I Drive 'The Worst Ferrari Ever' - But is the Mondial QV Really That Bad?

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Today on the channel I drive a Ferrari Mondial. Often cited as the Ferrari you only buy because you can't afford any other, the Mondial doesn't have the greatest of reputations. Those in the know, however, often cite it as far more than the sum of its parts - so what's it really like?

Big thanks to Adrian from The Autopian for coming out today.

#Ferrari #V8 #mondial

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[nickrichardson]

I own a 1988 Mondial 3.2 QV Coupe which has now done 75, 430 miles. Previously I had a 1993 Mondial 3.4t coupe. From 1985 to 2011 I owned 4 308 GT4’s & a Dino 246 GT.

The Mondial 3.4t requires engine-out servicing at £2, 500 ish at least, something not explained by dealers!

My 3.2 is wonderful! 270bhp gives plenty of in gear acceleration and at Silverstone accelerating from a rolling start saw an easy 140mph. Not bad for a 35 year old car last year! I paid £31, 000 from the Ferrari Centre in Sept 2019. I like to use my cars and take it out most weeks. It had minor electrical issues and I’ve had the Koni dampers rebuilt at Ian Gardiner Racing who is a Koni specialist. I’m renewing the bushes to improve track day handling. I love this car! I’m 77 and been a Ferrari owners Club member since 1982. Mondial’s are chosen for Historic Racing, leading to a shortage of them! The 3.2 has a stiffer chassis than the 3.4, and is the best choice. The car has ABS & I don’t find the steering a problem. Chris Harris is doing his up! These are cheap to buy & cheap to run! Best of all it’s a Ferrari!

[RobinCapper]

The Mondial just highlights what a fine job Gandini (Bertone) did with 4 seat mid-engined packaging of the 308 GT4 . Compare the elegance of its C pillar engine air intake to Pininfarina's cheese grater and how the Mondial uses black components to try and disguise its bulk...

[claudiomarangone]

It’s definitely stylish and unique in a cool Ferrari way.
When it’s parked next to a lot of other cars, it definitely stands out as a cool Italian car, no matter if it were the lower tier or not, which says a lot about it’s design and character .

[betaorionis]

I disagree in one thing: IMO, the older 308 GT4 looked better. Most possibly, in the eighties I also thought that the Mondial looked good. But fifty years later, the 308 has aged better.

[tyler]

I've always had a spot of love for the Mondial. The coupe especially has always been a "maybe someday" car for me.

[lawrencebmarshall]

85 QV coupe owner here. I happen to like the looks, except where the hood meets the windshield. I do love all the hate it gets. It gets a lot of is that a kit car questions. How it was famously slow, despite having more hp than the same year vette. How its unreliable, except it isn't. How it is terrible for maintenance, except it isn't. My '16 morgan 3 wheeler is far more unreliable. How a 308 is faster, except by modern standards they are both slow. It's longer wheel base lends to better handling.

[capn_shawn]

A testament to just how bad cars have become.
This car, like 350Z's, Preludes, base 911's, MR2's, etc... were once hated as being rough and not "fast enough"
Now people are begging for something analog like this with none of the twin-clutch, haptic touch-pad, CAN-Buss everything, Apple-CarPlay equipped mess that is being sold today.
Not everyone enjoys driving at 10/10th's, but a lot of people do actually enjoy driving and we miss the experience.

[rsjamie]

It reminds me of the type of car that the designers of the front, middle and rear never met. Made only more special by its antique furniture door handles...

[cobra]

I had the opportunity to drive a Mondial for several years. And I was really surprised. This is a great car to drive! It provides much more pleasure than anyone would expect. And I do like the subtle and elegant design, I find it quite pretty. If you are interested in a Mondial, look for a nice example and go for it - it will put a big smile on your face. It is a Ferrari and it deserves to be appreciated. I like it a lot and I don't care about any negative opinions that other people might have.

[adamorowski]

I own a 3.2 for a year now. Why did I choose the Mondial? It has a back seats for my dog :) So far I have done few long trips (over 1000km) with it and with every km I love it more and more. It's just a great car!

[_r_e_dad]

Open top, backseats, gated manual, pop-up headlights ... Perfect weekend Dad-cruiser 👌🏾 Im all for it .

[bobolulu]

I have owned mt 1982 Mondial QV for 18 years and its a brilliant vehicle. Ok, I dont drive it all the time, but i have done some long distance runs and even do the weekly shopping with it at times. So its 42 years old now, but it still drives like a Ferrari should. May I also add that its been utterly reliable and never lwt me down.

[malcolmhardwick]

Looks way better than todays offerings !

[susannero]

Mondials rule. I have the next gen (Mondial 3.2) and I love it. One small point: when they were new they were more expensive than the corresponding 3x8 models. So people didn't originally buy them because they were cheap.

[italianduded]

absolutely love it! Sure not the best one... but I do like it!
Would love to see a video about the Ferrari 400 (manual) I like it even more.

[insanityamillion]

The mondials only bad sin is it doesn't look good in red, the lines dont work with it. Blues, black, silver, a dark green. It either needs to hide detail or be garishly loud like a yellow orange or lime

[xamomax]

I remember hating on the Dino back when you could get one for $20k. I figured I might get it when I got out of High school. It's like $500k now.

[Pulsonar]

psychologically for those Ferrari enthusiasts who thought they’d never be rich enough to own a Ferrari. But since I first saw it 40 years ago as a teenager it always had a poor mans Ferrari look and image about it that never goes away. It’s like the first generation Volkswagen Porsche 924 of the same era. A car that was never considered to be a proper Porsche. However, look what came out of 924 direct lineage - 944, 944 Turbo, 944 S2, 968 and the legendary 968 CS lightweight. These sports cars always remained relatively affordable and never broke the bank. The Ferrari Mondial also generated a direct hereditary line into track racing legends but the costs of ownership went from a hard working 1980s local businessman running a Mondial to todays 2020s billionaire Arab Prince cruising in a Ferrari F8 Tributo through Knightsbridge, London. Put another way, the 1980s middling owner of a Mondial also had to morph his whole lifestyle, career, ambitions into that a tech guru tycoon or oil magnate billionaire to be able to afford to marrying and catering to the needs of one of the Mondials great grand daughters of today.

[jezhodgkinson]

Thank you (for not lagging it off)! I loved my Mondial QV a few years ago. I'm 5"7 and two mates wanted to go in it. One was 6"7`, the other was 6"8`... But they both loved the experience.

[phillipbutcher]

The very first Ferrari that I've ever saw in real life was a Ferrari Mondial back in 82 when I was 8 years old