worf928

I was pretty much thinking a GMC pickup from a used-car lot is probably the perfect 'beater' for someone that wants to otherwise DD a 928 that has access to no other car. I don't want to 'dig into' this and no way, would something 'modern' on-par with a 928 qualify. What's that going to be anyway? A Ferrari 575? Or maybe a BMW 6 series? LOL to both.

This was my point. Also, that with a beater, duct tape and barbed wire are acceptable substitutes for parts on order

Yup.

Nate, I kinda agree: As long as one goes in fully informed. If one can 'get by' when the 928 is up on stands, then by all means chase the dream. All to often though, we see folks that have their dream turn into a nightmare because they didn't have realistic expectations or hadn't planned for things not proceeding with their expectations.

GT6ixer

Don't disagree. Very prudent advice. My POV was one of YOLO. About 12 years ago when I was single with no kids, no house, and no debt, I stopped by a Ford dealership in Wichita while on a work trip. There was a red with white racing stripes '05 Ford GT on the lot. My favorite car. OF. ALL. TIME. I spoke to the sales guy for a while. First time I ever sat in one. Fell. In. Love. Asking price $150K. When I got home from the trip I spent the next week trying to figure out how I was going to pay for it. Cash out my 401K. Hit the parents up for a huge loan. Eat ramen for the life of the 60 month loan. Get into an even smaller apartment. And after all that still have like a $2K/month payment. LSS I never got one and instead bought an '05 Ford Ranger. The guy that sold me the truck had a sweet Ford GT poster above his desk. I made him throw it in as a condition of the sale. I no longer have the Ranger and it was the least favorite car I ever owned. Ford GTs are now and forever out of my reach. I really regret not going for it. If I had I would still have all the stuff own today.

If the 928 is the OP's Ford GT, I hope he does what I couldn't convince myself to do. He'll have the rest of his life to be responsible, prudent, and fiscally conservative.

YOLO

hacker-pschorr

Exactly, this is the most valid reason in my opinion other than living in a climate you just don't want to drive a 928 through. Also the nagging feeling of putting wear and tear and miles on a classic car. Daily driving is not "fun" so why use a "fun" car?

The more I think about it, I do have a 928 as my primary mode of transportation when it's not snowing. If Lorelei left me tomorrow I probably wouldn't buy another car. I'd keep my Yukon and the 928's.

So 10 years ago if we asked this question would the answers be different because they were only a 20 year old car?
How about 20 years ago if we asked the same question would the answer be different because they were only a 10 year old car?

What exactly started to deteriorate every year after year besides the head gaskets that suddenly make a 30 year old car less reliable than 20 or 10 year old car?

I'm assuming for the sake of this discussion we are talking about a well maintained, up to date 928. Not some barn find that's been sitting for a decade we got running and decided to drive it to Anchorage.

As for parts, I cannot recall ever waiting more than a few days for parts to keep my 928 on the road. Oh sure I've waited longer than a few days for quirky stuff like HVAC vent switches.

Economically it's actually a very smart thing to do. There's nothing that could possibly go wrong with my wife's 17 year old VW that would be cheaper / easier / faster to fix compared to any newer year VW.
That's a fact.

I don't own these old cars because I like quirky old cars or cannot afford something newer. I own these old cars because their problems, quirks and features are known variables. That's a very valuable and powerful bit of information.

You get so hung up on age. What makes that 9 year old Bug more reliable compared to our 17 year old one? That depends on the two individual cars being compared. This boils down to how good of a car you buy and that's a gamble with any used car. Ours is a well maintained one owner.

The biggest issue with keeping cars a long time in Wisconsin is rust. That may be the only reason why I replace my Yukon and the only reason why I don't drive my 928's year round.

That's the problem with this question. Is the option only having a 928 or some other "cool" car or having a 928 and a "beater" car.

I went into this scenario thinking only "one" car and the OP wants something cool. So now that eliminates all the GMC trucks and Toyota Corolla's of the world.

If the scenario is one "cool" car for everything, a well maintained fully up to date 928 isn't going to be any worse than a whole slew of other, even newer vehicles. And I argue it will be significantly better than quite a few.
Take a 2010 BMW in for an alignment and they find a ball-joint or tie rod loose. They don't stock ball joints and tie rods for every single BMW made over the past 19 years, they'll have to order it just like a 928.

Speaking of GMC vs 928's. In this past year the forty year old external fuel pump died in my 79 (caused by the in-tank pump dying) and so did the pump in my sixteen year old Yukon.

Cost to fix:
928: $280
Yukon: $1,100

My Yukon also needed both front wheel bearing assemblies replaced by 105,000 miles. At that time it was only 9 years old. Known issue, they only last about 100k miles so I'll be doing it again soon before they wear out again.

So yea, you and I are on the same page with Red Flash and some others. There are many valid reasons why one really might not want to daily drive a 928 as their one and only car, but frankly, just the age isn't one of them IMO.

Randy V

Less pearls clutching, more driving!

dr bob

I'll toss more into the discussion -- It seems a significant fraction of problems reported here by owners are related to thing that are beyond simple parts replacement. Just rippling through the front-page threads, it's service and prior-workmanship issues that dominate. Some are related directly to parts that have worn out, but many of those are about what to do about shortcuts taken previously either with cheap parts or ignorant/unqualified labor. Many of us depend on this forum, along with helpful local owners, to keep on top of things based a lot on what we see here in the forums. That help isn't always instant, certainly not instant enough to suggest that a problem discovered on the way to work in the morning could be diagnosed in time to get stuff fixed in time to drive home.

