156 GTA ground clearance

You can do either, but I strongly recommend buying them pre-polybushed.
Besides it being the most convenient , its apparently a fair bit of labour to get somebody else to do it afterwards.
If you want to do it yourself fair-enough.

However bear in mind that it took some retailers of poly-bushed wishbones a significant time to identify long term issues with wear due to some polybushes being a very slight bit too big.

I got mine from Autodelta, they were superb, no long term issues and superb performance.
(Got the rears done first btw, expensive but excellent)

Ground clearance always a bit of an issue with GTAs, or, I suspect most other performance machines. Clearly, damage to low slung, fun to drive cars is of no concern to those who design traffic calming measures.

However my 156 GTA is better at evading damage to it's undertray than the 2.4 JTD I owned previously. Obviously, weight of engine was an issue there. My other car is a Discovery, point being, you have to choose your route according to your vehicle. The type of roads you'd choose for fun in the GTA are the very opposite in character to those you'd choose for another vehicle designed for different purposes.

Choose a 156 GTA for the performance, styling, engine noise, charisma, individuality etc etc. You have to avoid certain roads though because its not an alllrounder. A Honda probably is though, but you won't want to fire it up and take it for a spin just for the fun of it on a Sunday morning.

That said, get an rhb damper upgrade, it really does reduce undertray contact and evens out the ride. The front spoiler remains and area of concern though; but I guess that comes with the territory.

To the original poster, I find my 156 GTA SW a very handy daily driver. It's really comfortable for long journeys in terms of ride, seats and refinement, and I find it grounds less than my 156 "sport pack 3" saloon used to, plus the ride is more comfortable. I think the ride height and spring rates are pretty good, but it could do with firmer damping - it can ground on really bad roads. Not sure I can see the point of the full HB kit for GTA's - I think the spring rates are quite similar to GTA standard - but a set of Bilstein B8's, Koni FSD's, or adjustable dampers (in rising £ order!) seems to sort things according to people on here. I'll be doing something along these lines this summer.

Speed bumps require caution, but I'm lucky in that I don't see many. And, as others have said, if they do ground it tends to be the plastic undertray a few inches back from the chin spoiler - nothing serious...

Thanks for all the feedback. Seems to be a concensus about the damping - anybody out there upgraded the front dampers and what sort of money are we talking?

My only other concern is the turning circle, as I have to reverse into my drive at a right angle on a fairly busy road.

Cheers

Chris

The turning circle really is sh1t! It cracks me up driving around busy London streets when someone waves you in, thinking they've left you enough room to turn in front of them...and that was in the old 156 TS, the GTA is even worse! It's fair to say it's not a great city car in that respect. But hey, it's a small compromise for an otherwise fanastic drive.