What did you think of the HUD? If it was an extra cost option would it be worth it? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No. It has very small numbers, I could only see the speed, and frankly I wear all polarized sunglasses which made it almost invisible anyway. My salesman didn’t know if it was an option or standard equipment but if it is an option I won’t bother.
I am now sitting here wishing I could drive it again. Totally sold on it now. Going to be a long 6-10 months from here out! The other guys taking drives I talked to put deposits more recently and were told 2024 for their cars. That would be a bit of torture.
That was my feeling after driving it. On reflection the seating and overall cabin reminded me a lot of a 355.
I've been away from FChat for a while due to things getting a bit busy in non-car related matters. That said, after test driving the 296 GTB, I had to made a return to echo the sentiments quoted here. TL;DR: If the 296 GTB is an preview of the direction Ferrari is going, there's going to be a lot of happy Ferrari owners from here on out. After driving the 296 GTB, all I can think about is driving it again. I can totally imagine firing it up on a wonderful summer afternoon and letting that howling engine do it's cold start, and contrastingly, firing it up on a brisk, early Saturday morning before anyone is up, and slipping away silently until I am out of the neighborhood. The later is literally impossible with the Pista or the Lusso [and yes, I realize the other solution is getting a much much bigger and better house]. To sum up my experience, I was just beaming after the event. The feeling pure joy after driving something that you can just envision as a part of your car ownership journey is rare in the circle of supercar owners. Ferrari put on such a spectacularly fun, cool, and relaxing event that I couldn't be happier being an F-car customer. There are some events from the past where I felt like they were aiming to please an audience that no longer exists, showing how dated and out of touch their connection to reality was starting to become. But that was yesteryear - this Ferrari Experience event for the 296 GTS where they simultaneously hosted test drives for the 296 GTB made me feel like I chose the right car(s) [yet again ]. LOCATION: In my area, it was hosted at beautiful and modern, little house (for sale) in the hills, where they set up shop with nice little appetizers, a lovely minibar, an espresso bar, the full blown dealer configurator hooked up to a nice big display, and a 296 GTS craned over the house to place the car in the picturesque, sloped backyard facing the valley. It was a pretty incredible sight to see. THE CARS: I had tons of time to be in and around the car, esp. the GTS. While I did see the GTB at the local dealer launch event, it was inundated with people wanting to sit in it, so I didn't get much time to try to sit there for a bit and take it all in. After being in it again, for a guy of my stature and size, it's by no means small or cramped. Getting in and out was good for me, and the car felt like a Ferrari should. It isn't as cocoon-like (tight) as McLaren's feel, and it is not like getting smothered by a dashboard like Lamborghinis can feel. It felt like a comfortable cabin that wrapped gently around you. Another interesting thing to note is that there's a lovely little Heads Up Display or HUD. I'm not sure why Ferrari hasn't spoken about this very much. It's bright and sharp, but it is generally pretty small, so nothing overly impressive. I also noticed that the windshield glare from the "Cockpit Inserts" around the instrument cluster that wraps up above the windshield is pretty heinous. If you're ordering a 296, I'd consider avoiding that or avoiding bright colors. While it looks cool in photos in the way it frames the instrument cluster, functionally it was annoying to me. I'll be ordering mine with black inserts there. TEST DRIVE: I had a chance to do a short little twisty drive in the hills followed by a freeway loop that let me experience the 296 at full throttle with two very clear freeway onramps. They took the opportunity to have all test drivers pull out of the house and neighborhood in e-Drive mode. This gave me a chance to imagine one day kickstarting my early AM weekend drives again after having kids. Before the kids were born, firing up something the Speciale early in the morning was no big deal - my neighbors were up early and didn't mind. These days, the Pista rarely gets out on an unscheduled drive as the cold start wakes up everyone. The 296 is going to change all of that. The most amazing part to me is that attaining that capability didn't mean any compromises (IMHO) to the Ferrari sound when I want it there - the hybrid power plant is like a modern version of how a valved exhaust can tame the v8/v12 beast. As soon as I was out of the neighborhood, firing up the V6 didn't sound anywhere as lame as saying "I'm going to fire up the V6 now." As reviewers, fans, and ultimately test drivers have all mentioned a dozen times over, the sound of the 'piccolo V12' is just a symphony and is as awesome as everyone says it is. It tends to bring about big smiles and all the feels you get when you think about Ferrari. It's a true testament to the importance of what sound can do to stir the