summer discussions about 3x8 models (100% useless)

today is my last day of holidays: tomorrow I have to come back to work. My best Idea to spend this last free afternoon is a completety useless opinion about the various 3x8 models. Please do not judge me for this: I already know I'm mentally ill...
I had/drove/managed/have various models of the series so I can annoy you with my opinions, and you can do the same with me, of course

Well: I will start in reverse order of age (more or less), from the latest one to the first one.


F40 (1987)
Yes, the F40: I consider the F40 the latest evolution of the series, a sort of super tuned 308. You could say "it's another car": yes and no. If you sit on it and start it, you will see it still has many things that looks taken from the 328. Even the crankcase (modified) is the same, more or less. It's one of the most fascinating of the serie, due to its huge and brue sudden power, that always try to kill you. In my opinion it's the worst looking of them all, as it has no more a bit of the 308 pure and balanced shape, but has a ton of aggressivity that makes it to look gorgeous even if it isn't at all. It's an half race car (just half, the other half is more like a 328 than a race car...). I never had one, I cannot afford it, but I never desired to have one: I prefer car with a different shape, like the 275 GTB, this one looks too much "German" and "Koenig" but who cares, it's a milestone and a great car, but it will be the last one of the serie I would buy (if I could afford it...).


288 GTO (1983)
In the 288 the 3x8 relationship is much more easier to see than in the F40, even if it’s more an F40 with a different body than a tuned up 308QV. Please don’t say “it’s a race car”: it has the 308 GT4 and 308 GTB/S crankshaft, so it isn’t. This is the car that I know less, as I just saw it. It’s an exotic car very rare and powerful: a less "German"car than the F40, even if it looks to be a perfect "Koenig" 308 QV that destroys the 308 Italian shape purity. Looks great and it’s much more rare and less known than the F40. I cannot afford it, but yes, I would like to have one and it's one of my favourite of the whole serie.


328 GTB/S (1985)
This model is the best model of the serie, no doubt about it. It has everything: the largest displacement, a good power, excellent drivability, excellent reliability (I think it's the most reliable Ferrari ever), very good looking, more modern than the 308 but still retains the a fantastic 308 shape. A masterpiece. Everythijng perfect? No. The switches are "FIAT" amd no more "Ferrari" like the 308. And then this is the "mass production" model of the series (6000+ cars just of the GTS) and the stock exhaust sound is disapponting: sounds much more like a washing machine than a Ferrari. The GTB version is by far the best, but you can't go roofless like the GTS...
I had both the GTB and GTS, but I sold both: why? I cannot keep them all, so I sold the less emotional cars, and the 328 is that. Yes, You cannot have everyting and no car can have evrything...
But I still think the 328 is the best of them all.


GTB/GTS turbo (1986)
This is a 328 with a 2 liters turbocharged engine: it retains ALL the 328 plus (except the big torque around idle and very low RPM) but isn't a mass production car and has a fantastic exhaust sound. Much better the GTB than the GTS, even more than for the 328. Gorgeous, very fast and powerful, reliable, higly emotional: It's my top pick.


308 quattrovalvole GTB/GTS (late 1982)
This is the most famous of the serie and and in the second place as best look: hasn't the power and reliability of the 328 but it's Magnum P.I. car: here the GTS is beter than the GTB, as Magnum drove the GTS...
The switches and interios are "Ferrari" and not "Fiat" like later models.
Evocative and gorgeous, fast, quite reliable: It's everyone dream, a great car and the best balanced model.


208 GTB/GTS turbo (early 1982)
This car has the Quattrovlavole body but with even a better looking due to the black venting grids, the NACA side air intakes, the splitted rear bumper, the venting holes, the standard front deep spoiler and the rear wing: I consider this car the best looking of the whole serie. The 2 liters turbocharged engine hasn't the power of the (later) QV but ties the contemporary 3 liters "i" serie. Unpleasant and without any power under 3000 RPM, has a fantastic exhaust sound . Much better the GTB than the GTS, like the intercooled models. Gorgeous, not very fast and powerful, not very reliable, not well known, but higly emotional and rare: It's an important car in Ferrari history.


308 GTBi/GTSi (1981)
This is an underrated model: i haven't nor I hadn't one, but I drove several times a GTBì and it's a great car: it's just a QV with less power, no less. Magnum PI drove this one too! and it's even rare. A very good car.


308 GTB drysump/GTS (1977)
It looks to be just a carbs versions of the others, but it isn’t: it’s a vintage car, that looks much older than the others when you sit on the driver seat, start the engine and drive it . It’s a fascinating vintage car, with a fantastic intake sound and very good exhaust sound too. A bit of gasoline smell when parked in the box, some warm up time before running smoth /carbs are carbs&#8230 but it’s my favourite one even if on some color (red, for example&#8230 isn’t so good looking like others. Here, despite Magnum PI first car was a carbed 308 GTS, MUCH more better the drysump GTB than the wetsump GTS. This is the last car I would sell and the first I would buy.


308 GTB vetroresina (1975)
This is the early one, the one that started the myth: the origin. I’m strange, I know but consider the steel drysump a better car at half price. In any case, its an important and fantastic looking car.


....And now feel free of insulting me in the way you want...

ciao

 

Well Albert, I just bought a wet sump 78 GTS and it is fantastic. It's better in many respects than my old injected car. Who knows whether the differences were just as big on the day these cars left the factory; for sure today my new '78 is in superior condition and is much sharper, more tactile and more enjoyable a drive than my old '80 i.

I have no intention of taking my car to the track (or even turning with very high g's on a normal road), so what benefits does the dry sump give except just knowing it is there? Of course, no GTS has the dry sump and I love the targa, so my question is a bit hypothetical for me.

I'm on holiday from tomorrow and when I get back I'll share some pictures of my new '78 nero.

 

Annoying? Ok...my 1980 308 GTSi does not have cup holders...

 

I agree with you on much of your commentary.

An important point to note is that the 3x8 series spans in that period of time where automotive technology tipped from mechanical controls to electric/electronic for all manufacturers. The shift from analog control to electric/electronic is very significant in my response to the various cars within the 3x8 series. While the electric switches in the F40, 288 and 328 provide improvements in functionality, they are also conspicuous symbols of a change to the electronic car. To me, they are cars just over the “electrified” line and I don’t like them as much as the cars in the series that precede this change. My “emotional” response to the 3x8 series is driven by nostalgia for the simpler times of simple mechanical cars.

In the same vein of mechanical simplicity, I like naturally aspirated engines over super-charging / turbo-charging (sorry Alberto). So, I strongly favor the 308 in the whole series.

Fairly early on, the 308 was converted to electronic ignition, so undeniably the “non-mechanical” accusation can be made of most cars in the series. There are also several vacuum-servo controls on the fuel-injected cars. But, interestingly, even the electronic ignition modules use vacuum inputs.

Within the 308 series, I strongly favor the fuel injected cars. I am amazed at how technologically simple the Bosch K-jet CIS system is. In its earlier incarnations, there were no electronic inputs and were controlled hydraulically (with gasoline being the hydraulic fluid). The system is still essentially a mechanical system. I favor it because of it's tune-up stability.

Very subjectively, I prefer the physical appearance of the older 308s; those with the black A pillars etc. The only car which combines the old paint job with the 4 valve engine is the 1983 QV, which is the car I own. I am not as vehement as you are, but I am as fond of the 1983 308 QV as you are about your darned 208s.

Well, …. actually no one can be as vehement as you are about the series.

 

As written, this is just a coffee bar discussion, so they are just my personal opinions written just to hear your personal ones and no more. Every single model is great and has plus and minus

Ciao

 

I think you missed one. I mean if you are going as far to include the 288 and F40 shouldnt you include the 308 GT4?

 

The GT4 is a Dino (it was born with that name) not a Ferrari: that's the reason why there isn't.

Ciao

 

I’ve always felt that a 328 with a 308 QV interior would be perfect. There’s something about those old mechanical silver on black switches & gauges that add an additional level of emotion to the driving experience.

 

I agree 100%. I'd add that the sound of carbs increase that level of emotion even further. And hearing them with the targa off on a GTS is surely the cream on the cake.

 

There is only ONE car mentioned that, for me is the ultimate, ONLY Ferrari that, IF I COULD AFFORD IT, I would absolutely never think about selling - no ifs, ands or buts - the 288 GTO.

 

Agree, but I would say a 308 QV with the 328 engine, drysump, carbs and the turbo exhaust would be the top: I prefer the old body of the 308 QV rather than the 328 one.
And a GTS with the GTB stiffness too.
(the drysump is useless today, but it's fascinating to have it)

Ciao

 

Alberto, I'm glad you like my '77 GTB. You said some very true things about the car. I love driving it (1,200 miles per year), I love taking care of it, reading about it, and talking about it!

