Ferrari 849 Testarossa review

The HUGE news in here is that Ferrari has seen the light and reinstated physical buttons to the steering wheel. The eManettino is still a haptic control, but everything else reverts to good old fashioned controls that actually work. Plus, the evocative big red start button is the perfect way to start your Ferrari experience.

Having said that, Apple CarPlay (and, we assume, its Android equivalent) is designed with touchscreens in mind, so toggling between the various functions is still a little clunky. Even so, we’re extremely grateful to welcome the return of common sense and the end of infuriating haptic controls that only seemed to work every third Tuesday.

The Assetto Fiorano cars feel nicely stripped back, with carbon fibre door panels, gorgeous carbon fibre seats with well-placed individual cushions but just enough alcantara to still feel pretty luxurious. The display for passengers always feels a little gimmicky, but it’s well executed and quite a fun novelty.

There’s more leather and a more GT-style feel to the standard cars, but it still feels a pretty focussed cabin and Ferrari talks a lot about a ‘single-seater’ feel for the driver. An exaggeration, but it certainly feels driver-centric and quite a special place to be.

Even so, the driving position isn’t as perfect as a McLaren 750S and the cabin doesn’t have the unhinged, old-school supercar vibes of the Revuelto.