Brian
First off congrats on spelling your name correctly!!

You already have a very nice S/C shark....which instantly makes in very rare....maybe 20 or so in the whole world?

Generally speaking.....cars are horrible investments...your guaranteed to loose your butt!! The nicer (more expensive) the car.....the more spanked you get in depreciation....or buy a older car thats offf warranty & pay through the nose for maintence?...look at 996 turbos...a car that holds its value quite well (compared to other cars)....but still nice 996 X50 turbos can be bought for $60+K less than MSRP only a few years old? Will it cost $60K over three years to keep yout 928 in good shape....no way!! Even with $125 an hour labor...not even close.....sure your looking at a possible $10K bill (Pure guess) this year......but if you can afford a $100K car new or used...then $10k shouldn't hurt that bad?

My 928 is a good example....it blew the TB at 84K miles on the prior owner who decided not to fix it....luckily Devek fixed it (& everything else that needed attention) & sold the car to me for a slight premium....so in reality I paid $11.5K in maintence right out of the gate......but I've only had small issues since then....& thats because I'm a perfectionist....no really expensive repairs since 8-2004! (loud knock on wood)

Bottom line is driving nice cars (new or old) costs money....the nicer the car the more $$$$ it costs....& 928's are very nice cars! Don't forget the insurance on a 928 is way cheaper than a new $100K sports car too!

 

Interesting thread...some people drive a 928 because they like them. There is a car in my garage that cost almost 200,000 and it is driven by my wife. I prefer the 928.

 

because while you fix all the crapp that is going on with it , you'll get into a real nice love-hate relationship. better than with any bentley or aston martin or what-you-may-have. my 0.2

 

The 928 is like the evil smiling woman in the black leather outfit, when you first feel the lash your either love it or hate it or both. If you aren't willing to pay for what a 928 needs, you don't get to drive one. There are many cars that do things the Porsche does, but there is no substitute for a Porsche.

 

456 or 550 ferrari

or

"renew" your 928. Costs quite a bit, but it is worth every penny!

marc

 

I, by no means could afford a $125k car. I own an $80k car, only I waited 26yrs before buying it and picked it up for less than the cost of a good home theatre system. My 928 is in dire need of help but that was the purpose in me getting the one I did. I dropped $2k in the first week just to get the blaming thing up to a "safe" standard. Looking down the short list of cars in my sig you can see it isn't like I drive scorching hot rods but I do enjoy going fast. I buy the cars I can afford the upkeep on, and when I can't I have to wait to afford the upkeep on.

That said the 928 is like a skilled surgeon who knows the cuts before he makes them and can do so with his eyes closed from 200yard away. The Corvette, which I still love and kick myself for selling, is like performing heart surgery with a chain saw and tweezers. After getting this one I don't think I could think about buying another sports car without considering a newer 928, or any Porsche for that matter. Well except maybe a boxter or coxster(read: caymen), not a fan of the sphincter like exhaust. Anyway, don't let the cost of maint. guide what you do. The 928 is a true timeless car, and I know once I get mine the way I want it, I'll keep it as long as possible at any cost because of the simple kick in the pants it gives me on demand. The closest thing I have found at a reasonable cost in terms of pants kicking is a Subaru Justy that had a WRX engine placed in it. I felt like I was sitting in a tissue box with a jetpack strapped on the top.

 

I went for the 2007 Aston Vantage in Tungsten Silver with light beige interior. I also have Aston Works doing the wood in the interior like the DB9 before delivery. Because Aston is re-tooling for the convertible, you may not be able to order a coupe with reasonable delivery times. The paddle shifting will be available for order in April, but again you wont see the car for a looong time. Fully loaded with a 5 year extended warranty (no mileage limit) will be about $130K +/-. If you check there are a few 2007's in stock... go to www.astonmartin.com and then view the dealers.

You could get a used Vanqush for similar dollars but no warranty, and from experience owing older hand made Astions, you beter budget $1 a mile for repairs. You could get a DB9 under warranty and might beable to extend the warrany another 3 years for mid $130K's...

