Slow Car fast..... Fast Car slow............ Age old Dilemma

[Bulldog9]

They are a squashed Beetle, and IMO that's a great thing.

If you need to get used to the driving characteristics, just take the car out on a snowy day. It's a lot more fun and less scary to slide around at 20 mph vs. 80+. I learned to drive in a Beetle and some of my most fond memories are spinning around in the snow with that car.

But I prefer a more modern car like my GR86 as a second vehicle for commuting and winter driving. An old 911 would be too much of a commitment as far as maintenance, etc. On the street the Mustang has too much capability most of the time, but they are awesome fun on track. The GR86 thrives in street driving 0-60 mph.

Funny to hear from people who have little experience with older P cars. Maintenance, durability, running costs are miniscule. Easiest 'old' (76) car I have ever owned. Few people get more than a quick drive. Spend a week with one, it will ruin you and change your life for the better. GLAD I got in mine 12 years ago, has tripled in price and now out of my willing reach.

No argument on a GR86, they are sweet, just a little too small and underpowered for me.

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[Hack]

Funny to hear from people who have little experience with older P cars. Maintenance, durability, running costs are miniscule. Easiest 'old' (76) car I have ever owned. Few people get more than a quick drive. Spend a week with one, it will ruin you and change your life for the better. GLAD I got in mine 12 years ago, has tripled in price and now out of my willing reach.

No argument on a GR86, they are sweet, just a little too small and underpowered for me.

I haven't owned a 911, so maybe you could say I don't have much experience with P cars. My only Porsche was an '86 944. I sold it earlier this year when I decided that the GR86 was a more than adequate replacement. It makes more power and weighs less than the 944, plus requires a lot less cost in maintenance. I prefer front engine rear drive over rear engine personally. I think the 944 is a better choice for me than a 911, but I tried to make it my year round car and it wasn't acceptable to do that in. It was going to cost way too much money to keep everything working over time.

I have driven 911s and I like them, but I think I would only really enjoy one if I had the dollars to make it a track only car. I like cars to be a little loose, and the 911 has way too much traction to be fun on the street. I'm talking newer 911s of course, not new but only 10-15 years old.

You live where there is no salt on the roads or something? I'm not going to try to drive a '76 Porsche 911 in the snow. It would cost too much in maintenance replacing body panels, etc. And I doubt it will be reliable in below zero weather. Plus that car will be way too difficult to insure as a daily driver. The 944 is a better choice IMO because the value is a lot more reasonable.

And you're recommending a '76 911 but say that the GR86 doesn't have enough power? That's funny. I'll tell you that the GR86 makes more than 165 HP. Quite a bit more.

And I have a coworker with an older 911. It's pretty darn close in size to the GR86. I do think Porsche does a great job with ergonomics for tall people. I'm 6'4" and I fit in the 944 excellently. I thought that car was really comfortable. If I had the money time and or space I'd still own it and it would get an LS conversion. The only thing it really needed was a decent V8.

 

[willymo72]

I haven't owned a 911. My only Porsche was an '86 944. I sold it earlier this year when I decided that the GR86 was a more than adequate replacement. It makes more power and weighs less than the 944, plus requires a lot less cost in maintenance. I prefer front engine rear drive over rear engine personally. I think the 944 is a better choice for me than a 911, but I tried to make it my year round car and it wasn't acceptable to do that in. It was going to cost way too much money to keep everything working over time.

I have driven 911s and I like them, but I think I would only really enjoy one if I had the dollars to make it a track only car. I like cars to be a little loose, and the 911 has way too much traction to be fun on the street. I'm talking newer 911s of course, not new but only 10-15 years old.

You live where there is no salt on the roads or something? I'm not going to try to drive a '76 Porsche 911 in the snow. It would cost too much in maintenance replacing body panels, etc. And I doubt it will be reliable in below zero weather. Plus that car will be way too difficult to insure as a daily driver. The 944 is a better choice IMO because the value is a lot more reasonable.

And you're recommending a '76 911 but say that the GR86 doesn't have enough power? That's funny. I'll tell you that the GR86 makes more than 165 HP. Quite a bit more.

And I have a coworker with an older 911. It's pretty darn close in size to the GR86. I do think Porsche does a great job with ergonomics for tall people. I'm 6'4" and I fit in the 944 excellently. I thought that car was really comfortable. If I had the money time and or space I'd still own it and it would get an LS conversion. The only thing it really needed was a decent V8.