 

hmmm I dont know. thats kind of weak if you ask me. its built by Ferrari, it soon became a Ferrari officially, and it is the birth of the 308 motor that all others descend from.

that being said, mine IS a Dino.

 

I could not agree more. If I had to have just one Ferrari but any Ferrari, the 288 GTO would be it.

Maybe one day.

 

Agree with your comments on the 328 series. No single one car can have it all but in my opinion the 328 got the closest.
It is only now in the last 4 or so years that they are getting the recognition they deserve and the prices and going up as a result.
But if money was no object, a 288 would be my choice every day of the week.

 

I am a forever lover of the 80-82 Bi/Si models.

Those were the ones I actually saw in the flesh for the first time back 81-83ish when I was 14-15 years old. I like the black A pillars, no hood vent or real spoiler thing. I bought every magazine that even had a single picture of one.

It's actually hard to find a classic red/tan Si that is 100% cosmetically factory these days. Most have black fender vents, or two mirrors, or a QV spoiler, or fender SF shields, etc. I like them just the way they looked when they rolled off the line in 1981.

But the prettiest of them all is a yellow/black GTB pre-cat carbed. Purest form.

 

Alberto,

I have experience of the 328 ( and unfortunately not that of the 288! ). It is the best and most synthetic description I read on the 328.

About the "mass production" quantity, gradually there mons less in good and original condition. So over time, 328 will not be a "mass production" car ... Especially GTB

 

Like my 81. 30k mi. I could be enticed to part with it if I don't get a buyer for my 328.

 

Tommy, my 1980 is "as is" off the assembly line....no cup holder!

 

+288

 

For me the 308 QV is Goldilocks. For longest time I shopped for 328s. But the interior of the 308 along with that deep exhaust note sold me on the 308. And yes it's slow. But it's also a sublime car to drive. I don't regret choosing the 308 over the 328.

 

I loved the interior of my first 82 gtsi. Problem was it was slower than it looked to be. So I rectified that with a modified 85 QV w/ ~350 hp. Now I have the looks and the speed and the reliability. For me this is the ultimate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Jeff, what do you mean slow? My 308 QV did 148 mph and I don't think that's top speed.
Maybe you meant it's not quick compare in today's standard. But I agree about the classic
look of the 308s interior.

 

my idea of the dream car mixing the various 3x8 model is this: a 208 turbo first serie (top look car with the old interior) with the turbo intercooler engine (top engine as brute power) bored at 71 mm (2.25 liters and 280 hp) to have a bit more power around idle. Here you have everything (old look, aggressive shape, passing lights, NACA, spoilers, black grids, intake sound, exhaust sound, rarity, power and emotions) without getting a 400 hp monster like the 288 GTO. A GTB red-cream-red, of course

One day I have to build it...

ciao

 

Alberto, You know how much I really love the 208 turbo GTB (only GTB, that's why I sold the GTS), but ....

No doubt, that the 270 HP 3.2 engine of the 328/Mondial 3.2 is a very very good and strong engine. I love to drive my Mondial 3.2 with that engine. It's the car/engine with the most usability of all 2/3x8 IMO.

Also no doubt, that the shape of the 208 turbo GTB is best looking line of all 2/3x8.

But: The 208 turbo is a very samll and lightwight car. The less powerfull engine (220 HP) accelerates the car very well. It's fast enough - more than that - it's a fast car, if you are early enough at the throttle

The 308 GT4 is the grandfather of ALL 2/3x8 / 288 /F40 ! It was the first car with that 3 litre V8 carbed engine. It was the first car with "sharp lines". It was the first "modern Ferrari". That is the reason, why that car should NOT be missed in that list.
btw it is the fastest 3x8 of all at the B-road (not at the "Autobahn" / highspeed). There is no other 3x8 wich would be able to follow a GT4 driven hard. The suspension, the wheelbase ... it's like a Gocart.

My personal ranking:
1. 288GTO (not to drive, but to own)
2. F40 (not to own, but to drive)
3. 308 GT4
4. 208 turbo GTB
5. 308 GTB Vetroresina drysump (EU only)
6. 308 GTB steel drysump (EU only)
7. 328 GTB (only because of the nearly perfect engine)
8. Turbo intercooler GTB
9. 308 QV GTB
10. 308 GTBi (2Vi)