The Vantage is so much like the 928, the transition will feel new but somehow familiar... the car feels like its made from solid billet, and Prodrive will announce any day now a series of performance upgrades (Prodrive is to Aston as AMG is to Mercedes).

My dealer (Dave Pigg - Chicago 847-295-6560) has a few 07's in stock that the original owners had hardships.

 

I get where you're going, but there are some substantive differences between the two.

AMG has been a wholly owned subsidiary of DB for many years now (8-ish? I forget...) They have for all intents and purposes never done anything but tune Benz product and do a few custom body mods. They still do nice work, but as when any company changes hands, there have been some changes that were not for the better.

Prodrive does everything but build and market their own car. (And recently they almost did that, but didn't like the margins). It is an independant company that tunes and develops all sortsa stuff for all sortsa auto companies. from Ferrari, to AM, to Subaru...

(Prodrive builds a killer Subaru rally car.)

From what I've seen lately, Prodrive is even more wideline than Porsche Engineering or Lotus Engineering.

But, yeah, the Vantage drives nice and is quite a looker. Personally, I prefer the looks of the Bent coupe, but I prefer the drive of the AM. YMMV.

(The Bent was an effortless whoosh to 150, but I felt soooo disconnected. I remembered very clearly why I so love Porsches and Benzes north of 100.)

My client/friend who owns both the AM and Bent mentioned above also has a 928 in the stable. He still prefers the 928 to either, if he's going fast.

 

Okay, I guess I need to clarify a couple things about both the tone and intent.

I was "fantasizing" about a replacement, not contemplating one. So it was more an exercise of, "if I was going to trade up, what would it cost and what would it be."

Through this exercise, I came to the conclusion that throwing whatever amount of money at the 928 was probably preferable to replacing it, since attractive replacements would be far more costly, for arguably no appreciable increase in capabilities (although perhaps more of a wow factor).

By calling it a financial disaster, I don't mean that it's a strain to fix it (more of an aggravation), it's more the idea of sunk costs as a percentage of the overall car's value. If it costs $12k to fix a $100k car, the ratio is smaller than paying $6k to fix a $10k car. This is more of an emotional reaction than a rational one--and the point of the first post was to share that I was having an emotional reaction to the frustration, and that slowly rationality was winning out as I fantasized the alternatives and considered the cost/benefits.

I should have been clearer--at this point, I've run through all the stages of grief and have concluded that I should happily keep dumping money in the 928

Do I have a lemon? Well, that depends. In a way, I think there's no such thing as a lemon, because if you're willing to go deep enough, all offending parts can be replaced and made operational.

Certainly I bought a bad example, and there's been a little bit of bad luck along the way. Call it tuition for a learning experience.

I have had: A camshaft failure in 2003 about 3 weeks after I bought the car that was the functional equivalent to breaking the timing belt--except you gotta buy a cam, too. Had the engine pulled and the whole thing rebuilt, and no corners were cut regarding replacement of marginal wear items. Oh, and as a bonus the AC had been busted off the block, so the cradle had to be cut/welded. Parts/Labor >$15k.

-- I had the interior redone (new carpet, dash/console recovered, new seats) for somewhere around $3-$4k.

--the torque tube replaced and the torque converter redone for higher stall ($500 for the TT, $2-300 for the TC, lots of labor to r/r);

-- The SC kit was $4 or $5k and I did that myself;

--The rebuild S4 heads were cracked, so I exchanged (in 2004) them for GT heads (which was another $1k), but the swap was covered by the warranty.

--New injector and front engine wiring harnesses were another $1k

--LH Failure, $500(?)

--Resealing radiator end tanks (a few hundred parts/labor)

--Swap to Bilstein/Eibachs was, I dunno, $2k for parts/labor/alignment

--This year the whole AC system was refurbed--and I had a leaky evaporator and heater core, so it was $6k for all the AC parts and labor involved in tearing the dash out, plus one of the AC hoses is a bitch to get out.

So it's been a mixture of restoration plus enhancement. I'm just ready to be caught up for a year or two. There are a couple aggravating things that are probably easy to fix, but time consuming to diagnose--like one electric door lock works but the other doesn't--and my pass side mirror goes L/R okay, but not U/D.

