The Porsche Guys Blog

The clutch recently went out of Project 944, this is a common problem with cars that have an original clutch. The original clutch on an early 944 has a rubber center that is known to wear quickly, especially if driven hard. The replacement clutches that are available are able to withstand more power and abuse as they have a spring center instead of a rubber one.

To change the clutch in a 944 is a time consuming job, one that will usually take a professional at least 8 hours with a lift. This is due to the fact that quite a bit of the car must be removed before getting to the clutch parts (and once you go through all this work you should put in an entire clutch kit, instead of just replacing one broken part).

Because of the amount of time it takes to fix the clutch, I didn’t have enough time to do it myself. So, I started to call around and it is incredible  how much a shop charges to change it. I had seen another Porsche 944 around town (a turbo model) and we had waved at each other a few times. I happen to pass by where the guy that drove the car worked a few times, so my wife got the idea to call the shop (they make Golf Carts) and ask if they knew who owned the 944 and where he took his car.

After calling I found out that he is the mechanic (he is an ASE certified mechanic) for working on the Golf Carts and that he works on his own car. They gave me his number and I called him and found out that he has worked on a lot of Porsches and that he happened to be the current President of the local chapter of the Porsche Club of America. He came to my house to look at the car and verified that the clutch needed to be replaced.

I bought the needed parts and had the car towed to his house to fix.  We started talking and I told him where I work for my day job (unfortunately, I am not able to do this blog full time yet) and it turns out that I work with his brother. I had to give his brother a hard time for not letting me know that his brother worked on Porsches, even though we had talked about the 944 before.

So, you never know who will be fixing your car.

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The Porsche 914 has been with us for 40 years now and has ofter been considered to not be a “True” Porsche. Even with it’s great handling and good performance (at least in the 2.0 and 914-6 forms). Unfortunately, the car has and perhaps always will be tainted by it’s VW roots (in fact in Europe the car was sold as a VW-Porsche). However, good examples are becoming more rare and this is helping to make them get closer to “True” collector car status.

The price of 914’s has been on the rise over the past 5 years and according to many price guides the prices have about doubled over the past 5 years. With some excellent examples being worth $20,000 or more (I have seen 914-6 examples sell for $50,000).

So, now that the 914 is 40 years old will it start to become a very desirable car? I think in about 10 years as prices continue to raise and good examples are harder to find (especially the 2.0 and 914-6 examples), that the car may become considered very desirable. If you want a fun, mid-engined, air cooled and opened air car then enjoy a 914 and hopefully it will become a very valuable car (but make sure to buy a good rust free example).

You may have heard the rumors that Porsche is considering using an Audi TT sourced engine in future versions of the Boxster and Cayman. The reason for this has been reported to be to increase sales of the Boxster and Cayman lines. It has also been reported that this decision may be due to the need to reduce emissions due to new European Union rules. No matter the reason there is a good chance that Porsche may be putting an Audi power source into the Cayman and Boxster models.

So, this begs the question of would you still consider the Cayman and Boxster a true Porsche with the Audi engine? While the Audi engine that would be used may be a very good engine (in fact some reports are saying that the engine may actually have more horse power), it seems as if we may be going the way of the 924 (not including the 924S). If Porsche is in fact planning to do this to increase sales by lowering the price, it may very well work. After all the 924 sold pretty well, especially considering the lack of performance for the non-turbo models.

If the rumors are true the first thing I started thinking about will the 2009 or 2010 model be the one to own (while you can still get them). Since the newest Cayman S cars have about the same performance as the 911 Carrera it may be the most likely of the bunch to become a valuable collector car in 20 to 30 years (I’m always looking for cars that are enjoyable to drive and may become valuable to leave to my son some day). If all of this happens, then in about 10 to 20 years when the value of the Cayman S goes down around its lowest it will be the perfect time to invest in a good one.

So, if you are thinking about buying a Porsche Boxster or Cayman you may want to purchase it soon. Otherwise, you may end up with a Porsche that is considered by many purists as not a “True” Porsche (even though if Porsche does use an Audi engine, unlike when it did with the early 924, the performance will still be very good).

Porsche’s newest attempt at a transmission that does not require a clutch pedal is the best yet. In fact the PDK actually is one tenth of a second faster from 0-60 than the manual transmission. However, the PDK is one mile an hour slower than the manual transmission in the top speed category. So, now that the performance of PDK is up to par would you buy a new Porsche (I’m talking about a 911 or Cayman, not a Panamera) with PDK ?

Well, for me the performance of the PDK  isn’t the deciding factor. The factor that matters to me is how much fun the car is to drive. In a performance car there is something about driving with a clutch pedal that makes you feel more connected to the car. You have to think about what you are doing and that is part of the driving experience.

