308 GTsi: is there enough power to have fun?

Yup. And they paired it to a 4-speed transmission. And they mass-produced it.

I'll take a 308 any day of the week.

 

I have owned a lot of great cars 1600 MGA II, 66 327 L 79 Nova SS, 68 Z28, 66 Corvette L79, 93 RX 7 twin Turbo, and a 1982 308 GTBi, I was the original owner on all but the Vette and a 66 Ferrari 330 Gt. All Fast cars but for all around driving the 308 GTBi is at the top. It doesn’t have the g force of a L 79 or an RX 7 but the feel is like an MGA on steroids and 36 years later it starts drives feels and gets more comments than any car I have ever owned. I live where emissions equipment is not required on cars over 25 years (old Classics). So I have that and advance tuning probably 240hp tops but you really probably wouldn’t notice the difference from the all stock car. Performance is about the same in a quarter mike as the other cars I own in the high 14s at 95mph. Anybody looking for a Ferrari you won’t be disappointed with a 2v 308 injected car that’s been treated right. If your looking for pure torque just get a 1968 396 375HP Camaro but if you want most of everything a 308 GTBi is hard to beat. Don’t believe the slow dog talk you can go 165mph if your inclined to do so which is the same top speed I could get out of my 66 330GT with three dual Weber’s and Electric Overdrive and no noticeable increase in torque. Just sayn

 

As late as '89, the 328 had more HP and less weight than a Corvette. As far as muscle cars, there were no more production US "muscle cars" after 1971 due to emissions and insurance issues. What is now called the "Muscle Car Era" started in 1964 and ended in 1971. Even during the era, the base muscle cars from each manufacturer weren't all that quick. Most of them would turn the 1/4 mile in low 15's or high 14's in stock trim. Of course, the ones everyone "remembers" now, but few people actually purchased at the time, are the biggest engine, highest performing options which could turn in the 13's or even the high 12's though not with stock tires. Of course, by 3x8 standards, although the highest performers were pretty darn quick in a straight line, none of them could handle or stop worth a darn!

 

The seat bottom in a 308 is 9 inches off the ground. The sensation of speed is tremendous.

It is impossible to have too much power. One has to pick a point on the curve and be happy.

There are many many other factors beyond its power to weight ratio that keeps me loving my 308.

 

Thats a very good point. Driving 80 mph in my daily driver is nearly yawn-inducing. Doing that in a 308 is a completely different, very fun experience. And going around curves on a back road? It's a thrill in any 308.

 

Totally Agree. Doing 80 in my 2016 Cherokee is my boring commute to work whereas hitting 80mph on curves in my GTSI is a pure adrenaline rush and the car feels like it's on fire.

If you don't have fun in a 308 you had better check you pulse to make sure that you aren't dead

 

Yes, there is: 125S had 80 Hp

 

Is there enough power to have fun?
If you are planning on when you drive it looking to race people from stop light to stop light....nope.
If however you are going to be out doing spirited driving and enjoying the drive, then absolutely yes!

The feeling of speed is relative. The best example I can give is when I was younger and used to race people from stop lights or on areas we knew were about a 1/4 or what ever. When I was winning I would think “DAMN my car is fast!” And I can distinctly remember when someone would be pulling away from me how all of the sudden my car would seem soooo slow...! I had a 1986 Toyota MR2 and we had a 1/4 run marked off. I raced a guy in a Camero IROC ( it only had the 305) and I beat him every time. It absolutely killed him losing to a little 4 cylinder. Later I had a 91 turbo MR2 and would beat 5.0 Mustangs and again it just killed these guys to lose to a little 4 banger car.

I am also into motorcycles . I have had some bikes with BIG power, BMW HP4, Ducati 1199 and they were an absolute blast ( no pun intended). But you could only use the power for like......3 seconds before you were a cop away from jail time. I have smaller bikes, Ducati Scramber and even a Honda Grom 125 cc and I have a blast on that Grom! Full throttle everywhere I go, skipping my foot across the pavment as I go around a corner. It’s amazing how much fun I have on that little bike.

So now in my garage I have an 86 Toyota MR2 a 93 Turbo MR2 and an 89 328. None of them fast in a race against any modern car but all plenty fast enough to have a great time when I’m just out to have some fun. I love driving them all and in situations other than drag races I would suspect you would have a great time in any 3x8.

