Don't believe the bad press. I have a very stock original 912E with a sunroof, everything works, it has only 53k miles on Im the 5th owner. I just had the car tuned and it runs and handles like a Porsche should, yes a modern car can take a 912E on the straight, BUT see who can out corner you.
The car is light and handles & feels like a mid engined sports car. I get great gas mileage, and TBH once well serviced and setup there is very little that can go wrong with the car. EFI can be tricky but find a good VW mechanic or DIY, the 912bbs.org site has the manual to download in PDF form.
If you want to heart stopping performance then get a 911, but if you want a GT thats reliable economic and fun the 912E is a great choice. The folks at the 912registry are super helpful and really good people. I would find a mechanic who can come out to the car, or perhaps better still would be to ask someone from the 912 registry if they would mind looking over the car for you so that you could get an idea of what its going to need beyond the obvious
