924Board.org

[Khal]

Here's an interesting one from 1976. My best mate's old man gave me a stack of his old magazines and there happened to be a couple with 924 articles in them (he bought a 924 in the early '80's so I guess he was looking even back then).

This one's the original Wheels road test of the "totally new... ultimate Porsche"

It's VERY long but very interesting Please excuse any errors, it was run through an OCR scan...

Wheels, January 1976

It's totally new and it's coming here in '77

924...

The $10,000 Porsche

Front engine/rear drive is hardly the traditional Porsche layout but the new 924 is still all Porsche in the driving. MEL NICHOLS was the lucky man we sent to find out just how far sideways it could get on the proving ground.

IF YOU ACCEPT that the essence of Porsche is development then it isn't too hard to go on to suggest that Stuttgart's new 924 coupe is the ultimate Porsche. Consider this: The engine is essentially the one VW developed from the Audi 100 water-cooled unit to power the new VW light trucks. Audi gears are in the rear-mounted transaxle, and the suspension system that carries it is from the VW Beetle. At the front, the lower members of the suspension are from the VW Golf, the spring and damper units are purloined from the Audi 80. The rack and pinion steering is VW. So are the brakes, the switchgear and the instruments. Almost all the hardware of the Porsche 924 carries a VW or Audi stamp.
That such a jumble of components can be pieced together to create a $10,000 coupe capable of pleasing the sort of buyers Porsche has attracted these past 25 years can only be due to development of the most devout and skilful nature. Indeed, the 924 was never intended to be more to Stuttgart than a developmental project, for it was not to "be a Porsche at all. It was to have been the top-of-the-line Audi - the long-awaited sports car from the revamped VW empire. But that, of course, was all Rudolf Leiding's idea (along with the scavenging of Audi engineering ideas that turned the Audi 80 into the Passat, the Audi 50 into the Polo and created the Golf and Scirocco). Project EA 425 was to have capped them all: A svelte Audi sports car using nothing but parts taken from the everyday sedan cars but chosen, integrated and developed by Porsche in a body of its own design.
But Rudolf Leiding lost his job. In came Herr Toni Schmucker - and out went Project 425 which Porsche had been working on since the early '70s. It already meant more to the men from Zuffenhausen than just time and money and they told Schmucker bluntly that they weren't prepared to let the car drop. They'd buy the project back from VW, complete it and market it themselves as a fully-fledged Porsche sold only through Porsche dealers.
And if, when you lift the bonnet and see the VW/Audi emblems on the rocker cover you expect the Porsche man beside you to shuffle with embarrassment, you're wrong. The plain truth is that they are nearly as proud of the new 924 as of the great God 911.
To them it is a Porsche from the beginning that, thankfully, has come home to roost and whether it's a convenient PR angle for tough times or not, they like to draw the analogy between the new car and the old Porsche 356. "After all," they say, "one must remember that Dr Porsche created the 356 from VW parts. With the 924 we return to his original concept."
That's all very well; but the similarity between the two models begins and ends right there. After 25 years, the 924 and its almost-conventional mechanical layout takes Porsche down a different road. And it won't be the only new model going that way: the 4.5 litre V8 928 that's expected to come in above the 911 in two or three years' time is of similar concept to the 924.
Why did Porsche opt for this Alfetta-type layout when it would obviously have been easier to take the entire fwd engine/transmission unit from the Audi 100? It wasn't right -they believed, for the sort of car they had in mind: a lot of power and fwd don't often go well together, and Project EA 425 had to be a car that was above all easy to drive and outstandingly safe in all circumstances. The answer -front engine driving the rear wheels through a rear-mounted transaxte, even if it does consume more space than FWD or even conventional front engine/rear drive layouts.
The 924 is a small car. It sits on a 2400 mm (94.51 in.) wheelbase and measures 4191 mm (13 ft 9 in.) from nose to tail: it is 1684 mm (66.3 in.) wide (with tracks of 1417 mm (55. and 1371 mm (54 in.) and 1270 mm (50 in.) high. The weight is a modest 1080 kg (2376 lb) and if the body is not striking to look at it is an interesting one to study in detail. There is a homely sort of rounded look to the body and it has a certain sense of all-enveloping unity that's helped by the unusual all-glass hatchback. The reason for such a vast rear window/door is to give optimum visibility.
