Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Comparison Test: 1984 Ferrari 308 GTSi vs. 2007 Kia Sedona EX

[misc (misc]

Heck, my 69 Pontiac Firebird convertible(400/4spd) will beat my 85 Ferrari
308 off the line.  However, if I drove the Firebird like the Ferrari in
the Colorado twisties around here I would need a pilots license for all
the airtime I would have over the river!

Also, interestingly, my Ferrari consistently beat the Vipers at Laguna
Seca during track day a few years ago.  They would gain ground on the
front straight, then I would pull away in the curves.  Every lap I gained
approximately 50 ft on them....

But in the end, beauty is why I own the 308, and when given the choice of
a ride to day care, my son always says "The Ferrari Dad"!

Mark Lueker
85 308



> Matt already sent the link around, but here is the full text.  While the
> Ferrari "beat" the Kia Sedona in performance, keep in mind that (a) the
> Ferrari was wearing modern Goodyear rubber and not the 1984 version, which
> would most assuredly have reduced lateral grip and slalom performance
> dramatically.  Also, (b) as the article itself notes, the Toyota RAV4 is
> pretty close, and that little cute-'ute will haul 6 folks (well, 4+2)
> *and*
> keep everyone nice and chilled with working a/c.
>
> Not to knock the 308qv, of course, just to point out how far we've come.
> You can go out and buy a five-passenger uber-sedan today that will smoke a
> 355.
>
> Vty,
>
> --Dennis
>
>
>
>
> http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=122612/pageNumber
> =1
>
> Comparison Test: 1984 Ferrari 308 GTSi vs. 2007 Kia Sedona EX
> Who's got it better, Magnum or Mom?
>
> By Josh Jacquot, Senior Road Test Editor
> Date posted: 09-16-2007
>
> Comparing a minivan to a Ferrari is surely absurd to some. Who cares?
> Those
> people never got girls in high school. Their idea of kooky, crazy fun is a
> red Prius. Tell them to have another soy milk latte and stick to reading
> www.lactoseintolerant.org, the Web site for the lactose-intolerant.
>
> There's a real question to be answered here: How far has the automobile
> progressed in 23 years? Can a new minivan outrun a two-decade-old
> supercar?
>
> Sure it's stupid, but that's the point.
>
> Dollars and Sense
> To get the show on the road we called Kia and borrowed this Sedona. We
> chose
> the Kia because it was the quickest accelerating of the group in our 2006
> Minivan Comparison Test. It also had the fastest slalom speed, produced
> the
> third best lateral acceleration and was the least expensive. So, as
> minivans
> go, it's an outright performance bargain.
>
> Now we needed an outdated, crusty old exotic. Enter our long-term 1984
> Ferrari 308 GTSi. Magnum, P.I.'s car. The car entire movies were made for.
> The car that delivered a naked Christie Brinkley to Clark W. Griswold, for
> crying out loud. It's got a shrieking, midmounted Italian V8 powered by
> pure
> testosterone. It's got a body by Pininfarina. It's Rosso Corsa red. And
> most
> importantly, it's nothing like a minivan.
>
> But it does cost the same as one.
>
> This Kia Sedona costs $31,995. Opt out of the $2,400 Luxury Package and
> $1,700 Premium Entertainment Package, however, and its price dips below
> the
> $28,000 we paid for the Ferrari. And you still get to keep the $1,000
> Power
> Package that gives you power-sliding doors and a power liftgate.
>
> Respecting Physics
> Dimensionally, there aren't two more different automobiles. With a
> wheelbase
> more than 2 feet longer than the Ferrari's (118.9 inches vs. 92.1), the
> Sedona is, quite simply, large. It's about 3 feet longer, 2 feet taller
> and
> 10 inches wider than the Ferrari. Then there's the matter of its
> additional
> 1,500 pounds of curb weight (4,686 pounds vs. 3,186).
>
> Ironically, their engines make similar power (or at least they did when
> the
> Ferrari was new). The Sedona's 3.8-liter V6 is rated at 250 horsepower and
> 253 pound-feet of torque. The Ferrari's 3.0-liter (actually 2.9) V8 is
> rated
> at 230 hp and 188 lb-ft of torque. Our Ferrari is a Quattrovalvole GTSi
> model, which means it's got the four-valve engine and uses Bosch fuel
> injection. It's hardly new. In fact, during this test, it ticked over
> 49,000
> miles.
>
> Kia gave the Sedona a five-speed automatic transmission with manual shift
> abilities. It puts power down through the front wheels. The Ferrari's
> five-speed manual transaxle has a ZF limited-slip differential and
> delivers
> power to the rear wheels.
>
> And the minivan wears the larger rubber. Its Michelins measure 235/60R17.
> The Ferrari wears Goodyears. Why? Because Mr. Ferrari wanted it that way.
> But they're an inch smaller in diameter than the Kia's tires, and quite a
> bit narrower (205/55ZR16 front and 225/50ZR16 rear).
>
> Performance
> As we headed for the track, staff predictions leaned in favor of the
> Sedona.
> Many who had driven the Ferrari were convinced the Kia was going to walk
> away with the acceleration tests. Some even extended the van's dominance
> to
> the braking tests where, they claimed, its modern ABS would laugh in the
> face of the Ferrari's dated, non-ABS equipped stoppers.
