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I have a bit of an interesting comparison today, and I think in many ways it’s harder than it would first appear to be. If you said to most enthusiasts “Would you rather have a manual or automatic?”, the collective ire of autophiles towards self-controlled cars is akin to suggestion a revision to the 2nd Amendment at a NRA rally. And outwardly, today’s two E39 5-series wagons seem quite similar. But they represent two different directions for BMW and I think it will be interesting to see which foot enthusiasts land on. So, what would it be, then – a 5-speed 528i Sport Touring or a 5-speed (automatic) 540i M-Sport Touring?
I have been enjoying my jaunt through the world of classic 911s looking at examples of the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera. We’ve seen a few nice, and reasonably priced, Targas, a couple very nice Coupes, and a very pretty Carrera Cabriolet. That last model will take our focus in this post as we look at examples from both the beginning and end of the 3.2 Carrera’s model run. 1983, the last year of 911SC production, was the first year Porsche produced a 911 Cabriolet and since there was only one year for those models, it is to the 3.2 Carrera that we typically must turn when looking for the combination of a fully-open cockpit with that classic 911 design. I wouldn’t classify the two we see here as especially rare colors since each is more a subtle variant of a common color, but the color combinations are not ones that we come across very frequently. Those combinations definitely bring with them an extra level of scarcity with these. We will begin with the example from the first year of 3.2 Carrera production, a Slate Blue Metallic 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet located in California with Grey Beige leather interior and 48,133 miles on it.
I’ll get this out of the way off the bat; not everyone likes the Audi TT, and yes, it’s not really a sports car. But excusing that it’s not a 911 although it’s similarly shaped, is it really that much of a pretender? Tight body curves that were really avant garde in the late 1990s reveal a beautifully crafted interior with lots of special details to let you know you were in a premium product. Under the hood, in its most potent form the 1.8T was quite capable as well, with 225 horsepower resulting in mid-6 sec 0-60 runs in stock form and punchy delivery. And while the Haldex-driven but “quattro” branded all-wheel drive wasn’t as slick as Audi’s other all-wheel drive systems, it works just fine in most conditions. So let’s take a look at two nice examples of these budget sports coupes:
Time for some citrus. I’ve mentioned previously how the market for the long-hood 911 has plateaued, and perhaps even reached its peaked, but even if that is the case the 911S remains a special car that we must keep an eye on. These were some of Porsche’s first opportunities to show its ability to produce a top-level machine that could provide performance but also remain civilized. The 911S epitomized that focus and here we have two different variants, both of which come in the wonderful shade of Tangerine over Black. With values remaining mostly stable over the past year it’s not a bad time for those who really enjoy these early 911s to look for the right opportunity. Here we have both a Coupe and a Targa and both look in very good condition. Which would you choose? We will begin with the Targa, from the 1968 MY:
There’s something that’s just so right about the 1990-1992 GTis. The bigger bumpers gave a chunkier, more menacing look than the 85-89 cars had, and the swap to the 4-headlight grill worked so well. More power and bigger, better BBS wheels made these the best GTis in the eyes of many VW faithful. By 1990, the GTi 16V had gotten fairly expensive so Volkswagen reintroduced a more budget-conscious 1.8 8 valve version. It wasn’t a total poseur, though – Volkswagen made an attempt to differentiate the entry level GTi from the standard Golf. With 105 horsepower on tap (5 more than the standard Golf) and a 5-speed close-ratio gearbox, they channeled a bit of the original A1 GTi even if they didn’t sing up high like the 16Vs did. There were other subtle differences between the 16V and 8V; externally, they looked very similar except that the 16Vs wore appropriate 16V insignia front and rear and on the slimmed down side moldings. The 16Vs also got the larger and wider BBS RM multi-piece wheels with wider flares, while the 8V model wore the 14″ “Teardrop” alloys that had previously been the signature of the 16V. Both now wore roof mounted antenna and integrated, color coded rear spoiler with 3rd brake lights and color coded mirrors, along with the aforementioned 4-headlight grill, deeper rocker panels and integrated foglights. The 16V got beefier Recaro Trophy seats, while the 8V was equipped with the standard sport seats. Both wore the same sport suspension. And, both models now had the passive restraint “running mouse” belts. Today we’ve got one of each to look at, so let’s start with the big brother:
