914 question.....

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by landrovered

I have a family friend with a 914 and was thinking it might be fun for my son to drive since it is a 4 cylinder and a 1.7L it might be better than him driving a boxster but now I am beginning to wonder if it might be more trouble than it is worth.

He is a great kid and gets straight A's and he will be attending Skip Barber before he turns 16. If he wants to go fast he can do it on the track not on the street. I also intend to put a GPS recorder in whatever car he gets. He is a lot more sensible than I was at that age. My first car was a spitfire, all looks no go, it was perfect.

I have told him 50 times...You want to be an idiot, put on a helmet and a fire suit, we'll go to the track, you do it on the road and you walk to town.

Thoughts?

get him a 944. lots of fun, parts are reasonably priced, fairly easy to find a decent car at very reasonable prices. he'll still be in a porsche but it's also a 4-cyl. go for an 85 1/2 or newer though. lots of good changes were made in that revision. the 87 introduced some safety features you may want (airbags, abs).

[landrovered]

Thanks for the advice, yes ABS and airbags would be great and I like the way the 944 looks.

[JTP]

Originally Posted by landrovered

Thanks for the advice, yes ABS and airbags would be great and I like the way the 944 looks.

After my Boxster S got totaled I got an '87 944S. Not as fun nor has the power of the 3.2 flat six but I really like it. I like the build quality and old school feel with more comforts than my 914. I love the 914 but the 944 is better to live with day to day.

[landrovered]

I showed my Son a picture of the 944 to see what his reaction was and he said "I like the Boxster better and it is already paid for so it does not cost you anything". He does have a point, sort of, smart bugger appealing to Dad's desire to upgrade... BTW he will be paying his own insurance so I guess I wont be seeing too much of him, he will be working a lot to pay for it, I cant imagine what adding him to the family policy will add to the insurance bill!

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by landrovered

I cant imagine what adding him to the family policy will add to the insurance bill!

repair bills will seem like a mere pittance in comparison...

[rd400rz]

1.7 injectors and 2.0 injectors and lots of other parts are available from many places, I own a 72 914 I restored, the fuel injection system on those cars works great do not switch to carbs unless you have to ,sounds like it needs a lot of work ,like everyone says check for rust

[smshirk]

If you really want a 914 you can probably find a well sorted one on Samba.com, but you will have to pay 8k and up to get a nice one, which is a lot less than you would spend restoring one yourself. Plus you will likely have to travel to get it. 944 or better still 968 cabs are great cars for not very much money right now. The cabs used to cost more than the coupes, naturally, but lately that is going the other way. There weren't many built but there are still quite a few very well maintained 968s that come up for sale in the same price range as you would spend for a nicely sorted 914.

The only down side is ensuring the belts and rollers are in good shape and regularly replaced. There is also a pinion bearing issue with every single one built, IMO, but most have long since been repaired at a cost of about 2k. it's a good idea to see proof that has been done. That being said they are very good handling cars with most modern conveniences, good AC, with 236 HP and a 6 speed or tiptronic. You won't see one on every corner and they were the first Pcars to get the 6 speed and variable valve timing.