I have seen a lot of ratty 928s (mine started out that way) and I'm getting to an age that I can't stand to have things out of sorts. In retrospect, and it's been echoed here a zillion times, it would've been far cheaper to pay extra to buy a good example than to buy a beater and fix it up.

So again, the point of my original post was to share the odyssey I had been on, not that I was seriously contemplating replacing the car--because there is no better alternative that is remotely as cost effective as putting $2-$10k into the current car each year--and theoretically that number should start moving down, because honestly, all the big recurring stuff that plagues these cars has been done.

 

Brian
The bummer on 928's is finding a somewhat neglected or just unlucky one and paying lots of $$$$ to bring it up to a top level of cosmetics and mechanics.....its always better to pay a bit more up front for a well documented and maintained 928...it will save you money in the future! Bottom line is 928's are supercars of their day & all supercars are expensive to own and operate.....though it does seem some are more unlucky than others? Still no matter what it costs to keep the 928 running...it will still be cheaper than an equivalant new car that depreciates like a rock!

 

I suppose that someday I may have to test drive a six speed vette, just to get it out of my system.

In the mean time, consider yourself lucky that you have qualified mechanics to work on that civilised brute of yours. A good 928 mechanic is a rare gem.

 

Dont think "trade up" start to think "add upp" instead
Intstead of trading in the fantastic S/C shark, wich you will at some point regret, buy another Porsche!

I have a nice 924 as my "backup car" to use when the shark is in need of repairs. The 924 is very slow compared to the shark and lacks the admiration of other Porsche owners, but it has very good balance and handling wich makes it a very fun car on twisty roads, and the ride comfort is good enough to use it as a daily driver for a few weeks.



The best part about 924's is that they are extremely cheap, and parts are even cheaper. And it's probably the most reliable Porsche! You can get them for 500$, but dont do that. Buy a very nice low milage post 80' for 4000-6000$ and throw another 2000$ of new parts at it, and you end up with a reliable car that will run for another decade.

Ater driving the 928 its gonna take a week of 924 driving before you start to notice that it actually got some acceleration, but when switching back, the 928 is gonna blow your socks off

If you cant live without extreme performance throw in a few more grands and get a 924 Turbo. If you need something rare and special get a 924 Carrera GT or GTS (if you can afford one). But stay clear of the 924S and the 944's becuause then it's back to the 928's maintanace schedule and part prices.

Btw: The kids love the 924. My 3 year old daughter loves it even more than my S4!

 

Taffleman,

In the US you can get a very nice 944 for $3-4K. A decent 951 for $6K. 924s are a different story here.

I haven't seen a "nice' 924 in 15 years or more. In fact, I think I know where to locate about 10 different 924s in different places. None of them run, and if you fill the gas tank, you will double the value of the car.

924s sometimes end up at the local self service junk yard. Perhaps I should start loading up containers for your neck of the woods, if they haven't all been recycled already.

(They were really throw away cars here in the US, at least that I have ever seen. Excepting the 924 Turbo of course. Those actually are almost worth keeping maintained.)

 

I'm suprised to see only a few mentions of the Corvette. The C5s (esspecially in Z06 form) and the C6s are good cars. Way less expensive to buy and maintain. They offer similar performance to a stock 928 (by the numbers at least) and a C6 Z06 will blow just about anything else off the streets. Maybe not a well-SC'd 928 but the Z06 comes close, has a warranty, and won't suffer 2/6 bearing starvation at the track. Sure its made of fiber, wood, and duct tape, has Chevy switch gear, yada, yada. Still its a lot of reliable peformance for the cost of ownership.

No, a Z06 (C5 or C6) is not a 928. I'd rather drive the 928. But, our Z06 never breaks. In the summer, I usually drive it to get misc. parts for the 928s.

 

I've owned and driven a lot of cars that do things that Porsches do, but good or bad never for a moment would you think you were driving a Porsche.

If you plan on owning an expensive old sports car, you better either be rich or own another car as a daily driver.