It's been real, lets get together, luv ya, mean it, call my people and we'll do lunch

After investigating and shopping the 996s for a while now, it appears I will not be one with the 996 any time soon. I will not bash the model, we all know the strengths and weaknesses, and they are no better or worse than my chosen brand of hellcat. There have been a few surprises along the way, and I admit to learning tons here in this forum. For that, I thank you all, and if you need help in your Porsche future, you may call on me as an amateur willing to go the extra mile to help. I close on another 928 on Sun. Since I can afford plenty of cars, and have a limit on space, I'm going to stick with what I know, and what I can buy cheaply. I will continue the new car thread over in the poor stepchild forum apace. Thank you, hope I didn't ruffle toooooooo many feathers over here, and should you find yourself in N TX on the first wknd of the month, please join our large and boisterous group of 928 fanatics for some lies, and chatter, and maybe even a bit of brunch. 996s rule!

You can buy a 928 cheaply. But driving a 928 cheaply is another thing, particularly one that was bought cheaply!

Obviously you have made up your mind and free to do so. Not everyone is comfortable taking a risk on either another engine or any nightmare running costs that may arise. At least you did your homework without diving in like some folks only realizing the cost of entry and neglecting or not realizing the cost of ownership. What seems a bit off for me though is usually the 928 and 944 models have a lot more NEEDED maintenance than the 996 so I find 996 ownership can often be a breeze compared to the other models mentioned. I suspect not only you but quite a few others read forums like this and get the ****** due to only problem posts usually posted here. If we had at least 75% of JRosa55's "I love my Porsche" threads, it might be a different story. Another thing you won't be getting is the obvious driving experience/feel compared to the other two. Good luck in your future endeavors, no matter the car.

I've had a 914 2.0, several 944s, a 951 and the 911. I have to stop myself regularly from going to look at 928's, the market is surely bottomed out currently. Always intriguing...good luck!

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I agree but for me I'm less of a GT touring kind of guy so I find myself looking for 944 to do a LS conversion as the conversion kits are 1/4 of the price of 996 conversion kits. The L4 NA 944's around me have been going between $2-3k. For less than $8k, it's very tempting to have the handling of a 944 and power/reliability/cheap parts availability of a Vette.

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Yeah, I think the needed or deferred mx on a 928 is almost always higher than a 996. Of course, I'm looking at a 88 vintage, compared to a 2000 vintage, so that adds 12 years of potentials. I wasn't really afraid of the 996 maint, or upkeep or the potential pitfalls. They were pretty well known, and I could deal with pretty much all of that. One of the things that swayed me was the cost of the various catastrophic failure modes. IMS is catastrophic unless caught very, very early. Cylinder scoring can maybe be fixed without a complete tear down, but it's still very invasive. Block porosity issues are also darn serious. Compared to the 928 which faces one serious fault of oil starvation to the rod bearing, it's a lot lower failure rate than the 996 issues. I've driven some of the fastest cars in the world, and I've had my share of time behind the wheel of a 911/996. Good cars, and good handling. But - no poor step-child is the 928 in handling. The one I chose has the uprated suspension components, and stiffer sway bars. The 928 also pioneered the Weissach axle which makes for some serious traction when driven hard. Lastly, I 'invested' in a 928 that is just over 1/4 of the buy-in price for the 996s in my desired year and option. that's 320HP, 4 speed rear mounted auto, and a host of nice GT features. Some features missing are air bags, traction control, and modern electronics. I faced the facts, and the 928 buy-in and running costs are about the best you can find for the performance provided.

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I'm glad to hear that because that's not the experience I'm having with the '87 928S4 I bought last month. I've put about 20 miles on it since I got it home. Afraid to drive it for fear of timing belt skipping a couple of notches and grenading the engine. Afraid that since I haven't gotten around to checking the clamp on the driveshaft that if I drive it the engine will grenade due to thrust bearing failure. Also afraid to drive it because I have been told that the fuel lines might leak and turn the car into a roadside inferno. So, I've got a 22 hour job to replace TB/WP, plus adjusting the driveshaft clamp, plus replacing the fuel lines before I feel safe driving the car. That doesn't even address that the seats won't adjust (electrical gremlins) so I have to drive with my head cocked to the right. Plus no air conditioning and the heat is stuck full on. Plus lots of other assorted niggles to sort out. Yet, there sits my 996 daily driver with 147,000 miles on the clock, with everything working perfectly. So, hope my 928 experience takes a turn for the better soon.

