You might recall that I'd posted a couple of times on advice about
buying either of a 944, 928 or 968, having found used car listings here
in Dubai within the price range that I was interested in.

Well, the other day I chanced to meet up a German guy who was formerly
a mechanic at a Porsche dealership in Germany. He runs an auto garage
of his own here. His eyes popped out when I mentioned my interest in
buying one of the old models, muttering that I was either mad or
joking. He was very categoric in his counsel - buy a 911 of whichever
vintage or nothing at all. "No other Porsche is worth taking the
trouble that you'll certainly be put through, even Boxsters" were his
words (Boxsters should be very warily viewed because of transmission
issues, he said). "Unless you've a lot of money or are a vintage car
fan, don't even look at those older Porsches", he said in parting.

Just thought I'd let you know but since I so seem to want a Porsche no
matter what, I might still settle for a 928

Ramapriya

I've followed your posts...

The mechanic you ran into is obviously very "old school"...meaning that he
doesn't think any car is a real Porsche except for the 911 series. I would
question that as I have owned 914's, 914-6's, 924, 924 T, 944, 944T, and
911's from 72, 73, 74, 76, 78, 88, 01. Each car has its own pluses and
minuses.

He is correct in one aspect: All the older cars are going to need a lot of
TLC (or tender loving care) as we say in the "States". They're going to be
expensive to keep up...and parts and mechanics with any knowledge of the
older 911's are both expensive and sometimes hard to find.

The 928 was an impressive car...probably ahead of its time; however, as they
have aged there can be some really hard to solve technical problems, mostly
in the sensors, wiring and electronics, and not too many technicans know how
to solve these. Before buying a used one, you should be willing to pay for
an intensive prepurchase technical inspection by a mechanic who has the
proper equipment and knows 928's very well.

Oh...when I was at the factory about 20 years ago, we watched them building
928's and I can tell you from that experience why it's so hard to do some of
the service work...especially if you have to remove the engine, etc. In
assembly, the complete body with wiring and electronics was lowered down
onto the rolling chassis with the drivetrain already installed.

Regards from Texas....



"D Ramapriya" <ramapriya.d (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote