"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
07/19/2014 at 10:48 • Filed to: None
7
21|
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
07/19/2014 at 10:48 • Filed to: None | 7
| 21 |
A few weeks ago I found this car at a local dealer, and it was intriguing. I called them about it and they said it would be in the shop for a couple weeks having various things fixed. It's now "fixed," so I took it for a spin yesterday afternoon. Is it any good? Will I buy it? Well, maybe.
Acceleration:
In a word: adequate. With 207 hp and weighing about 2600 lbs, it's not slow, but it doesn't really pin you back in your seat. I guess you'd want me to talk about this more, but there's honestly not much else to say.
Ride/Handling:
The handling is actually still pretty good by modern standards. The steering has a nice weight to it and is alive with feel. It talks to you. I could deal with a little less steering wheel jerking all over the place, but such is life with manual steering. If you take a turn quickly, the car can kind of skitter around a little bit. Body roll is in check and there's a good amount of grip. But overall, slow in, fast out is the name of the game with taking corners. The ride is a bit bumpy but still decently comfortable. This is helped by the very nice cushy seats (more on those later).
Brakes:
This is one heavy brake pedal. You need to stand on the thing. I didn't really brake aggressively, but I'm confident the brakes will haul the car down fine as long as you can muster up the necessary leg strength. No ABS here, so I suppose the ridiculously firm pedal helps with threshold braking in the absence of ABS.
Transmission:
Honestly, it's crap. The clutch pedal has a ridiculously long stroke where you have to sit closer to the dash than you'd prefer, just so you can push the pedal in all the way. Clutch engagement is fine, but the loooong pedal travel takes some figuring out.
The shifter's throws are equally ridiculously long, and its gates are poorly defined. The throws are so long that to get 2nd gear, the shifter is almost touching the bottom of the driver's seat.
I normally take pride in my shifting—I'll hop in an unfamiliar car and heel-toe it fine. But this transmission has a learning curve that I'm not sure I feel like mastering. I'm told the vagueness could be due to worn out shifter bushings, and replacing them should crisp things up. But that won't fix the clutch travel or the long shifter throws.
Exterior:
I mean, just look at the thing. It's great. If you think about it, the shape doesn't really make much sense in the context of what we think of as a car, but it's still great. I love the targa, whale tail & fuchs wheels combo. I'd prefer if the wheel centers were painted black—they'd go perfect with all the other black trim on the car—but the red is...interesting. I'm not sure if they came this way from the factory or if they were painted red later in life, but they're at least period correct.
Interior:
This is a particularly narrow car. 2 people riding together will likely bump arms. You sit up close to the dash, because on the driver's side you need to be that close to push the clutch in all the way, and on the passenger side because the seat doesn't slide back very far. The footwells are narrow because the frame rails curve inward toward the front of the interior. This makes the pedals offset to the right. There's a footrest of sorts, but it's a lot closer to you than the pedals so you end up with your left knee bent more than your right.
Technically , there is a back seat. It was flipped down. I didn't bother trying to flip it up.
The gauges are a little crooked. The HVAC controls are a mess . They're in 3 different locations—on the dash next to the stereo, some more on the console in front of the shifter, and some more on the floor between the seats down by the e-brake handle—and the logic needed to operate them escapes me.
There are weird circle things on the door panels that have no apparent function. The door handles are flushed in with the arm rests. Why would you want to hide door handles?
That sounds like a lot of complaints. But, the top comes off, there's good head room even with the top on, visibility is great, particularly the view out the back which is completely unobstructed thanks to the wraparound rear window, and the seats, while overly complicated to adjust (of course), are reeeeaaaalllly comfy. Some of the best car seats I've ever sat in. I think, from the look of the bolsters, that these are the optional sport seats.
Audio:
Yup, it makes a lot of noise. I don't know if I find the traditional Porsche air cooled flat 6 noise to be particularly amazing, but it's a pretty good sound. It's loud without beating you up. I like it, but I wouldn't say I've joined the OMG AIR COOLED 911s ARE THE BEST SOUNDING CARS EVAR club. I still prefer the sound of V8s and I6s.
This car has an aftermarket stereo of some sort. I didn't turn it on.
Value:
The dealer selling the car is asking $25k. It has 129k miles, the only part of the HVAC that's actually in working order is the fan (no heat or a/c), the oil pressure light comes on sometimes, the e-brake light mostly stays on all the time, and there's a couple interior trim pieces that need re-attaching. But the body's straight, paint is shiny, and overall it looks in quite good shape for being 28 years old. Air cooled 911s have pretty much already hit their pricing bottom and their values are on the way up. If the problems can be sorted with relatively little fuss and cost, this isn't a terrible price.
