Dang. Harsh http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658533_1658043,00.html Penned by Dan Neil
I've found that most lists of "Best" and "Worst" cars need to be taken with more grains of salt than found in a Super-sized McDonald's order of french fries. Essentially, theses lists are often compiled by people recycling old stereotypes. Usually the lists contain the standard entries, such as the Edsel (which was a fantastic car launched exactly as an automotive recession hit), the Triumph TR7 (a car that by the time the convertible arrived was the fastest, best handling, most comfortable TR produced -- only to be outdone by the TR8, a car not nearly as responsive or fun to drive.) And this is the issue -- infrequently have any of the authors actually driven (or much less -- owned) the cars they bash. The write-up of the Mondial is somewhat of a joke. One must analyze why the Mondial can be on the list of 50 worst cars when the 308 (in its entire series) is often on the 100 best cars. If the ignition system / electrical system is bad, it is bad in both cars. Certainly the service applied to all Ferraris. And shall we point out that one would be hard pressed to find more than a handful of other cars available in the American market that had more horsepower in 1981 when the dear beloved Corvette was fat and anemic as well. We also all know that the Mondial wasn't designed to be the "cheap" Ferrari -- unless, of course, the 308 GTS/GTB were also considered to be entry-level. While I don't have the 1981 price handy, in 1987 the Mondial was $4,000 more (64K vs. 68K) than a 328 GTS. I just wish my fellow automotive (and non-automotive) journalists did better research on their lists. There have been some really bad cars deserving of inclusion on a list of this nature, but the Mondial certainly is not one of them.
OK it is bad in both cars, but apparently the Mondial is much worse. The two systems are apparently very different. Yes, both fuse boxes suck, but there is a solution for the 308 with Birdman's blocks. The Mondial has a printed circuit board that was poorly engineered and then poorly constructed. I'm not sure the Mondial community has found a real solution yet.
Yep we Finally do, A completely redone brand new board with relays, available shortly. we can thank Clive here AKA Zertic and his efforts. Other than the electronics I don't get the gripe about the Mondi, I love mine. great seating for 4 and the longer wheelbase provides for better handling.
I wouldn't put the Mondial 8 on the 'worst' list, but IIRC it was a initially a 3500lb car in U.S. trim, with 214bhp under the bonnet and a disappointing 9.5 sec 0-60 run. I'd have to go back and check my numbers, but I believe the VW Rabbit GTI was doing close to that by 1983. I remember the launch of the Mondial, and journalists back then were very critical of the car.
No doubt that journalists were somewhat critical of the performance of the Mondial 8, but only because it was not so far and away better than other contemporary performance vehicles, as had been the tradition at Ferrari. The same journalists also heaped praise on the Mondial 8's luxury, ride quality, steering (not so happy about the body roll), sound and overall feeling of quality. It is also true that initial road tests had put the 0-60 time in the low 9s...this was at a time when Corvettes were in mid-to-high 8s, and the majority of Mustangs were over 10. Again, my point is that a car cannot be justified for consideration of a lists of worsts unless it is bad compared to its contemporaries. (Which is why the inclusion of the Model T is a joke, since it was one of the few cars at any price that could actually drive the majority of American "roads" -- aka. muddy trails.) Many cars of the era had printed circuit boards, so to single the Mondial out isn't really fair. In terms of reliability and number of issues/recalls/problem areas, there are dozens of cars I can think of off the top of my head that were far worse. the '84 Corvette was far and away worse. What about the NSU Ro80, which literally broke the company with warranty repairs? (A great car with a poorly developed engine.) Then there were the first Jaguar V12s to utilize catalytic converters in the US market...you might remember those, as they were usually on fire. Speaking of fire, Stanley examples to this day catch on fire at a rate of several per year due to a constant fuel delivery system and a pilot light prone to blowing out. I think that the DeLorean is a perfect inclusion in this list, because it shows exactly what makes a horrible car: more expensive, less performance (both acceleration and handling), less reliability than contemporary competitors with the failure of the company and indictments (and convictions) as icing on the cake.
There was also some lack of originality as the designer stole a lot of design cues from the Lancia Montecarlo!
That might not be an extremely fair assessment. While I do love the Lancia Montecarlo, in actuality, there were design sketches of the DMC before the Montecarlo emerged. The whole styling ethos of the DMC (as well as the Montecarlo/Scorpion) was derived as an evolutionary step from earlier designs from Ghia (Pantera), Bertone (Countach, Jarama, 308 GT4, and Stratos), Pininfarina (Daytona), and Guigiaro (Bora and Merak).
you mean like the least attractive playboy centerfold? i think a '88 mondial 3.2 coupe is better looking than any 612 scagleitti i've seen so far. just my opinion... joe
some of us older guys remember when 246s and 250/330 2+2 cars were treated as relative throw-aways more so than the Mondial.
I wouldn't say the Mondial is or has ever been the least popular Ferrari. For ages the 365 2+2 , then the C/4 and finally the 365-412 series were the least desirable. The original 365 2+2 was seen as too heavy, too long and too ungainly. Certainly the automatic-equipped 365-400 cars have been thrashed in the collector market. Even 250 GTEs, while popular when new, were for decades treated by enthusiasts as only good for donating their chassis for Spider conversions.
Dan Neil's a Pulitzer-winning journalist - probably the top of the heap in the U.S. I would guess he drives what he wants, and he does know a bit about cars. Obviously not a Mondial fan, but mostly I think he was out to write an interesting article and it would have been dull to simply list every GM, Chrysler, and Ford disaster to fill the list.
I thought this discussion was about the Mondial 8 and it would take me a millisecond to choose a 612 over a Mondial....
It's very easy for a person who owns fun cars (an "enthusiast") to do a poor job of writing an article of this nature -- even a Pulitzer winner. As we all know, the hobby is full of urban legend (Chevy Nova failed because Nova translated to "doesn't run"), half-truths (Triumph's TR2's engine was from a tractor), revisionist history (Tucker was put out of biz by a Big Three conspiracy), and hindsight (LED gauges stink). Even owners of specific cars often don't understand the history or mechanical significance of these vehicles they show. I'll never forget when an owner of a Vespa microcar told me and a bunch of other people at a local show here that his car was not Italian, but rather French...and that it was no relation to the scooter company. I tried to explain that his car was indeed a product of the scooter company, but that it was assembled in France by a French-owned subsidiary (as was required by the government regulations.) He denied it had anything to do with the scooter company. Of course, he had removed the air cooled engine and put in a three-cyl Geo. So even if the writer owns an MGA, it is easy for him to misinterpret the contemporary success of any of these vehicles -- even the MGA Twin Cam!
