CaseyH

I'll never understand the people that don't like the pop-up headlights. They are one of the coolest parts on the car!

blown 87

You bet they do.

Bret928

Don’t know if it’s the coolest – but it certainly is one of the top selling points for me.

I just love sitting at a stop light or driving down the road at dusk, when it’s just about to get too dark for my running (parking) lights. Twist the **** & watch everyone do a double take as my lights pop up. Kids pointing at me as tug at their mom’s skirt or dad’s shirt sleeve as they try to get them to look at my car.

Bad Shark

Panzer9

Actually, I was referring to the 944- Best flares out there... I miss the old Gal

adam928

Oh I have two!!!

1. Why oh why did you make the tow-thing in the front in aluminium and the thing it screws into in steel? (Aluminium and steel oxidates and then its stuck as %&#@)

2. Same at the brake calipers.. the casette that holds the brake pads is in steel and the caliper itself is aluminium!!

Dennis K

Were there plans for a sixth generation (post-GTS) 928? If so, what was it going to be like? Engine, body mods, etc.

Did you really test the car at a track (Weissach or Nurburgring) for more than a few laps at a time or was it just marketing hype? re: weaknesses in 944s and 928s when it comes oil delivery to rod bearings

EspritS4s

I don't know about other makes, but Mercedes dashes of that era do not have a reputation for cracking. My '91 dash looks brand new despites its 140K miles and predominatley outdoors parking. I know it's a '91, but that was the last year of this body style which dates well back into the '80's.

-Gary

zrated s4

My understanding is that there was no replacement planned. Most major development stopped after the 1993 model as it was recognized that it would not be the 911 replacement that it was originally envisioned as. Because of the company's limited resources most of the effort was foccused on advancing the 911 resulting in the 993 since it was their franchise model.

Nicole

Well, there were no engineers at the 30h anniversary party of the 928 in Stuttgart. But there was Peter Reisinger, who worked in the modelling group of the design department for 35 years and retired in 2005. He was able to give me some insight on the 928 styling that might surprise you... (and surprised me, too!)

Here are a few tidbits from my conversation with Peter Reisinger:

1. The narrow track was necessary because at the time, customers wanted to be able to use the car year round - which required the ability to use snow chains. Consider that the chains are not always 100% tight with the wheel and the rear axle had some "play" for its countersteering action.

2. The GTS fenders took so long because there was no technical need to enlarge them until they got to the GTS level of power. Porsche shapes traditionally evolve in certain ways - they start narrow and become wider as needed to accommodate performance gains.

3. The exhaust coming out on the side on the early cars... They wanted to hide the exhaust tips alltogether, make them point downward behind the bumper cover, but then found there were legal requirements that prevented them from doing so. Then they had to find the best location... which was the left side.

4. Headroom: Believe it or not - The 928 was originally designed without a sunroof. They thought a sports car would not need both AC AND sunroof, but market demand required addition of the sunroof at a time when they could not raise the roof of the car anymore.

5. The weight of the car is a result of the engineers building the best car they thought Porsche could build at the time. The car should not lack anything that would make it better. They tried to keep the weight down as good as possible, with lots of alluminum,, though. (Nicole: Remember that today's cars are much heavier.)

6. Crash safety was a major concern during development of the car. Since the fenders have become part of the crash structure, a "whole front tip forward" lilke on the Jaguar E-Type of Corvette was not possbile without sacrificing safety.

7. One reason why the 928 is a 2+2 is that there are more options in motorsports for 2+2 seaters (GT cars) versus pure 2-seaters. The 928 WAS meant to be raced, and they acutally did build some race cars. However, the continued success of the 911 gave them no reason to switch to a different model. (Nicole: I speculate that once Peter Schutz arrived and revived the 911, that whole thing was a moot point anyway).

8. Influence of the Pacer: zrated s4 wrote that Möbius had been inspired by the Pacer, which he heard from designers who studied under Möbius in Switzerland. The thing is: Möbius never taught in Switzerland... Reisinger had never seen the Pacer, and doubts that Möbius copied from it (Nicole: If the Pacer was released in 1975, and the 928 in 1997, there would not have been enough time to copy the design, unless Möbius had some insight in the Pacer's design development much earlier).

9. If Reisinger would have had free reign, he would have moved the windshield forward by about 10cm (4"). He feels that Porsches should not have long hoods, and the 928 would have looked more "Porsche-like" with a shorter hood.

10. The atmosphere in the design group at Porsche at the time was very repectful and team oriented. They had the same goal in mind: To build the best car they could build, and all worked together to achieve that goal.

11. The reason why the hatch window is recessed is not aerodynamic, as I had speculated. At the time they did not have the technology to make the door windows flush, so having recessed door windows and flush hatch window would have looked terrible. Peter Reisinger did not know, if the recessed position had any influence on the cross wind stability, but stated that the 928s weight and downforce should already take care of this.

12. Belly pan: This was a serious feature that was tested out in the wind tunnel. It has significant influence on the vehicle aerodynamics, including the downforce in the front. Porsche took it so serious that they approved the time and funds for extensive wind tunnel testing before this feature was implemented. They would not do this for a feature that's merely cosmetic.

13. Door handles: Peter acknowledges that there may be an engineering problem with durability of some components. He's not an engineer, but explained that they decided for this style of door handle because anything that would stand out from the body shape - like on the 911 models of the time - just would have looked wrong with the 928s sleek shape.

Shark Attack

Why in the HELL did the 911 engineers put the engine in the wrong end?

Vilhuer

They were fixing all that was wrong in 911.

majhopper

What tractor inspired the throttle linkage?

darkside

What the hell is with all these relays?

tommytomaso

....by no means was it GM that ruined diesels......for auto use thier was way too many problems especially in cold climates...and lets not forget what its like to sit behind a diesel in traffic(the old diesels) tail pipe facing down not straight up, was not helping the old cars. MB had it easier because they were already making small diesel motors for light trucks so putting them in cars was no biggie.

tommytomaso

as for the Q.. POWER!!!! what else.
I dont see the weight as a biggie...even modern GTs are heavy...but with more power.
my biggest question would be why was the evolution of the car so SLOW and no turbo???
I know the basics of "PORSCHE" evolution but the 928 seemed way slower then 911,924 and 944...even the 356 seemed to have a higher performance upgrades per model year then the 828.....and the bump from non S to S versions was laughable.
And most of all WHY no race program for it....
.....was that more then one question??????????