Fallen in love with an 'old school' 911.... Am I mad??

[ek993]

I have been looking after a friends '89 3.2 Carrera for the past couple of months (We both live in the City, he doesn't have any room to park it due to a new AMV8 Vantage, I have a spare underground parking at my place...), and it has completely and utterly gotten under my skin. I love it!

So much infact that I far prefer it to the 993 Turbo 4!!! . Am I mad?? Its so basic its fantastic, tho noise, the lack of power steering, no ABS, no 4WD etc etc. It feels really 'alive' and I find myself grinning every time I drive it! Which is more than can be said for the Turbo4.... I thought I had fallen out of love with Porsche, but think I just miss something a bit more 'raw'. Think I would have been better off buying a 993 RS instead of the Turbo!

[verysideways]

Sounds like you need a 964RS - that's about as raw as they come

[framps]

ek993 said:

We both live in the City, he doesn't have any room to park it

I have spare space in my underground car park, can I keep it for a while just to check you're not mad and feed back to you..

[turbobloke]

Los Angeles said:

ek993 said:

Am I mad?? Its so basic its fantastic, tho noise, the lack of power steering, no ABS, no 4WD etc etc. It feels really 'alive' and I find myself grinning every time I drive it!

Yopu are not mad.

There is a school of opinion to which I subscribe that you can get lots more fun hooning around in an an old low-powered Porsche than any with a snow shovel stuck on the back and wheels wide enough to straddle the footpath on either side of the road.

This reminds me of 'once you seen one you seen em all' which is often spouted by folk who'd be lucky to see a half. And 'small ones are more juicy' plus other varied apologies.

If someone's left a kitchen due to the heat, that's one thing, but claiming the food is no good just won't wash. Snow shovel on the back? An insult to Porsche design and engineering. Wheels wide enough to straddle the road? No, just wide enough to provide the grip needed to cope with prodigious amounts of torque.

With a high torque high powered high downforce 911 you can play the 'fun to be a weakling' game just by putting a wooden block under the pedal or controling your ankle movements. Then when you want a bigger challenge and even more fun, you can take the full strength pill.

Maybe that's why it's always 'fun' otherwise the realisation that the menu hasn't even been sampled yet might just be a real downer. With an anaemic machine you got no choice.

Here's to choice

[Geneve]

I've had 14 911s over the last 23 years, mostly bought new, but also a few classics, and I've had the opportunity to drive most variants, several on track.

It's difficult to say which is best - the 2.7RS is simply sublime, and I'm confident that the new 997 GT3 will be awesome.

But, to date, my favourite for enjoyable road use, is the 1988/89 3.2 Carrera 'Club Sport' - simply gorgeous.

[turbobloke]

Los Angeles said:

turbobloke said:

Snow shovel on the back? An insult to Porsche design and engineering.
Here's to choice

I'll have mine in Cascading Puke, please, with spats over the rear wheels.

Sorry sir, there appears to be a problem with your card. Will sir be paying in cash or bovine excreta?

[turbobloke]

Oooh you are a one LA.

I think Porsche also managed somehow to stop those under-powered narrow body short wheelbase 911s from turning through 180 degrees after they were parked up.

Progress. It's amazing. That's why Porsche keep making successive generations of lower powered 911s as they're more 'fun' and will definitely be a success...erm hang on...

Here's to choice - preferably in a single car

[ek993]

The Turbo to me is just character-less. It doesn't stimulate whilst driving round in 'normal driving' mode. So you end up trying to extract maximum performance when you feel like having some thrills. Until you get to the point where you do feel something, and that feeling is infact fear rather than excitement.

Everything happens at much slower speeds in the 3.2 but I have to say it is 10x the fun.

Edited by ek993 on Sunday 1st October 16:55

[ek993]

turbobloke said:

Oooh you are a one LA.

I think Porsche also managed somehow to stop those under-powered narrow body short wheelbase 911s from turning through 180 degrees after they were parked up.

Progress. It's amazing. That's why Porsche keep making successive generations of lower powered 911s as they're more 'fun' and will definitely be a success...erm hang on...

