The handling characteristics of a Mondial...

Hey Jess, these forums are GOLD ! and such are clubs, inspite of some snobbish members

I kind of share your story and became member of the Rolls Royce Enthusiast Club for comparible reasons. My dad bought a 1929 Roller back in the 80's for reasons that would fill a page of it's own. To make the story short, he became so fed up with this slow and permanently broke bugger he spent thousands to fix, that he gave it to me. I joined the club, got all NLA spares through the contacts, superb hints and advices making the car run like a dream again. My family loves taking part at all events of the club, even with other members having collections of up to 70 cars of high range brands we feel appreciated.

BUT, it was not the suitable family convertible to take us 800miles through highway and mountains down to the lake for summer. So checking the parameters of:
- boot space to satisfy my wife
- rear head and leg space to satisfy the kids
- sufficient greetings from the compartment underneath the bonnet to satisfy me
combining this with stunning appearance and certain exclusivity the Mondial came out as my favorite and so I bought a 92 tc and reading your posts so should you.
Yes, it has the mice up front, but you do want your kids in a full 3-point seatbelt in the rear.

Regarding handling I can post that 140 mph on the highway felt VERY safe even on mediocre asphalt. I wish I could post the mountain road experience as well, but that will have to wait until after summer.

Regarding costs, you can be lucky or not. I bought a t that needed the mayor, so I was sure everything was going to be done. Cost me 8gran with some extra work done.
My bad luck is, that it is now receiving a 15gran+ rebuild because it seems that the fuel pressure valve was clogged, making the engine run lean at high revs and hence melted a piston....
But even that will not discourage me at this point.

The forum will help to find the right shop for maintenance and ask the right questions at any shop so they know they can't rip you of.
The members can guide you to pinpoint a problem so you might even be able to fix it yourself and then even Ferrari ownership becomes affordable.

 

The couple will be stiffer......also the Mondial has a longer wheelbase than some of the other cars you mentioned. So should be more stable.
Good fresh tires are your friend.
For steering feel much prefer my 3.2 over the power steering of the T

 

Great thread.
Welcome Jess!


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Here is an extract from an old Motor Trend which tested a 1987 Mondial 3.2 Coupe against a Ducati Paso on twisty roads. The handling character noted was excellent, but with too much understeer and front end plowing, pretty much the opposite trait of what you were concerned with regarding mid engined cars.

I like the old Motor Trend car reviews, in that they they were more US made car boosters so unlike Road and Track and Car and Driver they did not automatically fawn over and wax eloquent on every car out of Europe. But I suspect from this article and a later one on the T that the Motor Trend people really liked the Mondial series.

 

This is very similar to my experience as well. I owned several air-cooled 911s prior to purchasing my '88 Mondial in 2018. I kept my '86 3.2 Carrera for a time after buying the Mondial, but decided that I liked the Mondial enough that I didn't really need two old cars to take care of. With the 911s, you can really feel the weight of the motor at the back of the car. That isn't necessarily a bad thing as you learn to use it to your advantage and really plant the car in corners. I had a couple of "oh sh**!" snap oversteer moments in 911s over the years, but they were on empty roads fortunately. In comparison, my Mondial feels much more neutral and balanced. It does tend to understeer more than I would like, but I'm learning to work with it and at some point will tune that out a bit. I've only had one "oh sh**!" moment in the Mondial and that was a left hand, off camber, drastically increasing radius turn on a road that I wasn't super familiar with. I overcooked it going into the turn and had to add more rudder than originally anticipated. The rear did start to come around, but I turned into the slide and the car snapped back into line pretty easily.

IMO, the Mondial is about perfect for a classic driver. It has excellent handling capabilities for the age of the car.

Great article! Thanks!

2cam

 

I just took the 3.2 coupe out this afternoon. A nice 30 mile loop.

Man. The twisties here are serious, and after letting her come up to temp, I put her through the paces. Its sunny, it's 60, and I can not stop smiling. The sound and the handling is so fantastic on this for a mid 80's sports car. As said above, just point and go, the car pulls HARD and does the work, and getting up into the revs is just sheer freedom.

