My cars

[Guest]

I read with interest the 'my first Porsche' thread. Due to personal circumstances, I seem to have done things back-to-front, starting with a gorgeous Panther Black 944 S2 cab, then trading down to a Guards Red '86 944 T and now, after a couple of Porscheless years, a 924S. The current incumbent of our garage, 'Sandy' (named by my partner - honest!) is a beautiful Kalahari Beige example of the 924 in its run-out 'S' spec. I found the car by chance last May in the unlikely medium of The Scotsman's lineage columns and decided to take a look, as the seller was only half an hour's drive away from my home in the Borders. The owner had recently died and the car was being disposed of by his widow and daughter. They told me the Porsche had been his pride and joy and, as soon as the garage door was opened, I could see why. During countless hours of admiring water-cooled Porsches over the years, I had never seen one in such good condition. And all the paper-work was in order too (although the car had not had a full service for the last couple of years, when mileage was negligible). My half-hearted attempt to haggle down the £2k asking price due to an honest mistake in the advertised mileage was politely rebuffed and the deal was done. In truth, the fact that the car had really done double the mileage at 80k (speedo replaced by OPC at 40k) made me feel better rather than worse about the deal. Anyway, 6 months down the line, I can report that the car is a gem. Which brings me (finally) to the point: Although my 3 water-cooled Porsches have been very different in character, I can honestly say that each has been a real delight to own, albeit for different reasons. The smile that cracks across my face when I get behind the wheel of Sandy is just as broad as it was with her arguably more illustrious predecessors and, for me, there is the added comfort of knowing that my presence on the road is much less 'in your face' (OK, so maybe I'm getting old!). My advice to anyone about to step onto the bottom rung of the Porsche ownership ladder with a 924 is simply this: if your finances will allow, start on the next rung up with an 'S'! With this car, you truly won't feel that you're stuck with second-best, and you'll avoid the old jibe about driving a sports car powered by a VAG van engine. (Ooops! no offence intended to our 2l brothers & sisters!)

 

[Fred Hindle]

I have both models, a 944 and a 924S and can happily say that the 'S' is just as much fun to drive as the 944. In my opinion the 944 has more 'presence' of the road with the flared arches but the 924S is a wolf in sheep's clothing, quite a few people are surprised to learn that a 2.5 litre Porsche engine was fitted in a car they perceived to have a 2.0 litre. This is probably psychological but the S feels more like a sports car (in a traditional way). Its performance and handling perhaps slightly sharper that my 944.
Cheers

 

[geoff Ives]

ORIGINAL: bordersmike

: With this car, you truly won't feel that you're stuck with second-best, and you'll avoid the old jibe about driving a sports car powered by a VAG van engine. (Ooops! no offence intended to our 2l brothers & sisters!)

The 'Sports car with a VAG van engine' managed 6th OVERALL at Le Mans in 1980 beaten only by the mighty 935's.

The only part of a VAG engine is the cylinder block and if want to go further the VAG engine started as a smaller capacity Audi engine with pushrod valve gear.

 

[andymarsden1]

lol, it wakes me laugh when people comment about the whole Lt van engine thing. The new Ford GT has a truck engine in it and heritage with both porsche and lamborghini lies with tractors anyway. Like you say Geoff "The 'Sports car with a VAG van engine' managed 6th OVERALL at Le Mans"

Andy

 

[924nutter]

ORIGINAL: geoff ives

ORIGINAL: bordersmike

: With this car, you truly won't feel that you're stuck with second-best, and you'll avoid the old jibe about driving a sports car powered by a VAG van engine. (Ooops! no offence intended to our 2l brothers & sisters!)

The 'Sports car with a VAG van engine' managed 6th OVERALL at Le Mans in 1980 beaten only by the mighty 935's.

The only part of a VAG engine is the cylinder block and if want to go further the VAG engine started as a smaller capacity Audi engine with pushrod valve gear.

Yeah! and nobody grumbled about a sportscar from Blackpool fitted with a souped up engine out of a Ford 100E van. Yes the very first TVR had 100E power. Get over the 2.00 issue bordersmike. If it wasn't a Porsche it wouldn't have Porsche on the bonnet

 

[shad]

Although I deliberately bought a 924S because of the larger engine and mod cons like PAS etc, I have heard it being said time and again that the 2.0 L 924 turbo is a much better car than the 924S and certainly more fun ( not to mention the extra bhp to boot)

But lets face it, these cars are not about going fast in a straight line but how they generally handle.

