Are porsche 911s from the 1980s reliable cars?

Question

I love the turbos from the 80s but I'm concerned they aren't reliable and expensive to fix. are they?

Answer 1

80s 911s are very reliable cars. I Know of many with 300-400k miles that are used as daily drivers, as well as many that have quite a few hard driven miles at the track, and perform with no problems!

The 911SC (made until 1983) has three possible issues: The exploding airbox... while not common, it is possible for a backfire at startup to cause the CIS Airbox to blow up. It's about $10 to install a blow off valve on the airbox to prevent this. Many of the cars may have this, but not all. The cars originally came with a rubber centered clutch that could suddenly break apart. Unlikely that you'll find an example with an original clutch after all these years, but possible. And lastely, as mentioned, all 911s before 1984 had mechanical chain tensioners. All possibly problems from this could be fixed with some chain guards, or the preferred fix of updating the the hydraulic tensioners that were introduced in 1984.

The 3.2 Carrera was introduced in 1984 and was produced until 1989, with a few updates happening through it's life. The most common here is premature wear on the valve guides. This is more common on the later cars with the G50 transmission (1987-1989), though it is not exactly a common problem. There is also an issue with a helper spring on the clutch which can make for quite a bit of needed pressure to get the pedal down. Though overall, the G50 Carreras are considered the more desirable and tend to demand a slight pricing premium over the earlier 915 models.

Still, while the cars are very reliable as they tended to be over engineered and used very high quality parts, when those parts need to be replaced, the cost is what you would expect of an over-engineered quality component from a car that cost as much as it did new. And skilled labor for the cars can be a premium cost item as well.

The Turbo cars are a special case... also very reliable, but they will have more maintainance and repair due to the extra stresses and heat from the Turbo. If you are looking for a car you can drive often, the 911SC or 3.2L Carrera make a much better choice. Though the 930 is a fun and beastly brutal car at the same time - a nearly irresistable choice! But less practical.

Answer 2

The only caution on the 911's of that era is that they had timing chain tensioner failures as a common occurance on the 80-83 models. There was a redesign in '84 on the tensioners that cured that problem. other than that and the potential for previous owner abuse the cars are very reliable. Porsche parts are not inexpensive because of the limited number of vehicles that they produce and most parts are not available from aftermarket suppliers again because of the cost of producing an inventory for such a small number of vehicles in the population. Fortunately most parts don't fail.

Answer 3

If I was you I would get that car there very good and will get you every where no there not hard to fix and they don't cost that much to fix we had a 911 for a long time that we drove every day over 60 miles it did great

Answer 4

Yes, they are VERY ueliable, and yes - EXTREMELY expensive to fix. Hope it helps...