Inside Line uses long-term Ferrari 308 in comparo
Inside Line, owner of the world's coolest long-term tester, a 1984 Ferrari 308, decided to have a little fun by pitting the Magnum-mobile against a modern car in a bona-fide side-by-side comparo. Before visions of Boxsters, Corvettes, Elises or Z-cars lining up with Ferrari's 80s icon take hold in your noggins, understand that this particular test is a bit unorthodox. Maybe very unorthodox. You see, the car Inside Line compared the Ferrari to is... the Kia Sedona.
The entertaining write-up reminds us of the good old days of fun-to-read, silly comparos like the Chevy Beretta vs. the Beretta 92 handgun. This one actually has a modicum of validity, however, in that both test subjects are actually cars. One outperforms the other, and there's a substantial practicality gap there (the photos displaying each vehicle's bike-hauling chops are priceless), so the winner might come as a surprise. Or not. We're not going to spoil the fun. Go read IL's Ferrari vs. Kia comparo for yourselves.
[Source: Inside Line]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
El Calor 10:37AM (9/19/2007)
The Ferrari 308 is definitely an icon!
http://www.Ferrari-Talk.com
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Lucas 10:44AM (9/19/2007)
308s and 328s are lame and every owner I have met is a dork and/or a wanna be. They do not have a cool classic appeal like, say, an 308 GT4 or a 400.
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felipe 10:49AM (9/19/2007)
so you'd rather have the Kia Van ??
what do you drive?? that isnt a 'dork' mobile like the Ferrari 308?
(dare you to day that to Tom Magnums face.)
CoffeeJones 12:11PM (9/19/2007)
They paid $20,000 for it. Something a regular person could afford.
That's part of the wacky comparison.
Lucas 11:10AM (9/19/2007)
What I drive is neither here nor there. Nor is the Kia van. The 308/328 is dorky regardless of whether I have an Aston or a Yugo.
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John R 11:26AM (9/19/2007)
I'm in the wrong business. I should have gotten into automotive journalism.
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why not the LS2/LS7? 12:08PM (9/19/2007)
A friend has this exact Ferrari. Red 308 GTSi qv. I note this review didn't cover maintenance costs. That car is very expensive to drive, it just needs to many adjustments and repairs.
It's a cool car, I'm not putting it down. But for me, I'd far rather have a 348. Dead sexy.
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Alex Nunez 12:11PM (9/19/2007)
Click the inline text link of "1984 Ferrari 308" above. it goes to all of Inside Line's Long-Term entries for the 308, which do indeed show that she's expensive to run.
Chaz 12:29PM (9/19/2007)
This may make the author call me lactose intolerant, erm, thrice, but this article is taking itself way too seriously to be compared with the great absurd comparos and specialty file articles C/D used to do really well. It's also just not that good a read, coming across as something that should be on a "forgettable 1980s Ferraris" forum, rather than a legitimate automotive website. I'd sooner the Sedona in this case, sure, but give me an interesting option like an Alfa Montreal, Honda S800 or Lancia Stratos and I may well reconsider.
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Chaz 12:39PM (9/19/2007)
Concession-
The long term blog is pretty entertaining, as is Scott Oldham's "second opinion" piece.
zach 12:36PM (9/19/2007)
wow, people here are taking themsevles quite seriously today aren't they?
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J 12:44PM (9/19/2007)
"The only way the Sedona could offer this much manly satisfaction is if it were loaded with five naked members of the Hawaiian Tropic bikini team and driven over a series of speed bumps. Repeatedly."
lol
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DKB_SATX 1:12PM (9/19/2007)
What a bunch of nitwits!
It's not 1 April. This was a patently stupid comparison. If they wanted to do something useful, compare the 308 to a modern mainstream vehicle that's not saddled by a high center of gravity and way too much weight.
I'm not suggesting you compare it to a Solstice or Miata (though those would be much more valid comparisons.) Compare it to something like my Legacy GT (Wagon, no less) or to a V6 Accord or Mazda6. I'd suggest the G35, but that gets you way out of the $30k-ish price range they were talking about.
They're a bunch of idiots. Showing how well a modern mainstream sedan would perform against the 23-year-old Ferrari might surprise a few people, showing that the Ferrari isn't as slow and ponderous as a minivan is hardly newsworthy.
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Leaf 11:50AM (9/21/2007)
Congratulations. You completely and utterly missed the entire point.
ChrisL 1:34PM (9/19/2007)
All joking aside, it would be interesting to see how far back you'd have to go to have the Kia Sedona on performance par with yesteryear's sports cars.
It's rather interesting that a late '60's Porsche 911 has less horspower and doesn't perform as well as today's Honda Civic.
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SPG 3:01PM (9/19/2007)
This reminds me of a comparo I read where a British car mag put a Honda Odessy against a bunch of British sports cars from the 50's to the 70's.
In this case the Honda spanked the classics.
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DKB_SATX 2:08PM (9/21/2007)
There was a point? As I wrote, a VALID, maybe even useful point could be made that normal cars have improved greatly in 20 years, to the point that lots of the cars people are driving to work every day can hang with the 308. This wouldn't be an ORIGINAL point, since several mags have done similar comparisons. The comparison didn't have the silliness of the Chevy Beretta vs. Beretta handgun comparison cited, wasn't funny and wasn't particularly informative. If you imagine some other point, perhaps you could make it?
I think it's both interesting and entertaining that Inside Line bought a used 308 and is keeping a running account of what it's like to own, drive and maintain. I just don't give a damn how much slower a Kia Sedona is through the slalom, since I wouldn't have one on a bet, and no one is thinking "Hmm, I could either buy a minivan, or an '80s Ferrari."
DKB_SATX 2:11PM (9/21/2007)
See comment at bottom of overall thread.
DKB_SATX 2:09PM (9/21/2007)
Bloody hell... that response was supposed to relate to Leaf's snark, not to the Odyssey post.
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Leaf 5:22PM (9/21/2007)
The point is to amuse readers by comparing two starkly contrasting vehicles, and slip in a few jokes in between. It's not meant to be taken so seriously! Nobody is actually reading it because they can't decide between a minivan or a Ferrari, it's a unique and unlikely comparison, as opposed to the same ol' annual 911 vs Corvette, Camry vs Accord etc. etc.