Having driven an Alfa before, I did not think handling could be bettered, but the 924 surprised me driving one personally and also seeing the 924 races at the 2004 and 2005 Brands Hatch Porsche Festival where extreme cornering seemed almost rock steady ( I saw three 911s spin out of control doing similar manoevers).

That really clinched it for me since I tried out a 911 SC and was constantly aware of how heavy the tail felt, which would not exactly inspire confidence if you were cornering the extreme mountain bends in the continent for example, yet one could confidently do it in a 924 even if you were sleepy.

No doubt about it.

A 924 is a 924 is a 924 which is a Porsche!!!


Shad

 

[geoff Ives]

ORIGINAL: shad

Although I deliberately bought a 924S because of the larger engine and mod cons like PAS etc, I have heard it being said time and again that the 2.0 L 924 turbo is a much better car than the 924S and certainly more fun ( not to mention the extra bhp to boot)

But lets face it, these cars are not about going fast in a straight line but how they generally handle.


Shad

I don't think that the Turbo is 'a much better car than the 924S' in fact for everyday use I would prefer the 'S'. But as far as handling is concerned I think that you would find that the Turbo has the edge. The setup is more 'sports' and that is why as an everyday Porsche I would reccomend the 'S'.
Confusing, isn't it? [:-]

 

[924nutter]

The big advantage the turbo has over the 924 and S is where the gear set is in relation the the rear axle centre-line; the differential being on the axle line( approximately). I would say, having fitted a couple, that the getrag transaxle for a turbo weighs about 80 kg, most of which, the gear set, and associated casing is in front of the axle line, whereas with the Audi derived transaxle the gear set is behind the axle line, which moves the centre of mass for the transaxle rearwards by, I dont' know, shall we say 420 millimetres. The reduction of the pendulum effect in the turbo is what contributes to its great chuckability, and predictability when making adjustments to the throttle mid corner. You don't have the best part of 80 kilos on such a long moment arm trying to lever the rear of the car up and over to which ever way you happen to be turning. It is also why the getrag gearboxed 924 ( m474 conversion, 74 in rhd) is the optimum monocoque for a track car. The 016/Z box was avaiable in two versions, one with a 20mm input shaft for the 924, and one with a 25mm input shaft for the turbo and neither of them are interchangeable with 016/9 or with each other. A further advantage of the Z box is that in traffic, when you are continually changing from second to third, and back, you do not have to continually wiggle through the gate. Second, straight- forward, third, straight back.

 

[geoff Ives]

John.
I agree with everything you say. As always you are spot on. However (you knew that was coming) despite the theory, in practical road use the getrag gearbox is (add a name for something brown and sticky) What wouldn't I give to have the standard 5 speed box in my 931 (look it up folks) I have had 2 gearboxes in my Turbo one was a limited slip and the current one is the standard box. I hate them both. This is my list of compaints...

(1) Difficulty in getting first gear unless at a standstill. Both boxes,

(2) Wrong ratio's for road use.

(3) The gate is too close. Fine for racing but not the A34 on a Friday night.

(4) The layout of the gate. I own 4 different cars and after many thousands of miles the 'reverse over first' still catches me out. I am sure that one day I will reverse into some poor unfortunate at the traffic lights.

On the subject of engines. Lotus production cars started with Ford side valve engines, used a static generator engine (Coventry Climax) for it's flagship model and formula 1 cars up to 1966. The block on my Elan is Ford but because it is a Lotus Twin Cam it is considered 'Classic'.

 

[snarf]

ORIGINAL: geoff ives
On the subject of engines. Lotus production cars started with Ford side valve engines, used a static generator engine (Coventry Climax) for it's flagship model and formula 1 cars up to 1966. The block on my Elan is Ford but because it is a Lotus Twin Cam it is considered 'Classic'.

I lost count of the number of times I rebuilt Lotus twin cam engines and the hours I spent restoring a 1969 Elan - great car. What makes the twin cam a classic is the lotus cylinder head, high lift cams, big valves, twin Webers and fabricated exhaust manifold.

 

[924nutter]

ORIGINAL: geoff ives



(4) The layout of the gate. I own 4 different cars and after many thousands of miles the 'reverse over first' still catches me out. I am sure that one day I will reverse into some poor unfortunate at the traffic lights.

When you've had a good work out and blasted the hot hatch into the weeds, they're still up your backside at the lights. Absentmindedly selecting the wrong first gear and breifly easing the clutch out till you realise your error soon ( but accidently ) cures the tailgating.

 

[924nutter]

Geoff Ives, the "I agree with you but" man.[]

 

[geoff Ives]

ORIGINAL: 924nutter

Geoff Ives, the "I agree with you but" man.[]

I am told that my but is my best feature[]