Having said this if I was driving my Porsche everyday in stop and go traffic (for instance driving from the California Central Valley to the Bay Area), I would probably go for the PDK. Fortunately, I live in a part of California where I can enjoy my Porsche without going through stop and go traffic everyday.

So, what about you, would you PDK or not?

The Porsche 928 is one of the best GT cars ever made. However, due to the cars break in tradition and stepping on the 911’s toes by becoming the top of the line Porsche has kept this car from getting attention from Porsche collectors. This has caused some very good, well maintained examples to be available for extremely low prices consider the car that you get.

With the release of the Panamera which has quite a few rumors of a coupe version, the stage is set for the 928 to become more accepted in the near future. If the rumors are correct then the new coupe will resemble the 928 pretty closely (some rumors even have the car being called the 928, but I think that is unlikely). So, if this happens there is a high possibility that in the next 10 to 20 years, that the 928 will become very valuable. Having said this as with any possible collector car you won’t know until the future, so there is no guarantee that the price will increase.

So, having said this, should you go out and get your 928 while you still have a chance? Well, if you want a great GT car with good performance and the possibility of becoming valuable, the 928 may be just the ticket. I’m hoping to get a 928 in the near future as a possibly collectible, but mainly to enjoy the car (If you want a car that has less of a chance of not being a high priced collector car buy a 911. But if you are looking for an affordable possible collector car for a lower price go for the 928).

Not that long ago I was talking to a friend of mine that drives a Lotus Elise (he hasn’t seen the light yet) and we where talking about our cars. He started telling me how little his car weighs (about 1,800 lbs) and how much horse power (156 bhp) and torque (129 ft-lb.) the car has. What stood out to me is how close the engine power output is (of course his car weighs 800 lbs less than mine, but the 944 has 143 bhp and 137 ft-lb of torque) to my 1983 Porsche 944.

This gave me the idea of making the Porsche lighter to make it quicker. The plan is to reduce the weight of the car by removing some sound absorbing material, using carpet and vinyl that weigh less, removing un-needed items (such as the spare tire and jack), changing the seats to lighter racing seats and replacing the hood and front bumper with carbon fiber pieces (I decided not to remove the A/C or radio as I still want to enjoy the car). My goal is to get the car to have a 0-60 time of under 7 seconds by just reducing weight and no engine modifications. With the weight reduction I want to make sure that I can go back to stock if I want (just in-case the 944 ever becomes a valuable collectible).

So, that is a run down of the idea behind the project. In the next post about the project I will be posting images of some of the first  items to get weight reduction.

Today for the 5th time in a row Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long won the GT2 class of the American Le Mans series in their 911 GT3 RSR. They where able to hold off the strong group of Corvettes and BMWs.

This win helps keep Porsche at top of the manufacturers point standing in the 6th out of 10 races in the ALMS.

Manufacturers
1. Porsche 120 points
2. Ferrari 83
3. Panoz 62
4. BMW 59

You can read more about the race and standings at fineracars.cc.

This is my first of what I hope will be many posts about Porsches.  My hope for this blog is that it will become a free on-line magazine to allow for the love of all things Porsche to spread.

So, for my first post I decided to write about one of the biggest issues in the Porsche world. For me this is a big topic as I currently have a Porsche 944 (please don’t stop reading yet purists) that I am working on restoring.

Many purists would say that the only real Porsches are air cooled, rear engined (some might throw in mid-engined) and should have great performance at the time of its creation. Some people would now remove air cooled from the list because if you keep this then no newer Porsche is a “Real” Porsche. For me the only criteria that really matters is the performance, although I do like the tradition aspect of the rear engine layout (even so, none would argue that it is the best design).

Now that we have a definition that we will use to define a “Real” Porsche. Let’s go through the production models and see if we can figure out the “Real” Porsches.

Porsche 356

The car that started it all. The 356 was a rear engine (although the very first car was a mid-engine car) air cooled car that started out as basically a souped-up VW and became a great performance car. For it’s time the 356 was an incredible sports car and there is no question that it is a “Real” Porsche.

Porsche 911

The model that most people think of when they think of Porsche. The Porsche 911 started out as a car that was very difficult to handle and had good performance to a car with incredible performance (sub 4 second 0-60 times for some models) and great handling (especially in all wheel drive form). This is the car that everyone will agree is a “Real” Porsche.

Porsche 912

The 912 came in as the entry model for Porsche to try and increase sales. While the 912 did not perform as well as the 911 due to its smaller engine, it looked just like a 911 except for the 912 badging. While the 912 had mediocre performance the look was all Porsche and I would consider it a “Real” Porsche (although just barely due to the poor performance, but I love the look of the body and may buy one someday for that reason).