 

What you do at a stop light is let the guy in the Toyota chirp his tires and speed away and he ends up looking like a dooshbag to everyone watching while you remain the cool guy in the 308

 

Exactly ! And that is the exact advice my mechanic gave me years ago ( 2000 to be exact ) when i called asking what is was like to own a 308 and he said something to the effect of “ you have to be ready for all of these guys in their souped up Honda’s wanting to race you from the stop light, you just let them tear off because your the one riding in the Ferrari “ ( all said in a cool English accent ).

 

how about an 930? it will devour a 308... i had both.

 

As a former NHRA (Super Stock) drag racer and street racer for pink slips back in the day, I can't turn down a stoplight GP (traffic permitting). A 328 (I have no experience with the 308) will actually do reasonably well. It will seriously light up the tires off the line and chirp them hard into 2nd. I'm NOT saying it's a good car for that purpose or that people should do that with their 3x8s. But if you WANT to do it, the car will not be too disappointing and it sounds great! But, I agree, if you LOSE, it looks bad that such a fast-looking car...isn't.

 

In 1982? In the US? Plus it’s a Turbo, maybe level the field and put it up against the 1983 288 GTO and see who gets “devoured”

 

not fair, its a car to die for.... if i had a choice of any car the 288 got might just be the one

arent there more euro spec grey market 82 930s in usa then possibly anywhere else ? R&T test 0-60: 79 930 5 secs vs 84 GTO 5 sec, 1/4: 930: 13.7 vs secs GTO 14.1
beside the gto didnt come out till 84. can i ante you up with a 86 959 ?

anyhow 308 arent fast, no a gtbi wont go anywhere near 165 mph and no they dont handle like a go kart perhaps the most overused phrase on fchat. yes they will be fun with more power but they are a wonderful modern classic to drive and a joy to look at in stock form. as the years pass they will be even more special.

all the best

 

euro spec 308 gtbi car and usa spec 308 gtsi road and track test numbers... 16.1 sec 1/4... wow


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Well if we go down that road there are probably a billion more 911's than 308's worldwide. Porsche is just a more mainstream manufacturer and way bigger than Ferrari. But wheel to wheel throughout the years the 308 and your standard 911 were always pretty close. The Ferrari had more power, the Porsche was lighter, the Ferrari was quite a bit more expensive but they were direct competitors. The 308 was never meant to be a super or hyper car, it was the replacement for the Dino, just a pretty nice little GT sports car with enough spirit to have fun with. 1979 - 1982 were the worst years for sports cars in the US and I'm just trying to keep the comparisons relevant. As car guys we love them all.

 

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its sounds like you are making excuses now... through the years pretty close but the cheaper 3.0, SCs were always quicker and at time significantly so. price point wise a 308 straddled a 911 and a 930. it wasnt uncommon for 308 buyer to cross shop for a 930

hypercar? i dont think that term was coined up 40 years ago. regardless what its "meant" to be , the dino and the replacement 308 were homologated as a gr3 and gr4 car the later being a highly modified sports cars. while the early 911 with its 4 seats were classified as low as gr 2 which ran against bmw 2002, alfa and other smaller displacement touring cars.

79-82 i agree were low years in terms of performance but in the 911 case as well as many italian cars that include nearly all the fiat alfas lancia, maserati, i would say the first generation of usa 75-77 thermal reactor, smog pump emission cars were worse. a SC were a country mile faster than a 2.7 along with the intercooled 3.3 over the 3.0 930. virtually every single fiat lancia and alfa improved with the later cars as well. an early usa emission merak and urraco were dogs in comparisons to the later cars. one needs to be cautious of grand statements that generalized all the cars that may pigeon hole oneself.

i knew going when i bought my 2 308s that they werent barn burners. i still think they fabulous. as for the lowly often unloved 2v "i" models, i have a soft spot for them over the carb and qv's. when i come back to one, it'll most likely be a gtbi

all the best !

 

I think we're probably splitting hairs here between the 911 and the 308, both were uncompromising designs. The 911 was a display of how you could make something that was completely wrong work if you just threw enough German engineers at it and the 308 was a lovely car for which they said if you want it to look like that you're gonna have to sit like this. Fact is that in spite of all of their flaws the world is a more interesting place because of them.

 

I have a 77 Lotus Esprit S1 that I had completely restored and upgraded to the Dellorto carbs. The car snorts and pops putting out a whopping 160 horsepower. It is plenty quick, makes the right sounds and looks like it's doing 100 when rolling.

I had a 1980 GTSi and would put it in the same class. Take the targa top off, turn off the stereo and roll down the windows. You can exceed every posted speed limit and look good while doing it. Listen to the mechanical whining of the gears, that's all the "speed" you will need.

 

you can also have fun with a Go-Kart.

