2023 Ferrari 296GTS Breaks the V-8 Bloodline

It's tough enough when inflation and feature creep give us $40,000 Priuses and $80,000 pickups. But before we spray champagne praise all over the Ferrari 296GTS convertible—ooh, see how that Blu Corsa paint sparkles!—a sober drip must ping off a $500,300 as-driven price, from a base of $371,139. That base figure represents a $28,934 premium over the 296GTB coupe—a sum that repays itself the minute one retracts the roof panel on a sunny autumn day or moonlit night, as we did in New York's Hudson Valley. But Ferrari is also asking nearly $45,000 more for its plug-in-hybrid V-6 convertible than its F8 Spider predecessor. You know, the supercar with the mid-engine V-8 that's been Ferrari's stock-in-trade since the 1975 308 GTB. After nearly a half-century, Ferrari's V-8 bloodline has been broken.

Yet instead of baying for blood, like Porsche 993 airheads, Ferrari fans are largely taking it in stride, or even celebrating the 296. Why? It doesn't hurt that the Ferrari is gorgeous. Coupe or convertible, the 296 design seems certain to stand the test of time. Ferrari designers say their goal was authentic Italian forms, a silhouette that appears drawn with a single pencil stroke. A compact greenhouse sits low, bobbing in impossibly wavy fenders. Compact dimensions and a 1.9-inch-shorter wheelbase (versus recent mid-engine models) amplify the simplified charm in an era of relentless bloat. There's nothing extraneous, no overcompensating wings or South Beach jewelry, or even stark color contrasts between body and trim to interrupt the flow.

Then there's the magic of electrification, which turns the V-6 Ferrari into an 819-hp superhero that even a plug-in skeptic might find hard to lob kryptonite at. Recall that the 296GTB coupe is the quickest rear-drive car C/D has ever tested, sprinting into record books with a 2.4-second blast to 60 mph and an insane 9.7-second quarter-mile at 150 mph. Beyond objective speed, Ferrari insists it can measure driving "fun" via five discrete factors, including steering response, engine sound, and brake feel. Using those metrics as goalposts, Ferrari designed the 296 to objectively be its most fun-to-drive model.

After the top's 14.0-second opening ceremony near Bear Mountain, the six-cylinder fanfare begins, set to the symmetrical firing order of a naturally aspirated Ferrari V-12. Easing through opening curves, we've got an unbroken connection between our noggins, a pair of whooshing 180,000-rpm turbos, and a patented "hot tube" exhaust resonator that channels the engine's emotion into the cabin.

Maintaining the coupe's thrilling sound when the top is raised, including a wicked trebly register as the engine ascends to 8500 rpm, required redesigning the engine bay. Pro tip from a Ferrari technician: Lowering the rear glass and raising side windows further concentrates the delightfully layered sound.

Flavio Manzoni and his design department took an entirely new company approach to chopping the GTB's roof to deliver an appreciably better GTS convertible. The folding hardtop splits into two sections above the B-pillar that fold flush over the V-6, assuring proper thermal dissipation and a smooth roof appearance. The loss of the coupe's engine-under-glass setup is the only trade-off, although the redesigned deck still makes room for a smaller tinted viewing window.

An alluring tonneau cover design mimics the aerodynamic and cooling behavior of the coupe, including zero loss of downforce when the roof is lowered. The GTS can surge to a 205-mph top speed with roof up or down. The coupe's bravura flying buttresses are still here but with sculptural extensions that smartly house the fuel filler and charging port for the lithium-ion battery. Cozied into a classic Kamm tail, inspired by the 1963 250LM, an active rear spoiler switches up the function of previous Ferrari aero tails. It rises to boost downforce rather than ease drag, adding 220 pounds of wind heft to the rear axle. Ferrari says the fancy-folding top adds 154 pounds to the 296GTB, that when equipped with lightweight Assetto Fiorano package weighed 3532 pounds on our scales. Ferrari also claims the GTS is 50 percent stiffer than the F8 Spider.