the 911 - a good buy? - Page 2 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

You may not realise it now but that its possibly the broadest question you can ask. Your £11k will streach to anything from a tatty pre impact bumper (pre '74) 911, through to the nicest mid 70's 2.7 Lux in the world, through good 911SC's LHD & RHD good 3.2 Carreras mainly LHD & a few RHD if you look carefully and well into tatty LHD 964's and even RHD 964's that need quite a lot of work. So what is it you are after??

No, Spend as much as possible, dont save any. :wink:

At the risk of incurring the wrath of my fellow jelly mouldists, might one suggest alternate kicks, derived in the form of a truly great GT, surely from the palette of Rubenesque inspiration, aka the 928? I speak from experience in recommending a pukka 928S4 for this kind of outlay. And what more could you wish for? Glorious, woofling 5.0 litre nuclear power station of a soundtrack 'neath the hood, and a stupendous platform for mauling those stunning French D-routes at 150+ mph, all day and all night long... Aah.. One of the very finest cars ever to grace the automotive firmament and massively preposterous value. Buy one. Today; no excuses!

928 is truly a great car...but with £11k to spend buy the car for £6k and kep the balance for running costs.

Nope. Original poster clearly said "but I really want a 911"

2.7 lux = - what kind of mileages can these beauties take? Are there any major things that need changing at regular intervals? much appreciated, folks

what is it you like about the 2.7 lux???? For this money I would get a very good 911 3.0 SC rhd. This is an evolution of the 2.7 and in some eyes is seen as one of the best 911 period.The 2.7 engine is not particularly great and i am talking about in the lux rather than the '72 911 RS before someone posts back shooting me down.

My choice for the money: Carrera 3.2 with a G50 box, post 1987. You can certainly get a stunning LHD one for that dosh, maybe a doggier RHD one. They don't rust as much as the older ones, and the G50 makes it feel much more modern. If minimax reads all the books, reads all the guides, looks at all the autotraders, I bet you a pint of shandy at PistonFest that he will come to this conclusion

I have had 2 1989 3.2 and love them,,,but when you say Doggier version you end up paying more and maybe a lot more to put right..With £11k there is genuinely no point buying a car that may cost £15 all to buy and get sorted.Far better to get a sound example for your money,there are obviously risks to the wallet in owning these older cars. If you are buying a doggier 3.2 then you may need to spend £8k with say £3k ready to get it right.I am not aware of 3.2 being at this level. There shouldn't be any difference between rustproofing on SC & 3.2 both galvanised ...You do get problems on both in terms of rust,around window seals,arches and as a result of poor accident damage repair.

Paul - £6k on a 928 would possibly (probably) be a false economy; I genuinely think £10k is approximately the minimum for one of these babies. The cheapies have always been rougher than a Bangkok femme de la nuit, from what I've seen. (Maybe you could get away with an S or an S2 for this money though?) Toodles.

For your budget I wouldn't get a Porsche, unless your a big fan of 70's tartan trim and choccy brown plastic. Why not buy a Lotus Elise. Awesome fun and cheap as chips to run.

Aha, but there is! You wouldn't think so, but IIRC Porsche improved their galvanisation considerably with the 3.2 onwards. Different technique or something. I have certainly seen the evidence - ie lots of rusty 3.0s and earlier, hardly any rusty 3.2s. You are spot on about the doggy comment. I wasn't recommending the doggier one. Rather that a decent LHD one could be got on budget, and that more pennies would have to be found for a decent RHD example. Cheers Domster

Bog off to the Elise forum, Paul. Everyone knows they are noddy cars that break down more than they should and run out of steam at 75 mph Although it's not a bad point. If you could put up with the flimsier build then they are cheaper in terms of petrol, tyres etc.

Great comments from Roadrunner there - truly awful trim in some of the earlier stuff - especially prevalent in those horrible 2.7s of the mid 1970s...but nowadays a 3.0 Turbo with red and black tartan trim, a Durant and chrome trim is considered a "classic" isn't it...I remember the times when black look, square mirrors and even a Dage sport flat front were de rigeur for disguising an early Turbo 3.2 Carreras do tend to rot less than SCs but that may be down to many factors, not least of all age. But ther are so few good condition SCs about that a 3.2 is th best bet. Personally I'd buy on condition first - the 915 'box is sweet as a nut if properly set up and maintained - often its the clutches that let these down, not the boxes... All IMHO of course

The style police were mainly off duty between 1965 and 1995.

Oi, that's when I was born!

