1983 Porsche 928S Feels Like Home

From the March 1983 issue of Car and Driver.

The Porsche 928S is like a favorite song that comes wafting over the air­waves and gets you snapping your fin­gers and bobbing your head, sounding just as fresh and clear as it did when you first heard it years ago. It may not be new, but it’s hard to believe it’s old.

The Porsche collection, in fact, con­tains nothing but solid-gold hits these days; Porsches seem not to get older so much as better. Consider the evidence: The once weak-kneed 924 blossomed into the potent 944 series recently. The 911, at nineteen years old, still has the legs on just about all the new iron—and still looks great to boot. Then there’s the subject of this report.

The 928 may be entering its sixth year of production, but don’t get nostal­gic about it just yet. The hard-bitten en­gineer-enthusiasts toiling at Zuffen­hausen certainly don’t waste much time lamenting the good old days. A good chunk of the reason Porsches are great drivers’ cars is the firm’s unswerving commitment to the slow but steady refinement of its designs.

This flow of development energy has given us the 928S, Porsche’s idea of a new-and-improved, Mk II version. All of this year’s 928 crop both here and in Europe receives the “S” designation and equipment, but the new model isn’t really an attempt to redress any short­comings of the original version. It didn’t need much help. Last year’s car was still at the top of the C/D hit pa­rade, good enough to be considered the primo GT car in the land. No, the 928S is more like the next inevitable evolutionary step—produced because, well, it was time.

The wait was worth it. Every one of the revisions makes the 928S that much more mouthwatering. The big news is in the powertrain, where Porsche has accomplished a two-pronged improve­ment, increasing power and reducing fuel consumption at the same time.

Porsche started by boring out the 928’s all-aluminum V-8 from 4474cc to 4664. A slight change in combustion-­chamber design allowed a compression­-ratio increase from 9.0:1 to 9.3 and­—presto!—there are now 234 horses at your beck and call, fourteen more than before. (European models, unfettered by our strict emissions controls and low­-octane fuel, have a 10.0:1 compression ratio and deliver 288 hp.)

To squeeze a bit more mileage from each tank, the final-drive ratio was dropped from 2.75:1 to 2.27. The gear­box’s bottom four ratios were lowered a bit and spread out a touch farther to compensate, but fifth gear is un­changed, so the engine loafs along at only 3000 rpm at 100 mph in top gear. EPA city mileage remains at 16 mpg, but highway mileage has improved from 25 mpg to 27.

Porsche combined the new mechani­cals with what was previously referred to as the competition-package option to create the American S. The goodies in­clude a chin spoiler, a deck-lid spoiler, and flat-faced alloy wheels, all of which combine to drop the drag coefficient of the bulbous body from 0.41 to a more respectable 0.38. A set of 225/50VR-l6 Pirelli P7 radials replaces the 215/60VR-15 tires that were formerly standard. Larger brakes and sport shocks shore up the chassis. Leather seats, air, cruise, central locking, power windows, and more are also part of the deal. The only other significant change—as you might expect, given the increased standard-equipment list—is the price. It’s up to $43,000, from $39,500.

It might seem hard to believe, but the feeling around these parts is that the 928S actually gives you your money’s worth in today’s inflated market. Here is one car that can do it all, friends, and never breathe hard.

You want numbers? Try zero-to-60 in 6.2 seconds (a 0.6-second improve­ment from last year). Quarter-miles zip by in just 14.7 seconds at 94 mph (quicker than before by 0.4 second and 3 mph). Top speed is up to a blazing 144 mph, a dividend of 9 mph, making the 928S the fastest car sold in America. Just for good measure, it stops from 70 mph in an impressive 188 feet and puts an 0.80-g hold on the road.

But none of this adequately depicts life with 928. Numbers can’t capture this car’s double-agent personality: a killer instinct coupled with luxocar civil­ity and the kind of bulletproof solidity you’d normally associate with a Mercedes.

Aside from its stiff-legged ride, the 928S can be as docile as an Eldorado when you troll down to the cleaners. Call for speed, though, and the needle heads for 120 mph in an effortless gush. It’s all so easy you have to force yourself to put both hands on the wheel at triple­-digit speeds. And on the back roads, there’s more magic than most folks will ever know what to do with.

Flights of hyperbole over the 928 are nothing new. This car has been a bullet on the chart from day one; this year, it’s all just a little sweeter. Even the once-balky shift linkage running to the rear transaxle has been tamed. This un­derscores just what makes the 928S, and all Porsches, so special: in each replay of the original, there’s always a little bit more gold.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com