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Bought
this in September 2007
(...and had to sell it 6mths later!! *Sob*)
Final
Specifications before I sold it:
1982
Porsche 924 Turbo series 2. 177hp, old school turbo-charging technology,
no intercooler!
H&R Springs on the front, lowered 1inch
Whiteline 27mm rear torsion bars
Koni Sport Yellow adjustable dampers all around
Porsche 944 "cookie-cutter" wheels. Required slight adjustment
on the rear arches.
This
car really interesting, plus it is the first Porsche I've owned. Yes,
I previously raced a Porsche 993 in 2003, but owning one is something
else, something special. The assumption that one day I'll be able
to afford another one, but I did promise my wife I'd gt her a Boxster
if I ever made it big :)
Acceleration is what you can call "brisk". Official figures
are 7.7s to 100kmh, which is about right. Mind you, the old-school
truck-sized turbo only gets going over 3500rpm, with the lag and then
sudden "whooosh" very pronounced! Below 3000rpm it's totally
pointless to drive, nothing happening at all, literally!!
The gearing is very long, with the dog-leg first gear. 110kmh in 5th
shows only 2500rpm! I managed a topspeed of 210kmh indicated one drunken
night out, which is pretty good. It got there quickly too.
But the real beauty of this car was the ride and handling. Both. Ride
was brilliant, even for such an old car. I set my Koni's at 70% stiff
on the front and 60% stiff on the rear, and the car still absorbed
undulations brilliantly. No thunks or thonks from this baby, even
over sharp bumps and broken roads. A fabulous example of Porsche's
fine R&H tuning.
Handling and road-holding was out of this world. Nothing I have previously
owned could ever blitz corners like this car: not the Miata, not the
AE86, not Kiki's S15. The engine is tlited to keep the CoG very low,
in fact the whole car is very low, and the driver/passenger sit very
snug, as if you've been digested into the car, become part of it.
Every ripple is felt, and with no power-steering each jerk on the
wheel, each flutter of the road... is all communicated as if you've
been wired in. Maximum cornering speed was astounding, even more so
when you consider that it runs on 195/60 R15 tyres! Long motorway
off-ramps that I would take at 130kmh in the Miata, I would be flying
through at 140kmh in this car. Seriously, you simply cannot comprehend
how quickly this car corners!
Mind you, with the gearbox in the rear and near perfect static weight-distribution
front to rear, you must drive smoothly to make the most of it. Brake
late and turn-in hard, and the bugger understeers.
Go in too slow and gun the throttle, and it spins up the inside rear.
A classic attacking approach is required, smooth turn-in, let the
car lean on it's suspension and load up, and it just zips through
the turns.
I didn't want to let it go but *sigh* the time finally came when I
had to buy a MPV.... One day, I'll own another Porsche!
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