Exactly!

der you are right a cheap 928 is a false economy and my barge pole wouldn't be anywhere near one..i was just trying to add a bit of colour along the lines of don't blow all your hard earned on one,save a good chunk for running costs. Dom, SC '78-late '83 3.2 '83- '89 I really am not aware of any great change in rust proofing procedures,,it could be that aan early SC could be 11 years older than a late 3.2..I have seen some mid '80s 3.2 in bad shape bodily,,the galvanising was good and a big help.Porsche only gave these cars a 10 year body perforation warranty as long as the car was inspected as part of the service procedure.

Porsche rust proofing was launched in 1975 with a 5 year warranty, which was increased to 6 a year later. From 1985, the 3.2 had a 10 year one. Could this be a change in rust proofing quality? Or just Porsche being more confident or generous? The plot thickens Will check it out if I have the time. Otherwise we will just have to settle the argument with a couple of pugil sticks at Pistonfest Cheers Dom

I must book that soon.. rather than opening a seperate thread is every one "camping" as it were.

Back to the origial question, nowt in particular is wrong with the old 2.7 Lux other than the engine as firstly it is so cronically under powered it does not deserve a Porsche badge, let alone a 911 one! Secondly the engine has a reputation as not being as strong as the later 3.0SC, which in truth applies more to cars that resided in in hotter climates than old blighty but certainly there are far better engine choices and it is not the most robust unit at higher miles. Probabbaly the best choice for you as a taster into 911s is a good SC, or if you dont mind LHD a 3.2. (a bit of a wild card to throw in the mix is the 3.0 Carrera, a sweet little pre SC 911 that has a nicer more rev happy engine than the SC or 3.2) Look at lots and don't even think of parting with ya wedge untill you have had an independant inspection.

Whichever you choose, have about £2000 spare for the first service you give it, even by an independent...just in case.

A bit more then you are looking to spend! I am not sure if it is good value or not, but thought I would let you know as it may be of interest www.lancerregister.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21904

Great link, the only thing missing from that 3.2 advert is these words written down the side of the car in glowing neon- 'This car is a bloody bargain, come and buy it now before a porker specialist buys it an puts the price up £5k and will still be able to sell it tomorrow' I have seen some nasty nasty 3.2's that poor sods heve paid £15K for, & this looks like a whole lot of car for the cash, if I had the dosh myself I would be going to look at it this afternoon its as simple as that.

I have seen this car for sale for the last month,,ex Autofarm I beleive....it was shown at £16K on onr forum.....V nice...but Guards Red??

From the piccies that one really does look a bobby dazzler, but I'm with Clubsport on the Guards Red issue ! Also pictures can be deceiving / flattering once they've been digitised and put onto the web - i know that my car looks much better on a computer screen than in the flesh !

Agree - but it is always worth look if you are interested! My only comment, is that it looks too good! Maybe accident damage...? I am trying to find out some history - will let you know what I find

I reckon Guards Red is due a comeback. Colour popularity is cyclical and we've had quite a few years now of the understated midnight and metallic hues. I think it's getting towards strong primaries time again, and when that happens who can resist a red sports car ! Am I the only one who thought that Ruf 996 looked great in red ?

I recently asked the forum about Guards red before I bought a 968 Clubsport...I went ahead & bought the car,despite thinking this was a -ve factor...As a car for the track/fun it stands out and in the recent overcast dull weather it glows...I am getting to like it much to my suprise. GR4 which part of kent do you live in? I don't want to try & get in yours in a car park someday by mistake. >> Edited by clubsport on Thursday 22 May 20:16

CS I'm near Maidstone. You shouldn't have a problem - Mine's VERY red ! At the time I bought the best car I could find without getting too prescrptive about colour (given a choice I probably would have gone for Riviera), but have become quite a fan of Guards Red - I think it really suits the car. >> Edited by GR4 on Friday 23 May 08:33

Red should only be allowed on Ferrari's. It looks too 80's on anything else. Speed yellow on the other hand, is the money.

Could be that 85 was ten years after 75 and Porsche realised that the cars were actually lasting longer than they had originally conservatively estimated? Just an idea.

Speed yellow ? Nah, too 90's !! Trouble is there's a lot more decades than there are primary colours so they all come round again.

Just waiting for hearing aid beige to come back, just in time for a new 997 turbo.

Hi people, this is my first time on the Pork forum, and it's only really for a mercenary reason but I hope you can help I have recently come in to some money (of which I can spend about £11,000) & would like a sports car - I have cast my eyes over a ginetta g33, a chim 4.0l, and various other bits of kit, but I really want a 911. Questions are, what should I look for? If it has a FSH from porsche will it still be reliable? what usually goes wrong? how much is it to service? Do you guys think it's a good idea? Thanks in advance