Pretty cool to hear someone that actually went from a 944 Porsche to a gr86, as the two cars have the same ethos in many ways.

 

[Hack]

Pretty cool to hear someone that actually went from a 944 Porsche to a gr86, as the two cars have the same ethos in many ways.

Yes the 944 is an amazing car in my opinion. But mine was cheap. I bought it for $4k. And it ran and drove fine, but it needed a LOT. And I still loved it. The size was just about perfect. 50/50 weight balance. Great handling car. Great ergonomics - I'm tall and I fit no problem with a helmet plus lots of leg room. It was fun taking it to a small track and driving a momentum car. Very different from the Mustangs.

Like I said, if I had the money, time and space I would never have sold it. But the GR86 has a similar feel driving it. You sit a lot higher in the Toyota, but that's not really a bad thing. I always felt like even small cars were looming over me in the 944 because it was so low. And I can enjoy the 86 every day without having to spend a lot of time or money maintaining it.

 

[RagmopInKona]

Pretty cool to hear someone that actually went from a 944 Porsche to a gr86, as the two cars have the same ethos in many ways.

I like the look of the 944 better. It just needs the original heart and over engineered wiring nightmare ripped out. and replaced.

 

[Balr14]

Funny to hear from people who have little experience with older P cars. Maintenance, durability, running costs are miniscule. Easiest 'old' (76) car I have ever owned. Few people get more than a quick drive. Spend a week with one, it will ruin you and change your life for the better. GLAD I got in mine 12 years ago, has tripled in price and now out of my willing reach.

No argument on a GR86, they are sweet, just a little too small and underpowered for me.

I have owned a 66 and 73 911. The 66 was crappy, the 73 was considerably more refined. But, unlike many people here, I have no warm nostalgic feelings for cars from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Spend a week in 991.2 GTS or turbo and tell me you'd rather have one from the 70s.

 

[Hack]

I have owned a 66 and 73 911. The 66 was crappy, the 73 was considerably more refined. But, unlike many people here, I have no warm nostalgic feelings for cars from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Spend a week in 991.2 GTS or turbo and tell me you'd rather have one from the 70s.

I agree mostly with this. Definitely my '70 Mustang was a huge chore to drive in stock form, but IMO the 86 944 would have been fine if the worn out parts were replaced with new. In fact, the 944 would have been better than most new cars in my opinion. Yes it doesn't have big screens on the dash or ABS, but it weighs 3,000 lbs and handles like a go kart.

My assumption without knowing is that really good 80s cars (of which I will admit there are few) might be a little better than 60s and 70s vehicles.

 

[RagmopInKona]

I agree mostly with this. Definitely my '70 Mustang was a huge chore to drive in stock form, but IMO the 86 944 would have been fine if the worn out parts were replaced with new. In fact, the 944 would have been better than most new cars in my opinion. Yes it doesn't have big screens on the dash or ABS, but it weighs 3,000 lbs and handles like a go kart.

My assumption without knowing is that really good 80s cars (of which I will admit there are few) might be a little better than 60s and 70s vehicles.

The 60-90's cars there isn't any down side of driving as long as you know the limits of the tech of the day.AND not looking to equal today's performance levels As to get there is very costly.
That said I get more thumbs up in the older vehicles than the performance vehicles built in the mast decade. The older vehicles are slower, handle worse, braking is a joke, but a nice to cruise around in.
I made the mistake of going down that restomod/pro tour/autocross route once, it gets very costly very fast. A loaded c6 (new at the time)would have been cheaper and most likely drove better. I am glad I did it once, but there won't be a 2nd one. I'll enjoy the older rides for what they are and buy new performance cars to scratch that itch.

 

[Balr14]

The 60-90's cars there isn't any down side of driving as long as you know the limits of the tech of the day.AND not looking to equal today's performance levels As to get there is very costly.
That said I get more thumbs up in the older vehicles than the performance vehicles built in the mast decade. The older vehicles are slower, handle worse, braking is a joke, but a nice to cruise around in.
I made the mistake of going down that restomod/pro tour/autocross route once, it gets very costly very fast. A loaded c6 (new at the time)would have been cheaper and most likely drove better. I am glad I did it once, but there won't be a 2nd one. I'll enjoy the older rides for what they are and buy new performance cars to scratch that itch.

