1984 Car and Driver Comparison Including 308

Wow, sure wouldn't help anyone trying to sell a Ferrari 3x8 - rated 8th of eight in one category, 7th of 8 in another.

The article might go a long way toward explaining why old Porsches sell for more money than old 3x8s.

I'd use that article if I was trying to BUY a 3x8 - to get the seller to lower the price!

 

the problem is that the article is using subjective scores, BIG difference to objective measured results. In other words bias can be used flagrantly...

The article is long and I've only read a couple pages but the Ferrari does manage to post better results then the subjective personal ones.

 

If you look at it that way, then 944's should go up in value and 911's shouldn't.

 

Maybe the comparison provides an explanation but the first place 944 and fifth place 928 don't have the ready market of the sixth place 911. So must be something beyond "handling" at work in the marketplace. Jon

PS didn't see previous post on same issue.

 

ridiculous article putting the Honda Prelude [Quaalude] ahead of the Ferrari, 911, 928 and Quattro.
Lets see how we feel about these cars now

 

Was gonna say... the Prelude, Supra, and 944 are all gone. 911 and 308 are appreciating classics.

Now I remember why I stopped reading Car and Driver.

 

Its not ridiculous at all, and I personally feel the same about these cars now as I did then.Of course with respect to classic car values these tests are meaningless and irrelevant. It was an all out test in period to see which car(s) handled best in all round circumstances, as well as looking at objective and subjective criteria from a number of testers. This is what car mags have been doing for well over 50 years now. It should not be a surprise. People who know about cars will not dispute the findings here. Why did it surprise you that a Prelude of the time would outhandle a 308 of the time? Or even the famous Road and track front page of the Honda CRX out gunning a Lotus Esprit on the skidpad. I remember quite clearly the 2nd generation prelude of the time and couldn't agree more. However, and here is the crux, many people who buy prestige marques (then and now) just don't care what the mag will say. And they don't care because many of the people in period buying such cars weren't and aren't race drivers or people who push their cars to the limits as they did for the test. All they are interested is the status the car brings, never mind what it handles like. And the same applies to classic car values. Many of the 60's and 70's Ferrari's handle terribly and are associated with all sorts of problems or foibles if you want to call them that. A 250 Lusso for example although beautiful, handles like a truck. Does it make a difference to its price tag now? No it doesn't. But in the end its not about which car is objectively the best. Its about collecting the car that is perceived as the "one to have" that's all......Classic car values are a very finicky business.

 

I guess that I should have sold my 308 in 1984, but..........I did not own it then.

 

I still have that issue from high school.

 

I thought car and driver went bankrupt ?

 

Good read. I'd have to agree about their driving impressions of the 308. I really don't care.
I'm not a particularly talented driver, but to me, the Porsche 944 was/is the best car I've ever driven on a track; not the fastest but the best feeling and most balanced. I have to take Dramamine before tracking a car and 3 laps into it I'm done. Do appreciate comments from true drivers though. Always want to know from those in the know what these cars are like up to and beyond the limit.

They tore the Esprit a new one too..lol.

I'd still take a 308 over all those cars combined. I love it's odd eccentricities.

 

The part that was interesting to me was to put it in the perspective of buying the car at the time. Had I been financially able to purchase a 308, there is no way I would have done it AT THE TIME based on that article. I would have wanted to like the Ferrari but back then I was primarily interested in a car's performance ability and it would have been impossible for me to "waste" my money on such a car.

As noted, the classic/collector market doesn't care about that.

But it's interesting that we joke about how soccer moms in current SUVs could outrun 3x8s when, it appears, that plenty of other allegedly lesser cars could do it back then as well.

Basically, what 3x8s have going for them performance-wise is the name and the ASSUMPTION by the general public that since they are Ferrari's, they must be really fast.

 

I doubt that any Ferrari 308 buyers in 1984 agonized over whether to buy a Prelude, Supra or 944 instead of a 308. At the time, I would venture that no prospective Ferrari owners were swayed by this article.

And yes, a 308 was a fast car back in the day. Remember, the first place 944 in 1984 did 0-60 in about 9 sec.

 

Typical C&D skewed to say whatever they want to say article. Sponsor driven opinion masked as data and fact. The Ferrari was second fastest on the track...Lotus was fastest, 911 third. Then all the rest of the bunch left in the dust. They can make up what ever test to drive what ever result...but the Willow Springs data doesn't lie unless someone is not driving the car to its capabilites.

Just for the record...Willow Springs lap ave MPH....note they don't give lap times as they would show even more pronounced differences....

1. Lotus Esprit Turbo 87.1 MPH
2. Ferrari 308 QV euro 86.8 MPH
3. Porsche 911 Carrera 86.7 MPH
4. Porsche 928S 85.1 MPH
5. Porsche 944 84.4 MPH
6. Audi Quattro 82.8 MPH
7. Toyota Celica Supra 81.5 MPH
8. Honda Prelude 78.8 MPH

 

Good point and I agree that the track times would have been the major deciding factor for me back then...again, I could not have afforded any of the top 5 cars at the time. Wonder how a Dodge Daytona turbo with aftermarket intercooler and track-computer with 15PSI of boost would have done? That's what I COULD afford at the time.

 

I wouldn't trade my 308 for ALL OF THEM!

 

As this has been said many times over .....

A Ferrari was to pack up a small overnight bag and your mistress and pedal to the metal in the mountains of Europe to a casino and rush back to the office the next day.

I suspect 200 full out track laps over a weekend the Porsche(s) and Ferrari would be the only cars that wouldn't leave a mass of nuts and bolts on the track to pick up.

As for the other cars on that list, great cars to go to work in at 6am to pay the bills.

 

I like the picture of Stig's dad.
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lets see if my math is close that's a spread of 1min43" to 1min54" aprox.

 

And here I thought all Ferrari's rolled off the line with a built in stig...

 

Anyone who has owned or driven a 944 knows they are terrific cars. Well deserved win in this case.

The 944 also beat out the Corvette, 928S, and 308 QV in the August 1983 issue of Road and Track.

 

I was only 6 back in '84, only discovered the 308 four years later...lol