328 - '89 (ABS) or previous years?

wheels, suspension differences, door handles - those are the few that come to mind quickly... may be others. I own a 86.
Rumor has it the ABS was not that of todays technology....

Good Luck in your hunt!
Chris

 

There are a few differences between 88.5, 89s, and the 86-88s. The biggest difference between the 88.5 and the 89s are ABS. Yes the system is not anything close to what are on modern cars. ABS was in its infancy in the 1980s, a handful of cars had it, the 86 and later Porsche 928S, 87 and later 944s, the 89 964 Carrera 4, most if not all MBs by the late 80s, and maybe a handful of other cars including the 1989 328. Its always been said that ABS was an option in Europe on the 88.5 328s, but I've never seen anything other than an 89 that had it. Is ABS the reason to buy one year over another probably not.

There are more differences between the 86-88 when compared to 88.5-89s. The biggest difference is the suspension. Another Fchatter "Hardtop" /Dave discussed the difference in the suspension feel between the early cars and later cars he has owned both and seem to prefer the later cars. Do a search for posts he has done using the member list to find his discussion on this. I found what I believe is the link: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=137739081#post137739081 It centered around whether the 89s were better or worse to drive than earlier years.

Most of the other differences other than suspension and wheels of earlier vs later cars seem to be more related to trim pieces. For the interior the inner door handle placement moved from a hidden position to on the arm rest, also on later cars the armrests/mappockets match the door pull color rather than matching the door panel color. Also the 89s, possibly 88.5 have different manual controls for adjusting the seats (not a big deal). There are also Ferrari insignias on the mirrors of later cars and a rubber gasket around the exterior door handle of most later cars.

The topic of differences between earlier and later 328s has come up several times use the search function to get more info.
The best thing to do is take your time to search for the best example you can find.

Best regards,
Dino

 

Hi Mike,

Not sure if you picked up on this but its my understanding that the original post which questioned whether 89s handle worse than other years was based on information a potential buyer got from a person trying to sell an earlier year 328. None of these cars handle poorly, there maybe be a slight difference in feel. But since you are in the shopping process look for an early and a later version to test drive and see if you notice a difference, or if any difference matters to you. I tend to give a good amount of weight to Hardtop's observations about early vs later 328s as he is probably one of the few Fchatters that has owned an early car an 87 328 and a later car( '89). In fact he just bought a second 89 328 recently.

Best regards and enjoy your search, also make sure you get a PPI, its not a guarantee but it could save you from some expenses and headaches.
Dino

 

I feel I should weigh in here as well since I have had 3 concave wheel 328's and 3 convex wheel 328's over the last five years. I agree with most that the difference in feel between an early 328 and a late one is rather small. I always felt that my later 328's, and in particular my 89's, always felt a little more refined and even better built than the earlier ones but this is subjective at best. I can tell you that condition and service history should absolutely trump minor details like the ones that differentiate these cars. Next, it should come down to personal preference. None of the years are bad so go with what looks better to you. I have a concave wheel car now, so what's my obvious choice for its eventual replacement? Convex wheel, of course.

 

Good luck and hopefully congrats on a 328. What color combination is the potential car?

Best regards,
Dino

 

Sounds like it should be a good car and good choice. BTW, R/T is popular for a reason---it looks great. People talk about other colors being wonderful but when it comes time to lay money down most still choose red.

I don't need to repeat what has been said in earlier threads but I do want to second Augustine's comments. He's the champ for owning 328's. I've only bought 3. Every year was good. Finding a really good car is more important.

Congrats,
Dave