When my Mother (yes, my Mother) was in the market for a sporty two seater, I test drove a slightly used 924 for her. Between the arrogant, entitled attitude of the car Porsche dealer and the …disappointing performance and interior of the 924, I recommended a Mazda RX7 to her.
Again we see from R/T the breathless hype from the Euro preview drives not being lived up to by the actual car sold on the American market. Thank God this car did not replace the 911, and Porsche kept working toward the much improved 944.
The turbo installation on this brings to mind the Turbo 301 in the 80 Trans Am. On paper, the power is there but with detonation always nearby on these early turbos, the knock sensor is always squelching the fun to protect the engine.
Given our 65 Caprice tire discussion a while back, it was interesting R/T blaming the great grip of the P7 tires slowing acceleration by preventing wheelspin. The P7 was a great tire, but I think it may have been slower acceleration preventing wheelspin.
These actually were more a supposed replacement for the 914, I prefer the 914, by a thousand to one.
The 928 was the intended 911 replacement, which I also like too, and I’m not a big foreign car guy(naaaawww?), but I love me some early phone dial wheel 928 action.
In the article, it said the 924 Turbo was being groomed as a 911 replacement. Remember before the 964 911 came out in 89 there was a period where they seemed to be letting the 911 whither, not many changes since 78. I wonder if being overcharged on the Audi assembly made them realize they better keep the profitable 911.
The wheels on this Turbo 924 look a lot like the ones on the 89ish 944. I prefer the phone dials and the chromey early Fuchs.
I don’t think Porsche really knew what they were going to do to replace the 911. The 928 was anticipated in some way to do so, but that was (relatively) a sales fizzer. Maybe the 924 Turbo was going to be a stop gap, but it’s also worth bearing in mind Porsche had the twin-turbo AWD 959 in development and a prototype completed by 1983. That was initially anticipated just for race but was such an improvement on the 911 principle it served as the basis for the 964.
It might have been faster if these amateurs could drive a manual, It seems incredible these ‘car guys’ were not familiar with a dog leg 5 speed and had difficulty shifting.
I think part of the agreement to supply AMC with the 4 cylinder is that they couldn’t mention that it was Porsche-Audi made anywhere, which makes me chuckle in a “who the hell did I sleep with again?” kind of way…..
Wow, just wow. $25k in 1980 is $76k in 2015. $76k for a car with 143hp/173ft-lb!! I realize that it is a Porsche in the depth of the malaise era, but no wonder they didn’t set the world on fire with the 924. Even before I realized how expensive they were in their time, they were always the most pedestrian Porsche. Even the 914 has more personality and uniqueness. The good old days are often not really that great when you really take the time to look at then and now. You can buy a 6 speed V6 mustang today for $25k that will absolutely obliterate the 924 in every possible way. The don’t make them like they used to–and that’s a good thing in some cases.
The guy across the street had an early 80s 924 with some sort of decor package so it looked like the turbo version…smooth disc wheels, the rectangular openings between the headlamps on the front header panel, etc, but it was not a turbo. Pretty little car, but the engine didn’t sound very impressive. I had to back it out of the garage once so his wife could get the lawn tractor out, and was amazed at how low the steering wheel sat…almost rubbed my thighs and made getting in and out a chore. His wife’s Jaguar XJ6 series III was a beauty…maroon with off white “biscuit” colored leather and wire wheels…much more impressive than the Porsche.
When my Mother (yes, my Mother) was in the market for a sporty two seater, I test drove a slightly used 924 for her. Between the arrogant, entitled attitude of the car Porsche dealer and the …disappointing performance and interior of the 924, I recommended a Mazda RX7 to her.
The 924 still looks like it was launched last week – even
if it is 35 years old! Hasn’t aged a bit.
Again we see from R/T the breathless hype from the Euro preview drives not being lived up to by the actual car sold on the American market. Thank God this car did not replace the 911, and Porsche kept working toward the much improved 944.
The turbo installation on this brings to mind the Turbo 301 in the 80 Trans Am. On paper, the power is there but with detonation always nearby on these early turbos, the knock sensor is always squelching the fun to protect the engine.
Given our 65 Caprice tire discussion a while back, it was interesting R/T blaming the great grip of the P7 tires slowing acceleration by preventing wheelspin. The P7 was a great tire, but I think it may have been slower acceleration preventing wheelspin.
These actually were more a supposed replacement for the 914, I prefer the 914, by a thousand to one.
The 928 was the intended 911 replacement, which I also like too, and I’m not a big foreign car guy(naaaawww?), but I love me some early phone dial wheel 928 action.
Dunno if I would ever own one though….
In the article, it said the 924 Turbo was being groomed as a 911 replacement. Remember before the 964 911 came out in 89 there was a period where they seemed to be letting the 911 whither, not many changes since 78. I wonder if being overcharged on the Audi assembly made them realize they better keep the profitable 911.
The wheels on this Turbo 924 look a lot like the ones on the 89ish 944. I prefer the phone dials and the chromey early Fuchs.
I don’t think Porsche really knew what they were going to do to replace the 911. The 928 was anticipated in some way to do so, but that was (relatively) a sales fizzer. Maybe the 924 Turbo was going to be a stop gap, but it’s also worth bearing in mind Porsche had the twin-turbo AWD 959 in development and a prototype completed by 1983. That was initially anticipated just for race but was such an improvement on the 911 principle it served as the basis for the 964.
I had always heard the 928 was to be the 911’s replacement as well.
I concur. The 928 was a beautiful car and the slotted wheels somehow accented the look as a whole. On any other car they would have looked goofy.
It might have been faster if these amateurs could drive a manual, It seems incredible these ‘car guys’ were not familiar with a dog leg 5 speed and had difficulty shifting.
The only 924 to have is the later 924S with the 944 engine/drivetrain. This road test really confirms this fact.
Wonder if anyone ever put the 944 engine in the Gremlin. AMC did a cheapo carb version of the 924 2.0 that only managed 80hp.
I think part of the agreement to supply AMC with the 4 cylinder is that they couldn’t mention that it was Porsche-Audi made anywhere, which makes me chuckle in a “who the hell did I sleep with again?” kind of way…..
Wow, just wow. $25k in 1980 is $76k in 2015. $76k for a car with 143hp/173ft-lb!! I realize that it is a Porsche in the depth of the malaise era, but no wonder they didn’t set the world on fire with the 924. Even before I realized how expensive they were in their time, they were always the most pedestrian Porsche. Even the 914 has more personality and uniqueness. The good old days are often not really that great when you really take the time to look at then and now. You can buy a 6 speed V6 mustang today for $25k that will absolutely obliterate the 924 in every possible way. The don’t make them like they used to–and that’s a good thing in some cases.
The guy across the street had an early 80s 924 with some sort of decor package so it looked like the turbo version…smooth disc wheels, the rectangular openings between the headlamps on the front header panel, etc, but it was not a turbo. Pretty little car, but the engine didn’t sound very impressive. I had to back it out of the garage once so his wife could get the lawn tractor out, and was amazed at how low the steering wheel sat…almost rubbed my thighs and made getting in and out a chore. His wife’s Jaguar XJ6 series III was a beauty…maroon with off white “biscuit” colored leather and wire wheels…much more impressive than the Porsche.
In hindsite its amazing someone would not have spent the extra 4k and got a 911SC.
Roughly $11,500 in 2015 dollars *would* make a bit of a difference. Especially if you had to finance it.
I bought a Mercury Capri RS Turbo in 1981 for ~ $11K, got the 13% interest rate. It was over $300/month for that turd.
Maybe to you, $11K isn’t much, but for a lot of us it would be.