2020 Ferrari F8 Tributo Pros and Cons Review: Thrills and Chills

In reviewing the 2020 Ferrari F8 Tributo with correct readability, there’s a want to return just a few years and admit with gentle chagrin that our 2017 Best Driver’s Car–winning Ferrari 488 GTB might need been a ringer. This goes past Ferrari sending 4 manufacturing unit techs to work day and night time to make sure every thing ran completely. (Against this, Porsche historically sends Frank the PR man, who watches the Italian antics with gentle amusement.)

Relatively, the 488‘s testing numbers we posted had been extra akin to what the 661-hp GTB would have produced had it been chipped to 800 hp. And well-placed sources with deep connections say that may certainly have been the case. However what’s that the outdated salts say? “If you happen to ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.” It might be removed from the primary time a producer despatched a scorching automobile to a motoring journal’s shootout. Hey, harmless till confirmed responsible, proper?

Quick ahead to this 12 months’s contest, and witness the 488’s religious successor, the F8 Tributo. It is lighter, and it has extra energy. However is it sooner? Not in keeping with our check numbers, the place the old 488 GTB was faster to 60 mph, neck and neck on the quarter, and faster across the determine eight with a a lot larger common g load. Plus, it turned an astonishing 0.6 second faster lap time round Laguna Seca raceway.

The F8 Tributo had points, too, probably the most severe of which being its wood brakes (not our first expertise in a Ferrari) that required a trackside rebuild—an estimated $20,000-plus repair at your neighborhood Ferrari seller. Then, after an incomplete bedding-in by a Ferrari tech, the F8 had mild-mannered pro racer Randy Pobst swearing a blue streak as he blew by Laguna Seca’s essential Flip 11 and into the gravel lure.

So what is the take care of the F8 Tributo? “Intermittent thrills and chills adopted by clenched tooth and aid,” highway check editor Chris Walton mentioned. “This was the one automobile that spooked me at Laguna Seca.”

The F8’s super-quick steering ratio, mixed with its too-light steering really feel, prompted some nervy moments when aiming for the apex. Pobst’s reply: CT-Off mode, the place the nannies nonetheless ship a we-got-this reassurance to the motive force.

Options editor Scott Evans additionally took subject with corner-exit traction: “Leaving a decent nook with any gusto felt like dancing on a landmine. The automobile cannot put the ability down when there’s any steering in it. You are asking for snappy energy oversteer. No thanks. This automobile feels dicey while you push all of it the way in which.”

Nonetheless, going quick in a straight line to impress your passenger is one thing the Ferrari missile does very properly, senior options editor Jonny Lieberman mentioned, including that the dual-clutch transmission shifts “like a buttered hummingbird” and that the column-mounted carbon-fiber paddle shifters are a tactile delight.

As soon as off-track, everybody praised Ferrari’s “bumpy highway” driving mode, which turns freeway enlargement joints and large rig-induced chop into afterthoughts.

Some judges had been underwhelmed by the F8’s fairly tame engine and exhaust notes. There was no shrieking, no sound of shredding paper. Only a humdrum thrum. Even throughout Pobst’s scorching laps, the Ferrari did not blow up the observe’s 92-dB sound meter; the Lamborghini did it in fifth-gear coasting at 60 mph. This impacts the motive force, as properly, as there isn’t any aural trace that the engine is approaching redline—thank goodness for the shift-alert lights mounted within the steering wheel rim.

And though this exotica comes with an expectedly steep price ticket (the F8’s $277,480 base worth roared as much as $386,288 with choices), we could not decide which was the more severe worth gouging: charging $34,000 for carbon-fiber wheels (additionally a part of an enormous $18,500 bundle on the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500—the wheels are made by the identical provider, too) or $4,200 for Apple CarPlay compatibility (a characteristic that is baked into the value of a Kia). In wanting on the whole bundle, we advise you to do the mathematics.

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