Here's to choice - preferably in a single car

Just had a look at your profile - think your turbo may just be a **little** more exciting than a 993 T4

[turbobloke]

ek993 said:

Thu Turbo to me is just character-less. It doesn't stimulate whilst driving round in 'normal driving' mode. So you end up trying to extract maximum performance from when you feel like having some thrills. Until you get to the point where you do feel something, and that feeling is infact fear rather than excitement.

Everything happens at much slower speeds in the 3.2 but I have to say it is 10x the fun.

Each to their own of course, but to say 'the turbo' is characterless is risible. You get back what you put in. Maybe some folk don't get to put much in and so get not much back.

Normal driving mode? Not sure what that means. Normal driving in a turbo is exhilarating beyond almost any other car owning experience. Shirley if you tippy toe the turbo you're driving, it will be more like an underpowered 911, which some folk on here are saying is 'fun'. So quite how this 'fun' works remains a mystery. Maybe a micra would do the job, that has so little power it must be reeeally fun.

[turbobloke]

ek993 said:

Just had a look at your profile - think your turbo may just be a **little** more exciting than a 993 T4

To me, yes, later cars understeer in relative terms, and in standard trim are too heavy (or need even more torque) but isn't the Turbo simply a fine car?

Being in MOD500's 993 Turbo 4 on a VMax run was stunning in the emergency start bit and I think some of my insides are still on the grass verge in the twisties, DAZ's 996tt likewise was an eyepopper on the runway and in the curves simply astonishing. These guys have fine cars, they can drive, they put in a lot and get a lot back, I can't imagine it would ever be anything other than exciting to drive those cars anywhere and anywhichway.

In a turbo you have the choice to ride the power and torque curves as you wish, the point I was making is that you don't have to nail a car to have fun and a well sorted car is great...but a well sorted beast is better as you get to choose from a wider menu

As I said earlier, it really is 'each to their own' but some of the comments posted recently don't hold up, even with a sense of humour overdose. Let's stay real.

[SAMBAMAN]

i reckon a 1 word answers enough.................NO

[turbobloke]

That's four words, not counting the preamble. Don't protest too much!

[rich 36]

theres a twerrific echo in here,
or should I say resounding vote of confidence,

I can only run to an old 911,
but for value, in terms of smiles, its hard to beat.

Might go for a 964 if funds allow though but no newer

[willibetz]

Older 911's are tactile, responsive and exceptionally rewarding to drive - probably because they discriminate between sympathetic and inappropriate driving technique.

More modern cars may be better in many ways, but I've yet to find one to embarrass a decent 3.2 Carrera when it comes to the pure enjoyment of road driving.

Enoy!

WilliBetz

[turbobloke]

Nobody I can see has said 'YES' to the OP, as 'NO' they're obviously not mad.

Any quality 911 is a fantastic ownership experience.

Why, when agreeing that an old school 911 is worthy of being someone's P & J, should other iterations of the 911 be subjected to rentalaugh comments that make no sense?

Jeez, if we want a slanging match we can go posting propork on the tiv forums.

[wildoliver]

Yes but you can't get a coherent response out of the plastic pig brigade.........their pipe and beards get in the way

[andy tims]

Geneve said:

But, to date, my favourite for enjoyable road use, is the 1988/89 3.2 Carrera 'Club Sport' - simply gorgeous.

Agreed - Just loved mine & wish I had been able to keep it when I bought the GT3.

[tony.t]

I don't think you're mad either. Over time I've become more interested in the driving than the car and while turbo power, 4WD, traction control, power this and power that might make the car better it does tend to get in the way of the driving IMO.

Turbo cars are good on the road ( or airfields) where power and torque are everything but they do seem to perform relatively disappointingly on track. I wouldn't bet against a club sport or suitably fettled early car bettering a 993tt on track.

[turbobloke]

tony.t said:

I wouldn't bet against a club sport or suitably fettled early car bettering a 993tt on track.

Why not fettle the 993tt? Seems like too much of an admission that the playing field needs unlevelling considerably, and that's the point.

If your proposition were to be tested, two critical variables would seem to be the tyres and the drivers.