Porsche 968 & Club Sport Review
The ultimate evolution of the 924, the 968 was too
little too late at the time. Now, however, it’s a great front-engined buy
At the time the 968 was a case of too little too late. Now,
however, it’s revered as one of the best handling Porsches ever devised,
although that is to perhaps do a bit of a disservice to the 944 and even the
924 on which the 968 is based. Indeed scratch the surface of the 968 and its
evolution can be traced back to the Porsche/VW 924 project of the mid ’70s.
That’s longevity for you.
Porsche 968 Club
Sport rear view
‘Too little too late?’ Well, the 968 was introduced in the
early ’90s when Porsche was a bit broke. The 944 was nearly 10 years old and
sales were collapsing and it was rather expensive compared to the competition.
Truth was the 944 was still a good car, but it was ripe for replacement and in
an ideal world that replacement would have been an entirely new, front-engined
machine. That, though, was never going to happen so Porsche had no choice but
to heavily facelift what it had. New front and rear polyurethane aprons, flush
pop-up headlamps, new rear lights, side aprons and aero wing mirrors freshened
up the looks, while under the bonnet the 944’s 3-litre, 16-valve, four-cylinder
engine was re-worked with a variable valve timing system (Varioram) to produce
240bhp. This was mated to a six-speed gearbox that, of course, was part of the
rear mounted transaxle, which with the front-engined layout gives the
924/944/968 family its 50/50 balance.
Porsche 968 Club
Sport engine
It was a pretty effective makeover, with Porsche even
claiming that it was 83% new. However, it didn’t help that the 968 was launched
right into the teeth of the early ’90s recession and no one really bought the
whole ‘it’s a new car’ thing, least of all the press. On top of all that at
around $58,800 (minus any meaningful extras) it was pricey too, and within
three years it was dead and Porsche was plotting a revival under the leadership
of Wendelin Wiedeking, the Boxster and the water-cooled generation of 911s.
The 968 stalled with just 11,245 cars having been built,
making it something of rarity and, while circumstances conspired against it, it
has very much stood the test of time, unlike its various - mainly Japanese - rivals.
Porsche 968 Club
Sport side view
The 968 came in various guises including the stripped out
Club Sport (as seen here), which has something of a cult following and comes
with fixed back buckets and minus rear seats and even the rear wiper. Some have
manual window winders, too. Suspension was lowered and adjustable and dubbed
MO30 (in keeping with all Porsche sports suspension options). A UK only version
called the 968 Sport featured the MO30 set up, but without the weight saving
interior. The was also a cabrio and a Tiptronic version, pus a Turbo S and RS
version of which just 14 were built.
Porsche 968 Club
Sport interior
The 968 has been off the radar for a little while now and we
reckon that can only change. It stands to reason that the Club Sport will be
the 968 of choice in terms of values, but the Sport and standard models will be
dragged along behind. The truth is the 968 is a simply sublime car to drive.
The 50/50 handling bias is no myth, and even in lowered CS spec the suspension
has a compliance that is missing from most modern Porsches. Add to that the
meaty and fulsome steering, an engine that is quite unlike anything else in its
mix of torque and revs, plus a chunky six-speed gearbox and you have one of the
best ever driving Porsches - seriously.
Porsche 968 Club
Sport back view
Don’t take it just from us. I well remember interviewing a
very prominent Lotus chassis engineer, responsible for the brilliant Elise. His
favourite handling car of all time? Yup, the Porsche 968. So the next big
thing? Well, they’re only going one way: up!
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Technical Specification
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Model: Porsche 968
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Engine: 3.0-litre straight four
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Power: 240bhp @ 6200rpm
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Torque: 225lb ft @ 4100rpm
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Transmission: 6-speed manual or 4-speed tiptronic
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Brakes: 298mm ventilated discs front; 299mm rear
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Tyres front: 205/55zr16 rear: 225/50zr16
·
Economy: 30mpg (combined)
·
Top speed: 157mph
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0-62mph: 6.5 secs
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