Porsche 928 – Road Trip Home

If you have read “Purchase” you are up to speed.  Otherwise, go back. It’s a great story!

I pull away from Joel’s house in my very recently acquired Porsche 928.  First stop is at the gas station.  Gas is really cheap in Ohio!  A guy next to me filling up his pickup says “Dude, what year Porsche is that”.  “1986” I say.  “Looks really nice.  I’m a Corvette guy myself.  Used to own a Z06”.  And so I start my life of extended refueling stops.

The first miles I’m pretty nervous and self conscious.  It reminds me of when I drove home our new Cayman in 2006.  Isn’t everyone checking this car out?  If not, why not!

I get down the road a ways and cross the Ohio River into the great state of West Virginia.  It is a very scenic relaxing ride through southern Ohio, just motoring along in 5th gear.  Great exhaust note!  I call my wife Kelli and she goes on the internet to line me up a room at the Holiday Inn in Ripley.  We talk for a long while about the new car, her day, the new car, the dog, the new car, when will I be home, the new car.  I can tell she is really excited to see it. She asks me if it will outrun the Cayman?  Damn, I don’t know but it sounds great!

The next morning I sleep in a little (by my standards, at least).  By 8:30 I’m on the road.  Still getting familiar with the clutch, the shifter, the unique sounds of this car.  The view out the windshield is great.  Well, not Etype great, but great all the same.  Fall is just starting to turn some of the WV trees to red and orange.

I stop at a rest stop.  No one seems to notice the car, which may be because I go the far end of the rest stop to avoid the door slammers.  I’ll get over this phase eventually.  I think.

I pass through WV, on into VA and the odd little kink at Wytheville, where I-77 and I-81 become one for a few miles. I head south again on I-77 headed to Charlotte.  What’s this? A tunnel?  Time to roll down the windows and downshift into 3rd.  Heaven.

Soon I’m coming off the Blue Ridge down into the NC Piedmont. I decide to stop at my friend Don’s house in Statesville.  He’s retired from the brick business.  His house consumed many bricks, my friends.  He’s not home but I can’t resist the great photo op for a white car.

Soon I’m pulling into north Charlotte, my trip complete. A flawless trip, really.  Priceless.

So what are my driving impressions.  First, this a 27 year old car.  Close your eyes and listen as you move down the road.  Not a squeak.  Not a rattle.  This car feels like it was carved from a single block of metal.  It is just so solid.  The steering is quick but not nervous.  Older roads with expansion joints are a little noxious with the low profile tires but not excessively so.  I spent much of the trip in the left lane because, let’s face it, the right lane of most interstates has been beat up pretty bad by the trucks.  My wife’s Cayman gets to my back within a few hours.  I love the seats in the 928.  They are soft and supple and there are enough seating positions with the electric adjustments to give me a nice variety of seating positions to keep the old back happy as I drive down the road.  I love it that the instrument binnacle adjusts in concert with the steering column.  I like to lean the seat back, lower the wheel as low as possible, and just cruise.

My main quibble would be wind noise with the windows down.  I really like to run with the windows down but really found it better to have them up and enjoy the CD player.  But compared to modern cars, there was none of that horrible buffeting that occurs.  And the window sill is low enough that I can easily rest my arm on it with the window down.  For any kind of shorter trip, it will be windows down for me.

The engine has gobs of torque. The lower gears are useful for getting up to speed quickly but once I’m at interstate speeds 5th was fine 90% of the time.  Did I say that the exhaust note was great?!

So, I’m beyond happy.  This was an unobtainable car for me when it was new.  Thank you, rear engine air cooled fanatics for allowing it to drop into my price range 🙂

CD List:
Tony Bennet – Duets
Chuck Berry and Eva Cassidy – The Other Side (My God Eva, you left us too soon)
George Strait – Troubadour
Alison Krause – Forget About It
Little Big Town – Little Big Town