, I am not one to judge anyone who has had a mishap in any car as i'm not free of guilt in that department myself. however, i can tell you that i have had quite a lot of driver training, including ice-lake driving with flatout sweden, rally instruction at dirtfish (conveniently not very far from my primary residence!), and thousands of hours of tarmac track driving (and a wee bit of racing) all over the country over a period of 20 years. that all said, there are times where situations can arise in the real world where there is just nothing you can do about it. in fact, this is one of the things i really like about this car (contrary to many of the reviews i have read/viewed): this car really is friendly and easy to drive. [on a related note, in the heavy rain in my 488 challenge, in 2nd gear around a very tight turn, i floored it just to see what would happen. the answer: nothing. the little yellow bubble on the dash got to full size and the car just lumped along out of the turn. if you are bored, here are some fun clips from a few years ago when it was pouring at laguna seca. at about 30s in, you will see the pit wall try to hit me, like wtf? ]

so far my experience with this car is fantastic and very different from many of the other ferrari's i have owned/driven. this one is a lot more digital and a lot more technology focused. you can feel it everywhere, from the "light press on the brake" to the "heavier press on the brake", there is just a very different sensation. there is no warble or grinding soudn when you hit ABS. it just does it. i remember part of the stink with the f12tdf was that ferrari didn't want to get them in the hands of inexperienced drivers - rightly so - because that car can be vicious. on the back straight at pacific raceways i have had the car break loose in 4th gear around 90 mph. in a straight. it is scary. the sf90? not so much.

so, back to the case at hand for the unfortunate situation of the 40 mph crash. so, it is my understanding that the car was being driven coyly, perhaps 40 mph and during a lane change it went to the curb. upon hitting the curb, something crushed the throttle which locked it down. most importantly though, i understand the trip involved a car wash. and, the sf90 has a 'car wash mode procedure', which i believe primarily works to allow the car to be pushed without application of the parking brakes. i do not know if this also includes disabling traction control systems or anything like that, but it seems that it might. i wonder if it is possible the car was in car wash mode, if it also disabled traction control systems, then was being driven home. perhaps some bumps or nobs in the roads (or as the dutch might say, 'drempels, let op!') caused the car to become unsettled and due to carwash mode, the traction control systems were not there to help? this is only my guess and theory and again i wasnt there so i dont know. i just know my experience with this car in the rain (and when my alpin pa4's get here, the snow?) has been fantastic and friendly, including with some "light spirited" driving.


Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Oof, okay first "real problem" today. I turned on the car as usual but since I have a steepish driveway, I opted for the front lift. But the little touchscreen for the lift kit, the parking sensors, and side view mirrors was black. pitch black. and then i got this ick message in the display: "System not programmed". Ew!

I was able to slowly nudge out of the driveway at an angle (a bit of extra throttle helped lift that front nose up over the worst part - no scraping, woot!). The car drove fine and seemed to do everything except for that panel and the scary "caution" icon on the dash. Well, i guess also no lift, parking sensors, and no side view mirror adjustments. Anyway, I drove it down to ferrari of seattle (erm, redmond), and about 10 minutes later, problem solved. Apparently it's some sort of communication error between the panel and the rest of the computers and it needed to be reset. (fwiw, turning the car off and back on again does not fix this issue. neither did praying)
Image Unavailable, Please Login