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Ferrari 296 GTS review
Might the spider be preferable to the berlinetta?
And did I mention it’s raining today? Streams of water roiling off the rock faces and across the road, often when you’re turning in and committed. Rain is always a great leveller when it comes to powerful cars, as Giovanni Bracco found in 1951 when he drove his little Lancia Aurelia along these roads with such abandon that he took great chunks of time out of the leading, more powerful Ferrari in that year’s Mille Miglia.
So here we are then and it’s worth noting the key figures when it comes to the open-air version of this V6 plug-in hybrid Ferrari called the 296 GTS.
These include 14, which is the number of seconds it takes to power the aluminium roof out of its lair above the engine and into place over the occupants’ bonces at speeds up to 28mph. There’s also 70, the number of kilogrammes this car is carrying, mainly (65kg) in the hood mechanism, but there’s also the extra aluminium in the sill and A and B sections. And there’s 30, which is a percentage and the only figure Ferrari’s engineers are prepared to give us when it comes to the additional flexibility of the spider’s chassis. So how’s this all going to feel, then?


"Extend your right foot a little more, and you can start to feel the effect of three litres, two turbochargers and a powerful electric motor, though in what order and quantity it’s difficult to detect"
Start at the start with the engine, of course, and you’ll need some explanation about why this mid-engined series is Ferrari’s first road-going V6, and that’s because all previous street V6s made by the company were badged as Dinos. So, the GTS’s engine is a 120-degree splayed V6, displacing 2992cc, with twin turbochargers developing 654bhp, sitting low across the back of the car, driving the rear wheels via an eight-speed, dual-clutch gearbox.
So far so conventional, apart from the centre of gravity-lowering 120-degree bit, though Ferrari had done that with the championship-winning ‘sharknose’ 156 as long ago as 1961. But augmenting the V6 engine’s efforts here is a 6kWh net, 73kg lithium-ion SK Innovation battery running across the back of the seats, with a 164bhp electric motor sitting between the engine and the transmission. Total power is claimed to be 818bhp and torque 546lb ft, with quoted performance almost the same as the berlinetta’s, so the top speed is 205mph, with 0-62mph in 2.9sec and 0-124mph in 7.6sec.
"Touring with this car will be an exercise in restraint – in packing as well as your right foot. Still, it’s a step up from an SF90 Stradale which provides next to no boot space at all"



There’s an electric range of up to 15.5 miles at speeds up to 84mph and recharging the battery on a 7.4kW home wall box will take one hour – apparently Ferrari isn’t planning on selling its own branded wall boxes which seems a bit of missed open goal.
When it’s up, the powered hood doesn’t really affect the appearance much, but when folded the car has a flying buttress look faintly reminiscent of the hard-top version of the Mazda MX-5. Otherwise, it’s a handsome thing, with some characteristics of the 1960s 250LM race car which provides the inspiration.
Climb over the big sills and into the leather buckets and there’s a useful 49-litre shelf on top of the battery behind the rear seats and a 201-litre ‘frunk’ which will just about accommodate a couple of airline carry-ons. Touring with this car will be an exercise in restraint – in packing as well as your right foot. Still, it’s a step up from an SF90 Stradale which provides next to no boot space at all.
The long oblong instrument binnacle is a glass screen in front of the driver with a confusion of graphic displays and functions that aren’t immediately obvious. Steering wheel buttons access most, but these are confusing and the radio controls are hidden behind the wheel rim like the Easter Bunny’s eggs. Nor were the bucket seats the ultimate in comfort: after three hours behind the wheel I wasn’t the only one to have a sore backside. In addition, over-the-shoulder glances are blocked by the huge B-pillars and while the wing mirrors are large, the view is mostly that of the engine’s air intake. Drivers with big feet should also beware as the under dashboard gubbins interfere with your right toe cap’s movement between accelerator and brake pedal; dancing pumps might have to be worn.
Push the starter and the screens flash ready, but the engine doesn’t turn over, which is an all-new experience for the Ferrari owner unless they happen to have an SF90 stashed away. Pull the right-hand gear change paddle and big 20-inch diameter Michelin Cup 2 tyres swish out of the Maranello hotel and on to the early morning roads. Tread lightly and you’ve got about nine miles of gentle electric motoring before the engine starts, making you fair jump out of your skin.
On the straight, fast roads through Emilia Romagna to Bologna, the Ferrari rides pretty well, though the wide Michelins are noisy and ricochet off the sharp-edged drain covers and the cracked and battered roads which greet you as you turn off the autostrada at Sasso Marconi and take the SR65, aka the Futa pass.
As you speed up the car feels well placed and wieldy, and is it my imagination or is there the slightest bit of body flex as you turn into the faster corners? There is.
In Hybrid mode the battery will drive the Ferrari when there is enough charge to do so, but it soon drains the cells. Performance or Qualify modes will keep the V6 spinning to charge the battery, which takes about 20 minutes of road driving. You can also hold the charge if it is required for a city centre. Dynamically, there’s Wet, Sport, Race and beyond that, Qualify where just about everything is off, though it will still monitor progress to ensure your enthusiasm does not outstrip your talent.
"At under 3000rpm the V6 drones and pops through the exhaust on over run. Opening the hood releases a roof-open-at-the-Millennium-Stadium experience; there’s sky, but its limits are strictly defined. By no means is this a panoramic convertible"