I did the same. But, that was in the 80s, when cars were mostly complete crap. The nearly stock 37 Chevy I had was preferable to my Oldsmobile Omega. Once we got to the 90s and they started making decent cars, the incentive to build went way down.

 

[Hack]

The 60-90's cars there isn't any down side of driving as long as you know the limits of the tech of the day.AND not looking to equal today's performance levels As to get there is very costly.
That said I get more thumbs up in the older vehicles than the performance vehicles built in the mast decade. The older vehicles are slower, handle worse, braking is a joke, but a nice to cruise around in.
I made the mistake of going down that restomod/pro tour/autocross route once, it gets very costly very fast. A loaded c6 (new at the time)would have been cheaper and most likely drove better. I am glad I did it once, but there won't be a 2nd one. I'll enjoy the older rides for what they are and buy new performance cars to scratch that itch.

What bugged me the most with my '70 Mustang is I rebuilt the suspension and steering with all new components and within a couple years and only a few thousand miles it was worn, squeaky, sloppy, etc. The best reason IMO to replace with aftermarket is at least the aftermarket components will last for a while.

 

[Hack]

I did the same. But, that was in the 80s, when cars were mostly complete crap. The nearly stock 37 Chevy I had was preferable to my Oldsmobile Omega. Once we got to the 90s and they started making decent cars, the incentive to build went way down.

It took me a while, but when the Coyote came out in 2011, that's when I finally realized that relatively inexpensive new cars were quite a bit better than a modified older car.

 

[Bulldog9]

I haven't owned a 911, so maybe you could say I don't have much experience with P cars. My only Porsche was an '86 944. I sold it earlier this year when I decided that the GR86 was a more than adequate replacement. It makes more power and weighs less than the 944, plus requires a lot less cost in maintenance. I prefer front engine rear drive over rear engine personally. I think the 944 is a better choice for me than a 911, but I tried to make it my year round car and it wasn't acceptable to do that in. It was going to cost way too much money to keep everything working over time.

I have driven 911s and I like them, but I think I would only really enjoy one if I had the dollars to make it a track only car. I like cars to be a little loose, and the 911 has way too much traction to be fun on the street. I'm talking newer 911s of course, not new but only 10-15 years old.

You live where there is no salt on the roads or something? I'm not going to try to drive a '76 Porsche 911 in the snow. It would cost too much in maintenance replacing body panels, etc. And I doubt it will be reliable in below zero weather. Plus that car will be way too difficult to insure as a daily driver. The 944 is a better choice IMO because the value is a lot more reasonable.

And you're recommending a '76 911 but say that the GR86 doesn't have enough power? That's funny. I'll tell you that the GR86 makes more than 165 HP. Quite a bit more.

And I have a coworker with an older 911. It's pretty darn close in size to the GR86. I do think Porsche does a great job with ergonomics for tall people. I'm 6'4" and I fit in the 944 excellently. I thought that car was really comfortable. If I had the money time and or space I'd still own it and it would get an LS conversion. The only thing it really needed was a decent V8.

To each his own...... The 944 is a fun car. I've owned a couple.

You are retarded if you own and drive a Classic 911 as a daily driver, in the snow, etc, as you would a GR86. I'd same the same for a 944 as well.

It all depends what you want. I really liked the Gen1 GR86, and was tempted to buy a Gen2 but wanted more interior space, trunk and rear seat, and why I ended up in a Bullitt which I like more and more. I also drove the new Supra, Cayman, M2/4 and a host of others to include my 'dream' car a 911 Targa GTS...... Still happy with the Bullitt, and my wallet thanks me daily.

But for PURE driving connected driving experience and intoxicating bliss? Can't touch a Classic Air Cooled 911.

 

[Farkel]

...But for PURE driving connected driving experience and intoxicating bliss? Can't touch a Classic Air Cooled 911.

Maybe, but before there were 911s there were these. This one did the trick for me even after the 911s had been around for 10 years.

 

[Hack]

I don't really see the attraction, but I guess it's similar to the mid 70s Beetle I learned to drive on. Not fast, engine sounds like a fart, but still enjoyable to drive for some reason. It's probably just a 40 year old memory failing me more so than anything that was great about that old VW.

 

[K4fxd]

Face it you have a big heavy car with a huge engine up front.

Shows the times when a 302 CI or 5.0 L is considered huge.

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