Congrats Iain!
I can give a short feedback on my Roma:
-very comfortable drive (more so than 911), good straight line acceleration, turn in is a bit wider than 911
-material, fit and finishes are good
-however, the infotainment center is a disaster. Driving along and the whole central screen will blank out, and will return only upon restarting the car. This happened a few times. Took car back to dealer and they updated some software, and the blank screen has not reappear yet. But the bluetooth music keeps dropping in connection, even after the update. Not sure how much longer I can tolerate this. May not keep Roma for long... we will see.
Tim
2008 Cayenne Turbo; 2006 911 Club Coupe; 2016 911 GTS Club Coupe; 2015 Macan S; 2019 Speedster; 2021 Roma
Apologies, I missed the request for feedback on the Roma. I'd echo most of Tim's comments.
The ride quality with the magneride suspension option is very good and the car is much better on a long drive than any 911 I've previously owned as it has less cabin roar from the rear axle. It is a very quick car with effortless performance and a very good sound for a turbo engine. It will break traction in the lower gears if you are a bit throttle happy. There is no real noticeable turbo lag either with smooth, linear power.
I don't mind the infotainment set up in general but don't like the way CarPlay has been integrated. Ferrari have chosen to use the main display screen ahead of the driver for this function when it really should be displayed on the centre tablet. This is down to cost cutting I suspect as the SF90 and 296 only have the main dash display so they have designed the software to cover all three models. The CarPlay display is basically just a crude rectangular box that obsures the main dash display behind it if you are using apps like Waze or Google Maps where you need to keep the CarPlay screen open.
I've only had one glitch with my software and that was caused by a suspect faulty OEM battery tender. If the battery drops below a certain level of charge then the car doesn't like it. It must be an Italian thing as the supposed IBS (intelligent battery system) on my Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio is equally unhappy if not fully charged. Ever since I switched over to using a CTEK charger everything has been fine. My car was recently given a software reflash which I'm not happy with as it has removed some of the key functionality the car was originally sold upon. As I understand it, some owners like Tim were experiencing a lot of glitches and bugs and Ferrari decided to remove functionality in an effort to speed the system up. Reading between the lines I believe there is a problem when the passenger display option has been spec'ed on a car as it seems the the requirements of the 3 display screens may overwhelm the processor power. My car was absolutely fine before the reflash as I don't have the passenger display.
The looks are subjective but I think it is one of Ferrari's best designs in years. In isolation it does not look a very large car, especially in photographs, but those looks are deceptive. It is only a few centimetres shorter than the 812 and parked side by side they look virtually the same size. You sit slightly farther forward in the wheelbase in the Roma so although you still have a very long hood out front, it is a little easier to judge than the 812.
Ferrari have been steadily improving their build quality over the last decade or more and in this regard the car feels solid and well put together.
Beautiful car but I'm puzzled by how a company like Ferrari (and other high end marques) still struggles with these infotainment systems. Aren't they third party systems? BMW is still king in this department.
997.2 4S / BMW 745e / Donkervoort GT
The HMI system in the Roma (Human Machine Interface) is an internal project as I understand it. I guess the team is pretty small and this is their first real production version of it. BMW have been perfecting i-Drive for over 20 years now and make more cars in a couple of days of production than Ferrari make in a year so you can see there is going to be a resource imbalance in this area of tech. In contrast Lamborghini can piggyback off the huge volumes made by Audi for their tech but Ferrari have no such parent group to call upon.
The 3rd photo in this link shows the View Max screen showing the full sat nav map in the main dash display. That is one of the features they have simply abandoned with this update and as they have been shipping new Romas without the button for it on the steering wheel, it looks like it is destined not to return to this model which is frankly ridiculous.
https://www.ferrari.com/ko-KR/magazine/articles/human-machine-interface-technology
I get the ‘small team’ and ‘in house’ side, I owned a Donkervoort GT 😄 but we’re talking Ferrari here.
