a 914 2.0, the infamous Vanagon-engined misery-mobile Options

[MarkV]

The first couple of paragraphs are amusing...I guess he doesn't like 914's....or 996's

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/bu...be-collectible/

[jor]

I've found that many purported car guys have only experienced dilapidated, worn 914s taking their last, staggering steps towards death's cold door. You know: those longs-rusted cars with torn seats and shift-linkage-slop that their friends had in high school in the '80s that had been mistreated and maintenance-deferred for so long that time had eroded their suspensions into wandering nomads that couldn't hold a straight line in a level, wide freeway lane. These people just can't understand that their experience was not the one Porsche had designed into the model. Those same purported car guys called the Dino 246 "not a real Ferrari" because (1) the Fiat-built engine didn't have enough cylinders; and (2) in the early 80s, those guys had never experienced one that had been maintained and drove as designed. Like the Dino in the late '80s, tight, healthy 914s are becoming more common as the values rise. That, of course, serves only to increase the value and put more incentive behind restoring them.

Real car guys buy what they like, drive them often, enjoy them as the makers intended, and worry not about in which cars the smart money invests. I've driven a well-cared-for 996. It was a lot of fun. Too bad that writer will never have the pleasure of driving one himself. He'll never know what he's missing. The real sin is that neither will any reader who accepts what he writes.