I have both, they are both good. Both both for about the same price too. Both are good cars. 928s are slow compared to the 996.

I own both cars and both cars are wonderful. 928's are tanks, I maintain both the 996 and 928 100% and I feel that both have similar amounts of maintenance. Like IMO000 said the 996 is much faster, 928 much more comfortable. Pick your poison. Dan

use to own a 928, great car, but not for me, it is a cruiser, where as I like something more of a gocart but as a Porsche anyway it was epic. all it needs from the exterior, is the right wheels, and it looks a million dollars

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I don't know what you spent, and your expectation level was. Here's a fully sorted 928 that is ready to drive long distance. Everything works, everything is ready to go including the AC and driveline clamp. http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/cto/4727559221.html If you spent less, and you got less(like I did) I'm ready to fix those things you mention for a total of 40 hours of work, and about $1800 in materials, depending on the condition of the AC system. Sorry you're not happy. Let me know if your 928 is for sale.

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The cost equality has not been my recent experience. I bought a bottom feed, needs some generic mx 928S4 for $5000. I'll have $7000 in it when it's in good fettle. The bottom of the 996 market seems to be ~$13k, and after fixing up same as the 928 condition-wise, I'll have about $16k in it. IMS, RMS, AOS, water pump, clutch/PP. Top of the S4 market is prolly a bit more similar. I would say a really nice S4 will set you back around $18k, and a top of the market 996(base) will set you back around $25k, so less of a spread, but still a difference. Of course, anyone can over spend for a S4, and get a bargain basement 996 and call it the same -- but it isn't.

You don't need to defend the 928, I get it. They are good cars and good value too if you can do your own work. But performance wise they are a lot slower than a 996. The 928 is a GT car and is very good at it but it feels heavy and slow compared to the 996. The two cars are too far apart to make it a fair comparison. Both are good in their own catergory.

Hey, doc, get it and enjoy! You're not a newb so you looked at the options and are going for it. Have fun! TC

928's are great cars, really enjoyed my 5 speed. At the end of the day I'm glad you are still driving a Porsche.

The 996 is a modern sports/luxury car. The current bargain of its segment. The 928 was a good car for its time, but under appreciated. Most eventually went to people with no regard for the necessary maintenance, and who skipped on early work to head off major issues. My last one was one of a handful of Carelli convertible conversions, and when I got it, it had a metallic 'white out' paint job and the remains of a nitrous system. I spent a ton getting it looking good.

I paid $9,100 for my '87 928S4 with 81,000 miles. With about $1,400 in parts and 20 plus hours of DIY effort, I'll have it reasonably well sorted for under $11,000. The paint and interior are about 8.5 out of 10. So, I don't think I overpaid, especially compared to the 155,000 mile car in the link for $12,500. The point of my post was that you seem to be focusing on all of the catastrophic failure modes of the 996 in deciding not to buy one, yet you seem to be glossing over the same type of serious issues with the 928. Those issues are exactly why I am choosing to leave my 928 parked until I get the TB/WP changed, replace the fuel lines and release the pressure on the thrust bearing. Any of those 3 issues could cause catastrophic failures, and in the case of a fuel line leak onto the exhaust manifold, it could be deadly. I have been warned by many people to park it til those issues are resolved. With the 996, the IMSB issue has become an "unless it's a super low miles car, just wait til you change the clutch and swap the bearing then at minimal cost." And an IMSB failure won't incinerate your car (and possibly you along with it). Bottom line, of the 2 cars, the 996 has way fewer maintenance headaches, yet that's your basis for choosing the 928 over the 996. I guess it is a case of choosing the devil you know over the devil you don't. And for the record, I am very happy with my 928 purchase - it is just that the 928 requires a lot more of my attention, whereas the 996 is point-and-shoot.