goliver

My current S4 is my fifth 928 and they have all been very reliable daily drivers. All total I have put more than 200,000 miles on 928s from 1980, 1983,1985, and two '87s.

For my mohey they are the most comfortable car for me anyhow. Only time I was ever in a problem in a 928 was the day I registered my '80. I bought it off of ebay for $1750 with a bad alternator and a gas tank that leaked. Fixed both for less than $150. Drove it for two weeks without a hitch. The a/c even worked. Take it to get smogged it passes with flying colors. Go to the DMV and when I come back out with it now being officially mine, It won't start no way no how. I pull the relay to the fuel pump and jumper it and still no go. I'm sweating because I have a student orientation that I can't be late for in like ten minutes and I'm 15 minutes away if the car was running. For some mysterious reason the wires behind the fuse panel for the fuel pump relay got pushed back so they weren't making contact. Push the wires from the back of the board into the relay and viola, starting 928. Drive like a bat outta hell and make it to do my presentation a few minutes late.

I do prefer the auto in my S4 for my daily commute which is mostly in town to my old S4 that was a 5 sp. With the kickdown cable properly adjusted I can get to 1st with just a smidgen more tip in so it seems lively enough for me.

If you keep the maintenance current they are bullet proof. If you do your own work it isn't to bad price wise either. I saw a gold OB yesterday on the way going down Sunrise towards home and it looked to be in great shape. Most old cars I see are smoking or tattered looking. These cars stand up real well.

Look at the number of people throwing super chargers on them, some with high miles and they keep on keeping on. Great car.

911s make great daily drivers as well although I seem less able to restrain myself from wild antics around town in my 911SC than in the shark and they aren't as creature comfort oriented as the 928s. But they are damn reliable as well.

Jim makes a great point that I think about often. What other car that is 17 years old would I rather have? Corvette same vintage? No way. Can't stand rattles. Can't even come up with another make except maybe Ferrari.

Good luck on your hunt.

Regards,

goliver

Oh by the way, put about 25,000 trouble free miles on the 1980 before selling it to a local guy who is totally restoring it for $3500. Only time I have ever made money selling a used car was with a 928.

Regards,

mark kibort

every weekend, it goes to the store to buy groceries. I usually take the long way!!

Ive owned the ole Holbert car for 3 years now, 3 full race seasons (9 races per year) and 12,000miles total. what a car. now, i just need a daily driver again! i miss the full street 928!!!!

mk

Garth S

Practically every day the sun shines, one of the three listed below is driven - try not to play favourites . - until the salt comes out to chase the snow. Doing your own repairs/preventative maitenance (PM) is part of the mystique and obsession. By staying ahead on the PM, my annual costs have been absurdly low for many years - since '85.
To qualify as a daily driver, one needs a ready access to parts: that is an issue here, hopefully not for you. For good advice - well, that's here in abundance, and priced right too!

Bill Ball

The 89 is my daily driver, although in the summer and warmer winter days I often ride one of my motorcycles to work. I've put 60K on my 89 in 3 years. Only one failure on the way to work. The car died and would not restart or if it did it ran very poorly. Diagnosed it as a failed LH brain. Fortunately DEVEK was less than 30 miles away and Marc brought me a spare and I was back on the way to work in less than an hour. I have done a few repairs as you would expect for a 15 year old car with 133K miles, but overall it has been a nice commuter car with decent gas mileage to boot (about 19 overall). If you buy a good example that has received proper care, learn about the more common issues and observe the required maintenance with this car, I think this is a fine daily driver.

Shane

I drive one or the other everyday, except that is only for a total of two months out of the year that I'm on vacation.

deliriousga

Please bear with me kuwona, it'll be a good comparison to look at.

We have a '97 Dodge Intrepid that just ate $5k in a transmission, motor mounts, steering knuckle and bushings (put in by mechanics) and new tie-rod ends, complete set of bushings for front end, control arms, ball joints, struts, plug wires, plugs and power steering pump that I put in and still needs new bearings up front to stop vibrating. It also needs rear-end bushings and struts to be perfect. It's 7 years old, 130k miles and worth $2k (wish I knew that before it died on vacation and had the tranny put in). I use Mobil 1 oil and all scheduled maintenance is done on time or early. Even though it's not a Porsche, I treat it like one to hopefully keep the "family car" running for 6 more years when our youngest goes to college and we need it no more.

