I finally had a moment to work on the 911 turbo project over the last few weeks. I've had the 928 for 2 years now, and the 911 for a year. I pulled the motors from 20 928's in the last 12 months, and 1 911. The 911 is four bolts and a couple oil lines and you drop it on the floor with a regular floor jack. Amazing.

The 928 is amazingly difficult to work on... Those who maintain immaculate cars (many of whom reside permanently on this and other forums) are to be respected and praised- not for who they are (in some cases) but for how talented they are at the 928 and it's needy demeanor.

The car is in many ways fantastic (obviously)...and in many ways purely ridiculous and worthy of the crusher, especially when you look at part costs.

My bet is there are more than 15,000 928's in the USA. I have a few here.... loitering.

 

Is a well known fact that the 928 is a car for either someone with good mechanical skills (and time to practice them ) or for someone with very deep pockets. What's all the fuzz about?

 

15k looks right, but MANY of them are not running. Where I live I know of 16 with in a 12 mile rad.
Only 3 on the road. And mine is not one of tham.

 

Hi

In the UK there were just over 4000 imported in total and last year around 1800 passed the annual MOT test, therefore out of the 60,000 worldwide in total I would guess around 20,000 to 25,000 left...possibly even 30,000...maybe

Which makes around 30% to 50% of total production, which isn't bad

All the best Brett

 

In the words of 928 philosopher Jim Bailey, you can spend $10K on repairs and still have a $5K car.

 

But man will you love that car went its done.

 

This should be called "the 928 paradox" and placed on the banner of this forum section .

I already spent 1000$ and I'm nowhere near having the car running

 

That’s because its VW Beetle technology, if they had not come up with a VW in the first place and Porsche wanted to design a rear engine car, the 911 would have been very complicated. My Beetles engine drops down by taking 4 bolts off too, plus the fuel line and the throttle cable. I bet you still have to do the valve adjustment every few thousand miles like my Beetle.
Don’t get me wrong, I love those overpriced 911s. They are a higher end Beetle with stronger engine, better handling and better looks.

 

If the 928 is not overly complicated, I don't know what is. As much as I like the 928 since being a teenager, I was always alarmed by how unreliable the car is. EVERY single 928 that I have come across have had many minor and major repairs. Almost all have AC problems, new torque tubes, cooling, electrical, interior deteriorations, and many more. To say that it is just old with expensive parts is really making excuses for it. If the car is just an "old car" with expensive parts, then it clearly is breaking more than my previous BMW 635, MB 560SEC and Jaguar XJS before. I thought the XJS was the most complicated of all but it is no match to the 928. The labor cost to work on the 928 is much higher than on other Porsches. I am talking about from the same Porsche mechanics I have been using for 27 years. He was trained in Porsche factory and he has been working on all my 4 911 Carreras and will be now my 928. He has had long experiences with the 928. To him, the 928 is excessively complicated to work on. Even a simple vacuum leak is expensive to fix. My sister's Acura Legend is also a 1987 as my 928S4 and her car is pretty much trouble-free except needing a new AC evaporator and a window switch. Now at 130k miles, it is running just fine. It is an old car, but a very reliable old car. It is as luxurious as the 928 without the complicated useless stuff such as the air flaps. I am not knocking the 928 which has been my all time favourite. However, one needs to be realistic that it is no where near the word "reliable." I am finally willing to take the plunge to have bought one since now I have more garage space to work on it if need to, fully knowing that there will be a lot of financial and time commitment to keep such a beautiful car. No need to be so biased with the 928, I am a car lover. I like many cars and the 928 is by no means superior to the 911 in ALL aspects. At least the reliability part, the 928 is far inferior to the 911 and to many other German cars.
Steve

 

THE PORSCHE 928 MAYBE 'THE' MOST RATION EXOTIC EVER BUILT. SUPERCAR....FASTEST PRODUCTION CAR IN THE WORLD... AND I MIGHT ADD "BADASS"! Now lets think about this car. Complicated...yes expensive to work on... debatable (how handy are you). Thank God they are not that popular because then I couldn't afford one.
Greg, the guy I bought mine from, is a 928 geek. He loved the car and was over the top as to maintenance(thank you sooo much). I've loved the 928 since I was a kid,and never thought I could ever own one. There is a 'CULT OF 928' which is made up of some of the most thoughtful, generous, knowledgable, and simply NICE people . I've done some pretty scary service on my car that I would never have attempted without the help of untold numbers of renlisters, and have had a perfect success record. I'm sorry but corvettes, and mustangs, and cameros are just so blah.
If you settle into the cockpit of a well sorted 928, start it up, hear that v-8 throb, and then get on it. Drive it on any road straight or twisty and you can't help but understand. I've only owned my beloved car for six months, but everytime I drive it I come home with a little tingle way down deep. Just get her up above 120-130 Mph! That aint no U.S. rattletrap. The new corvettes may smoke my old girl, but where will they be and how will run when they are 23 years old! My car is rust and rattle free. I pulled the exhaust manifolds off a couple of weeks ago... not one broken stud or stripped nut! I've never worked on a car that was so well built and so well preserved.

The bottom line is, find me a 23 year old supercar that's not expensive to maintain, and complicated. If you look to Italy you're totally screwed. Noone here knows where to begin, and I aint got that kind of money! The 928 is FAST, and mine is reliable enough for me to take several trips over 800 miles. If you take your time, and do the research, ask the questions, and buy your parts right there's very few things a handy guy (or girl) can't do.
DID I MENTION WHAT A HOTROD THIS THING IS!

 

Since it's so complicated, unreliable, only as luxurious as an Acura Legend and loads of trouble will you be keeping it or getting rid of it? Does the car you bought have records and a verifiable history? I'm assuming you did a PPI? Too me, it sounds like you should get rid of it and find a better one? Perhaps you bought a bad one? Best of luck with it whatever you decide to do. My experience with them has been completely opposite yours and I've had a number of them over the last 17 years.......

[edit] I just remembered that Hendrick Porsche here in Charlotte are running a special right now with $85/hour labor rates for older Porsches. Pretty resonable I thought.....

 

I think it's ridiculous to compare a 928 with an Acura or a Lexus, or other car of that ilk. The more appropriate comparison would be with a Ferrari, a Corvette, Masserati, Lambo, and so forth. That's the class it was intended to compete in, and it redifined the GT car in its time (and still today, IMO). Comparing it to the appropriate class of cars may indicate that it is actually less maintanence intensive and less expensive to keep up with than its peers.

 

Edit - I would include the Acura NSX in the same class as the 928, etc. And yes, that is an exception to the typically high cost to maintain supercar syndrome.

 

As I already stated that I AM WILLING to take up the financial and time commitment for the ownership of 928 and that's why I bought one finally. I don't need to find another one since the one I have is among the best 928s I have seen and it took me 12 years to find. 928 has its flaws and I am willing to accept them. Thank you!
Steve

 

The only "real" anomaly in 928 pricing is the cost of buying them can be ridiculously low. Once you ignore the cost of buying or selling everything else falls into place.