G body 911 -- will I enjoy one of these in 2024?

I caught the bug for a 911SC/Carrera 3.2 sometime last year but am having a hard time evaluating whether it still makes sense to own and drive one considering their age and high pricing. I'm coming from a couple of pretty neat cars, one of which would have to go to make room and help with the purchase price -- clean twin BMW M cars, an E39 and E46. The E39 is mostly stock, 70k miles and very well sorted, and I like it as my daily and road trip car. The E46 is far more special to drive, a comp pack with 47k miles and nicely OEM+ modified toward CSL-spec (couple hundred pounds of weight loss, carbon airbox and roof etc), but more stressful and less comfortable. I take it to the track with the local BMWCCA on occasion in the intermediate group but didn't make it to any days last year.

Will I regret selling one of these and blowing $70-80k on a 35 year old 911? All G body cars are older than me, and older than any car I have ever driven (oldest being an NA Miata that I owned for a few months), and so far I have not been able to find one locally to test drive. I can handle a little 80s character but having a hard time letting go of either of these BMWs, and wondering if the 911 prices are anywhere near justified.

So much of the value is in the experience that really only you can answer if it's worth it. You really have to find one to drive, and also part of it is not the driving experience but just the ownership experience which is even harder to ascribe a dollar value to. It is worth noting that the prices aren't going much of anywhere, so if you're not looking to own it forever, you're essentially borrowing it rather than buying it because it'll likely be worth at least as much in a few years as it is now. In general the cars are fairly simple so there's not a whole lot to go wrong, it's just that when things do go wrong it's generally not cheap to fix. If I had the money and didn't have anything else I specifically wanted (are they really that much? I thought they could still be found in the $50k range) I would totally have one at least briefly.

Hey, in my garage you’ll find spaces usually occupied by an ’84 911 and an E46 M3. 

Both cars are currently at the shop.

I know, right? (The true irony: The Miata is still in the garage.)

The M3 needed a new ABS/DSC module. It’s NLA but I found a used one for $720. Our mechanic has been having trouble programming the replacement, but sounds like a computer issue on his end. The car’s been there since Wednesday. Still waiting to hear when I can pick it up. Tomorrow, I hope. 

The 911 is getting new KW suspension plus brakes: pads, rotors, lines. To be honest, I just don’t have the time. I dropped it off around 2:00 today. Sounded like he was going to start on it in the morning. When will it be done? I asked. Oh, likely tomorrow, he replied. 

What does this mean? The 911, despite its age, has just been an easy car to own–assuming, of course, that you have a good local mechanic. And we’re lucky to have one. 

Porsche parts aren’t too expensive for what we’re talking about–an older European performance car. Nearly everything’s available. Need a gasket or even a new door latch assembly? Bam. (The caveat, though: prices can vary wildly from retailer to retailer.)

Both offer different driving experiences, obviously. We drove the E46 M3s when they were new. At the time, the E36-chassis M3 was the benchmark. The E46 did everything the E36 could do but with nearly a hundred more horsepower.  Today, I’d call it a modern rad-era car as it predates touchscreens. It bridges the gap between the analog cars of the ’90s and later, more modern machines. Plus those fenders. 

I had driven other 911s before buying ours–mostly long-hood cars, to be honest, plus water-cooled cars. While at the Lane museum several years ago, they let me drive their 911SC. Looking back, I think that was my first time driving a G-body.

By the time I reached second gear, I knew that I had to have one. 

It’s unlike anything else out there. Those big, round gauges. The view over the hood. The sound. The whiffs of oil. It super-easy to get in and out of. Visibility is amazing. It’s small on the outside but big on the inside. Fairly comfy ride. 

It’ll also get rolled by a Toyota minivan. The shifts are long. What a/c? How much for jugs and pistons? 

Still, the 911 is the keeper. 

Here is my counterpoint.  I've owned a 1990 Miata for the past 25 years (it's been turbo for the last 20) and a few years ago, I bought a super sexy 911SC and kept it for about a year.    I would go on back to back drives.  Even autocrossed them back to back too.    In the end, the Miata stayed and the 911 was sold (for profit).   I couldn't really see anything the 911 did 4 times better than my Miata.   The visibility was awesome, the sweet rear engine sounded amazing.... but in real life driving scenarios that I have, I preferred my Miata.   
 

Fast forward to today, I still have my Miata and a 996 has joined my garage and those are two cars different enough worth keeping.   

Disappointed.  I came here thinking you had an emergency with your Cutlass or Regal.

As a 17 year owner / 60k miles driver of a totally stock 1977 911S, I have to say I love the car and the experience of driving the car, but it's just not all that fun to try to drive fast.  Shifting is slow, handling is 'quaint', suspension isn't all that smooth and comfortable.  The E46 M3 convertible and the 2010 A4 S-line and even my daughter's '91 Miata are more fun to push.  So, if you want a lot of character and fun cruising, the Porsche is great, but it's definitely going to be a big step backwards in terms of really sporty driving compared to your other cars.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Disappointed.  I came here thinking you had an emergency with your Cutlass or Regal.

Okay, so I’m not the only one. :) 

In reply to pkingham (Forum Supporter) :

And, very true, two totally different experiences between the Miata and 911.

For example, I love me some Cannonball Adderley. 

And I love the Ramones. 

Totally different experiences, however. (If it helps, we’re comparing two totally awesome things.)

What Curtis (and DSW) said.

I will say, though I'm not a Porsche guy, the SuperFastMatt episode where he talks Porsche was pretty damn compelling. 

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Disappointed.  I came here thinking you had an emergency with your Cutlass or Regal.

Yup. This is a G body.

A coupe of years ago, I was chatting with a Porsche collector. He has some serious 911s–like at least one that I know the factory wanted to buy.

