is a 928 a good deal?

FWIW Tom B is a high end car mechanic..........as for me, I've seen 3 different 928 S4 head gasket jobs in the last 5 years (one because Bubba didn't replace the water pump when he cheaped out on the t-belt replacement and another because a different Bubba didn't pay for the radiator replacement, just flushed it and hoped for the best, both cars over heated).......and a couple of ZF tranny failures.....clutches....t-belts......etc......etc......

Let's face it, these are "now" old and expensive cars to fix, just like F-cars, or old Benzes from the same period, and many of the people who own them cannot afford to pay someone to fix or maintain them properly, or cannot do their own major maintenance. And of those who can, they are in the minority of owner pool. Nothing wrong with that, just go into one with your eyes wide open. Now if they weren't like that, people wouldn't need to own parts cars, diligently search out used parts, or get around paying someone for service by twisting their own wrenches.

Great cars.......I love 'em.......just know what they are like.

 

Kds,
You can't blame those head gaskets on the engine per se now and that was the take away I got from the previous post is that it was a "design flaw" or something like that.

One thing that was NOT mentioned and seems to be prevalent with the '87-'89 (I think that is about the range anyway) is power steering racks or at the vary least the hoses from the res. to the rack... If it ends up being the hoses then no big deal...rack is a PITA to deal with.

There is better parts availability today than there has ever been in the past, not to mention many cars that just need to much cosmetic work and enough mechanical work to turn them in to parts cars allowing many other 928's to live on with good used parts. As for working on them... working on a car is a Zen like act (at least for some...I loved it when I could do it) and while this car is a bit more complicated than a Vette it is no worse than a Ferrari and it is screwed together WAY BETTER than either...that too can make it a pain to work on because while two screws might have been enough, for the 928 they used FIVE!

Anyway, this is indeed a car to buy the best one you can find and one to go in with your eyes open on and be realistic! Get one and drive it for 5 hours on some fun but more open (vs. very twisty) roads and you will be HOOKED FOR LIFE!!!

Good luck to the OP...I suspect he stopped reading many pages ago though! LOL! Glad to see so much passion for the 928 over here on the F-chat site!

Best to you all,
James

 

i am starting to look for a daily driver and a 928gt or gts has been on the top of my list along w/ an e39 m5. you all have gotten me worried that the 928 may not be the best choice for me. i already own enough high maitainence machines...

 

I watched the same show. I understand that seeing a "former flame" like that piqued your interest. However, there are so many more recent p cars that would cost you as little or less, depending on how much maintenace you would have to do. Remember that these cars are old, and not on par with todays performance cars. I don't know if you like the recent 911s, but the 996 carreras are dirt cheap and fairly easy and affordable to maintain.
Good luck with your acquisition.

-Peter Oh

 

Head gasket issues are usually just due to not changing the coolant often enough. This would happen with any aluminum block engine.
Clutch jobs are not bad, there is great access under the car just by dropping the exhaust.

It is definitely an overbuilt car, and for me fun to work on. Once you understand why they built it as they did, it all makes sense and you no longer cry about having to remove a bit of stuff to get at things.
Porsche packed a large, wide engine in there and also managed to get double wishbone front suspension and a low hood line. Not a lot of extra space here and there.

The only areas of a later 928 ('87+) that in my opinion need to be brought up to date are the soft suspension and modest rubber on the road (7" front wheels with 225 tires, 8" rear wheels with 245).
The car's potential really comes to life with more grip and firmer suspension. I have 9.5" and 10" wheels and sticky 265 rubber all around (understeer gone). I have stiffer springs with re-valved Bilsteins and the car feels solid. After driving in a GT3, I wanted that feel in the 928.

There are too many un-maintained 928s out there running around on original suspension and not running at 100%. Many people have gotten a bad or luke warm idea of these cars.

 

Sorry just have to jump in here, way too much wrong in this post. Yes if you pay a shop to maintain your car it will be expensive, but that's the case for any high end car. The 928 was the flagship and as such is a complex car, no doubt. But several things here are just wrong. I have not seen a head gasket failure though there have been a few, these engines are seriously overbuilt. Buy a good one and you will not have this problem, gaskets will last damn near forever. Timing belt and water pump are important but definitely NOT expensive to do if you do it yourself, or have a few friends over. I can do the job myself in 4 hours max. The factory tensioner is crap, throw it away and replace with a far superior PKsn'r (www.liftbars.com) for a couple hundred bucks. Water pumps are available for a couple hundred as well, and anyone who has done the job can tell you it's not that hard. Just time consuming. Retensioning takes a half-hour tops if you have the factory tensioner, virtually nothing with the PKsn'r. The clutch is easy - drop the center exhaust, the lower clutch cover and take the thing out. Installation is the reverse. Being a transaxle car has NOTHING to do with it, it's easy. And those parts are not that expensive either.

Again buy a good car and learn to do some of the work and they are fantastic. I will drive mine anywhere at the drop of a hat, cruising all day long at high speed without a care in the world. The stuff I listed above happens on a 25 year old car, deal with it. Buy a crap car on the cheap from Slick Willie and you deserve to get burned. Hit Rennlist or Reutterwerk and talk to the folks there and you will find an excellent car for a good price. Talk to some of us who actually own and work on them and you'll get the real story.

 

Thanks for that..but I have 3 of the things parked in the back yard of the shop waiting for the customers to decided to fix the head gaskets. They bought the cars cheap, and now need to fix them. Head gasket failures not common? I'll challenge you on that.

The cars are indeed good machines, and great to drive, we see those ones to. All they need is oil changes and tunes ups, BECAUSE THEY WERE MAINTAINED FROM THE START.

Most of these cheap 928's are rolling money pits, and that was the point of my post. Get a bad one, and you into Ferrari maintenance money very fast. If you have the money buy the best you one can find you will will have an experience like those here defending the car. Buy a bad one and you will regret it VERY fast.

Yes the clutch is not too bad to change. But even that can turn into an expensive job depending on the condition of the other parts in and around the area.

 

I do get worked up about my cars. The head gasket failures I'll bet have come from cars that weren't maintained and allowed to overheat, run lean, any of a number of things that can happen. Unfortunately because the values have fallen so far, that means a lot of cars don't get maintained. Easy to buy, but still require the maintenance of an $80k car. I agree completely, buying a cheap one is a quick ticket to misery unless you just enjoy the work and a smaller bank account. BTDT, my first one was a project because I thought it would be fun...10k lost in one year, sold for $500 less than I paid and learned my lesson. My current car has been extensively maintained from day one and I'm continuing that, so it's just a fantastic car to drive. It's like buying any exotic, find a good one and you'll love it. Of course I'm still spending to maintain it, but I can actually drive and enjoy it too.

Hell I see Ferraris on the road more often than I see another 928, and I like that.

 

Hows the back seat compare to say a Mondial coupe?

 

kids and smaller adults will fit back there. Wide bums won't fit back there either. The transaxle hump steals space between the seats. I have never looked at the back seat of a Mondial.