 

i would have to disagree with you once again. there were massive compromises in the 911.
with its linage that harkens back to beetle "peoples car", the 911 was conceived as a practical daily sports car. all the panels are tooled for mass production and the chassis was design for space efficiency hence the strut and trailing arm suspension to allow for more trunk and interior space. needless to say it had two more seats! this is in contrast to the artisan and race heritage approach to the dino/308 construction methods

Developed the same time as the 911 porsche also had an uncompromising sportscar in the 904. being mid engine, composite reinforce unit body chassis and proper double wishbone and 4 link rear suspension and race inspired, it was much closer in concept and configuration to the dino/308s.

yes i agree the 911 motor is in the wrong place for and uncompromising sportscar. however a fiberglass 76 308 gtb has been listed at curb 41/59 and 43.5/56.5 with driver while a 74 911 is 43/57 with driver and improves significantly with fuel since it located up front.

what folks fail to grasp is important role of the height of these old heavy drive-trains underneath the skin. the pcar being flat and the crank is in line with the tranny input shaft. the 308 is perched high up on top of the gearbox with 3 drop gears to bring the power down. this gives it a higher CG moment to the roll center despite the appearances piercing low slung bodywork. the pcar is exterior is taller and pedestrian dumpy looking but the effective cg is lower comparably.

can we derail this thread any further?

 

I think everything is about a persieved speed feeling you get, not just figures and clocks.
My oldist car is i 1965 Austin Cooper big S i bought when i was 15 years. 77 hp and 600 kg:s, felt really fast driving on ice tracks in Finland.
Now tuned to some 115 and feeling even faster and more fun.
Think that these tiny Coopers wan everything there was to win on rally or track from mid 60:s several years on. That is to saw in Europe.
MarkI 1984 GOLF GTI Special i had was 122 hp and 900kg:s, felt really fast in mid eighties.
My -85 Euro GTS QV. 240 hp 1300 kg:s, feels really great on winding roads and easier track use,
So the Ferrari has exactly double the horsepower as the leading hot hatch from the same period. 4-500 kgs more weight for the Ferrari.
Worst of all is my 2001 Sports 2000 Toni Kart with Iame Komet 125cc water-cooled kart engine. 32hp and 80kg:s.
Complete workout after 15 minutes track session in this and lots of fun.

To have fun for me has nothing to do with horsepowers, drag racers may oppose.
///TRS

 

As a 34 year owner of what is the substantially better handling car, the GTB, I think I have a more objective view of "fun to drive", or maybe it's just a jaundice eyed view. A Miata is fun to drive. Not a lot of power but handles and brakes well. 308s are great cars but performance wise the handling pretty much sucks. Braking is marginal at best. I love my 308, but I would never consider it fun to drive. I enjoy driving it on occasion, but I don't take it out expecting to have fun. If you want to spend 308 kind of money on a fun to drive car get a Boxster or Cayman depending on whether you want to go topless or not. More power, better handling and braking, and trouble free, and no timing belts to worry about. Perhaps not a popular view, but an honest, unemotional one.

 

I just returned a 718 Boxster (the flat 4 twin turbo) after a week & a fair few hundred miles whilst my Cayenne was serviced. It's very forgiving & engaging and can be used as a d/d if you don't need luggage space. A very impressive car, better in most respects than my 308 by quite some margin. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants an easy & entertaining drive.

I have much more fun when I'm out in the 308. Where it scores is the manual transmission & its unforgiving nature on those skinny tyres. You need to pay attention and work at driving it. Plus, it has better visibility, a better noise from that flat plane naturally aspirated carb V8 and it's leagues ahead in styling quality and coherence, both internal and external. Finally, you can lift the rear cover and actually see the engine.

Driving the 308 is always an event. The Boxster is just another roadster.

 

Had to jump in again with my $.02. I loved driving my ‘82 GTSi. It was fun, it was a Ferrari and it was my daily driver. Years later I read or heard somewhere that Ferrari purposely detuned/underpowered the 3X8 series so as not to compete performance wise with their more expensive 12cylinder cars. After all why spend more if you could get the same or better performance for less initial cost and maintenance cost? This spun in my head for years and always wondered what it would be like driving a 3X8 with a properly matched engine. By properly I mean more hp and more torque. Then I read about Mr. Paul Newman and others providing 3.4 engines with just those requirements. Bingo! Had to have it. Honestly as much fun as the stock ‘82 was my ‘85 QV with 350+ hp is just what the car needed to fulfill the lust. There is nothing I’ve driven that is as visceral and fun and affordable. And fast!


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