>
> In reality, the Ferrari kicked the minivan's ass in every test.
> Twenty-three
> years is a long time and, yes, the van benefits supremely from modern
> advances, but it still ain't no Ferrari on the track. In 1984, this 308
> really must have been something.
>
> The biggest ass-kickin' came in the handling tests, where the Ferrari
> proved
> its pedigree by slithering through the slalom at 68.6 mph, almost 1 mph
> faster than the 2008 Subaru WRX and far better than any minivan we've ever
> tested. The story was similar around the skid pad, where the Ferrari's
> modern Goodyear Eagle F1 tires yanked it around at 0.91g. The Sedona
> squealed its way to 0.72g.
>
> In a straight line it wasn't much closer. Seriously, did you ever see
> Magnum
> get outrun by a soccer mom? The Ferrari hit 60 mph in only 7.3 seconds - a
> number we likely could have improved if we were more willing to abuse its
> aging clutch. The Sedona managed the same milestone in 9.0 seconds. By the
> end of the quarter-mile, the gap had extended to 1.3 seconds, with the
> Ferrari breaking the traps in 15.4 seconds at 92.1 mph and the Sedona
> finishing in 16.7 seconds at 84.6 mph.
>
> Even the braking contest, where ABS is invaluable, fell in the Ferrari's
> favor. A solid, easily modulated pedal allowed the Ferrari to stop from 60
> mph in just 123 feet, 5 feet shorter than the Sedona.
>
> In other words, our Ferrari goes and stops as well as a V6 Toyota RAV4,
> which means the car has come damn far in the last 23 years. Just not quite
> as far as we had thought. A 2008 Ferrari F430 would, of course, run
> circles
> around our 308.
>
> Living
> With our theory validated, or invalidated, depending on your degree of
> cynicism, we took this ridiculous exercise a step further. That's right.
> We
> made it a full-blown comparison test with scoring and everything.
>
> Don't laugh. After driving both cars for a week it became clear that the
> Kia
> had a real shot. It's by far the easier of the two to live with every day.
> Take the four cupholders within reach of the driver, for example. Between
> them they've got more liquid capacity than the Ferrari's entire cooling
> system. And they're better at keeping things cool, too. The 308 has
> exactly
> zero cupholders, by the way. It also has zero airbags (the Sedona has
> six),
> zero power steering and practically zero air-conditioning.
>
> Then there's the cargo capacity issue. The Ferrari has zero. Well, not
> exactly zero. Between its trunk and a bit of space behind the seats, the
> 308
> has the cargo room of a large Gucci diaper bag. And it's even less
> practical. Don't put anything in the trunk you don't want cooked. We
> actually baked some Betty Crocker cookies back there during our track
> test.
> This isn't a problem in the Sedona. We packed lots of Girl Scout Cookies
> in
> our long-term Sedona earlier this year. They didn't even get warm.
>
> Then there's the expected wear that comes with any 23-year-old car. The
> Ferrari's ventilation controls are worn and awkward and the ignition and
> door lock cylinders are sticky and require patience. And good luck getting
> in or out without some sort of yoga training.
>
> On the Road
> With a surprisingly comfortable ride, the 308 is actually a joy on a long
> drive, provided it's not more than 80 degrees outside. But it has its
> moments of glory. Find yourself on a winding road on a cool evening and
> even
> the 308's dead-on-center steering has some redeeming value. It's easy to
> get
> lost in the Italian's burble-come-shriek exhaust note while rowing through
> the gears in the right conditions.
>
> 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.
>
> But the Sedona's road manners are respectable. An impromptu mountain road
> face-off against the 308 proved it a worthy contender - for a few minutes.
> Shifting its automatic transmission manually allows better control than in
> most minivans and it's admirably quick. It held its own until the flames
> coming off its front brake calipers forced us to surrender to the slippery
> Italian.
>
> Fuel mileage was a contest won by the boxy Sedona, although its 16.7 mpg
> average isn't exactly going to impress the Sierra Club. The Ferrari
> averaged
> 14.9 mpg during the week, but it would crack 16 mpg on the highway.
>
> The End of This Ridiculous Story
> In the end, it comes down to the modern convenience and usability of the
> Sedona versus the passionate pull of the Ferrari.
>
> It's the choice every man faces come midlife crisis. The family is getting
> bigger, the old sedan just won't cut it anymore and the need for a minivan
> looms large on the horizon. Enter the hulking, stigma-ridden reality of
> the
> 2007 Kia Sedona. The price is right, the warranty is incredible and it's
> got
> good reviews.
>
> But with the rational need for more space, stain-resistant surfaces and
> self-closing doors comes the undeniable urge for something svelte, red,
> mid-engined and...Italian.
>
> We've already bought our Ferrari. Which would you choose?
>
> Kia provided Edmunds the Sedona for the purposes of evaluation. We own the
> Ferrari.
>
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