Been Porsche-less for a while. Help talk me in or out of buying a 968

[2ndTARGA]

Hi 911 people. Been a long time since I sold my Targa and stopped posting here. Sorry if this just a wrong sort of post for the 911 forum, (please don't flame me too hard) but I figure some of you must have also owned a 968 at some point.

Not looking for a pointless apples/oranges "which is better" discussion, I know I'm going to be back in a 911 eventually (hopefully 993,) but I have a chance to get a pretty nice (looking) '94 968 convertible at a good price and would appreciate any input you care to share.

I've spent a lot of time on the 968 forum and see a lot of grief with clutches, timing belts and variocam pads. This is supposed to be a fun driver that I can probably spiff up and not lose money on. But if the consensus is that they're maintenance hogs, I'll save my $ for a 911. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Ron

[hbueno]

Owning ANY Porsche is a good position to be in. I've never driven a 968 or 944, but have spoken with owners and they invariably love the car. Remember that forums are used for seeking answers to problems, so you can't necessarily equate forum activity with a model's reliability.

On a related note, many people bad mouth the 928, but I'm enjoying mine. Admittedly, it's a more complex car than a pre-1990 air-cooled 911. From the scare mongering stories, you'd assume nobody would buy one, but there are people like me who do.

What the air-cooled 911's have in their favor is prehistoric simplicity, there's just not much to them electrically or mechanically.

For me, nirvana would be to own one of every Porsche model ever made so I could choose what to drive on a particular day depending on my mood. That, or get adopted by Jay Leno.

Hugo

[wildthing]

Excellence #212 has an article on the 944, and a short bit about the 924-944-968 continuum...

[wayner]

I know these are not 968s, but might as well be.

DO NOT watch this video if you want to be talked out of one

race video - take no prisoners!

[RWebb]

the 968 is the most beautiful and fully evolved of that line - they are also rare

as we come out of the recession I expect them to rise greatly in price

that said, they do not have the handling dynamics of a 911 and can be expensive to maintaince or repair

but I'd sure buy one - I need to get back to having 4 cars again...

[Jrboulder]

A 94 will have r134a AC so servicing it will be a lot easier.

The cab top design was a hack job and spares (you'll need them) are either NLA or 20 times the price you would think. Heck, the later applies to all 968 specific parts. The manual transmission was subject to a class action lawsuit that effected a higher percentage of cars than the whole IMS thing.

If you're in the 968 price range why not just wait a little longer and get back into a 911?

90 944 S2 Cab (sold)

[2ndTARGA]

Thanks to all for the great input (I really do miss being on this forum regularly)

I've decided to pass on the 968 and will keep looking for my next 911.

Cheers,

Ron