My 8 was not that enjoyable as it was a bit under powered and I had Coker TRXs on it. This 3.2 has continentals and she grips great. The steering wheel is heavier at low speed, but who cares because at speed the dish is near perfect on the steering wheel, the driver position is forward, engaged and second only to the GT4 in surround sight. The response when pushing through benders creates this lively tingle of the hands as you barely "shake" to keep pushing harder and faster through the sweeps. The feedback is phenomenal. Alive, engaging, and it eggs you on. This car lets you know it's "there" for you though, it won't bite you, and like a well healed dog urges you forward to push the pace, as it has your back.

 

The Boxster/Cayman is light years ahead of everything else, IMO. Just look at the specs. And because they're made in large numbers, they depreciate like crazy. Meaning you can get a good deal on a used one. But if you want a 4 seat mid-engine convertible, I believe the Mondial was the only one ever made.

https://www.porsche.com/usa/models/718/718-boxster-models/718-boxster-s/

 

the other thing to consider is 30+ year-old cars are now all individuals... as in one car may be very very different than another due to worn out shocks, bad alignment, other lack of maintenance etc. That makes a huge difference in how they drive.

 

This couldn’t be more true. If there are two things i can recommend over everything to give you an amazing ownership experience ....1. change out your fusebox and 2. Restore your suspension components



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It looks like the Mondial also does pretty good off road, seems to track nice and straight...

 

Great post!

So I actually sold my 928 and replaced it with a Mondial QV. 86 928s for 85 3.0QV. I had them both back-to-back and I think the Mondial is light-years ahead of the 928 in terms of driving characteristics (not to mention sound!). With the big V8 in front, the 928 feels like a much heavier car, and I would say the 928 feels slower too since the 928 V8 doesn't want to rev like the Ferrari.

It also had much more complicated electronics and I'm not sure the 928 had better reliability either. And aftermarket support for Ferrari is much better than the 928 as well. Also motor work is a lot easier.

To *me* the 928 feels a lot more like a German Corvette C4 (I have a 96 C4 as well) than a Mondial.

Interestingly from my experience, the Mondial feels a LOT like a much, much better version of a 914. Very light in the front, more tossable than a front-engine car, more stable overall, but a little bit heavy to drive slow. Both are mid-engine, both have no power steering, etc. I much prefer the Mondial driving position, overall comfort and shifter feel, but driving them around it's surprising how similar they felt to me. FWIW.

 

If you have a rust free 914 that works, they're worth some money now. The 914-6 is worth a LOT of money. They were always an underdog.

 

Great perspective! I LOVE my Mondial. I'm working through a couple of issues with it at the moment, but feel that it's the perfect classic. Interestingly, I feel that the C4 Corvettes and Mondials are two of the most under-appreciated and competent classic options available in the market today. Especially the C4 ZR1. Incredible values both. Jump on them while you can!

2cam

 

Agree, sounds very nice in the office parking garage.


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I've only spun out twice in 12 years of ownership, for whatever that's worth. The first time I was trying to hang the tail out and had never heard of LOO. The second time was on a freshly topped asphalt road. Oh yeah, and then that time in the rain. So three.

Nothing as spectacular as this though.

 

My thoughts exactly. Old 911's were cars that required relearning how to drive specifically for that car to avoid death! lol

Others have answered you very thoroughly. I would just add that I've never really experienced this issue with a Mondial or any 308 for that matter. I first got let loose on the world in a Mondial as a teenager, so I'm sure I would have discovered any unexpected side effects from ill advised high performance driving back then! lol

I think as a racer you may have a double edged sword of sensitivity. On the one hand your experience alerts you to what a car feels like it might be about to do while you're behind the wheel, which is good. On the other hand, a heightened abstract awareness that cars can go sideways in any number of ways might be causing you to be concerned over issues that are really quite rare, especially off the track, even when pressing the car pretty hard. I think you'll be fine.

 

Love the way that driver demonstrated the handling capabilities of the 348. Too bad the video ended too soon... they left out the next step "point & shoot".