I love driving interesting cars, and my history includes some DD's that no sane person would ever consider. I drove a series 1 Lotus Europa as a DD for five years of school and work. Finally supplemented that with a reliable 'murican car after some close calls in L.A. traffic. That car needed several hours and a couple $hundred every month, at minimum, to get me between Huntington Beach, Anaheim, City of Commerce in east L.A., and UCLA in Westwood. I can safely say that my particular 928 is light-years ahead of that Lotus as far as reliability. Part way through this experience, I ended up renting some industrial space just so I could keep the Lotus and some other toys. Good gig while I was single and well-funded.



I've had enthusiast-owned 928's show up for fun drives with an hour or two of casual repairs needed. A guest's '80ish 928 DD casually dumped at least a quart of very black oil with my driveway at an evening social event, something I didn't notice until the next morning. That guest later shared that "it always does that, I just add more". That one was his only car, and stayed in service through a lot of work done in his apartment complex carport. It went away only after the timing belt jumped and broke the nose off the driver's side cam. The belt was on a run-to-failure schedule on the non-interference engine. He loved the car, and was a great ambassador for the brand. He got several years of DD service from the car, and in the end sucked up a lot more time than money at least the way it was kept. There are a lot of owners here with similar labor-of-love project cars, just keeping them going. Watching a recent event thread, owners were scrambling to get their cars good-enough to make a couple-states ride. Damn those torpedoes!

A 928 DD can be done. It takes serious dedication and devotion. Helps if you can do the work, 'cuz hiring it all out will be a bit spendy. Even the best 928 can be hard on the checkbook if you need a shop to do everything. A lot depends on your standards and what you're willing to put up with along the way.

SwayBar

Erik, we've always found common ground on most things, and I suspect that trend will continue.

Now, if I were married, and we only had ONE car which wifey also used as a daily driver - it would not be a 928.

Jeremy Mote

For some context: I currently live somewhere where I can only have 1 car, and any work I would need to do would either be on stands in the parking spot (even if I'm only allowed one car, there's frequently space to take up two spaces) or at a friend's lift 3 hours south (unless once I take ownership and meet up with the greater Atlanta 928 community and they have space I could use, but that's what I have access to now) when it comes to what I can live with, I've said before and will say it again: a car only needs 5 features imo - power brakes, power steering, heat, AC, and a radio. The radio can be a Bluetooth speaker in a pinch.

What's the worst that could happen? I take an Uber to work. Would be costly but not the end of the world, my work schedule is somewhat flexible (work 8 hours a day, be in office by 10am at latest)

bureau13

I've found my 928 to be very driveable and reliable. That being said, I would hesitate to buy any semi-rare older car as an only car. Even if nothing catastrophically breaks that will keep it off the road, what are you going to do when it needs a timing belt? You can't just take it to any rando mechanic, so its not likely a single day job.

The clear solution here is to buy two, and rotate them

Edit: I just saw you are only allowed one car. I think this is risky but if you can find one that has been maintained and doesn't really need anything to start with, go for it

Jeremy Mote

I'm thinking that maybe I've I'm aggressive with preventative maintenance I'll be alright. Set aside a long weekend at my friend's once a year with the sole goal of going through the car and replacing wear items.

belgiumbarry

hohoho, @bureau13 …. i can drive my 2 '70 BMW's CS all day long.... for years. I have them restored but they have not all those electric gremlins as in a 928 … or 850i as i have also.
I love the carb & dizzy cars… as oldtimers. It's the old school "high " tech that gives us worries. Ignition was that simple… now it's a chip. Fuel was playing with jets , now it's a ECU......which needs a diagnostic reader , UV eraser, writer ( eprom's) … of direct PC program with eeprom's…

God, i love old school !

More, i'm afraid 928 's as 850i's won't survive the oldtimers interest... to complex/expensive to maintain.

bureau13

I really haven't had many electrical issues at all in my 928...although I realize not everyone shares that positive experience, and I probably should not have just jinxed myself.

850is seem like a nightmare, but damn those are cool...

belgiumbarry

i restored my '91 850i ( with a lot of similar problems as seen on 928's ) and mounted a supercharger … a lot of fun and work… but OK, the blower work was extra, not anything to do with the reliability itself.
Now that car drives as it should be from factory , 5 L V12 , 450HP & 600 NM … with 6 psi boost …. but after a lot of trial&error.

was i glad to cut all that electric stuff out of my 2 "race" 928's.... new wiring for lights etc and carbs /dizzy !!!



.

khalloudy

Porsche have always been built to be daily drivers. The 928 and 924 were the first to be actually practical Porsches on top of that.

A well sorted 928 can easily be used as a daily driver, even if it is not in a restored condition. The key again is that is has to be in good mechanical and electrical state with regular maintenance have been completed in a timely manner and it would run like a freight train -which it is.

The Forgotten On

I used my 928s as dailies for years. I only retired my 81 because its headgaskets failed after 6 years of daily duty from 2011 to 2017 and I retired the 89 this year because I got tired of paying in excess of $600 a month in gas.

But now I cut my commute from 100 miles a day in Los Angeles traffic to about 20 with no traffic so I'll drive the 928 when I want to now that fuel cost isn't so much an issue.

Maintenance has never been a huge issue, just take care of big things like soft lines for the fuel system and power steering before you daily as they are common failure points when original.

Basically just service it like any old car, they have the same failure points but parts costs are different.

The car I replaced them with is a 2012 Audi A3 TDI. Soulless and gutless, but fun to abuse. It is simple enough for me to do all the work on sans replacing a DSG clutch pack or something major but normal maintenance is easy.

Plus 37 mpg is a good bit better than the 15 (combined at best) I was getting in the 89.

Ladybug83

Get a motorcycle and a 928 and park them in the same space.