Porsche 928 vs Porsche 914, The good, the bad, and the ugly Options

[ninefourteener]

As many of you know, my roots are in early 70's and 80's GM muscle cars. Before the two 914s I've owned, I had a 34,000 original mile 1977 Pontiac Trans Am-400, 4spd. Before that, was a 1980 Chevy Elcamino, with a 396 BB stuffed under the hood. Before that was a 1981 Chevy Z-28.... and the list goes on.

I'm sure you can understand........ Although I love the 914, the open air roadster feel, etc........ I miss the horsepower.

With that............. I can't help myself from browsing through Ebay motors at the Porsche 928s. The "S"...... the "S4"...... some of them reaching well over the 300hp range. Many appear to be in really nice condition as well.

Someone wanna tell me why they are so cheap?

Wanna tell me why I shouldn't get one??

Keep in mind, I've never even driven one, and know nothing about them. I have no intention of racing my cars, only "cruising" in the Summertime.... but I like "distinctive" cars that you don't see too often...... and the 928 definately has my attention.

Comments? Suggestions??

[jasons]

QUOTE (Root_Werks @ Feb 28 2005, 09:58 AM)

QUOTE (jasons @ Feb 28 2005, 08:44 AM) I can certainly respect that.  However, I don't think 928's are any more or less common than 944's.  If they are less common, its probably because of attrition.  The maintenance expenses generate alot of parts cars. There is a local used parts yard that has 5-6 944's that look like you could drive them. All have "Bad motor" written on the windshields. These cars have no body damage, okay paint jobs and sit on 4 tires looking like you could just hop in and go. They also have a couple of 928's in the same state. They of course have some wrecked 944's and 928's. Now that I have said that, I love 944's and just worked a deal were my wife will have an 84' in a couple of weeks. We are selling her Jeep. I like the pre S3 928's, non-interference 16v engines. 944's are rock solid cars as long as you keep up the belt maint. I had a few people tell me: "But when the belts go, so does the motor." Duh, so does just about every Honduh, DSM etc out there. The 944 isn't unique in that respect, just that the cars are older now, and you find TONS of 944's with 50K or more on thier timming belts or owners who say "Never replaced it". Babbling. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif)

Mine being an S2 16v has an even higher risk of failure with the chain guide and tensioner. In fact, the one on my car failed on the previous owner. It cost him a new head, new cams etc. He used new Porsche parts not rebuilt(he was a doc. so $ was no object). His bill was $7k for that repair alone. Most of us would have to surrender in that event. With a normal 8v NA, the "total loss" threshold is even lower since its a $3500 car.

That said, I see alot of early 928's for $5000.