Ghibli road test video

[hilts uk]

[video=youtube;LeQmOvXOTKw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeQmOvXOTKw[/video]

Not bad pick up for a 50 year old car ( the sound is much louder in real life). Haven't gone above 4500 rpm yet - it red lines at 5500 but the sound starts to get stupidly loud at 3500. She is running really well - 120 miles today but my hands ache a bit as the strength needed to turn the wheel at crawl speed is ridiculous and parking is just comical. Most Ghibli's came with a larger wooden wheel but mine was specified with a smaller leather wheel which compounds the problem. May explain why its only travelled 31k miles.... All being well she will be Auto Italia just save me a nice big parking space please!

 

[allandwf]

Excellent. Thanks for sharing.

 

[safrane]

Love that 70s growl

 

[Contigo]

Beautiful, just so much Soul!

 

[StuartW]

Just stunning!

 

[MAF260]

Awesome. Not a passive drive at all- looks like everything is an effort, which is a major appeal for such a stunning classic. Also great to see you dominating the right lane as well. These cars can still cut it 50 years later. Well jel!!

 

[hilts uk]

Awesome. Not a passive drive at all- looks like everything is an effort, which is a major appeal for such a stunning classic. Also great to see you dominating the right lane as well. These cars can still cut it 50 years later. Well jel!!

You can pootle along at 70 very nicely in 5th gear, they are great cruising cars with stupid amounts of torque but drop it down to third and it transforms into another car and its stupidly fast for its age - having had a full engine rebuild and new fuel lines etc means it performs like new. Its not great a narrow twisty roads, especially if the surface is rough, its prone to skipping due to the live real axle. The handling is what I think is the biggest difference compared to a modern car and not the straight line speed.

 

[MAF260]

You can pootle along at 70 very nicely in 5th gear, they are great cruising cars with stupid amounts of torque but drop it down to third and it transforms into another car and its stupidly fast for its age - having had a full engine rebuild and new fuel lines etc means it performs like new. Its not great a narrow twisty roads, especially if the surface is rough, its prone to skipping due to the live real axle. The handling is what I think is the biggest difference compared to a modern car and not the straight line speed.

I've had some fairly rapid more modern classics, but speed is not the point or pleasure with these cars for me. It's the occasion of driving, the experience of piloting one of these machines and enjoying the whole analogue experience. Some I've driven (Ferrai Dino) were borderline unenjoyable due to the dynamics of the car, so I'd choose a classic very carefully now to make sure I would enjoy the driving experience.

 

[Contigo]

I would love to have a pax in this at Brooklands if at all possible some time during the day if on the hill climb etc?

 

[TridentTested]

Thanks - I really enjoyed that. Longer vid next time please

It looks like an engaging car, for the passenger too - I loved the way yours heads bobbed with every throttle position change.

 

[Humpers]

That's my head bobbing in the passenger seat. The smell, the noise and the acceleration are amazing. I also followed in my GS. I could hear the ghibli over the top of my engine as it pulled away in front of me. I also thought the GS would barely be exerting itself to stay with the ghibli while under acceleration. Nope, even at 60mph it can really take off. Will be a highlight of auto italia

 

[spkennyuk]

Sounds good. You can see the gear stick moving with the torque every time the loud pedal was pressed.

 

[TridentTested]

Sounds good. You can see the gear stick moving with the torque every time the loud pedal was pressed.

Ha, my Alfasuds used to do that - no one could ever accuse them of having torque

 

[CatmanV2]

Ha, my Alfasuds used to do that - no one could ever accuse them of having torque

So it was just ______steer then?

C

 

[GeoffCapes]

All being well she will be Auto Italia just save me a nice big parking space please!

Such an awesome car. I love it!

I'd contact Phil. I'm sure you'd get a space in the centre with her. She'd be the start of the show.

 

[hilts uk]

Went to Autofficina to let them have a look over the car. They have asked to put her on their stand for the day which was a nice compliment. Hopefully I will take her on the track with other classics (I don't want to try to keep up the GTS's and GS's!) but I have decided the hill climb is not a good idea. The exhaust is about 8cm off the ground and it swings on a bracket and often scrapes so the risk of grounding is too big to take.