For many sports car fanatic there is only one Porsche, the 911. Nevertheless, Porsche has produced various other interesting models over the years. One only has to think back to the 356 that started it all. A less well-known model, however, is the 928, a car that is hardly inferior to the 911 in terms of performance and yet offers much more comfort. Today, this car is still affordable in terms of price.
Development 928
The history of the 928 started in the 1970s, when Porsche management began to worry about the future of the 911. It wasn’t so much that sales were slipping or anything like that, but it was thought to be a pretty long-running model anyway with 10 years. It should also be remembered that at the time Porsche was still almost entirely dependent on the production of this one model. A replacement for the 911 was needed, and a project team was assigned.
The intention was to immediately give this new car a number of advantages in the design with regard to future stricter regulations with regard to the environment and noise. For these reasons, a water-cooled engine in the front was chosen, instead of the air-cooled engine in the rear of the 911. In addition, it was important to introduce more luxury to this model; the competition from Mercedes had to be trumped by this. In addition, it was important that the car got a V8 with a large displacement, at an angle of 90 degrees to keep the profile of the car low. The desired ultimate weight distribution had to be achieved by placing the engine in the front, but the gearbox in the back. In terms of design, the car also had to look overly modern, in order not to age too quickly. A minimum term of 10 years has been set for the new model. Ultimately, this would become the first real Porsche for the Porsche project team: The 356 was derived from the beetle, the 911 was derived from the 356 and the 924 was developed in collaboration with Volkswagen.
First model 928
It took until 1977 before the new 928 could be presented at the annual Geneva auto show. Although some experienced the car as a shock, the car was generally received enthusiastically. However, the daring design raised quite a few eyebrows. This first 928 had a 4.5L V8 engine with a total of 240 hp. The version for the American market unfortunately had to do with less horsepower, which was a result of the modified exhaust system due to the different emission requirements: 219 hp was the result. The weight distribution of the 928 presented was almost ideal, with a distribution of 51/49. With this 928 there was the choice of a 3-speed automatic or a manual 5-speed gearbox. The top speed was 232 hp for the European model and 216 for the American version. The acceleration from 0 to 100km / h was done in less than 8 seconds. Less than a year after its introduction in 1977, the 928 was already voted car of the year 1978. It would be the first and also the last sports car to receive this honor.
928 S
In 1979 Porsche launched an improved 928, the 928S. This one S. had a drilled out V8 with 300 hp and a top speed of 245 km / h. Acceleration from 0 to 100 was completed in 6.5 seconds. Only a few years after the introduction of this improved version, in 1982, a new automatic gearbox was presented, a 4-speed instead of the outdated 3-speed automatic.
928 S2
Although the 928S still had respectable performance for the time, an improved version of it was presented again in 1984 in the form of the 928S2. The S stood for Series in the naming of this one S2, to make it clear that this was an improved version. This S2 had the same 4.7L V8, but with some modifications to get 310hp and a top speed of 255km / h.
928 S4
Only 2 years after the introduction of the S2, the 928S4 was already presented. There was one before S3 marketed, however, it was only presented for the American market and is therefore quite rare in Europe. The S4 not only had more horsepower, about 316 in total, but also a different look. To improve the performance of the model, it was decided to make the appearance more aerodynamic; different bumpers were placed on it, a different spoiler and the underside of the car was made a lot smoother to allow the air to pass better. The result was that the top came to 274km / h, the acceleration from 0 to 100 was completed in 5.9 seconds.
In 1988, Porsche launched a modified S4, the 928S4 Sport Club. This one SC was 86kg lighter than the original S4 and had a little more power. The result was an engine with 320 hp, a top speed of 277 km / h and an acceleration from 0 to 100 in 5.6 seconds. Although this car offered slightly better performance than the standard S4, the S4SC was slightly more Spartan because of the weight savings. Probably for this last reason only a few 928S4SC ?? s were sold, as the price was about the same level as the standard 928S4.
928 GT and GTS
One year after the introduction of the S4SC became the 928GT brought on the market. This great had a 5.0L engine and a total of 330hp. However, the downside for the US market was that in this GT no automatic gearbox was possible, the model was only supplied with a manual gearbox. In 1993 the GTS come onto the market. This car squeezed 350hp from a 5.4L engine, which enabled a top speed of 275km / h. This model would eventually become the last 928 produced, in 1995 production stopped definitively: The production numbers had fallen so far that of the last model, the 928GTS, in total only 482 were made.
Summary and prices
Although the 928 was put on the market to eventually replace the 911, it never fulfilled this ambition. Buyers saw the 928 mainly as a cheaper alternative to the 911, instead of a full-fledged Porsche: This despite the respectable performance of the model. The bad sales, in total only around 60,000 928s were sold, did not prevent the long term of 18 years, however. Today there are still enough 928’s in good condition, for relatively little money. Where a GTS still has to fetch prices of between 20,000 and 30,000 euros, the first 928s can now be found for around 5 to 6,000 euros. The disadvantage of the high fuel consumption is compensated for by the lack of road tax due to the status as an old-timer in the first models.