Curious what you think about the driving characteristics and overall appeal to you of a late 911 (G50 gearbox) and an early 964 C2? Your random thoughts about the two based on your personal experience would interest me.
Thanks!

 

Both have their pros and cons. The 3.2 is lighter has very few safety features and IMO not the best brakes and torsion bar suspension. Nice ride although if I were to buy a torsion bar car I would consider an SC. I just prefer the throttle response better but it would need to be a ROW version or an early 78-79 with larger intakes but you loose the G50.

The 964 is noticeably heavier has modern safety eq like ABS, later MY airbags, Better steel with improved crash protection, coil over suspension with far greater adjustability. The 3.6L engine, which IMO is one of the better air cooled Mezger engines. I prefer the power assist steering on the 964 due to the added weight the location of the oil sump and fuel tank make for a better balanced feel IMO. Both great cars but offer somewhat different experiences.

I have owned and driven a lot of air cooled 911's to me the 964 is the best of them but they all offer something unique nothing like your cup car or GT4 though.

You might want to contact Spyerx he has them both and I am sure has his set of preferences, Although I am not sure if his is a G50.

 

They drive and fell very very different.

the late 911 feels more like the early cars.
the 964 feels more like the modern cars.

if you want the “air cooled experience” you really need a car earlier than the 964.

 

What he said. Except I do think the 964 delivers air cooled experience in as much as the car is vastly different than anything not aircooled.

I daily'd a G50 3.2 coupe, sold it and now daily a 964 C4. Bare in mind both were my only "real" car. You can see why the 964 wins for my particular use case. But I have a '73 GTV and a '65 912 project so I got more 'fun' cars and need my daily to be as modern as possible while still being fun. E30 bmw did this wonderfully. 964 even better.

 

This is helpful. I'v come to the right forum.

I bought a 1989 911 3.2 a few months ago and was thinking of adding an older car, but have been encouraged to add a 964 instead. There is a massive tax saving for cars >30 years old, so an early 964 C2 coupe would work, but I was not sure it would really be that much different. These are fun cars and not daily drivers. I am loving the light weight and road feel of the 3.2. Have not found the torsion bar suspension to be unpleasant at all--on the contrary I'm surprised it is as good as it is.

 

I personally don't see the reason to pay big bucks to add a C2 to a 3.2 if both are Fun Cars... unless you explicitly want a pretty similar Fun Car with more modcons that is...

 

Well, the 964 could be LHD....

 

I had a '79 SC, an '85 3.2 and a '90 C2 before my 996 GT3. I think the SC and the 3.2 drove more alike than the C2 but the C2 drove nothing like the GT3. The air cooled I wanted again was the C2. In original body work I think the C2 is the best looking of the post 1974 911's. I never liked the accordion bar bumper as much as the smoother treatment in the C2. The C2 drives a bit nicer to me but retains the air cooled sound and much of its character. You have an '89 but the '90 C2 was mechanically closer to a 993 than it is an 89 Carrera. I just drove the C2 and the 996 GT3 back to back and there is no similarity. That might be the Gt3 difference but I don't think a C2 drives like a modern 911. To me it's a more refined air cooled. You have to decide if "refined" means better or worse. It's a personal preference. if the '89 is a coup - try a C2 Targa for a really different car.

 

Thanks, jpoint. That is very helpful. I had a street 996 GT3 that I sold when I got the cup car. Wish I had not. The 981 GT4 is similar in many ways, but ....
A C2 Targa is a new idea for me. I have only looked at coupes because I have previously been entirely track-focused. For a car that will not be tracked much if at all, a Targa might be nice. But don't they all leak?

 

Targa’s don’t leak if the top and seals are in good working order. Having said that, mine had an air leak when I bought it. The previous owner had already stated the issue during purchase and had adjusted the price accordingly. I had the top completely rebuilt by a shop in NJ and the leak went away. But finding a nice C2 Targa is equally or more difficult than finding a C2 Coupe as they made even fewer.

 

The 964 feels like a new generation of car, more modern, compared to the G series cars. But on the other-hand, I sometimes wonder if the 964 and 993 seemed outdated when they were released. Look at the other sports cars on sale in the 90's...

 

Pics of the GTV please... or we may not believe it exists

 

Interesting comment. Possibly, but outdated in a way that makes it useable everyday, 30 years later, the others in this test, no so much...

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...errari-456-gt/

 

Its real...

 

Very nice! 911’s and GTV’s my two favorite cars