The Ride?

Hi Joe, I have had several 911s and 944s in the past. I agree my 308 is very stable at high speeds. I love the way the 308 rides and handles.

 

I love the ride of my stock 83 as well. It's VERY smooth and I like the rebound. The car takes bumps and pot holes and multipal bumps in a row with out much notice. I especially like it on the freeway. Here in California the freeway system is stone cold garbage! Every overpass is out of alignment due to age and settling and when my car hit a "Step Up" or "Step Down" it just floats across it all. Of course this isn't a "Track Car" it's just my "Grand Touring Car" and it does that very well!

 

I had the shocks rebuilt a couple of years ago on my 1978 308GTS and it rides and handles as well as my 2001 Corvette, just less power. BTW, I just turned over 19,000 too. Enjoy. Randy

 

All of the 308's and 328's I owned had pretty decent rides compard to many sports cars. And while they handle very well at 8/10ths, there is a lot of body roll that makes the "limit" lower than it would be otherwise. This becomes painfully obvious on track days. Still, they are great cars for attacking a twisty road. Also, tire noise is not much of an issue either.

Dave

 

The most common comment I get from 'non car' people who get to ride in my car is how comfortable the ride is. Everyone expects an old, very low, stiff sports car to be harsh and, as we all know, it's not!

 

The 308 is a boulevardier not a track day weapon (at least in stock form). As such it has quite compliant suspension - moderate damping, modest sized anti-roll bars, lots of travel (compared to other exotics) with modest springs. If your 308 is one of the early cars with the 14 inch wheels and 70 series rubber then you have a pretty cushy ride...not quite a cadillac but quite a ways from as modern corvette or porsche. Even the later 308/328 with the 16 inch wheels and 50/55 series rubber ride very well (again, similar suspension set up).

As indicated above, this compliant stock suspension shows itself on the track where there's considerable roll and pitching anywhere near the limit. My stock '82 308 couldn't hang anywhere near a lotus esprit or a corvette or a 964/996 in the corners and would also fall behind on the straight as well. But, that's not the point, she looks fantastic, is a comfortable car to drive and is exotic enough to be interesting but not so much as to be a real pain. Love it!