6 Cars to Drive While Waiting for the Porsche 911 Bubble to Burst

Consider these cars while waiting for the 911.

The buy-in price to drive a classic air cooled Porsche 911 just keeps going up, and up, and up these days, with even unremarkable, poorly kept cars from the smog era selling for real money. Even cars missing the driver train, and sometimes a lot more, are going for more than $5,000 for just the barest shell.

What is a struggling, sporty, rear-engined Porsche enthusiast going to do until he/she hits the lottery, makes it big in commodities futures, or retires? Or until the bubble bursts and all these Johnny-come-lately speculators head off to ruin some other hobby, like sneaker collecting? Here are a few cars that are still relatively affordable and fun, and some of them may even be rear-engined or German, or both.

1. Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (1955-1975)

Admittedly this is the worst car on the list. It is the slowest, least sporty and most wannabe Porsche 911 of any car ever made. But that being said, it is rear-engined, air cooled, light weight, and German. Much of what you learn about German idiosyncrasies, rear engine handling dynamics, and air cooled maintenance will transfer directly over when you do save up the money for a 911.

With the availability of go fast parts for air cooled VW motors is quite easy to get double or triple the stock power. Plus, they only weigh 1,800lbs, are aerodynamic and good on gas while being attractive and fun to drive. You pay no Porsche tax when the time come to buy parts for them either, unless you put a set of Fuchs rims on, like this one. The best part is that, in California at least, all of them are old enough to be outside of smog laws. You can find these cars in drive-it-home-today condition for less than $5,000.

2. Volkswagen-Porsche 914 (1969-1976)

If you want a real air cooled, rear-engined Porsche, the 914 is not a bad way to start. As long as you stay away from the rare 914/6, examples and parts are plentiful. The poster above was released to celebrate the 100,000 car rolling off the line, and they made nearly 20,000 more after that. A clean-running 914 can be had for less than $10,000, and no one can claim it is not a real Porsche. Since they used variations of the VW flat four motor, it is easy to find parts to make more power.

If you are looking for a fun track car, the 914 allows you to get your feet wet, hang your tail out, and risk just a small fraction of the minimal buy in for a 911. Plus, when you inevitably spin it, you are going to be going slower in the lower powered 914. Many 914 were turned into race cars back in the 1970s then set aside when they could no longer pass smog, or be street registered because the title had been lost in a long string of racer-to-racer handshake deals. These days most states don't have a smog test for cars this old, though title issues can vary state by state.

3. Toyota MR2 (1984-1989)

The first generation Toyota MR2 has handling that is much like the classic 911, and can be had in daily drive condition for less even than a Karmann Ghia, or about what a 911 will cost you in annual maintenance. The early MR2 was notorious for how easily it could be made to rotate the tail in spirited driving, leading to complaints from people who did not know how to drive it, and the elimination of the rear anti-roll bar on later cars. Even the base models, with just 112hp, can be fun to drive as they weigh just 2,200lbs and have a chassis inspired by Lotus, with the help of one of their engineers.

If you must have more power, turbos and superchargers can be fitted (the factory added a blower in 1986), or a later motor out of a Scion or JDM car can be dropped in easily enough. Perhaps the best part is that even when driven hard, the MR2 still exhibits Toyota reliability (though they can overheat with hard track use).

4. Porsche 944 (1982-1991)

The Porsche 944 is a great car, but it is not much like a Porsche 911 in handling, construction or looks. Still, these were one of the benchmark handling cars of the 1980s and the target everyone was aiming for. They make okay power, go around corners great, stop on a dime and still look good. They are simple enough to be reliable with just two caveats:

1. This is an interference engine with a timing belt that must be maintained or you will bend all the valves.
2. The clutch is a real pain to replace, leading to the joke that the assembly line started with a clutch hanging from a string and built the car around it.

Avoid the turbo model, and you can be rolling home in a Porsche 944 for about $5,000. Don't even think about buying a 924 though. Why would you when it is less powerful, not as attractive, and doesn't corner as well for almost the same price?

5. Porsche Boxster (1997-2004)

The Porsche Boxster is as close as you can get to a real 911 without spending real 911 money. Sure, it is water cooled and the motor is not quite all the way back there like on the 911, but it is a real honest to goodness Porsche and fun as hell to drive. You can buy a Boxster in daily driver condition for $5,000 according to my local (L.A. area) Craigslist, though I would set out to find the best maintained, lowest mileage example I could find if I was shopping for one.

The intermediate shaft bearing on these will fail eventually, and replacing one (before it fails) will likely cost you about $2,000, unless you do it yourself. When the bearing does fail, chances are you are going to be looking at $5,000 to replace or rebuild the motor, if it is rebuild-able. But the great thing about the Boxster is that it is as safe and reliable as you would expect a car to be in the 21st century, and better looking than most. Sure, they aren't as fast as a 911 or as classic, but they are all convertibles.

6. Porsche 911 2.7 (1974-1977)

You can buy a real air cooled 911 for less than $20,000 in driveable condition, if you are willing to shop these forgotten malaise era 2.7 liter models. Power was low, and the motors had a hard time with all the smog equipment bolted to them, but these days most of them are smog exempt. You also have to deal with 1970's bumpers bloating the look and the weight, but these are the least expensive classic air cooled Porsches around.

Hagerty has the average price for a good condition 2.7 liter coupe at just $16,500, and $18,500 for a targa top model. For the kind of money you would spend on a brand new Mazda Miata, you can actually buy a very nice 911 of this era; Of course, you should also plan on spending a few thousand dollars every year on its upkeep and maintenance if you want to protect your investment.

Join the conversation on the six cars to drive here in Rennlist.