968!!!!

[MaximumBrian]

Incredible car. Neighbor has one. I've driven several Porsches including the 2001 911 Non-Turbo. An early 80's 930 Turbo, and several tuned 944 Turbo's.

Hands down the 968 is my favorite. Love the styling, love the handling (50/50 neutral). I read somewhere that Porsche claims it's the best stock handling car they've ever designed. Ok it doesn't have the umph of a 930 Turbo, 2001 911, or 944 Turbo S, but it's quick enough and certainly is fun to drive. Plus, there are only 2200 hardtops in the USA so people don't know what they are.

[crayzayjay]

my neighbour has one too, a Club Sport, which is clearly the best version.. i dont know the guy at all so i havent been able to blag a ride in the car!!
cheers
jay

[bugfighter]

Nice car. But I just went to AutoTrader.com to check for 968's available in my 200 mile radius and I only found 9 for sale today. And I live in Los Angeles that's heavy density for cars.

Geez, I wonder if there are implications for annual service costs? It's a discontinued model and there are only a few out in the road today.

[Seb928S@af]

It should be around 1500-2000$ to drive each year.

[hondacsi]

my roommate has a 95 968 and has about 3000 bucks to spend. What is the best use of that 3000 bucks perfomance wise?

[ddavies]

I've had my '94 Coupe for over 5 years now with no problems whatsoever. Replaced the starter last year for $450. Overall, the car/engine is bullet proof with very low cost of operation for a Porsche. You see very little of the electrical and other gremlins common to cars like the 928. Some of the 6 speeds had trouble with pinion bearings in the transmission. That can be a costly repair (~$3,500) so if you're in the market for one, check to see if that's been done or listen for the warning signs (visit 968.net for details).

There's not much to be done to the 968 engine in the way of performance gains unless you go to forced induction. That topic gets brought up over and over again on 968.net. The hp claims made by aftermarket tuners with chips, K&N cone filters and exhaust are plain and simply not true. A few owners took their chipped cars to have them checked on a dyno only to find out the car had actually LOST hp!!!! Seems the re-mapped chips only end up moving peak torque and hp around the powerband. Porsche really rung every last bit of power out of that engine so extra hp doesn't come cheap. Luckily for us, there are three companies working on blowers right now

[Cbass]

Take that 3000 bucks, sell the 968, and put it towards the cost of a turbo. The 968 is the final evolution of the 924/944 platform. Yes, that fancy 968 is little more than two decades of developement on my car! Mwahahaa! sorry, my best attemt at an evil laugh. The NA models made plenty of power from the 3 liter 4 cylinder, but the turbos just made sick power. It is possible to take the turbo equipment(exhaust, intake and turbo) from a 944 turbo, and splice it into a 968, but you'd be better off to go with the turbo 968 to start with. It'll be cheaper.

There is easily 600 hp in the 968 turbo motor BTW.

[ddavies]

Are you speaking from experience? Last time I checked, Porsche only made 12 968 Turbo S's and 4 968 Turbo RS's. The only proven aftermarket 968 turbo mod. out there in the U.S. is from Powerhaus for approx. $20,000 (there's a little more involved with converting the variocam, 16v, 11:1 compression ratio 968 engine to a turbo than just "splicing" in the plumbing from a 951). Take a used 968 coupe + $20,000 turbo conversion and you'll still pay a hell of a lot less than what you could buy an original factory 968 turbo S for unless you know that an owner of one of the original 12 cars is interested in selling theirs for less than $40,000. If so, let me know... I'll write them a check on the spot!!:ylsuper

Plus, I'll take the more modern, up market looks of the 968 (which are still confused by most people for a brand new Porsche) over a 924/944/951 any day (no offense to 924/944/951 owners).

[Cbass]

Speaking from experience, I don't know too much about turbo 968s. Custom turbocharging is something I do know a lot about. Putting a turbo on a fuel injected engine 4 cyl can be as easy as throwing a turbo header on, and routing the outlet into the throttle body. On the other hand, it can also involve rebuilding the bottom end of the engine, switching manifolds, and completely overhauling the wiring harness and a new ECU.

I will say this right now, you would be hard pressed to find a harder car to turbocharge than a 968. You'd need new low compression pistons, and have fun finding them to fit a 968(turbo pistons might fit, don't know), a new intake, rewiring, and the hardest part would be finding the room to do it. There isn't a drop of wasted space in these engine bays. I've seen the bay on the 924 I'm buying, my brother has a 931(924 turbo), same deal. The 951's were set up with the trubo on the other side of the engine block.

Not impossible, but so expensive and time consuming, it would probably cost about half as much to buy a turbo.

And are they really that rare? I thought they made a couple thousand, but could be wrong.

[ddavies]

Nope - unfortunately for the rest of the world they are that rare. Only 12 Turbo S's (the street legal version) and 4 Turbo RS's (one is owned by Bruce Corwin here in the U.S. - lucky bastard) for race only. The stock 968 itself is a rare car. Porsche only imported about 2,000 968 coupes and 2,000 cabs to the U.S. from '92-95 during the car's entire production run.

[crayzayjay]

this may sound really dumb, but what is it that determines whether a car is street legal or only race legal?

cheers,
jay

[Cbass]

Lots of things, but mainly bumpers, emissions, and road running gear, like turn signals, lights, and mufflers. Also, unless you started with a road car and turned it into a race car, most race cars are custom tube frame cars that wouldn't stand up to a road inspection.

I didn't know 968s were that rare. My brother has a 931, and they only made a few thousand of those. On top of that, his is a Canadian model.

What I find appealing is that 951 and 968 parts are easily interchangeable with a 924's parts, since they never change the layout, or the frame. Just everything else.

[ddavies]

Amen to that - since so few were made, it gets frustrating waiting for aftermarket tuners to develop 968 specific parts (like a strut tower brace since the 944 series braces don't clear the engine). Most of the other really good suspension mods like anti-sway bars, shocks, etc. are interchangeable and that is a good thing!

:toothless

[crayzayjay]

bumpers, emissions, and road running gear, like turn signals, lights, and mufflers

well, at the risk of sounding dumb again, most of these can be accounted for fairly simply, no? if you really want to bring a special vehicle into the country regardless of cost i imagine it could be achieved, unless it started off as a race car, as you said.. emissions is tricky and you would have to sacrifice some power, but hey if you really want a car bad.... anything's possible

cheers,
jay

[ddavies]

Actually, there was a thread on the 968.net forum about a guy trying to bring a 968 over from Germany and everything he went through. The DOT did let him bring the car into the country, but only for racing purposes.. not street legal and it was only a 968 Club Sport.