Good evening everyone. During my search for an “affordable” 308 (I have also opened another thread on the GTBi and GTSi) today I met a nice 208 GTB, very very well preserved by his very kind owner near Firenze (Italia). Her looks are just amazing, but we had no time for a test drive. So far I had driven one 308 carb with too bad tires and one 308 GTBi, this last one for me being truly fantastic, especially between 5.000 and 7.000 rpms! Is there any current or former owner of 208s non-turbo here, who can tell me how fun this model can really be to drive? Thank you very much and hear from you soon, Nic
Just one advice: forget it. First, you would not find many persons with experience of this car, as this version (208 GTB) is the smallest production numbers of the whole 3x8 family, with only 140 built, and only for the Italian market; so the chance to find someone with experience of the car here is almost zero. Second: I know someone (a 328 GTB owner) who had the opportunity to try one: with 155 hp and 1.300 kilos, it is slower than the contemporary FIAT Uno; his words were: "this is so slow and so weak that it does not deserve the name Ferrari"'. And should you have to sell it again, well...good luck! Bad idea, if you ask me. Rgds
I have a 208gt 4 , Dino it’s fine every part and thus fix ability from a tech pov is identical , the consumables.Any F car guy can service them . They are rated with there 34 Webber’s at depending where you read 160-170 hp . Different gear ratios and lower final drive ( lower ) means they are very ply able low down pull easy from low revs and counterintuitively you can short shift .They are great in hilly terrain. The engine has a sweeter note and linear power delivery.No need to venture over 6000 rpm , it all 2-5000 , , even pulls from 1500 rpm in top . My daily is a 600 Hp , 200 mph 0to 60 in 4 . Something Bentley GT . I use the anologue F car as a w/e stress breaker and classic rally car .
Here Theses days let’s face it 70 s F cars are not bought for outright drag strip performance, there’s a I think a bit more to F car ownership than the 0 to 60 time . Previous F cars were a Testarossa followed by a 360 F 1 , the 208 is by far the sweetest , most enjoyable drive of the 3 . Testarosa was frightening rapid , all the weight at the back ,poor handling flexible chassis. 360 F1 you were just a passenger taken care of by the various on board nannies aka ECUs . 208 chassis and power balance means I can corner it , slide it on the throttle going round roundabouts.Never could do that with the other two ....unfortunately. Hope this helps .
the 208 GTB/GTS is a very nice carbed Ferrari, with a very nice sound. It's no slower than a 500K Euro Dino 206GT. You will enjoy it like a 308: the car it's the same, with only smaller bore. This said, that car doesn't represent much in Ferrari history, so (in my opinion) it won't ever reach great value. On the contrary the 208 turbo is another thing: if you want a rare car, maybe much better taking a 208 GTB turbo rather than a NA 208 GTB. Ciao
Thank you for the feedbak! I am exactly planning to drive it on the hills and the mountains behind Bologna, Italy. Would you really say that a 208 might even be funnier than a 308/328 in such conditions? Yesterday I was on a 328 on flat roads. Great car, but had the impression it is not noisy enough before 5.000 rpms! Lol Feels very powerful and strong, but the enjoyment is always beyond the public road speed limits... Still, I have not excluded it from my list yet. Ciao!
