The very best thing about the new Ferrari Amalfi is...its steering wheel. Gone are the touch-sensitive controls that were so annoying that Ferrari latterly switched them off if you didn’t touch them for ten seconds to stop drivers from accidentally scrolling menus and activating cruise control while trying to enjoy a corner. That should’ve been a clue.
But you don’t have to buy an Amalfi to go back to buttons. The same common sense is now available to most recent Ferraris. As well as confirming the next batch of future Ferrari cars will also have the physical button wheel, product development boss Gianmaria Fulgenzi has told us that owners of existing cars can get the same clicky-button upgrade.
“Yes, you can have it,” said Fulgenzi when we asked him if the new old-school wheel was compatible with the likes of the 296 GTB, the Purosangue, SF90, and the 12Cilindri. “We don’t even have to replace the whole wheel. Just the center [boss],” he added.
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Fulgenzi also said owners who want this upgrade (that’ll be, um, everyone) won’t have to ship their car all the way back to Italy. Any local Ferrari dealer will be able to carry out the operation, “then we just do a short test drive to confirm all calibration is okay.” Easy!
Explaining the decision to go back to buttons, Ferrari’s marketing boss Enrico Galliera told TG: “Our philosophy is always ‘hands on the wheel, eyes on the roads. But we were finding people were having too much time with their eyes also on the wheel. We listened to our customers.”
Going further, he explained why Ferrari even bothered with the touch-sensitive nonsense (see the photo above) in the first place: “When we were designing the SF90, we set out to create the most high-performing Ferrari.” He said that meant everything—not just the 986hp hybrid drivetrain—had to make things happen as fast as possible. Ferrari design chief Flavio Manzoni also commented that “beauty is simplicity.” He’s a noted fan of minimalist controls.
But Galliera conceded: “When you are using a touchscreen phone, you are much faster. But we recognize that when you are also driving, too often, it was hands on the wheel, but also eyes on the wheel.”
Galliera also said the interior HMI (human media interface) was “probably too advanced and not 100% perfect in use. We’re re-balancing, not changing our strategy.”
We could get all ‘told you so’ here. But...we won’t. Because we’re just relieved Ferrari has decided its brilliant supercars don’t deserve to be spoiled with naff infotainment controls that turn every drive into an irritation. Grazie, regazzi.
What next? iDrive clickwheels remaining in BMWs? Knurled knobs returning to Audis? Teslas with gear selector stalks? We can dream—let’s start a comments section wish list.
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
