Ferrari 296 GTB 2022 Review – International

Sure, $568,300 is a lot to pay for your 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB, but this is more than a lot of car – it’s effectively Ferrari’s second EV-ish supercar (after the faster but less easy to drive SF90) with a whole new ICE monster on top.

OK, so it’s still a lot of money, and you can bet that with Ferrari’s usual options gouging, nobody is getting away with paying less than $700,000 for one, but perhaps it’s time to go and look at those photos again. Wouldn’t you pay just about anything to have one of these in your garage?

Ferrari buyers aren’t normal people, anyway, and almost half of them are expected to tip in another $73,299 for the Asseto Fiorano package, which gets you harder suspension that no doubt ruins the on-road ride, racing stripes, a 15kg weight saving thanks to lots more carbon-fibre bits, and bragging rights.

I was not surprised to hear that some people are ordering two 296s – one with and one without the Fiorano fluff.

The number to compare the price to, of course, is the cost of an F8 Tributo, which is a mere $484,888. This shows you just how highly Ferrari thinks its customers will rate its latest creation, although going north of the half-million mark surely does feel bold.

Don’t expect it to put anybody off, however. Buyers who’ve never even seen a 296 in the flesh have already slapped down deposits.

Does anyone really care how safe their 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB is?

Well, to a certain extent, anyone who buys one is a risk taker and possibly a speed addict, but at the same time they’d be very thankful for the car’s incredible suite of software, which somehow allows you to put 610kW to the road through the rear wheels alone without being constantly, uncontrollably sideways.

Euro NCAP has not crash tested a 296 yet and, considering what it would cost to do so, it’s not likely to happen any time soon. It does have a standard reversing camera, ABS, a tyre pressure monitor, brake pressure assist and a lot of stability control, but blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping are no doubt seen as unnecessary weight. You do get four airbags.

The real tech genius is in things like the six-way Central Dynamic Sensor, which is far more than the yaw sensors you’ll find in some cars, because it measures acceleration using a three-axis sensor. So basically it sees what the car is doing in three dimensions and then uses this information not to merely to react to your inputs, but to predict what you’re going to do and where the car will be next.

It gives that information to other systems, including Side Slip Control, which works with all the car’s traction systems to keep you pointing in the right direction.

The result of predicting rather than reacting is that you can barely feel the systems working, and yet this Ferrari feels completely controllable and never wild at the rear-end (unless you’re on a slippery racetrack, as we terrifyingly found out), which just makes it so easy to drive.

The 296 also has an impressive brake-by-wire system, which Ferrari says will allow you to absolutely hammer the brake pedal with impunity while the computers work out just how much braking you need. It can brake each wheel independently, too, so that if you’re braking hard into a corner you can do it harder and later without any loss of control.

Again, in the real world, and on the track, this works fantastically. The 296 has some of the most impressive brakes, combined with the best pedal feel, I’ve ever experienced. And there’s simply no nose pitch under hard stopping – you just stay flat, nailed to the road.

The real genius of the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB is in its wildly aggressive powertrain, which – in Performance or Qualifying modes – gives you the full benefit of having two power sources: a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 and a single electric motor on the rear axle, working in combination for maximum attack.

The result is a combined power figure of 610kW (just think about that number for a moment, and consider that the Ferrari F40 had 352kW) and 740Nm of torque (plus 315Nm from the electric motor) in a car that, thanks to its smaller (for Ferrari) engine, weighs just 1470kg.

That’s more power and more torque than the V12-powered 812 Superfast (588kW and 718Nm), and a whopping 80kW more than the fabulous and frenetic F8 Tributo.

And, as a kind of side bonus that buyers will use once or twice to impress their friends and then never again, you can run the 296 in EV-only EDrive mode for up to 25km, at speeds of up to 135km/h.

Ferrari says this is useful for entering the historical centres of European towns, but its engineers quietly admit the whole PHEV approach, for them, is about more power, not better fuel economy.

There’s also a Hybrid mode that switches between the engine and the electric motor, but it’s a bit annoying because just when you’re enjoying how fabulous it sounds it can suddenly fall silent, and frankly, who wants to drive a silent Ferrari? It’s like buying a great stereo and using it to listen to the sound of fish whispering.

While the combined powertrain gives you those huge numbers, the V6 itself is a work of entirely new art from Ferrari. It has a very unusual 120-degree angle between its cylinder banks, which allows a ‘hot-vee’ approach, with the two turbos nestled between the cylinder banks.

