Qvale Mangusta

Overview

Ferrari sold 1,200 cars in the United States last year, a near record annual sales figure for the exotic Italian carmaker. That explains why Ferraris continue to be exceedingly rare automobiles, and this level or rarity, should you be lucky enough to own one, also explains why other drivers will gawk, ogle and generally fall all over themselves when they see you driving one of the world’s most magnificent super cars.

Then again, if you were one of only 200 buyers last year who bought a Qvale Mangusta, you could bet both the purchase price and the value of your mortgage on the fact that other drivers will chase you to gas stations and tailgate you on the highway, just trying to get a closer look at this rarer-than-a-Ferrari street rod.

And while a Ferrari 550 Maranello will run you more than $200K, a Mangusta is practically cheap in comparison–$69,500. This two-seater targa/convertible can sprint to 60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds, which is less than a second slower than the pricey Ferrari.

Yes, but what the heck is a Qvale Mangusta (KA Va LEE Mang ooh STA)? Allow us to explain.

From 1966 to 1972, Alejandro de Tomaso Alejandro de Tomaso (an Argentine Formula 1 car builder and racer) had 310 Mangusta coupes built with the de Tomaso name on their tails and Ford Motor 4.7-liter V-8s under their hoods. These cars were able to top 155 miles per hour and found a very limited U.S. fan club. The Mangusta eventually became the Pantera, and that car faded from the scene in the mid-1970s. In 1996, however, de Tomaso revived the brand with the car you see here. After some feuding, de Tomaso agreed to drop his name from the cars themselves, and the Qvale family of San Francisco (a one-time importer of the original Mangustas) agreed to build the cars in Modena, Italy, and sell them in the U.S.

All that said, a Mangusta isn’t a 100% Italian exotic. Yes, the body is made in Modena, just like Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis, and it was penned by the same man–Marcello Gandini–who sculpted the Lamborghini Countach. But at the heart of a Qvale is a Ford-built 320-horsepower Cobra motor and fuel system (as well as a few ancillary Ford bits like gauges and switches).

So does an Italian body and a Detroit motor add up to a car that can eat Porsches on the highway but be serviced at Jiffy Lube? Not exactly. The better question to ask: Is this car worth $70K?

From The Driver’s Seat | Should You Buy This Car? | Specs

From The Driver’s Seat

If you planned to drive your Qvale under the 75-mile-per-hour speed limit you’ll find on some stretches of U.S. Interstate, you’d only need two of the Mangusta’s five forward gears. That’s because first and second gear together will get you to 82 miles per hour before you hit the 6,800 rpm redline.

Not that you’d want to do that; the roar of the 320-horsepower V-8 is so intrusive at high rpms that you’d go deaf from the sound of its heavy machinery. For, unlike the unstrained resonance of the four-cam V-8 in BMW’s posh Z8, or the deep thrumb of a 911‘s 24-valve six-cylinder, the Mangusta motor is a brute device meant to launch the driver rather than sing to him.

Remove the top and squeeze it into the trunk (the panel pops off in seconds but sliding it into its trunk rack requires surgical delicacy) and you can then either A) leave the rear targa window up to block offending wind noise, or B) flip a switch and roll the targa into the trunk for full-on cabrio touring.

Now the Mangusta is at its best. Even with the roof gone there’s zero torsional flex thanks to a very stiff body, and the fully independent suspension provides a very predictable ride even at breakneck speeds. With the sun shining overhead and a fresh strip of winding blacktop rolled out in front of you, the Mangusta is nearly as pleasing to drive hard as any Porsche.

Nearly, because the transmission is stiff and somewhat vague, and the tall third gear and peaky torque curve mean that to pass someone at below 60 mph, you’re forced to downshift to second gear and then upshift in the middle of the pass. Also, the steering sends too many of the wrong messages: It fails to relay enough feedback in sharp corners, but passes along all sorts of bad vibrations during straight-line driving.

The steering wheel itself is a sadist’s dream of sculpted black leather, with clever thumb notches for extra grip, but overall the cockpit of the Mangusta is uneven: Acres of tan leather coat nearly every surface, but the top of the seats are so narrow that few drivers, male or female, can lean back into them. The metallic painted center console is lovely, but the plastic shift ball feels cheap, and the Nakamichi audio system sounds superb, but when you turn on the headlights, an electrical system glitch obliterates AM radio reception. Perhaps Italians don’t listen to night baseball.

Should You Buy This Car?

Maybe we’ve all gotten spoiled. After all, just because our test car had too many squeaks and rattles (produced mainly by an improper seal in the targa) and didn’t have the most refined engine or transmission, it went like a bat out of hell, could hang with many cars that cost twice as much, and generally evoked more smiles and waves per mile than any car we’ve driven since the New Beetle.

Sure, you could buy a used Ferrari or a new Porsche for this kind of money, or could get a very lovely Jaguar XK8.

And those cars, made as they are by highly experienced sports car manufacturers, have fewer quirks. And in our opinion, they’re prettier than the blunt-nosed Mangusta as well.

But if you’ve ever wanted something for its sheer rarity, you’d be hard pressed to find a more unique and simultaneously fun car for less than insane money. Yes, but should you buy one? Our heads say no way. And our hearts? They say move to southern California and get one…fast!

Specs

Manufacturer Contact: 800-390-9606

Color Options;

Interior: black, tobacco, cappuccino.

Exterior: silver-gray metallic, Santorini blue pearlescent, polar green pearlescent, Mangusta green metallic, Corallo red pearlescent, tigre yellow, midnight black

Suspension type: Four-wheel independent with upper and lower wishbones

Acceleration: 0 to 60mph in 5.5 seconds

Engine type; displacement: DOHC, 32-valve V-8, 4.6 liters

Horsepower: 320 @ 6,000 rpm

Torque: 314 @ 4,800rpm

EPA mileage: 17 city / 26 highway

MSRP: $69,500

Great article..!!

Own one, and you'll see all the folks in the rear view mirrors saying " what is it..wow so cool .."

Enjoy this great car, and I'm here to support you.!!

John