damonoresky

My friend Wolfgang loves the 928 but he's lived here for many years. Is the 928 respected in Germany or has it's time passed there?

NickT

I spent the week in a leadership coarse with a German instructor. He saw my Porsche jacket and we got talking about it.. When I told him I had a 928 he stepped back and said "wooooow". So yea.. at least this one did

tomshark

in my experience over the last 20 years of traveling all over germany they think the 928 was a huge mistake . or as i have been told you have a 928 that's not a porsche.

Nicole

There is an active 928 club in Germany, and the car is featured frequently in Motor Classic magazine. I would say that more people are realizing what a superb car the 928 was, and there is a dedicated following.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are some environmentalists, who consider the 928 a symbol of excess, waste of energy and unnecessary pollution.

Does the average German care about the 928? No. But many know that it was out-of-their-world expensive then and is still prohibitively expensive to drive (think: gas prices) and maintain.

Schocki

The 928 is one of the next classic cars that will be seen on German roads. It is very rare and starts to receive the attention that it deserves.
Most of our 928 drivers in the German PFF-Forum are very enthusiastic about their cars. We are certainly a different breed than 996,997 and all the other non transaxle drivers

Roy928tt

My wifes uncle in Germany worked for the local Audi dealership for many years, and expressed admiration of the 928 and its "big engine" when he learnt I have one.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that in thier day they were purchased by shady types with black money.

Cheers Roy

Nicole

^^^ Haha - you sometimes saw them parked in front of night clubs, and they guys driving them didn't exactly look like conservative business men...

But there were a lot of self-employed professionals who had to travel a lot - architects or computer sales, etc - and needed a fast car that they could write-off from their vast income. They could take the 928 and drive from Frankfurt to Hamburg or Munich "real quick" to visit a client.

I knew one computer guy who used to own a 928S. He loved the car, but complained that it would always wear the rear tires on the inside, and Porsche never figured out why. After going through a few sets of tires quickly and multiple repair attempts, he bought a Mercedes 300E and never looked back. Sad.

Dark Blue

I'm serving in Afghanistan with a mostly-German unit (209th Corps OMLT). Some of my German friends were discussing Porsches and I proudly announced that I owned one. When I told them a 928, they said they called that a "farmer's Porsche" (can't remeber German term) meaning something a poor farmer could afford. So in my very recent experience, the Germans don't have much love for the 928.

Steve

Nicole

Did they call it "Bauern-Porsche"?

I've never heard anybody in Germany call the 928 "cheap" or 'affordable to farmers' (who are traditionally perceived to be rather poor).

They must have mixed it up with the 924. Actually, I've often heard the 924 called "Hausfrauen-Porsche" (homemaker Porsche).

OTOH, if they are talking purchase price for used ones, then a 928 might be affordable for poor farmers to buy, but certainly not to maintain. The registration tax and gas prices still limit these cars to a more affluent circle.

Leon Speed

Never heard of that either. I have heard of Mädchen-Porsche but that refers to a Boxter.

In my opinion Germans like cars, and classic cars. They appreciate the 928 as a classic (maybe new-timer). When the weather is good people here drive all sorts of cars from nice luxury limousines to MG's with the roof down. Germans are like Americans car enthusiasts. The difference is in Germany cars are driven and not modified or pimped-up like some American car nuts do.

Of course over here there are Porsche "purists" as well who won't give my car a second look and there are those who probably don't even know what car I'm driving. But then again there are those who appreciate the car. Some time ago I was driving in the city and a lady of about 60 driving a classic 911 pulled up next to us and gave us the thumbs up.

Anyway, I have proof Germans like the 928. This guy is not the old lady but definitely German.

Nicole

Germans call vintage cars "Oldtimer", and cars that are old but not super old (perhaps 20-40 years old) "Youngtimer"

Ian928

When we were on holiday in Germany we got a lot of nice comments about our 928, including a young boy about 10 years old that get to sit in the drivers seat and start the engine. I think the key was that our car is an OB in good condition and that showed that we owned it as enthusiast, not because this is the only Porsche we could afford...

Regarding the typical 928-owner in the 80's, when I replaced the center box on my 928 I found a "secret room" under a nicely made extra bottom in the box. It was a pistol-shaped cutout in the insulation. It would have been nice to know who did this, and why. Guns are not as usual here as in the US!

JWise

Oh I don't know about the 928, but I hear the Germans love David Hasselhoff.

(Saturday Night Live reference - Weekend Update with Norm McDonald)

tommi nylund

I was at Oktoberfest in Munich last year wearing Porsche/Martini Racing jacket and some asked me if I was some sort of racing driver for Porsche and what is my race car. When I told I have a 928 and that it is not a race car and I don´t drive for Porsche they all commented it as a very nice car and were hoping to see more of these on the streets. This one mid-aged gentleman spoke quite bit with me about 928´s and it turned out he used to have a 89 S4 to drive the unrestricted autobahns to work every day back in the early 90´s. He (as a Bavarian) liked M BMW´s too, but he told me that the 928 was in a completely different league at that time for his purpose.

And while I was working there briefly last autumn my one colleague found a soulmate from me instantly....him being an enthusiast of 7-series BMW´s with aluminium engine block without steel liners.

And it was also a pleasure to see two immaculate condition 87-> 928´s cruising at the lakeshore of lake Tegernsee together with Ferrari F430´s and Alfa Romeo 8C´s and a LOT of 993-996-997 turbos.

So, my verdict is that many Germans know what the machine is and many have good feeling about it. Ofcourse people I met were Bavarians, very hospitable and polite.

Leon Speed

People don't even know who he is