But reaching that end by this means involves some very careful design work to ensure enough body rigidity. Equally careful attention has been paid to the way the rear glass (it has metal edging) seals against the bodywork. There is quite a gap at the leading edges - a gap that is calculated to be precisely right for the channelling-away of water in foul weather. Water comes back over the roof to the rear channel in some volume because there are ingenious little troughs set into the front pillars to the water from the windscreen up over the roof and off the side windows. They stay quite clear in storms as a result. Not surprisingly, the crushable bumpers are worked very neatly into the design and the car presents a clean shape to the wind with the benefits of high performance for modest fuel consumption and first-class stability.
Volkswagen developed the 2 litre version of the Audi 100 engine for its new light commercial range, adding a single belt-driven overhead cam in the process in place of the Audi's pushrods. Porsche takes things a few stages further by raising the 1984 cm3 unit's compression to 9.3 to 1 (it uses 98 octane fuel) and adding Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection. The results are good, but far from startling: 93 kW (125 din bhp) at 5800 rpm and 164 Nm (121.5 lb/ft) of torque at 3500 rpm. The engine is mounted fairly well back in the 924's engine bay, and canted way over to the right in order to permit the low bonnet line.
The transmission is mounted slightly aft of the rear axle line, with the audi gears going into a new casing. A torque tube connects the two driveline components, and provides a solid mount for the gearshift linkage. I'm not sure what rear suspension I expected to find: Certainly a De Dion system like the Alfetta's was high on the list. But it certainly wasn't the VW Beetle rear axle with its torsion bars and trailing arms that I beheld when I peered underneath. At that stage I'd driven the car for some hours - and was staggered that Porsche had made such a simple system work so well. The lower wishbones and MacPherson struts were predictable enough at the front, and so was the rack and pinion steering, but I expected to see discs instead of drums for the rear brakes.
Drop down into the 924's cockpit and it feels small and tidy about you. Porsche wasn't foolish enough to get the ergonomics wrong, nor did it achieve anything other than excellent visibility in all directions. To the front, the bonnet drops away ideally so that you see very little of it and a great deal of the road. Those narrow rear pillars, and the thin edges around the windows in between the door and rear side windows, consume very little space, and you feel instantly at ease with the car. It just seems efficient, tidy, small, but not too small. Just right for flinging about as you would wish. And of that this Porsche most certainly is capable . . .
The steering, worked through a wheel placed at precisely the correct reach and rake - for me at least - is light, smooth and quick enough. The pedals are similarly ideally placed, and their action is as unobtrusive as that of the steering - and the gearshift, which is immediately impressive for its lightness and precision. Aha, you think: If they could get that so right (and remember, Alfa Romeo didn't in the early Alfettas) it's a fair sign that the car is going to be spot-on from the word go. Indeed it is. At 0-96 km/h (60 mph) in 10.3 sec it is hardly a potent performer. But the acceleration is steady and consistent, the engine revving willingly (if slightly roughly at the top end) and the gear ratios providing nicely spaced maxima when the needle touches the 6500 rpm redline as it points skyward in the (thankfully) upside-down tachometer. There is plenty of flexibility and the torque curve is flat enough to make downchanging unnecessary should you not be seeking to extract the maximum performance possible. In fact, it's more than likely that you will, and after
a very short time behind the wheel, because the 924 immediately displays magnificent balance.
It comes from the 48/52 front-torear weight distribution, and it allows you to do precisely whatever you wish with the car. Into bends, it does nothing more than obey with impeccable accuracy your movement of the steering wheel. It responds quickly but not twitchily. It will then track around the bend quite neutrally if you maintain steady throttle and provided your speed isn't enough to extend the grip of the Uniroyals to their utmost. When that happens, the car oversteers very gently and very
tidily, catching itself with just a little help from the driver. In the meantime, he could have adjusted its attitude in the bend precisely as he wishes with nothing other than the throttle. Lift off a fraction and the nose will tighten a smidgin. Come off it a little more and it will tuck in, but quite gently.
Lift off big - and boldly - so that the weight is really thrown forward and the tail will come right out. You can hurl this little coupe so sideways as to be almost unbelievable and feel not the slightest concern for it is catchable with opposite lock and power on the one hand, whereby you can keep it sideways for as long as you like. Or, on the other hand, if you get it (theoretically) wrong and don't power back on the tail will merely stay out until enough speed is washed off for traction to be regained. Then it answers the opposite lock and comes (hot flicks nor snaps, but comes) back into line. The roadholding is outstanding, the handling exceptional. The balance superb and the safety of it all quite magnificent. It fulfills to the nth degree Porsche's design parameter: To be a pleasant little coupe that anybody, of any ability, can drive effortlessly in any conditions anywhere at any time.