soul. I loved it. Another aspect of sound which I've grown to love after owning the Pista is that the turbos in the 296 make some of the awesome noises that you hear from the 488 Challenge EVO car. Yes! It has a plenty of lovely turbo spool on hard pulls and enough turbo flutter on hard decceleration downshifts to make your inner child giggle out loud! And no, don't worry, it doesn't sound at all like a Subaru or a open wastegate Supra at idle. Look, if you're an anti-turbo and anti-electrification Ferrari owner, I have empathy for your pain, but I do not subscribe to it. After making the decision to get a Pista and following Ferrari into the era of turbo V8s, I have never once regretted that decision. While I do miss the Speciale, the Lusso V12 more than fills the heart with Ferrari V12 N/A goodness (thank you again @BRE.Eddy!!!). The 296 V6 continues the lineage of well rounded Ferrari road cars and definitely helps bring Ferrari's classic sound back after a few years of lesser exciting sounds (488 / F8). Handling in the twisties was pure joy. The car makes up for it's added weight by tightening up the wheelbase, giving it a nimble and very tight feel. The steering rack is light and very responsive, in true Ferrari style, and the brake by wire was hardly noticeable as a different thing. I would say on the whole, the car feels very GT and is less raw and race-car like than say a Pista (which is still honestly pretty GT... but us Ferrari fans can continue to dream that the cars are 'raw' right?). As I drove the car, the buttons on the steering wheel did not get in the way as much as they did when I drove the Roma. Not sure if Ferrari did anything to disable them while the wheel is turned or if I just adapted, but I didn't feel as annoyed by the all touch + push buttons as I did when I first drove the Roma demo. The gauge cluster display feels modern and bright, but visually, there's a lot going on. I can imagine old school Ferrari owners being confused and frustrated about that. Controls were also not that intuitive. As I was driving, I kept pressing a button called "Auto" on the steering wheel thinking I was turning off auto-shift. I didn't realize until I finished the twisties that I was actually pressing the Auto headlight button, and that the Auto to Manual shift was a switching the central tunnel. Not sure why that didn't register for me right away as I daily drive the Lusso, but take that for whatever it's worth. Controls just didn't feel natural to me [a common issue with present day UI/UX software "designers" that confuse good aesthetics alone for good UI - not many good designers out there anymore]. When we finally arrived at the freeway onramp, I still had the car on Qualifying mode on the e-Manettino and Race mode on the Manettino. I gave the [inclined] onramp the full beans, and what happened next had me smiling from ear to ear. The car was fully planted and pulling hard. It didn't have that, runaway rollercoaster acceleration that the Pista has with upshifts, but it felt incredibly fast in a different way that's hard to describe. Before we even reached the freeway merge, I looked down, and we were at an undisclosed speed that would surprise most. I expected to look over at the professional driver sitting next to me to see the face of concern, but he was just laughing hysterically. We had the windows down, and it was a shared moment of thrill, excitement, and just good old fashion fun that only car people can truly appreciate. The combination of the speed, acceleration, sound, the cabin, and just knowing your in the newest Ferrari with a little bit of F1 magic made me shout out "F*** YES!" And yeah, we did it again on the onramp back as well. F*** yes, I said again, and F*** yes, I say to you all now. Because it's that good. We ended the drive by cruising back to the house in Hybrid mode so I could feel what the on/off nature of the engine would be like. It wasn't as annoying as some YouTube reviewers made it sound when you're trying to having a conversation with someone. I could see myself using in that mode if I had to unexpectedly take a call or something as well. As we were cruising some the roads heading back to the event, I had the chance to see another 296 GTB on the road just ahead of me. The road presence of the car being wide and low slung is breathtaking; it truly feels like you're driving next to something really special. OVERALL: The whole Ferrari Experience event and driving the 296 made me feel like Ferrari really gets it, again. They're back. Their F1 team is back, their cars are make leaps again, and they're even getting dealership to shape up or get out. There's a price to pay in all this as Ferrari attracts new customers and cars get even harder to get, they build an FUV, and literally the prices continue to go up. But the recipe of the 296 GTB and 296 GTS, IMHO, is a winning one for Ferrari's future. While 296 appearance may not capture everyone from photos at first glance, I think some of the naysayers will be changing their opinions when they finally get to see one on the road. And as with any Ferrari, they're just breathtaking in the flesh. I hope you all get a chance to drive one and share your own thoughts.
Excellent write up @SECRECT! I already can't wait for my first drive of the 296 next Wednesday, anticipation keeps building.