The '87 928 S4 cost $10k and will be a total of about $2k for me to bring it up to par from the PO (includes the $250 cost of the factory manuals on CD since the Porsche dealer can't get them). Needs plugs, wires, P/S pump, C/V boots all around, some vacuum tracing/repair, complete fluid changes, leather re-conditioning/dying in front and, even though it looks fine, I'm changing the timing belt, rollers and re-conditioning the tensioner since I don't know when it was done. I already replaced some filters and had her balanced to get rid of vibration. Most of those are normal maintenance items the PO didn't keep up with while only driving her every 3-4 weeks or just to set her to zero for my comfort/sanity. It will all be done by me so no mechanic costs. She's 17 years old, 99k miles and worth about $12-15k once at peak condition. I bought her to take the place of my Jeep Wrangler. IMHO I believe she's a little better drive, eh? She is almost a daily driver. My wife and I carpool in her car 1-3 days a week and I'm in the 928 all other days. We're in Georgia, so no storage since we might get 1-2 days of snow a year.

My wife has a 2000 Boxster that's never had a problem. We complete all maintenance on time. It's about $200-$400 every 15k miles for the maintenance done by a local Porsche mechanic. She's 5 years old, 51k miles and runs beautifully. This was our first P-car and the PO said "once you have a Porsche, you will never want to be without one".

You've probably already figured out I agree with him. When one of these cars is on its' last leg, our next one WILL be a Porsche.

Hope it helps.

jserio

I bought a 944 to drive daily but I just keep driving the S4. with 198k miles on it it certainly is no garage queen. I'm am thoroughly convinced that when it comes to these cars the more it is used the less the headaches as long as the maintenence is kept up. The bumper to bumper traffic may urge me to rethink my usage. But it is so hard to leave alone.

Red UFO

I saw a pinto wagon park next to me last week. It had decent rims with wheel locks on each rim. I couldn't believe it. This guy took decent care of it. Just wish I had my camera for some reason. Uber redneck.

Intrinsicate

I have driven mine every day for two years, and never been inconvenienced. I have charged through Death Valley at the height of summer, and the temperature never moved above "normal". Shortly after buying it, I did the big three preventative jobs - oil-pan gasket, motor mounts and steering rack -simultaneously, to avoid repetitive dismantling jobs. Total cost, under $1,000. My garage floor has remained bone-dry, ever since. The car is a daily source of interest, pride and pleasure.

bcdavis

It is a great car, and pretty reliable, but I have been SO much less stressed, once I got a backup vehicle... Then you do not have to worry when your car needs to be down for a while getting fixed.

Ron_H

I second BCDavis' statement. I have a Rabbit as a back up and so many times it comes in handy. And you don't need a rental car for 2 days which often turns into a week and a half while parts are on back order. It also helps that Devek gives me rides to the train station if I need to leave my 928 there for a few days; I just ride the train back to the Rabbit and drive it around for awhile.
For a long time, I relied on my 914/6 as a daily driver and was under it all the time frequently at night so I could use it for work. Then I got the Rabbit. Whew! It keeps going and going and going......

jserio

Looks like the 944 is now the back up vehicle

adam928

I try to drive her as often as I can... in the summer its usually 4-5 days/week.

Im uncertain if I should call her my "daily driver" though. In swedish theres a word called "bruksbil", meaning approx. "car you use". In other words a tool that you use to get from A to B, commute etc. I do not use the her for this purpose at all. The only driving I allow myself to do in it is pure pleasure driving.

drnick

ive been merciless on my 928 for over 2 years putting in about 50k miles mainly at WOT without reliability issues - two break downs, 1st from a blown heater hose and 2nd from a leaking injector feed pipe - both fixed at roadside. it is serviced routinely and initialy when purchased needed a job of work done.

the car was in the paint shop for a couple of months last christmas so i bought another 928 five speed, which apart from a faulty relay has been sweet as a nut, my girlfriend drives it to work.