Did you ever have the urge to jump of a balcony?
 

Just to see what would happen?

That's kind of how I'm feeling about this listing.

http://bringatrailer.com/2013/11/13/...-928s-5-speed/


Mmmm. Dog leg.

That car was always one of my favorites.

http:///youtu.be/i2mMkC8HrTI

There is no substitute.

Hmm. Did you see the link in the comments to the auto salvage place?

Yeah, so I looked up "BMW" and found an x3 that was salvaged that looks to have similar damage to ours. :ack:

EDIT: make that two other x3's with a similar level of front-end damage.

Yes. Which just makes me realize that this is a very high balcony.

928?!!! :ack:

BTW, have you sold your 5er wagon yet?

What, exactly is even remotely appealing about a 928?

dont listen to the haters, jump:)

It's like those mazdas you keep buying - but cool. :D

The 928S4 has always been on my "If the right one shows up at the right price when I have the money burning a hole in my pocket" list. :dunno:

So it's going to make him a pile of money? :dunno:

Win.


The S4 is a demonstrably better car in every way, but something about the look of the early cars is just so perfect. I've only ever driven one and was primarily amazed by its similarity to a Mustang, but I'd still love to have one.

And I realize "but I'd" in the sentence above should probably be replaced wth "so of course I'd."

Equ--I have a deal in principle. Car is going for a PPI next week. Buyer is in CA and has been unbelievably accommodating of my desire to go fairly slow, since the Tesla isn't here yet and now likely won't be until mid December. But I'm hoping to get everything done around Thanksgiving.

Being cool is not about profit. Cool people do not care about such things.

Yeah, I thought all Americans knew this.

I disagree on the esthetics or visual appeal. I always felt like the earlier cars were missing something visually...just not quite complete. That changed with the S4.

It's odd that I see a strong parallel between the 928 and the C2 Corvettes, but think differently about them. In the Vettes, the car became much simpler and cleaner each model year (except for the hood used on the big blocks) becoming vastly improved as a result (except for the lack of the split window after '63).

Okay, so it's nothing like the Mazda then. Which is fine.

So... I'm not so versed in Porsches, let alone their front engined offerings. (928, 944, whatever).

What are their pitfalls?

Is it a finicky engine / or transmission? I know this is sacrilege but if it's the engine, what about an engine swap with a you-know-what? Or would that completely trash the character of the car?

Or are there other problems like poor reliability with the electronics, suspensions that wear prematurely? Insanely expensive parts?

They seem like cool machines.

If it's German and it's old, it's got plenty of pitfalls - you can just make 'em up and they'll likely be correct.

That particular car is a truly high balcony with no railing. Scroll down to this comment by 'Esconzaga':

LOL.

was about to post “Based on ye olde ‘check the interior wear to match the mileage’ trick… you have to really wonder about the 53k number.” Then I googled the VIN.

So instead: “this is the ye olde beware when the car was just recently sold at salvage auction on Co-part…”

Mileage looks legit. But so does the massive abuse the poor thing suffered.

http://www.autobidmaster.com/carfind...ONG_ISLAND_NY/

928s were notorious for driveability problems, electrical problems and overall poor reliability. On the plus side, they were also really expensive to repair and hard to work on.

I've driven one, once. It was nothing like a Mustang, except for the soundtrack. It stopped and steered really well (not like a Mustang). It wasn't particularly fast but it was strong enough to be entertaining.

Wasn't the 928 supposed to have been Porsche's transition car into a different direction, front-engined, water-cooled larger more luxurious models ... ?

If I recall correctly, long time fans balked and the car was scrapped ... fast forward to today, with Panamera's etc., and it's a different story.

The 928 was supposed to replace the 911.

This.

Wheeler dealers fixed one, IIRC.

back in 1980 or 81 I rented a 928 for 48 hours in Hollywood (CA)

That was fun, but long enough to know I didn't want one.


That interior does look like a lot more than 51K miles

The Probe was supposed to replace the Mustang.

Parallels all over the place but they never seem to touch. :lol:

As I recall, 928S4s were only available with Automatics. There were a number of 928GTs at the end of production that had a manual. They hold a special place (along with original 944s for some reason) on my 'want for no logical reason' list.
My list goes something like this:
1. 328gts
2. 928
2. 914
3. 850ci
4. 944
5. 280zx

Yup. I especially liked Clarkson's take on it - "biblical levels of unreliability". Of course, he ran his with no coolant until the engine exploded. May's comment was "I've seen one advertised for more than this as 'for parts'".

I've been casually looking for a later one, purple w/ black or gray interior, manual, as a project car. Probably not gonna happen, though.

For an idea of what goes wrong, look at this pre-purchase inspection checklist. Here (Internet Archive copy) is one owner's story of buying and fixing up a used 1986 model.

A 928 is like a boat. I want to use one occasionally, and I wish I knew someone that owned one so that I could borrow theirs from time to time, but when it comes right down to it, buying one would be about the dumbest decision I could make.

I drove a 928 in the late 80s when I was driving a trans am as a daily driver. I thought they were fairly similar in power and handling at the time, but I was young and stupider so who knows.

(I also had great experiences owning boats and I miss them.)

heh

http://jalopnik.com/used-car-face-of...ack-1470618587

JST better not get a automatic though

When compared to a Mondial, the 928 looks great.

I remember being a kid and realizing that the Mondial looked like crap and was slow.

Would you do it for a car that has been mechanically blueprinted?

I've read this post ten times and I can't figure out who you're talking to nor what is the meaning of the question you asked. :lol:

sorry.

it's a long boring story. i meant to post a picture of the 1989 911 Turbo (guards red) that is having its engine disassembled and reassembled with new parts as needed. when finished, it will be a truly outstanding and brilliant machine.

i missed the boat on it, of course, but keep angling for the current owner to have buyer's remorse so i can buy it 'after' rehab is done.

so that led me to question: would any of us buy this 928S4 if we knew it had been pulled apart and everything mechanical been re-assembled to better than factory tolerances?

No.

But a 911 Turbo is a very different car from a 928S4, in a whole bunch of important ways.

please elaborate.

:)

If you have to ask...

Well, for one thing, the engine is in the correct place ...

However, it is true that it's a very different car - I'm fairly certain Porsche engineers thought it "improved" in every way, yet, just as when Leo Fender "improved" guitar amps by removing distortion (by means of negative feedback) - some "improvements" are just not, um .... appreciated ;)