DoubleNutz

Hack, I don't think you have ever known me to bite my tongue, and with that said I think you have certainly made your contribution.

James Bailey

I think you just made my point !! Had the 78 928 been powered by a 320 HP 5 liter euro S ish engine.....it WOULD HAVE BEEN faster than the turbo 930 in 1978 !!! It would not have been 1987 for that to happen

Also helps to consider that even though the US was and is an important market it is not the only market. And my impressions of fast and powerful were formed during the true Muscle car years not the wasteland of the late 1970s-1980s. Yes I drove real Boss Mustangs both 302 and 429...and typically had a 428 Cobrajet as a driver.
And my 1964 E-type Jaguar would easily outrun a 78 928 when it was a 14 year old car !!!

That is why I firmly believe that Porsche missed a huge opportunity when they castrated the initial 928 out of fear that fuel consumption was more important than performance. Which is when the concept of Gran Touring rather than sports car became the description of choice for the 928 or talk of the speed always discounts low speed acceleration for "high speed touring". With the 930 as the performance car the niche left for the 928 was even smaller......it's sole claim to fame being a real automatic transmission

bureau13

I dispute that '64 E-type story. I can't find any good performance info other than a meh top speed of about 130, but I feel ornery, so...

DoubleNutz

Yep,lots of mis-information can be found in this thread, as suggested earlier

James Bailey

Jaguar XK 120 was named because it ran 120, XK140 did 140 , XK150 nearly 150.....then the XKE which really did run 150 mph ...light weight, small frontal area, decent power out of the 4.2 liter triple carbureted 6 ....and the 1/4 mile times were pretty good as well.
And those car would really do 150 mph and hit 100mph in a 1/4 mile..... in 1964 . I only owned four Jaguars two of which were E-types....

GT6ixer

Check out this link http://www.4wheelsnews.com/auto/1961...est-35187.html. Octane took an E-type out to 146 mph on the Autobahn before having to back off for traffic.

But the point of this thread, at least for me as an outsider looking in, was to learn more about the genesis of the design. And that I have. So many great comments thus far.

What draws me to want to acquire a 928 is that I feel it is the best classic GT car that is 1) reasonable for a guy of my modest means to afford 2) still is regarded as if not the best one of the best classic GT cars regardless of money and 3) isn't a 911. Now don't get me wrong, I think classic 911s are great cars, but they never appealed to me. Plus I already own a classic sports car with a less than ideal rear end design that can kill me in a corner.

But the biggest draw for me is the complexity of the car for its time and for its brand. As and engineer, I find myself drawn to interesting solutions to mechanical problems. And the 928 fits that bill, be it with its Weissach axle, or its PSD on later cars, or its 7 foot timing belt, etc. I look forward to learning even more someday with a wrench in my hand!

hacker-pschorr

I think it boils down to a few things. For starters you really have to run an XKE hard to get that kind of speed out of it where as the 928 does it effortlessly.

There are also multiple versions of the XKE and not all of them as fast as the others. The series 3 cars were almost 3,400lbs and maxed out at around 270bhp.

Are you really going to say an early XKE is as stable at 150mph as a 928?

So what if cars from a different era were faster? Are we next going to point out how slow the 928 was compared to a Shelby Cobra? How ridiculous is this getting?

Bottom line, at no time in history was the 928 considered "slow" compared to its contemporary counterparts.

docmirror

^^^ BOT(?) ^^^

Me think so.

docmirror

Can I get some love for the 74-78 Lambo Espada? It was a GT, coupe and could be ordered with the BW auto trans. While 'only' 325HP, once you get it wound up - it would go pretty well.

As for fuel consumption, the best I ever got with the 5 sp was about 8-9MPG. Six side draft Webers took days to tune right.

blau928

Love for the Espada

DoubleNutz

+1

James Bailey

OK so in an era of smog control emissions regulated rather boring slow cars the 928 was a bit faster than most in 1978.... but again what if the 78 928 had been faster than an S-4 .... faster than a 930 turbo.... what if it had done a 170 mph Bonneville speed run in 1978 ? all it needed was a 5 liter S spec engine... and it would have been there ! You only get ONE first impression and the 1978 was probably just fast enough but NOT mind blowingly fast. And having spent many, many hours on track in a 1980 USA spec it is NOT a very fast car, biggest competitor was driving a 944 normally aspirated 16 valve.

bureau13

But that WAS the point, wasn't it? That, compared to the cars of its era, it was pretty fast, even from the start. The fact that cars of its era were relatively slow due to emissions regulations isn't really the cars fault.

But disregarding that...sure, it would have been awesome if in it's original form it blew everything away...but could any of those more-powerful powerplants available at that time met the emissions rules? They used a more powerful (a little, anyway) motor in the Euros, and it seems they couldn't even get that to pass US spec.

James Bailey

the 78-79 Euros had no cat convertor or air pump but other wise were identical 4.5 liters. I guess it is just a matter of what one considers quick or fast....the Jaguar D type in 1955 with the 3.8 six did 192 MPH on the Mulsanne straight It was the forerunner to the E type which in road trim did 150-152 depending on who was testing ! interestingly the XKE roadster with the top up was far better aerodynamically than the swoopy fast back coupe ....looks are sometimes deceiving !

Charley B

Attended the local drag strip in Jacksonville, Florida in 1965 where I was slack jawed to see two XKE's competing. My only lasting impression was how silent and beautiful they were amongst all the cacophony of American muscle.