Porsche 914

The 914 was the first mid-engined entry level car. While in the U.S. the 914 was marketed as a Porsche in Europe it was marketed as a VW-Porsche. The original concept was to have a 4 cylinder model marketed as a VW and a 6 cylinder model marketed as a Porsche. This would be changed before going to market. While the shape of the 914 is either loved or hated (it is starting to grow on me) the performance of many cars was very un-Porsche. The handling of the 914 was incredible especially compared to the 911 of the time. I would say that the 2.0L 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder models where definitely “Real” Porsches and the handling of all versions is great, especially for the time. If you like open air driving with a go-kart like feel any 914 is a great choice.

Porsche 924

The 924 was the first front engine model that Porsche released. While the 924 especially in the U.S. did not have very good performance it had great handling due to its front engine rear transaxle design. The 924 got much better with the release of the turbo and 924S models, but the 924 Carrera GT and its varients where increadible cars for their time (the 924 Garrera GT finished 6th overall at Le Mans). I think that the 924 turbo (including the 924 Carrera GT) and 924S where definently “Real” Porsches.

Porsche 928

The 928 was a GT supercar in it’s time. The 928 had great performance and for a while was the fastest production car in the world. A 928 could handle much better than a 911 and was a very fast car (although not always the fastest from 0-60). While the 928 was the top of the line Porsche it was ridiculed for being a front engine car the stepped in above the 911 with no pedigree. I would definitely count the 928 as a “Real” Porsche on it’s performance alone (plus you can get a very good 928 for very little money these days).

Porsche 944

The 944 was the car that the 924 should have been. The car had great looks and very good performance for the time (0-60 in 8.3 seconds for the 1983 U.S. spec 944 which was about as fast as a Mustang GT of the same year) and the handling was second to none. In fact the first 944s where even quicker in European form (163bhp versus 143bhp in U.S. spec) with many European magazines getting 0-60 times of 7.4 seconds. The 944 may have been the car that kept Porsche in business through the 80’s and into the early 90’s. Plus with the turbo and 16 valve models the performance of the cars became world class for the time (0-60 times in the mid 5 seconds for some turbo models). The 944 is definitely a “Real” Porsche because of it’s performance and handling, pus it is one of the most reliable cars that Porsche has ever made.

Porsche 968

The 968 was an even better car than the 944 (it was originally planned to be called the 944 S3) due largely to the addition of VirioCam. The 968 was a great performer, but unfortunately did not sell well, so it was not available for long. I think the 968 was a “Real” Porsche and the cars may become very valuable one day (especially as Porsche makes more models that are not rear engined) due to the low production numbers.

Porsche 959

The 959 was the ultimate sports car when it was released. Unfortunately, the car was never sold in the U.S., although many examples did make their way to the U.S. through wealthy people like Bill Gates. the 959 is definitely a “Real” Porsche.

Porsche Boxster

The Boxster is a great opened air car designed to resemble the 550 Spyder. The cars handling is great due to its mid-engine layout and the performance of Boxsters has always been good. The performance was stepped up a notch with the release with the Boxster S models. The Boxster is great “Real” Porsche and the early models are becoming more affordable.

Porsche Cayenne

The Cayenne is Porsche’s first attempt to enter the SUV market. The car especially in turbo form is capable of sub 5 second 0-60 times. Not bad for a car that can easily haul the whole family. From a performance stand point there is no question that the Cayenne is a “Real” Porsche, but it is always going to be hard to think of an SUV as a Porsche.

Porsche Cayman

The Cayman is Porsche’s newest mid-engine car. The Cayman is one of the best cars the company makes. The performance and handling are incredible (especially now that the car is available with a limited slip differential). The only thing that we would all love is to be able to get an S modeled that was turbo charged (but that would compete with the 911, so I doubt it will ever happen). The Cayman is definitely a “Real” Porsche.

Porsche Carrera GT

The Carrera GT is a Supercar by anybodies standard. The car is capable of going over 200 mph with an incredibly quick 0-60 time. No question the Carrera GT is a “Real” Porsche with incredible performance and handling.

Porsche Panamera

This is the Porsche that everyone is talking about and that started me thinking about what makes a “Real” Porsche. The Panamera is a 4 seater sedan that is able to go over 195 mph, with a 0-60 time of less than 5 seconds in turbo charged form. While people either love or hate the body shape, it will be interesting to see what it looks like in person. There is no doubt that from a performance perspective that the Panamera is a “Real” Porsche, but it is hard to accept it as a Porsche with those extra doors (although it will be interesting to see if it does spawns a coupe version as is rumored).

So, what makes a “Real” Porsche? A “Real” Porsche may very well be in the eye of the beholder. If you think the car is beautiful and has the performance and handling that a Porsche deserves, then to you it is a “Real” Porsche.

This is my take on what makes a “Real” Porsche, but I’d love to hear your thoughts. So, leave a comment as to what you think a “Real” Porsche is.