296 GTS vs. SF90 Spider

IMO- too soon. 150 cars listed on Cargurus likely means prices have to recede further (possibly a lot) to absorb supply- as this is a very expensive used car with issues. Then there’s the replacement model that’s likely to be better- causing another wave of sales and further declines. This happens with most regular production models.

Prices generally don’t go up until a car is 20- 30 years old- they just decline much more gently after they plateau. There’s just no reason for prices to increase before then outside of a pandemic event in conjunction with the government juicing the system with liquidity. In other words, don’t hold your breath.

There’s always exceptions- like the last one of its kind, etc. And- The exceptions don’t make the rule.

Cars are supposed to depreciate. We all got lucky over the last 5- 10 years. Buy for the pleasure and buy smart to minimize the expense.

Always be prepared for the next recession as that’s when the real deals show up. You don’t want to have to sell into that.

 

This is a perfect way to sum it up.

I would also add styling. The 296 is more classic Ferrari imho and the SF90 is more modern aggression.

I love both, but see above quote.

 

This is a great thread, and the comparison echos to many other car brands too.

I had a 296GTS and traded in for an SF90 Spider. Most of what has been said here is spot on, but I wanted to add one thing -- grip (AWD vs. RWD), and what your typical drive looks like. I found that most of my drives around town are 30 minutes or less. With that short amount of time, I could not get enough heat in the tires of the 296 to enjoy or take advantage of the power -- The nannies would always kick in, cutting the power, unless I turned it all off, which I didn't like to do. Whereas the SF90 could deliver the power much better with less heat.

So, while the 296 truly is almost as fast as the SF90 when tires are hot, for most of my drives (and maybe most others too??), the SF90 is MUCH faster.

 

Playfulness makes for fun and 2 wheel drive is more playful. How long does it take to warm up the tires- 10+ minutes?

On the other hand, if you have all of these cars, I get enjoying the subtleties.

 

surprising - on cooler days in denver the car would say tires are in warmup mode for almost 30 minutes even when driving it fairly hard.

Also, in comparison to the 720s, I wasn’t really happy with the traction control - it was on too much, killing power, unless you went full off.

the 720 allowed you to decide how much you let it “play” before helping out.