Ferrari 296 GTS review, first drive

A Ferrari with a V6, that’s a plug-in hybrid and isn’t even built around a carbon fibre tub. Remember this was a company that started a whole different brand the last time it put a V6 in a production car rather than call it a Ferrari. So, if ever there was a Ferrari with everything to prove, it must be the 296 GTS. So we hopped on a plane and flew out to Dubai to find out whether Ferrari’s new GT coupe spider lives up to the prancing horse on the hood.

Buttresses. Flying home I penned down my thoughts about what I thought about the design of the 296 GTS. And I found my mind going back to buttresses and nomenclature pedanticisms. “But the buttresses on the GTB!” and “A GTS is supposed to be a targa”. Pardon my French but, these goddamn nerds! Yes, the buttresses from its tin-top sibling are gone and its place is a folding hardtop. And yes, Magnum PI’s 308 GTS was a Targa. Maybe Maranello doesn’t give two hoots about Tifosi nerds and their hackneyed facts. Both 296s were developed and designed concurrently and were expected to be recognised as siblings. But in its own right and sans the buttresses, the GTS is very much a gorgeous spider with broad shoulders and that svelte 296 form. What stands out straight off the bat is the incredible put-togetherness of the fully deployed roof mechanism. Truly, you could spend a few hours just watching the roof come off and back onto the GTS. It’s coordinated and beautiful mechanics in motion, and to say it like the Italians, it is all about the sensazione. We timed the top dropping to 15 seconds and this can be done on the move at speeds up to 45kmph.

The blue livery work that you see on the GTS is a homage to the 250 LM and is exclusive to the Assetto Fiorano pack that’s available on both the 296s. In short, that means carbon fibre ala everything and GT racing-derived adjustable multimatic shock absorbers. Carbon fibre appendages on the bumper, carbon fibre on the interiors and the dash. Our test car even had the optional extra carbon fibre bucket seats that look as pretty as they are uncomfortable. In all though, the Assetto Fiorano package shaves about 8kg from the scales on the stock 296 GTS which is significant when you realise that it means that this 800bhp drop top now weighs closer to 1,500kg. The heavy-handed application of carbon fibre ensures that even though the interiors are minimal, the cabin on the 296 GTS still feels avant-garde and exclusive. The instruments are your primary display too, and there isn’t much of an infotainment system aside from a slim screen on the passenger side that allows for a few media and navigation functions. In Ferrari’s defence, you paid for one of the most technologically advanced V6 motors in the world that has been specifically designed to sound like a V12. Are you really going to be listening to Drake? The minimalism on the Alcantara dash though, has led to the one thing I don’t like about the 296s and that’s the capacitive touch buttons on the steering wheel that are fiddly at best and the feeling of starting your Ferrari from a touch sensor on your steering wheel seems almost sacrilegious somehow, but with the GTS it’s just one of those peeves you’re going to have to accept, but it is, in my opinion, the only one.

Drop-top aside, the GTS still has the 296 family’s distinct silhouette. A silhouette that Ferrari design chief Flavio Manzoni says was inspired by the 250 LM, but rendered in a modern form. The ethos of the LM as a race car was functionality over form and yet, there was something about LM that captured the visual centre of the brain and left an indelible mark. That same ethos stays true in the GTS. The flowing lines across the car play magic with the air that passes over it, assigning it a purpose in making the 296, faster, grippier and slicker through the corners. Starting at the front the bumper’s distinct nose channels air down through the tunnel onto the tea tray that channels air under the body of the car to counteract the lift that is characteristic of the undercarriage of a car. This also creates a kind of suction that pulls the car down onto its front wheels, giving you more in-corner grip and steering. The rest of the air hitting the bumper is used by the front-mounted radiators.

Next up, are the cooling ducts neatly integrated into the headlight units, so neatly, that just finding them requires a close-up. This air is channelled through the arches to cool the carbon ceramic brakes and the tyres. The massive rear haunches have aeroducts too. These function as ram-air intakes and feed air into the twin-turbo V6. That’s not all, the 296 series is also the point of debut for the La Ferrari-inspired active rear wing, for extra downforce. From a design perspective, what stands out to me, is just how well the wing integrates into the tail section when it is not in use. You’d probably never even know it was there unless you had a GoPro on the tail while you were driving. The wing itself is not a beauty but deploys 360kg of downforce at 250kmph. That’s a little short of twenty-five per cent of the GTS' weight, which pushes the rear down and ensures you have traction.

