I drove a 912E yesterday

[deathpunk dan]

A friend bought what is probably one of the nicest 912Es on the planet and tossed me the keys yesterday evening.

The car is mostly stock save for a 2056cc (2mm overbore) engine rebuild with stock exhaust/fuel injection. It drove very nicely and it definitely had more oomph than expected. I never revved it above ~5200 rpm but it pulled pretty well, not terribly far off a 2 or 2.2 liter 911T...I don't think. My car is away for repair and will be an interesting comparison when I get it back.

I don't know the particulars on the engine, perhaps the cam is non stock but it did not sound lopey at all and was very smooth.

Given the on paper specs, it should be a dog, but it felt about as quick as the 6 spd base model mini cooper clubman I drove recently. For the real world street driving around here...it's absolutely enough to be fun.

Just don't turn on the air conditioning.

[Techne]

I had virtually the same motor in my 73 914 2.0 (2056)

It is a pretty good motor despite having begun life in a VW bus - Porsche massaged it pretty well. I think a 2056 makes around 100 hp and 100 ft-lbs - plenty to have fun in a light car that handles well.

[Wayne 962]

Right - the 2.0 motor in the 1976 912E (one year only) had about 95 or so HP, which is just about the same HP that was in the early 911 2.0 T motors (110 or so). The 911T motor was heavier, so the performance of these two cars are very similar, at least on paper.

-Wayne

[Matt Monson]

There's days I miss my 912e. They are great little cars. And unlike their contemporary 911 brothers, they still have the 7:31 ring and pinion in them, that does help them out of the hole and around town in the first few gears.

[Davie Boy]

I've never driven an E, but I'm definitely surprised at what everyone is saying here. I have driven an early 912 (a '69), but it was a complete and total dog compared to my '71 T. It seemed to drive just fine, but maybe there was something wrong with it?

[Evan Fullerton]

My dad has a 912E and I love the car for putting around town. His has a hydraulic lifter cam in it so while it really is ZERO maintenance, the performance does suffer some on the top end. You really have to thrash it to get it to rev over 5k RPM. On the freeway, I wish it had the 8/31 ring and pinion but for around town, it makes a heck of a lot more sense than the hot rod mid year 911 he has as well. The 911 is just too fast to be a reasonable round town car. The only real downsides to the 912E is that here in California you still have to smog them though I now have that down to a science and it doesn't require the thermal reactors to be put on and the sound track isn't all that great. Once you get past those two things though, for just putting around town, it is my favorite car ever.

[gtc]

The other downside is that people think they're collectible now, and some are asking more for a 1976 912E than for a 1976 911.