Cheap Porsches are always fun. To look at, at least. But for many, to make the leap, to buy and live with one is often a step too far. It’s understandable: you might end up with an old Cayenne that suffers from more electrical issues than the Texas power grid, a budget Boxster that immediately turns its intermediate main shaft bearing to shrapnel, or a leggy 911 that ends up feeling like it might cost you £1000 every time the revs rise beyond idle.
And that’s before you start comprehending and tackling the age-related pains of knackered bushes and blown dampers, shot discs and fragged pads, splitting pipes, scored liners, spent timing chain guides, disintegrating radiators and condensers, tired paint, ugly corrosion, and all manner of other grief-inducing issues. Before long you’ve spent £10,000 just fixing a £10,000 car, and realise it’s still not what you want it to be, nor will it ever be. You shrug, sigh, pour another glass of wine, and start shredding the invoices. Lesson learnt.
There are, however, two other affordable options that grant you access to Stuttgart-sired thrills without such a high degree of peril: the 924 and 944. Yes, they are old, and not exempt from many of the issues above, but many variants are less complex and finickity than the alternatives, and their problems are often more straightforward to resolve. But there’s more than just simplicity and reliability to consider, and more than just those elements that appeal, when it comes to these entry-level classic Porsches.
