OK gang, here comes another whacky question. So I have a 308 GTB that I absolutely love. Can't part with it. Love it. Dream about it. Drool on it. Polish the drool and drool some more. You get my drift. Only problem is I have a wife and a daughter. The GTB has 2 seats. So I don't get to drive it as much as I would like. I'm thinking about getting a Mondial as my daily driver. You see, there is no friggin way that my wife will let me get a 4th car (in addition to her car and my current daily driver, a Toyota Celica). However, the Celica is very small and I might be able to convince her to let me get a second Ferrari if it's not a fun car but a real car. More info: I work at home, and don't drive that much. No commuting. Most of my car usage is around town, the occasional road trip, shopping, etc. However, I do often need to leave my car parked in parking lots, and I also drive it in the winter. Am I crazy to buy a "driver" Mondial and just drive the damned thing? Is it reliable enough? Will it start in the cold? Will it rust at the first sign of salt? I know, it's a shame to drive a Ferrari in the snow, but then again, you only live once. Driving a Ferrari every day would kick a$$. Thoughts? Birdman P.S. I happen to love Mondials. I also love the GT4 but the back seats are too small to be practical for this application and there is no rust proofing.
Good reference thread: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17749&page=3&pp=20 I also had a wife and 3yo daughter when I got my Mondial in 1996. Used it as my only car (wife had BMW) for years in America and Germany. Great for family trips. Still have it, won't sell it. If you get a good 3.2, you may find it will be as fast or faster and handle better than your GTB. Just get decent tires for it. good luck and have fun! best rt
Just remember that service needed every 15k and then 30k miles can add up quickly if you drive your car alot. So see with your current runner how many miles you place and see if you would be comfortable doing that in a Mondial. Also think of all the places you drive, how you leave your car etc and if you would be comfortable with doing that in a mondial.
I guess my biggest question is rust issues. I can do the engine service myself and the car won't rack up miles that fast because I work at home. But I live in New England and the car would have to be driven in the rain and occasionally the snow, as well as during the winter on salty roads.
TomB here drives his 3.2 daily. In fact i believe one year he put on close to 15-20k on it. He is in N.Y too. You mention buying a driver. If serious i would buy the best one you can find, it will be cheaper in the end.
bought my Mondial QV as a daily driver for similar reasons (OK no wife but two small kids!) four years every day, no problems, car improved with usage (where have I heard that before?) so, from an experienced user, go for it!
One of the reasons for me to buy the Mondial was, that according to a lot of sources the rust protection was very good. However, my car stays in the garage in the winter, for cabrio driving on sunny winter days I have my Alfa Spider 3.0 V6 with its idiot proof handling. I guess the Mondial can be pretty delicate on iced roads.
I think a 3.2 Mondial would be just fine for what you want, especially if you get a coupe. The cabrio that I had was fun, but leaked so much (even after replacing seals and adjusting several times) that it really wasn't practical to drive in the rain. It was OK if you got caught out in it, but not really something I'd want to do every day. A coupe, though, would be fine. I would make sure I got a nice one, as it can be very expensive (and frustrating) to try to make a bad example into a good one. How do I know? I tried!