When I visited Stuttgart to try the 924, I was able to play with it on the skidpan at Porsche's test facility. It would reach a steady 65 km/h around the inside kerb before breaking way, and then it was all so gentle and easy to correct. In fact, it could be taken around for complete laps in the most magnificent oversteer slides, balanced so easily on the knife edge. A 911 Targa that happened to be handy would let go at 59 km/h as the weight in the tail took over on the constantly curving track. And that, if I am correct, means that the 924, under these circumstances, has 20 percent greater roadholding than the 911.
On the road the practical difference is rather less, since one rarely encounters such provocative bends that so readily induce and go on inducing oversteer, and the great power of the 911 - the antidote - can be brought on to make the tail sit down and grip hard. Even so, allowing for the far greater performance of the 2.7 litre flat six 911, it is little trouble for the 924 to stay with it along a winding road. Yes, the 911 is quicker between the bends. Yes, it can be quicker out of them given a lot of power.
But the 924 is quicker into them and through them, maintaining very high speeds point-to-point, and all the while it is easier to drive, backing up that ever-pleasing balance and the patently obvious surefootedness goes with excellent stability. There is no bump steer, and it will take a pronounced hump in the road encountered at very high speed to make the tail flick out of line. Again, you will be told it is happening and you can correct it if you wish - if not, the car will do it for you. The brakes are adequate if not marvellous; pedal pressure is firmish in the German fashion.
For all its excellence in roadholding and handling, the 924's chassis is less impressive in two other areas - ride and noise. The ride is always fairly lively, even choppy at relatively low speeds on certain surfaces. It's acceptable enough, but that's all, and certainly not in the Alfetta's league. In fact, I preferred the car fitted with the sport package -anti-roll bars, stiffer dampers, rear window wiper - the ride was more positive rather than less comfortable and the extra tautness made the car feel more deliberate in character without actually appearing to make it go around corners much more quickly than the standard 924 (although body roll was cut down). With either suspension, road noise is loud - at least on Uniroyal radials.
The seats come straight from the Porsche 911, and their hefty side bolsters give enough lateral support to keep you in place while you're trying to outdo Niki Lauda. Their padding is firm but the effect comfortable over long journeys covered quickly.
There is nothing to quibble about among the minor controls and dash layout, except perhaps that it looks rather much like a Scirocco. As in the Scirocco or Capri II, the back of the (children only) rear seat folds flat to increase the luggage area. The platform is big but - because of the transaxle - the load space is shallow.
Which leads us to fuel consumption. I was unable to get a figure, but Le Mans driver/sports department PR man Jurgen Barth said that in a recent trip to the south of France where he was running the 924 flat at its 205 km/h (128 mph) top speed most of the time he recorded a worst of 7.5 km/1 (21 mpg). If so, that would suggest a figure of 10.6 km/1 (30 mpg) or more on quiet journeys, and around 9 km/1 (25 mpg) for normal hard driving.
At present, Porsche is talking about a price of around $A10,000 for the basic 924, with RHD models costing more when they arrive late in 1976. And at that price, who will buy the 924? One of the reasons Porsche was so keen to secure the project was that in Germany now, it is said, there are 10 buyers for every used second-hand 911.
Offer them a new down-market Porsche for the same money as a used 911 and there should be more than enough people to account for the 80 924s that will initially be produced each day in the plant at Neckarsulm that Porsche is leasing from Audi-NSU.
And so a new era begins for Porsche. The fact that the still-secret 928 is of similar concept to the 924 suggests that even had it not been working to Leiding's brief Porsche most likely would have chosen the same solution, for the use of as many proprietary parts as possible is just about the only way to produce a low-volume car of the 924's quality in today's world. The wisdom of the use of the rear trans-axle as a key element in this move into the future is borne out in the driving of the car.
Perhaps if the 924 has a notable fault, beyond the occasional deficiencies of the ride and the transference of road noise to the cabin, it is that the design and development of the chassis has been so good, so efficient, that character has been pushed too far aside. Is that a fault? Many would consider not, for it may indeed make the 924 not just the ultimate Porsche - but the ultimate German car.