Final thoughts:
This is a car that, if you judge it by most criteria on which we judge modern cars, kind of sucks. It's noisy, bumpy, cramped, not particularly fast, the ergonomics are horrible, and it smells a bit like gasoline. Because of how deliberate you have to be with shifting, it takes actual work just to drive the thing around town. While it was built in the 80s, even back then it was already outdated. But it looks amazing, and definitely has a certain charm. I'm not sure if I'd actually buy it, but I kinda like it. At the very least I understand the appeal.
ly2v8-Brian
> Textured Soy Protein
07/19/2014 at 10:55 |
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I know I'd be crazy enough to buy it, if I had the money.
JEM
> Textured Soy Protein
07/19/2014 at 10:59 |
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"If the problems can be sorted with relatively little fuss and cost, this isn't a terrible price."
You do realize you're talking about a Porsche, right?
BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
> Textured Soy Protein
07/19/2014 at 11:00 |
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The e-brake light staying on might be an indication that brake fluid is low, leaking or both. I don't know if these had hydraulic clutches, but that could definitely be a reason for the long travel.
Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
07/19/2014 at 11:18 |
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I was about to say the same thing about the clutch. Even if it uses a cable they can stretch over time and make the travel and bite really strange.
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BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
> Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
07/19/2014 at 11:22 |
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Yup, that too! Either way, it shouldn't be too hard to mend, assuming one of these two scenarios, because any leaks are likely to come from the clutch actuators, and if it's a bad cable, it'll be in the same spot as the actuators would.
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Textured Soy Protein
> BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
07/19/2014 at 11:27 |
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It has a cable clutch. '86 was the last year they had the 915 transmission. '87 got the G50 transmission which has a hydraulic clutch.
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Textured Soy Protein
> JEM
07/19/2014 at 11:27 |
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There are a couple Porsche specialist shops here that have surprisingly reasonable hourly rates for labor.
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Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
> BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
07/19/2014 at 11:36 |
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Yeah changing a clutch cable is usually fairly simple depending on how tightly the engine bay is packed. Hydraulic systems are easy enough to troubleshoot usually but some have been a pain to repair.
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BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
> Textured Soy Protein
07/19/2014 at 11:39 |
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Might still be worth checking the brake system for any leaks, that could be the reason for the stupid hard brake pedal. Does it feel spongy when you brake, or just very hard?
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Textured Soy Protein
> BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
07/19/2014 at 11:45 |
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Does it feel spongy when you brake, or just very hard?
That's just asking for off-color comments, but I'll avoid going there.
The brake pedal feels rock hard, not spongy.
Um...wait.
JR1
> Textured Soy Protein
07/19/2014 at 11:48 |
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No Porsche will ever be as striking as a whale tale. Nice write up
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BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
> Textured Soy Protein
07/19/2014 at 12:17 |
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Ok, I had that one coming :p
Conan
> Textured Soy Protein
07/19/2014 at 13:15 |
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Do it if you like the targa-ness.
JalopJeep
> Textured Soy Protein
07/20/2014 at 19:32 |
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That knob works the door lock
catkam623 misses his 944
> Textured Soy Protein
07/20/2014 at 19:32 |
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Buy it!!!! It's wonderfully gorgeously fantasticly classicly pretty! I usually don't like targas but that one looks wonderful, it works so well with the whaletail
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Textured Soy Protein
> JalopJeep
07/20/2014 at 19:35 |
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Hey, I figured somebody might know what those do! So both the door handles and the door locks make no sense.
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Textured Soy Protein
> catkam623 misses his 944
07/20/2014 at 19:37 |
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Yeah, it's a damn good looking car. Really the looks and the fact that it'll hold and/or gain value are what are drawing me to it.
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catkam623 misses his 944
> Textured Soy Protein
07/20/2014 at 19:41 |
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actually that's very true air cooled 911s are still rising rather significantly.
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JalopJeep
> Textured Soy Protein
07/20/2014 at 20:07 |
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yep. My dad's '79 threw us both for a loop first time we test drove it.
86carrera
> Textured Soy Protein
08/01/2014 at 16:51 |
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hard brake pedal shouldn't be that way. get a bump-steer adustment to the front end ($$) and the steering wheel will be like butter in your hands. e-brake/seat belt light is basically in the sensors.
keep it for 5-10 years and realize you haven't put much of anything into it. 911 is like a date you haven't quite figured out yet. take it somewhere safe (track, autocross) and try to break it.
$25k should mean a perfect car - negotiate. 129k miles? look into the cost of a top end rebuild.
and, yes it is a porsche.
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86carrera
> Textured Soy Protein
08/01/2014 at 16:51 |
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hard brake pedal shouldn't be that way. get a bump-steer adustment to the front end ($$) and the steering wheel will be like butter in your hands. e-brake/seat belt light is basically in the sensors.
keep it for 5-10 years and realize you haven't put much of anything into it. 911 is like a date you haven't quite figured out yet. take it somewhere safe (track, autocross) and try to break it.
$25k should mean a perfect car - negotiate. 129k miles? look into the cost of a top end rebuild.
and, yes it is a porsche.