At this point you’re wondering, well that’s a lot of tech. But with the 296s that is just the tip of the iceberg. The piece de resistance is the powertrain. The 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 hybrid that gives the 296 its name. Ferrari’s first V6 powertrain since the Dino (if you consider the Dino a Ferrari) and the only V6 hybrid that Ferrari has ever made, a plug-in hybrid at that. So it’s a couple of cylinders short of what was previously considered the baseline for a Ferrari (a V6 was also the reason the Dino was never officially a Ferrari) and that breakaway from convention could only be acceptable if this was just as quick (if not quicker than any of the generations before it). Oh and that it does with aplomb. The F8 with a whole litre and two cylinders broke the ton in 2.9 seconds; the 296 GTS does it in exactly the same time. But wait, extrapolate that to 200kmph and the F8 did it in 8.2 seconds, and the 296 GTS, does it in 7.6 seconds. That’s almost a full half-second quicker. Not a Ferrari? Also, it’s a PHEV, that not only uses the ICE motor to recharge but can be plugged in for a quick top-up when you need it. In pure EV mode, this Ferrari can drive up to 25km and do speeds up to 135kmph from a 164bhp onboard electric motor. So, if you live in a city that restricts/heavily taxes the entry of ICE motors, you could in theory, if for this example, if you live in London, drive down the A-roads and the M1 with the twin-turbo V6. Switch to electric and go into the city and be back on the highway with ICE power. In a Ferrari drop-top, I’m not going to lie that’s pretty cool. But honestly, I had a day with the 296 GTS. All I really wanted was to switch the Manettino to race and see what happens when you take all the Polar bear-friendly technology weaponise it and add some good old combusting extract ala dinosaur and send all of that to the rear wheels in the pursuit of speed. Honestly, I could fill this entire magazine with explaining all the technology and engineering black magic that goes into this extraordinary powertrain, be it the 120-degree crank on the V6 or the positioning of the turbos or even the way the transmission seamlessly blends the electric motor and the ICE or even the Formula 1-inspired MGU-K. It’s all quite magical.

But once again, let us embrace the sensazione. Because that is literally what all of this was designed for. Right down to the sound of the V6, which Ferrari has nicknamed the “piccolo V12” (little V12) because that’s precisely what it sounds like, and thanks to the hot-tube exhaust layout that ensures that the cabin doesn’t miss out on the aural experience. The almost telepathic obedience of the 8-speed dual-clutch as you slam your way through the gearbox or downshift your way to the corner. Which is the perfect segue into just how well this car corners. Considering that neither the GTB nor the GTS uses a carbon tub (because Ferrari claims that tubs are expensive to repair and usually need to be replaced altogether), the tautness of the chassis is absolutely incredible. Let us not forget this is the convertible spider and despite that, you never ever really feel any flex, lateral or otherwise.

The taut chassis, the 8-speed DCT that won’t say no and a throttle input that responds to every millimetre of input, and you might be inclined to forget that this is an 830bhp Ferrari RWD supercar that has a better power-to-weight ratio than the Bugatti Veyron encouraging you to push the tail out and let it hang a little longer than you should around corners. What makes the entire system even more rewarding is the ABS-evo system that reads off Ferrari’s revolutionary 6-axis IMU called the Chassis Dynamic Sensor, which feeds information into the system and the brakes depending on how much traction you have. That means even slammed down on the brakes, the system can effectively understand traction and let in some slip and even decrease the brake force to allow you to trail brake even if you have the right foot control of a jackhammer. There are no cold sweats, no sphincter clenching, the 296 GTS does everything in its power to make you feel like you’re a driving demi-god and does it so well that you’ll probably believe it. If that’s not worth the Rs 6.4 crore asking price, honestly, I don’t know what is.

Verdict

The 296 GTS is expensive. You could buy a Maserati MC20, total it, and buy another for about the same price as the GTS. You could save a crore and buy the Mclaren Artura, but I’ll tell you what you’d be slower in both, you’d be missing out on the marvel that is the piccolo V12 and all of that Formula 1-derived tech and you’d be missing out on doing all of that with the roof down. The GTS makes you feel special and more competent behind the wheel than you actually are and, free skills are always worth a couple of crores at least. And if you feel like the GTS is stretching the budget, you can save a few lakhs and buy the GTB.

Ferrari 296 GTS specs

Engine 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6 PHEV
Power 830bhp@8,000rpm
Max torque 740Nm@6,250rpm
Gearbox 8-speed DCT
Wheelbase (mm) 2,600
LxWxH (mm) 4,565x1,958x1,191
0-100kmph 2.9 seconds
Kerb weight 1,540kg
Price: Rs 6.24 crore (ex-showroom)
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