928 Lemons?

[Fixer]

I have noticed reading other threads some have had an inordinate amount of problems and repairs to be made to their 928s.
My 928 was owned from new by a Doctor who spent a ton on this car. Mike Tilson Motorcars has serviced it most of it's life, the techs there told me it was due to the Doc, and that Doctors contrary to belief beat on their cars.

I never have problems with any of my cars, my 911 was beat on and had slightly weak synchros at 47k miles, in 13 years it never got worse, i improved it's shifting in a few ways.
I always take the car into account, my Brother Frank is the same way. I think it comes with wrenching, a Russian racer and professional mechanic friend of mine (Vertex Racing,) won't red line his NSX or 928 very often it scares him too much to.
Fangio the great race driver was said by himself to have always "considered the car" when racing which cost him some time but preserved the car.

I shift into gear and try and start relatively slow in both my automatics, and i brake well in advance in all cars, i avoid holes and ruts and always allow my cars to warm up well. I drive slow on the highway, but have fun on the back roads. I keep them out of sun and rain, get in and out carefully (seats) I change oil and brake fluid when recommended and generally just care for the car, never having issues.
What do you think, are these Lemons or abused 928s? They are Porsches after all.

[mikeesik]

Like a Child that has been abused and neglected, eventually the residuals of this will come out in a big way upon maturity.

[Danglerb]

The 928 is one of the finest cars ever made, nobody ever sells a nice one willingly. The result is that 95% of the 928's for sale are issue cars that may not have been in good condition for a decade or two.

The other factor is that good mechanics are rare, and even good ones are expensive, but not as expensive as a bad mechanic can be. The result is that nobody does PM, they fix them enough to sell or drive and wait for the next thing to break.

[AirtekHVAC]

Mine was severely abused and neglected.....I'm saving her....

[924CarreraGTP]

I'm extremely careful with seats, electronics, and shifters. In my 911 for instance I really go easy on the shifter enough that I almost feel like a granny sometimes. There's no "snick, snick, snick" in old cars like that. I like to drive fast, but I don't exactly abuse my cars. I might use the kickdown in my 928 from time to time, but only after it warms up and the car feels as though it's ready to run. 928's don't particularly run good cold. It's almost like the faster they run, the better they run. Even still, if I was going to buy a car just to thrash, the 928 would be one of my first choices. They will outrun many new muscle cars even in Automatic form (that is if you know how to emphasize the kickdown), and you can generally drive them hard all night. Plus they are fairly cheap to buy, and I don't find them complicated. Once you get down to the meat of the electronic and running systems, they are pretty simple.

[riber.bentsen]

Mine was also abused heavily by the PO, but after new MM and some synth-oil in the tranny it runs almost like new. The engine still pulls hard.

[Danglerb]

Originally Posted by 924CarreraGTP

I'm extremely careful with seats, electronics, and shifters. In my 911 for instance I really go easy on the shifter enough that I almost feel like a granny sometimes. There's no "snick, snick, snick" in old cars like that. I like to drive fast, but I don't exactly abuse my cars. I might use the kickdown in my 928 from time to time, but only after it warms up and the car feels as though it's ready to run. 928's don't particularly run good cold. It's almost like the faster they run, the better they run. Even still, if I was going to buy a car just to thrash, the 928 would be one of my first choices. They will outrun many new muscle cars even in Automatic form (that is if you know how to emphasize the kickdown), and you can generally drive them hard all night. Plus they are fairly cheap to buy, and I don't find them complicated. Once you get down to the meat of the electronic and running systems, they are pretty simple.

Tranny shifting has to be design choice, after 1k mile breakin I was power shifting my 91 mustang with no special issues except tire smoke as I worked on the launch. Power shifting in case somebody doesn't know is mashing the accelerator and not lifting til you are ready to stop so the shift needs to be fast enough you don't hit the rev limiter between gears.

[Fixer]

Originally Posted by riber.bentsen

Mine was also abused heavily by the PO, but after new MM and some synth-oil in the tranny it runs almost like new. The engine still pulls hard.

AWESOME, good to hear.

[<><><>]

Originally Posted by Danglerb

The 928 is one of the finest cars ever made, nobody ever sells a nice one willingly. The result is that 95% of the 928's for sale are issue cars that may not have been in good condition for a decade or two.

The other factor is that good mechanics are rare, and even good ones are expensive, but not as expensive as a bad mechanic can be. The result is that nobody does PM, they fix them enough to sell or drive and wait for the next thing to break.

exactly...


It took a while for me to find a good example, and I had to wade through lots of neglected 928s. I met quite a few owners that I wouldn't trust to take care of a goldfish much less a special car like the Porsche 928.

[XLR8928]

I have taken my 928 off the road, so I could attend to some much needed maintenance. So... I've been driving one of my two 280zx turbos around.(a fine car in its own right) This last weekend, I fired up the 928 to keep the injection/fuel system functional, and charge the battery. When I fired it up, I swear the sound of my barely muffled car gave me goose bumps. (I can't wait to put my us 4.7 with euro cams into it ) And that my friends, is the magic of the 928.....Lust!
-K