In the real world you’d seldom use more than the Performance/Sport modes: this is an 818bhp car which is 4565mm long, 1958mm wide and 1187mm tall, so threading it down a normal road is tough enough as it is without any additional drama and the 296 is surprisingly fast in these lesser settings and with a better ride quality from the adjustable damping too.
At under 3000rpm the V6 drones and pops through the exhaust on over run. Opening the hood releases a roof-open-at-the-Millennium-Stadium experience; there’s sky, but its limits are strictly defined. By no means is this a panoramic convertible. The sound quality improves, though at times you’d swear you were being overtaken by a steam tractor only to find that it’s the V6 making that racket. There’s also surprisingly little wind buffeting in the cabin with the top down and as we were to discover later, rain is deflected over the top of the passengers.
Extend your right foot a little more, and you can start to feel the effect of three litres, two turbochargers and a powerful electric motor, though in what order and quantity it’s difficult to detect. For all its extra weight and slight chassis flex, this is a devastatingly powerful car with the capability of throwing you up a public road quite a bit faster than you’d really want. Overtaking becomes a mere exercise in guidance, corners scamper up to the low pointy nose as if magicked into vision. Driving becomes an exercise in self control.
Even so, that 818bhp figure is a bit of a misnomer, since you only get it with a full battery and in Qualify mode. The rest of the time the chassis sensors are blunting the engine’s performance, though when the back does step sideways on a rain-soaked corner, you find the steering, up to then a bit over assisted, is a faithful friend in getting the car straight again.
It’s important to remember the different conditions in which I drove the berlinetta and spider (bone dry, long corners and a race track for the former, with slippery, blind corners and rain for the latter), but it’s hard to get out of my head that the drophead felt more adjustable and approachable if a bit looser than the coupé, with a tiny bit more roll into the corner and a bit more flex to inform your (aching) bum and the steering.
The 296 GTB and GTS are, then, quite different cars and each to his own. I seldom recommend a drophead over a coupé, but in this case, I think I would, even with the price premium of £37,343 (the GTS is £278,893 plus £25,930 for the Fiorano pack which gives a lot of extra carbon fibre trim and nicer wheels).
No one needs a Ferrari, but if you want a 296 then the GTS offers more of a sense of occasion, just as much performance and is that tiny bit more comprehendable by an ordinary driver. As Marc Gené, the charming and eloquent former F1 driver and Le Mans winner, put it at the launch of the GTB: ‘this is a racing driver’s Ferrari.’ I’d go further for the GTS: ‘this is a Ferrari driver’s Ferrari…’
Ferrari 296 GTS review
Engine:
2992cc, V6, twin-turbo, hybrid
Transmission:
8-speed dual-clutch, RWD
Power:
818bhp @ 7500rpm
Torque:
546lb ft @ 6250rpm
Weight:
1640kg (estimated kerb, 1540kg claimed dry)
Power-to-weight:
499bhp/tonne
0-62mph:
2.9 seconds
Top speed:
205mph
Price:
£278,893





