Porsche 928 GTS: Used Car Reminder
Posted by Doug DeMuro in Used Car Reminder on | 8 comments
If you’re like me, you think of a Porsche as a manufacturer of a) luxury cars, and b) that’s actually it. But there was a time when they built sports cars, and one of the most amazing of those was the 928 GTS.
For a little background, let’s discuss the 928. This was a front-engine, V8-powered sports car that was initially intended to replace the 911 before everyone realized it was rather ungainly. So rather than replace the 911, Porsche decided to keep the 911 going, largely unchanged, and keep the 928 going, largely unchanged, for as long as possible.
The result was that by the late 1980s, both the 928 and the 911 sported designs that were more than a decade old. Porsche’s other car, the 944, was just as long in the tooth. So Porsche did the only thing it knows how: it started building special editions.
While the 911 and 944 got their own neat run-out models, the very best of these was the 928 GTS. It came to the states for the 1993 model year and used a 345-horsepower 5.4-liter V8, which must be one of the largest engines ever to grace a Porsche outside the Carrera GT. To me, the best part is actually that the bodywork somehow managed to make the 928 look like a modern, 1990s vehicle.
The 928 GTS only lasted a few model years before it faded into oblivion. And Porsche didn’t sell too many, largely because the thing had a six-figure sticker price at a time when you could get an M5 for a price that started with a “4.” But on the used market, it’s still one of the coolest Porsches in existence.
8 Responses to “ “Porsche 928 GTS: Used Car Reminder”
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I once read that “There are no budget 928′s, but a budget for a 928″
I’ve always loved the 928, and they did a good job of updating the styling. One styling thing that always bothered me with the GTS versus the S4/GT was the reflective bar across the back connecting the two tail lights. To me it seemed to be uncessary and ruined the clean lines of the rear.
Still, I would love to have a 928GTS as a hobby car, as much as a 993.
It ruined the clean lines, but at least it gave it sort of a new look. Generally I agree though.
I was going to suggest a 928 to you when you were looking for a car, but the GTS really is the one to get, and they’re EXPENSIVE. It seems like there’s always a few really nice ones on eBay, usually for sale by the same guy, who advertises how rare it is (“Only Obsidian Black, manual 1993 928 GTS with a sunroof sold in the US! Only $80,000!!!!”), and wants $60k-90k for them. He’s got the only two GTS’s for sale on eBay right now, both for $82.9k, as well as an 89 GT for $59k…
Hah! Is that really the market on those, or is the guy just nuts?
He’s got the market cornered on eBay at least. I’ve never seen a GTS for sale there that wasn’t in the same driveway in Springfield. I scoured the internet and the only 2 other GTS’s I could find for sale right now are a 91k mile auto for $32.5, and a nice 5 spd, 32k mi example for $49k. He’s definitely on the high end, but he seems to have a monopoly on the absolute nicest ones.
I remember seeing a GTS that was for sale in DuPont registry for the longest time in the late 90′s that had an asking price well over $100k because it was “1 of 1″ in a pea soup green with matching leather, and if I’m remembering correctly, the last GTS sold in America.
All 928s need to be a used car reminder.
Into the wayback machine..
All the kids in middle school had Countach posters on their wall, I was the freak with a 928 poster and a spotlight on it.
Yes, I like the Panamera.. Sorry.
It might be cool, but the 928 might be one of the most unreliable cars ever made by any manufacturer. I used to work as a tech at a Porsche dealership and any customer who drove a 928 with any kind of regulatory spent at least half their time driving it to the shop. Once there, they paid the value of the vehicle three times over for the necessary repairs and then scheduled an appointment for the following week knowing they would need it. The 928 is definitely a great looking and extremely cool car. It is a German muscle car, which is awesome. But it is so grossly undriveable that it is just not worth the headaches.