At these price points and pedigree you expect more, no? HMI is a pretty big part in the ownership experience, imagine Ferrari making a annoying stuttering gearbox because it’s a small volume manufacturer…
997.2 4S / BMW 745e / Donkervoort GT
spudgun:I get the ‘small team’ and ‘in house’ side, I owned a Donkervoort GT 😄 but we’re talking Ferrari here.
At these price points and pedigree you expect more, no? HMI is a pretty big part in the ownership experience, imagine Ferrari making a annoying stuttering gearbox because it’s a small volume manufacturer…
It's tough to do. Mclaren got it spectacularly wrong in the MP4-12C and beyond as well.
@ Targa Tim is right - it's just not good enough especially given the Roma's positioning as a daily driver and not to mention the PuroSangue..... but at least that will have a glorious V12 to ease the pain.
Apr 20, 2022 1:18:41 AM
Nice Ferrari. An improvement compared to recent designs, especially the mid-engine ones.
Although when closed the Spider looks very similar to the GTB, I prefer the greater simplicity of the rear deck/buttresses on the Berlinetta.
"Porsche....and Nothing else matters"
It looks good and Ferrari knows how to attract buyers with excessive power because otherwise, the V6 wouldn't sell too well in my opinion. Good offer from Ferrari I guess.
RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), BMW Z4 M40i (2022), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)
Drove the 296GTB this weekend and was very impressed. This thing flys, hybrid system so good integrated. Very stable back compared to the 720s. A joy to drive and absolute nice sounding inside. Only complain ist the looks departement. Its ok but not more. Maybe darker colors help.
Auto Zeitung Test Ferrari 296 GTB
Weight: 1644 kg
Test data:
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (K1)
0-100: 2,8 s
0-200: 7,4 s
0-300: 18,6 s
18m Slalom: 73,1 kph
100-0 cold: 33,4 m
100-0 warm: 31,6 m
Optional Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R (K2)
0-100: 2,7 s
0-200: 7,1 s
0-300: 17,9 s
18m Slalom: 75,3 kph
100-0 cold: 32,7 m
100-0 warm: 30,3 m
----------------------------
Auto Motor Und Sport Test - Ferrari 296 GTB
Power: 601 kW @ 7,479rpm
Torque: 877 Nm @ 6,315rpm
Acceleration (km/h):
0-80: 2,3
0-100: 2,9
0-120: 3,6
0-140: 4,4
0-160: 5,3
0-180: 6,3
0-200: 7,6
0-220: 9,0
0-240: 10,8
0-260: 12,9
0-280: 15,6
0-300: 19,3
1/4 Mile: 10,2 s @ 233 km/h
Braking:
100-0(Cold): 32,0 m
100-0(Warm): 31,3 m
Slalom 18m: 69,6 km/h
Double Lane Change: 152,9 km/h
Drag coefficient: -
Weight: 1,639 kg
Weight Distribution: 39.7/60.3%
Tire Brand: Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
Tire Size: 245/35/20 | 305/35/20
Price As Tested: 362,486 €
In my opinion, this is currently the best super car offer when it comes to the price/performance ratio.
Ferrari was very clever: They knew that the only way they could convince people to buy a V6 in such a car would be sublime performance at an acceptable price tag and they delivered.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Lamborghini Huracan Performante (2019), BMW Z4 M40i (2022), Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (2019 EU)
My 296 GTS has arrived. I went in totally different direction from my GTB with the spec. It's the historic colour Celeste Metallizzato with extra range Cuoio Toscano semi analine leather. It arrived from the factory on Thursday and I went to see it and take these photo's yesterday. It'll be a couple of weeks before they deliver it to me as it is going for PPF.
Love that interior color in particular - don’t remember seeing it before
22 GT3 Manual, 73 Carrera RS 2.9L Twin-Plug MFI Carbon Fiber replica. Former: 18 GT3 Manual, 16 Cayman GT4, 73 911S, Two 951S's, 996 C2, 993 C2, 98 Ferrari 550, 79 635CSi, 06 EVO9 with track mods