Ferrari 208 Turbo, is it any fun?

Don't waste your time, it is a dog.

If you wanna have some fun turbo charge a 308qv from Norwood. Figure on 20k to do it right with 400hp.

Cheers and Happy Motoring

 

Italian market only = you must federalize it to drive it in the USA.

 

It was built for tax reasons only. Cars with engines greater than 2.0 liters were punitively taxed so that era saw a preponderance of cars of less than 2,000 cc's in Italy.

 

May I suggest you to buy a Porsche 964 Turbo 3.6? If you like turbo cars and don't have the money for a 288GTO or F40, this is the car.
Don't waste your money with nonsense transformations. a 308 is as good as she is.

 

This is from my previous thread. Enjoy

Hi,

Ferrari came up with the 208 series in the 80s in order to let the Italian customers avoid the 38% VAT rate that applied on every car over 2000cc.
(a nice gift from the comunists garbage)

Hence, Ferrari produced the 208 purely for the Italian market between 1980 and 1989. There are 3 series, respectively based on the 308 available at the time.

1980 - the 208GTB/GTS
Exterior: very similar to the 308i
Interior: as the 308i
Engine: a 1990cc 150BHP version of the 308i
Production data: GTB: 160 GTS: 140
Value: around 15K euro for an immaculate car

1982 - the 208 GTB/GTS Turbo
Exterior: same as the 308 Qv but a couple of NACA intakes and spoilers here and there. The front intakes were black painted.
Interior: same as the 308Qv but a turbo pressure gauge that replaced the clock on the central console close to the oil temp.
Engine: a KKK Turbo and K-Jetronic injection system were added for a total output of 220BHP. The big brother it derives from is still the 2valves 308i engine.
Production data: GTB: 437 GTS: 250
Value: around 25K euro for an immaculate car

1986 - the 208 GTB/GTS Turbo (officially they were branded only GTB/GTS Turbo)
Exterior: same as the 328 but a couple of NACA intakes and spoilers here and there. The rear spoiler was black painted
Interior: same as the 328 but a turbo pressure gauge was added between the main instruments for a total number of five: tacho, speedo, oil pressure, turbo pressure and water temp. The oil temp, fuel level and clock were located in the very same position of the 328.
Engine: a IHI Turbo, a BEHR Intercooler and a new injection system were added for a total output of 255BHP. The big brother it derives from is still the 2valves 308i engine.
Production Data: GTB: 308 GTS: 828
Value: around 30K euro for an immaculate car

Drive experience:

208 > never driven myself but a friend of my dad bought it in march 1981 and sold it the very next month. An awful car.

208 Turbo > never driven myself but I heard she was the ultimate raw experience back in 1982/1983. The Qv with her 240BHP and much more torque was an easier and a much more civilized car to drive, but the 208 turbo was pure fun! Unfortunately, she does not have an intercooler and that means that performances are really up to the weather conditions and that the cabin is very very hot!


GTB/GTS Turbo > I drove both the GTS turbo and the 328 GTS few years ago. Both were made in 1986 and both were in a better than new condition - the turbo was slightly beefed up with a special ECU , a custom rebuilt IHI turbo, a different waste gate, special manifolds and a special exhaust for a total output of 285BHP. The 328 was completely stock.
So here is what I experienced:
The turbo is a very nasty car. Both cars like to oversteer but whilst the 328 is much easier to predict and control the turbo is a real *****. When the turbo kicks in, the rear wheels start to spin until you shift into the 3rd gear! Not to mention that if you’re travelling at around 4000rpm and you suddenly floor the throttle in the middle of a curve... you do a nice 360! If you “torture” the throttle it might happen with the 328 as well, but rahter than a 360 is more likely to happen a very impressive oversteering that you can control.
Generally, the 328’s power is much more linear. It peaks early and it stays there. The Turbo (and this Turbo in particular) is completely different: the turbo lag is impressive and below 3000rpm the experience is the same you can get from a Daewoo Matiz. From 3000 to 3500 the monster gets awake and after that is pure fun! It peaks until 6500rpm and than it suddenly dies. Finally, the sound: the 328’s sound is well known to this board, besides this car was stock and therefore a bit quiet for me. The Turbo sounds like jet a fighter! At idle she’s a bit funny, becuase she delivers a sound that you wont’ expect from a Ferrari. But when you floor the throttle... weeeeeaaaaaafsscchhhh
The GTS Turbo is definitely a car to buy. The maintenance is the same as for every Ferrari: very expensive! Compared to the 308/328 is not much more expensive but the KKK and the IHI are not very reliable on the long run (especially if the car has been driven hard). As a rule, I would say that the best thing is to rebuild it as soon as you buy the car. I don’t own a Turbo, so cannot help you with figures!

