Important: The following is a text only archive!
For full features; Go to When buying a Porsche 928 or 968...
...is there anything specific I should look for? I've heard transmission
repairs are pretty costly (due to its location in the car), but I don't
know much more about that. Is there anything I should repair or replace (if
not done by the seller) instantly upon buying one?
And one more quick question, what types of 928's and 968's are there? Is
there a turbo version, or one with a bigger engine (I'm not sure, but I
think there's a 4.8L and a 5.3L or something like that)?
magus57
it was the fastest production car in 1986 (170mph in an S4 recorded at
bonneville salt flats) and porsches slogan for it at the time was "It is as
fast as you can go without hiring a flight attendant"
the engine range was 4.5litre V8, 4.7, 5.0 to 5.2v8, if its an american
market porsche, the base 4.7 isnt as powerful as the euro ones (219hp in
the us, 237hp in europe) andd features a dog leg man trans or a mercedes
derived 3speed auto (4 after 1983). North American spec 1983 and 1984 S
models used, among other differences, milder camshafts and additional
emissions regulation equipment, and were limited to 239 hp (174 kW/242 PS)
as a result whereas European versions debuted with 300 PS (221 kW/297 hp),
and were upgraded to 310 PS (228 kW/306 hp) for the 1984 model year.
its amazing what you can get out of old books (ive got one about cars of
the world, printed in 1990!)
True_Brit
Wow, this car sounds pretty powerful; I didn't think the V8 actually got
real power out of the car (like some older American cars with large engines
in comparison to some Japanese cars with smaller engines).
And one more thing, I was looking at the prices of these cars, and can
safely say I can find plenty under $5000 (the most I can spend at once);
however, there's one issue. For about the same amount of money, I can
either get pre-1985 manual version, or a post-1984 automatic version (it's
hard to find newer models with manuals that aren't really expensive). And
here are the specs of a pre-1985 (manual) vs a post-1984 (automatic):
Engine displacement: 4.5 or 4.7 L
Valves: 16
Power: 219, 220, or 239 hp
vs.
Engine displacement: 5.0 or 5.4 L
Valves: 32
Power: 288, 316, or 345 hp
So is the upgrade on the newer automatic worth it over the manual version?
magus57
The reason for the power disparity is that in '85, the cars got that 32
valve DOHC V8, and both the manual and automatic versions were much better
cars. In '87, the S4 version (Series 4) was introduced. If you can find one
of them for under $10k in good shape, that's the way I would go. Very fast
cars, and actually quite reliable.
The manuals aren't usually more expensive than the automatics, but they
were much rarer, as the 928 was considered as much a luxury car as a sports
GT.
ChrisV
So would you say any 1985 (or above) Porsche could outperform an unmodified
1998 Honda Civic (manual)?
magus57
id say yes to that!!!:wink2:
True_Brit
Without a doubt.
ChrisV