His point: The early cars were quickly become museum pieces. The G-body cars, he said, offered much of the same experience in a more usable package: more torque, galvanized bodies, actual bumpers, lower buy-in prices. 

Totally agreed with him. 

I grew up with a poster of a G-body on my bedroom wall, so for me it was a natural fit. 

I want a G body 911 becuase of the driving experience. As an instructor at PCA events I've driven every gender of 911 and as guy who loves vintage cars on track it's a sweet spot for me.

BUT

For the price of a G body I can by an awfully nice Cayman which is better in every way........my heart wants the old 911 but my innate cheapness wins out.

I don't like any 911 older than a 964.  Why?  They feel and drive like an incredibly old car.  Like David says, hvac is a joke, they're not fast, the 915 transmission shifts like garbage, the ergonomics are really strange...  I just can't get into them.  Starting with the 964, they start to drive like a more modern car.  Ergonomics are still strange until you get to the 996's, but at least they perform well and the hvac starts to do something other than seem like an asthmatic blowing threw a cocktail straw.

I guess my point is you need to drive one and see if you immediately fall in love with it.  If you don't, walk away.  Drive a 993 and see if you like that.  If you don't, walk away and drive a 996/997...

Having driven all the mentioned cars I found the 911 to feel light, nimble and slow. Very nice driving experience though.

docwyte said:

I don't like any 911 older than a 964.  Why?  They feel and drive like an incredibly old car.  Like David says, hvac is a joke, they're not fast, the 915 transmission shifts like garbage, the ergonomics are really strange...  I just can't get into them.  Starting with the 964, they start to drive like a more modern car.  Ergonomics are still strange until you get to the 996's, but at least they perform well and the hvac starts to do something other than seem like an asthmatic blowing threw a cocktail straw.

I guess my point is you need to drive one and see if you immediately fall in love with it.  If you don't, walk away.  Drive a 993 and see if you like that.  If you don't, walk away and drive a 996/997...

It's funny, my experience of driving the 997.2 for a couple of days was that it felt like a fundamentally old platform with a new car laid over top. Like someone had put new plaster over old brick. It was a car that was in good shape but a bad spec IMO. That's my only Porsche driving experience.

Flyin' Miata grew out of a Porsche shop. The founder did not like 911s much at all, although he admitted they got a lot better with the SC. He stopped working on them in 1996 to do Miatas full time so I don't think he has any direct experience with anything newer than that. Eventually, he bought a Porsche of his own - a used Cayman (also a diesel Cayenne with a mysterious coolant loss for about 20 minutes before he bought a CX5).

Given the current prices and how far technology has come an air cooled 911 has to be an emotional choice not logical.  They are challenging to drive fast on the track, newer cheaper cars are easier and faster.  But the experience of driving the 911 fast and well is something you can't duplicate.  

Thanks for all the thoughts so far -- I sincerely appreciate it. You guys have certainly not convinced me that it's a bad idea at least. Seems like the obvious next step is to figure out how to drive one. I'm not really interested in any of the newer 911 or Cayman bodies, so if I don't like it I'll probably abandon the idea and just stick with my E46 that I've stuck to for a decade.

Still not sure which car I'd sell to make room. My M3 is the only car of the three I'd want to take to the track, and the M5 is the best car for normal person street driving. I have already tried to convince my wife to sell her Mazda CX-5 and daily my M5 but that didn't go over well.

I nearly bought this G body a few weeks ago at Mecum, kinda regret passing on it.  As for the Porsche G body, it's an absolute bucket list car.  However, not for performance but for nostalgia and the experience of ownership. 

In reply to Chopra :

Very long time Porsche fan... and I work for them. 

I didn't used to like 911s that much until.i realized they were one of the only cars of that type you can actually use and buy parts for when you need it.  I still probably won't ever own one, but I would pick one over pretty much anything else similar and of a similar price.  Completely different driving experience but I think 1980s Mercedes are one of the only others of that era you can use regularly and put that many miles on.

tl;dr - if you've had a poster of one on your wall when you grew up, get one.

In reply to Tk8398 :

I think that's actually a big point that often gets overlooked. I'm pretty sure parts availability for the G models is better than for some newer models (like the 964 C4), people are still developing new parts for them and they're well understood and pretty easy - although not cheap - to keep on the road. Try that with a Ferrari 328 or one of the other competitors this side of an NSX.

The 3.2 is definitely the most "modern" feeling of the bunch, but it's still a car with its roots in the 60s, even though a 60s car is a very different animal than the late 80s ones.

A lot of the shift quality complaints can be fixed by going for a G50 car, but these still tend to carry a fair premium over the 915 cars.

I really need to get my act together and get my Cabriolet back on the road. I like them, and if I can keep my hey-squirrel tendencies under control for long enough, I wouldn't mind getting the Cab back as a weekend driver. While you can tell that a 996 or 997 is a 911, they're pretty far removed from the driving experience of a torsion bar car.

Mind you, if I consolidate my car "collection", I'd probably go for a coupe. Both of the C3.2s I've owned so far were of the open top variety (one Targa, one Cab) and I do like the coupe better but in at least one case the wallet said no.

I had a poster of a Countach and a Mercedes SSK on my wall when I grew up, but unfortunately I don't have either :)

In reply to BoxheadTim :

You know, at one point, I lamented the fact that I didn’t get a G50 car. I pretty much lucked into my ’84 Carrera.

If you want a Porsche to shift like a Porsche, a long-time Porsche friend once told me, then you get a 915.

You can argue the G50 is smoother, etc. His point: A 915 gearbox is just fine as it delivers that traditional Porsche 911 experience. 

So I happily row my 915. :)