It's already a known fact that I love driving our 308. Yeah, it's not the most comfortable way to travel, and parallel parking with the manual steering takes more time and muscle than I'm used to. But to me, this is driving distilled to its essence. Hell, I was even moved to write a little poetry about it in one of my posts: http://66.160.188.111/.eea5723.
On a less romantic topic, I felt it was time for a fuel mileage update:
-- Best tank to date: 19.82
-- Worst tank to date: 8.95
-- Lifetime average: 13.9 mpg.
EPA's numbers for a 1985 308 (same car as our '84) -- revised using their more accurate, current methodology -- stand at 9 city / 15 highway / 11 combined. So we're beating their combined figure by almost 3 mpg!
John DiPietro, Automotive Editor @ 53, 828 miles.
greenpony says:
10:50 AM, 05/12/08
The only 2008 model car to get worse mileage (according to fueleconomy.gov) is the Lamborghini Murcielago. Everything else gets equal or better. Glad to see you're beating the combined estimate by a significant margin.
dragonflight says:
03:41 PM, 05/12/08
Looks like you guys are using a cassette adapter on the stereo- how's the sound quality on the Ferrari?
johnnyturbo says:
10:36 PM, 05/12/08
dragonflight,
Actually, the 308's stereo is on the fritz right now -- that cord is connected to my nav system.
umsneeze says:
05:25 AM, 05/13/08
If I recall, these cars were delivered with speakers and wiring, but no stereo installed. Most dealers did. I've got a classic Blaupunkt in mine from 1982. It's got the preset buttons that you pull out, tune the station then push the button back in and it sets. That said, I've only turned it on twice in 7 years...would much rather hear the engine.
bimmerjay says:
02:22 PM, 05/13/08
It is pretty amazing how times have changed. This car is both light and not very fast, yet it gets horrid fuel economy. Not saying this isn't to be expected from a car of this vintage, but it's just amazing to me how modern cars have improved. My 335i Coupe vastly out-powers this 308, weighs a gazilion pounds more, and yet it returns 21-22 mpg in 75% city driving.