CM

 

The GTB Turbo was the 1st Ferrari that I owned, when I purchased it, I believe it was the first one in the UK. I owned the car for over 1 year before moving on to a 355. As described above it had a water cooled IHI turbo with intercooler. The car had been sitting for a number of years before I purchased it. In my ownership it was 100% reliable never failing to start or run perfectly. I did rebuild the turbo as a precaution after about 6 months, cost in the Uk was about £250.00. This included uprating the bearings and installing a modified thrust race on the shaft. Service parts were available ex.stock from Ferrari UK and being over 10 years old were reasonably priced.

If the IHI turbo does fail its actually an easy mod’ to convert to a commonly available modern water-cooled unit with just an adapter plate to match the manifold & intercooler. I did investigate this in case I kept the car & wanted a fix in case of failure. As it turned out the IHI was perfectly reliable.

The car was stock, no modifications, no increased boost, no ECU mods. It was a fantastic drive, very little lag considering its age and very well balanced. After the car was rolling, there is little real difference in the performance between this and a 328.

The body on the GTB Turbo looks great with the extra NACA ducts and the raised engine cover, I prefer it to a standard 328.

I sold the car to buy a 355, and have since owned a 360. The GTB Turbo is the only one I would try & buy back. It was a great little car. Very few people outside Italy have ever driven this model and most comment is based on speculation & rumour. Buy a good one and it’s a great introduction to the Ferrari marque.

If you have any specific questions, please ask, I’ll be happy to help?

Bernard
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I'm considering of buying a 208gtb turbo. Do you think it would be an investment ? And increase in value by time?

 

No.

The reason is because it's not really desirable. It was made to get around the high Italian tax laws for displacement above 2 liters. It's not better than a 308. It's sort of like the V8 Corvette that had 190 HP in California to meet their emission standards.

Just because it's rare doesn't mean everyone wants one.

Buy it because you like it and can afford it -- but forget any car as some kind of investment. 99.9% aren't.

 

Anyone got a little bit more info on the first series 208 Turbo with 220 BHP?

Can't find driving impressions of it. Would like to know if it's any good. Or fun.

Cheers, Trezerotto

 

I'd buy it just to say I have a 2 liter V8. A unique property here in the States. But I'm a bit odd.

 

I buy a GTS Turbo last year in Italy(1989),it is very fast and enyoiable,and few problem...over 4000 RPM is like a racing car and need a very good driver...It is a real Ferrari for me,no electronics parts hepling you!And a wery strong maual gear!!!
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The 2L V8 sounds absolutely awesome IMO. It isn't about better, it's about unique. There is no way these are worth less in 50 years. Worth less in 5, 10 years? Who knows.

 

Napolis imported one recently. He speaks favorably about it.

At this point it can be imported into the US, though I'm not sure what kind of federalization it might need. I would consider trading my 328 GTB for a GTB Turbo, just because it looks cool and is different.

-F

 

Prices are rising as we type

 

I want to know how many 208 owners secretly installed a 308 block?

 

I was lucky enough to see this car in person.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Nice! I think it's great. It's just hard to get a good sense of how they perform compared to the standard models. I wonder how many of them exist in the US. 1, maybe 2?

-F

 

Looks like Jesse's.

 

What do you think of the model? Assuming like condition, do you think it would be a fair trade for a 328 GTB?

-F

 

I wonder how many have made their way into the United States now?




PDG

 

Jesse's is a bit of a hot rod. Given by Enzo to Nino Vacarella.

Great car.

Drove it on 3 Historic Targa Florio's.

 

Of course you know I have a weakness for turbocharged Ferraris of that era.

I love them but I would not leave one stock. A tweaked 208 Turbo would be insanely fun. That said, I don't know what the parts and service situation is like.

 

So that's a yes?

I prefer keeping things stock, I'm just a purist. But I would take the time and money to uprate the turbo and intercooler, similar to what is being done to F40's these days.

I would guess there's probably only one GTB Turbo in the US, Jesse's. Perhaps there are couple in Canada.

I am going to keep my eyes out for ones for sale to get a sense of what the market looks like. I wonder how much of a pain it is to import and "Federalize" (do imported cars still need to be Federalized?).

I just like the idea of having something that has a little extra specialness compared to the run of the mill 328 GTB. That said, I wonder how they compare performance wise.

The search begins.

Edit: I'm reading the Euro in Cali thread and though I don't live in Cali, I would have to deal with emissions of some sort. Importing a Euro car and getting it registered may be tougher than I want to deal with. But I'll research it a little before I give up.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q/420663-euro-meet-cali-emissions.html

-F