It also allows ideal exhaust gas flow to those turbos, which can spin to a staggering 180,000rpm (and you can certainly hear them working in the cabin).

The combination of evenly spaced firing intervals and a short trip from the engine to the single, centrally mounted exhaust outlet has allowed Ferrari to come up with something very special indeed; a V6 that sounds like a V12.

No, I didn’t believe it either when the Ferrari engineers made this bold claim, and boasted that they liked to call the 296’s engine “the piccolo V12”, but then they fired one up on the first morning of the launch and a thrill chill went down the spines of every journalist standing there.

To sit inside the 296 and play with the big, brassy and ballsy sounds you can get from the engine (and yes, they do use a hot tube to shove more sound into the cabin, but it’s all real sound, not fake), is an aural wonder.

While I still prefer the original, operatic screams of a non-turbo V8 like the one found in Ferrari’s 458, I have to admit I would be entirely happy with this engine’s sound performance. Indeed, it’s possibly even better than an F8 Tributo. It’s definitely, and noticeably, better to drive…

Which brings us to the performance, which simple numbers can’t do justice to, but here they are anyway.

The 296 GTB hits 100km/h in 2.9 seconds, which is not quite as impressive as its 0-200km/h time – a staggering 7.3 seconds. That’s a full second faster than the Ferrari 488’s and gives you some idea of how hard and strong the acceleration comes on as the two power systems combine in all their glory.

Frankly, I’ve never felt so stable, nor had a car feel so effortless and within itself, at 200km/h. From that point you can still put your foot down and feel it launching forward, as it rushes towards a top speed “in excess of 330km/h”.

We saw 270km/h on the track in an Asseto Fiorano and it was dead easy to get there, too.

Let me just start by saying that I have never, ever driven a better car than the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB. Nor have I enjoyed a day of driving more than the four-hour road loop we were allowed to enjoy in the winding hills outside Seville.

Yes, it took a while to get used to all that power, and it was raining for the first hour, which was mildly worrying, but the more you drove it, and the dryer it got, the more obscenely impressive it got (obscene because I couldn’t stop saying “f..k me, this is good”).

The sense of instantaneous, low-down (and midrange) torque that you get from a performance EV like the Porsche Taycan combines with the screaming top-end of a typically enthusiastic Ferrari engine that revs all the way to 8500rpm to make for an absolutely, deliciously intoxicating combination.

Many cars are fast, of course (although not many are this fast), but it is the way this Ferrari drives that boggles the mind and thrills the soul.

As I mentioned earlier, the brakes are simply incredible, and they need to be, because bends throw themselves at you with wild rapidity as your confidence grows. And this car really does allow you to drive in a way beyond what you might previously considered possible, because it is just so damn easy to steer at pace.

The steering, a new and stiffer system that Ferrari says will now be the benchmark for all its new cars, feels almost too quick, too darty, at first. The slightest whisper from your wrists and it is diving in that direction, but once you get used to that, it becomes second nature, effortless and a work of genius.

The feel through the wheel also loads up just enough to let you feel the road and enjoy the g forces. Then there is all that software working to keep you where you want to be, and no matter how hard I pushed (and the other journalists said the same) on the public-road drive, the rear-end just refused to come unstuck. This, again, just increases your confidence and allows you to push harder.

Indeed, the only problem with this car might be just how fast you have to drive to really appreciate how incredible it is.

Using a V6 allows the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB to be smaller, sharper and lower than mid-engined V8s of the past, which in turn allows this car to have the kind of short, sharp handling of a Mazda MX-5, only 1000 times more powerful (and nicer inside).

It also rides a lot better than a Mazda, thanks to its adjustable dampers, which just seem to get better the harder you drive.

I’ve been lucky enough to drive Ferrari’s other hybrid hero, the SF90 hypercar, which is even more powerful, and, incredibly, faster (0-100km/h in 2.5sec), but it’s just not as approachable, or as fun to drive, as the 296.

Funnily enough, “fun to drive” was the parameter Ferrari was working towards with this car. And they nailed it.

Yes, driving supercars is always fun, but I’ve never wanted to own one before, ever. They’re all just a bit too over the top, a bit silly, and the prices are just stupid.

But all logic goes out the window when you love driving something as much as I enjoyed the 296 GTB.

I want one, and I recommend that anyone who can afford one go out and buy one.

How much does the 2022 Ferrari 296 GTB cost?
Price: $568,300 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Fourth quarter 2022
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 plus a single electric motor
Output: 610kW/740Nm (plus 315Nm from the electric motor)
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 6.4L/100km
CO2: 149g/km
Safety rating: N/A