Drove a 296 GTB today- took 355 in for annual and emissions and FoD was doing drives- OMG!! I was prepared to be unimpressed since the F8 did not impress me much (all relative obviously- I was comparing to my 458S)- I assumed if the F8 did not make me want to sell a kidney then loppong off 2 cylinders and a hybrid would leave me cold- WOW WAS I WRONG! The 296 blew me away in every respect- looks, performance, SOUND, comfort, shifting etc etc etc- Absolutely phenomenal IMHO Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Ferrari associate that drive with me at the 296 event said the HUD and Passenger display are now standard. I wasn’t Avery impressed with the HUD. It’s very small and all I saw was speed on it. Helpful and I’ll take it for free, but less useful than what I’ve seen in other HUDs I daily. Maybe it can do more, I didn’t play around with it at all. But I’ll echo what everyone else is saying. The car itself is insane. I loved it and can’t wait to own one.
Likewise on the HUD- The car I drove had it and only showed speed (perhaps configurable) but I didn't mess with it- One of many things that impressed me with the 296 was the expanse of the view forward from such a small car and complete lack of any claustrophobic feeling- The expansive view forward coupled with the relatively small HUD meant after a few miles I just ignored it and didn't really know it was there. Might be cool/more useful in a track situation. Cheers
I liked that about it, unobtrusive until you focused on it. It also shows turn directions when using the SatNav, not sure if anything else.
Test drove the 296 today in a very short section of twisting mountain road. The car really turn in super sharp, like really rotate kind of sharp in the range of 60-80kph. the road and traffic didn't allow me to go faster, so I can't say how it would perform in highway speed. There is no jerk like some YouTube video mentioned when the electric motor kick in during gear shift, but it could be due to the fact that i wasn't able to drive fast enough . Power wise it felt like a big v8 below 4k rpm, but then it turns into a high boost engine and keep pumping power. There is no noticeable interchange between 2 phases. The engine sound really nice and unique, but is not loud due to the GPF. I guess Ferrari added the "overrun" burble, the blow off valve and intake sound to compensate the low volume. The patented "hot tube" seems to deliver a great deal of bass into the cabin at idle, but isn't really noticeable of its effect once the engine revs up and get going. My dealer said the HUD is standard but it wasn't noticeable once i started driving. Overall I was surprised by its agility, it shows the "drive to fun" slogan isn't a gimmick, the car doesn't feel heavy at all. it will be really interesting once I bring my car to the track and see how it will turn into hairpin. I wish my test drive was a bit longer and without any slow going mopad infront of me...
I liked the overall size and go kart steering it had and it is very fast. Only negative I can say is that it had a few more rattles inside than I'd like. Overall great and very fun car to drive. Also, you can barely see the outline of my rosso corsa 458 italia behind the Bentley in the same photo! Both of my cars were there for annual service!
Ha!! Your Italia is Beautiful!! Guess it's Annual time! As mentioned that's why I was there for 355- My 458 Spider goes in in October- Maybe they will be doing 296 GTS drives then! Ha
@SECRET and @Ferrari 360 CS There are a lot of folks here that decry Ferrari's latest model, arguing that they are not Ferrari, even going as far as saying Ferrari is DEAD. I found this odd, given that everything I've seen echoes both of your sentiments. Lest I misinterpreted your reviews, Based on your experience, (you know, actually driving them instead of pontificating) do you feel the 296 is a bad car?
Test drove the 296 yesterday and agree with all the positive reviews so far. Marvelous go-kart feel with spectacular acceleration, handling and good looks. Only negative for me was getting in and out of the thing . Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks @rocketman - I'm scheduled to drive it next month, I'm so looking forward to it!!! Some folks told me not to even bother, that Ferrari is DEAD. I found that odd given this is a Ferrari enthusiast forum, but whatever.
I think the best part of their campaign for the car were the launch videos last July with the German engineer who broke it down how they were going for "Fun to drive" with: short wheelbase and balance, good sound tones that increase on RPM, perceived acceleration. At the time even I thought 'this is corny they are putting it out there' but then as it came together as a syllabus on how to make a fun car, it actually clicked.
Forgot to mention that although I always drive in manual mode, for sh**s and giggles I wanted to see if Ferrari finally updated the shifting pattern in automatic. Much to my surprise, unlike past F cars, this can actually be driven in auto since it holds each gear longer much like Porsche has been able to achieve for many years now.
Wow! I’m so excited, - lot of folks here are telling me that this car will put me to sleep; are they being hyperbolic? I thought they were sarcastic at first that I didn’t believe it. Just odd why so many people are telling me to the point their feelings are hurt when I show otherwise .
Awesome! Thanks so much for another wonderful review. I get to find out for myself next month, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high - Many here have told me that this is a boring car, that it is not fun to drive, and that it will put me to sleep? In short, it's not a 'real Ferrari' (whatever that means.) When I point out folks like you had a different experience, one even took offense and got mad! Did you believe Ferrari dropped the ball?