By the way, the cheapest Porsche at the time in Oz, the 911 Coupe, was ~AU$19,000 - so the 924 was targeting about half price; the cheapest Porsche now is the Boxster, at AU$108,000. That would make the equivalent of the 924 now about AU$50,000 - smack in the middle of the price range of the cheaper Japanese sports cars.
And, surprisingly, the Boxster now is about equivalent dollars to the 911 Coupe then (using pricing of then and current Oz sedans as a guide).
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'80 924 Turbo

[Dez]

Well done for having the patience to type all that out Khal!
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1982 Porsche nine two four with Carrera GT conversion - people think i'm slow cos it's an X plate!!
http://www.p-caronline.com/directory/dez

[Khal]

OCR scanner mate! I'll be buggered if I was gonna type all that out!


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'80 924 Turbo

[5150]

thank heaven for technology ehh? lol... excellent article though, i'll sit and re-read it all more thoroughly at lunch time today.. cheers for posting it!
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Mars Red '78 Euro 924 n/a
http://www.cardomain.com/id/5150_uk

Graphite? Grey Metallic '85 (late model) 944 2.5

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

[Khal]

Not wrong 5150! Took 10 minutes to scan and another 5 minutes of quick edits...

Yeah, I thought it was a good read. I've got another road test article from about '76, mentioned earlier, that has the 924 vs. RX-7 vs. Alfa V6 vs. Datsun 240Z... I'll post it tomorrow maybe.
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'80 924 Turbo

[MAAS]

Great read. Thanks for posting this... and yes, if you have the time, I'll enjoy reading the other reviews too

-MAS

[J1NX3D]

cool!! thanx for that!
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'86 944

[john h]

Any of you guys seen the April (i think) isue of 911 and Porsche world (an English magazine)

There is an article on a guy who has a hot 924 - taken out to almost 2.4 litres. A guy at work read it at the shop so I'll go down tomorrow or the next day and see if I can find it.
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Remember a Porsche is not just for Christmas,

if you take it to pieces slowly it can provide anguish all year long!

[Khal]

Actually, yeah, I did see that! The powder-blue one? Ultra-light...
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'80 924 Turbo

[ideola]

[Chrenan]

I've got that 911 & Porsche World article at home as well, I'll try to dig it out, interesting stuff.
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1987 951 - M193 Version for Japan

[B]

I think I saw one for sale on ebay that is out to 2.4 with race set up - it advertises as a speed race winner? I believe it also is a lighter color - gray or blue? it reached around $4000 and hadn't reached its reserve, I noticed it was relisted.
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1979 924 n/a
BAE turbo
5-speed snailshell

[ideola]

Here's the photo of that car:

And the description that was listed on eBay as of today:

[Stampedetrail]

Thanks Khal. Glad you didn't have to type all that out eh? I like this line:
"it has a certain sense of all-enveloping unity"
Yeah!
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1977.5 924 "Martini" head / New Old Stock rebuild
1985.5 944 Why? Because I can.

[Chrenan]