1971 Porsche 914 from North America - Comments

What things haven't is a better question.

The transmission had to be rebuilt (broke while shifting while driving), and it is still leaking from time to time.

The Odometer intermittently works.

The parking break was fixed, but recently has started to go weak again (something with rear break calipers?).

The horn has stopped working, twice.

The starter had to be replaced because it refused to work when the car was hot.

And ALL of this went wrong w/in 4,000 miles!

The car handles like a dream. It's a gas to drive fast on mountain roads, but highway driving is another story. The small engine makes passing a huge pain on uphills, and to go anything over 50 requires you to be in 4th to maintain power on hills.

The targa top is awesome. You can drive with it off in winter here (San Fran bay area) with the heater going, and the heater keeps it warm.

I recommend this as a toy, nothing more. As a daily driver, you will be horribly disapointed with the reliability, and if you want to work on it yourself, remember, the engine is a HUGE pain to get at.

I have owned a 914 for about 6 years now, and would like to partially disagree with the above comments. A 914 in good shape is quite reliable; a 914 in moderate to poor shape is not reliable at all. It is, after all, powered by a very tough (though not overly powerful) VW engine; the problem is that the cars are 40 years old and wearing out. If you can bring a car back to stock condition it will take you anywhere. The car is incredibly well designed, capable of cruising at 85mph all day (the engine can handle the rpms fine, only your ears might get annoyed!) or just cruising at slow speed on back country roads. It is also an automatic smile: it doesn't matter where you are going, the mere action of driving this little go-cart will make you grin.

Yet another person expecting total reliability from a 35 year old car.

Reliability?

You don't know what you are talking about.

It has Volkswagon Beetle reliability from it's magical air cooled 4 cyl. engine with Ferrarri performance. I have had several over the years, put 400K miles on my 2Liter before a rebuild only because seal of the two halves of the crank case were leaking from age and all those miles. Otherwise it still ran strong, fast, and smooth. A mechanic told me it purrs like a kitten even being way off tolerances in a rebuild unlike any other engine, these are bulletproof machines, like the old VW beetle's, but larger with cams and a fuel injection that is faster and more efficient than carbs. Mind you these engines simply do not wear for some crazy reason, they go and go and go...

Now if you have fuel injection problems this is a totally different matter. They too are ultra-ultra reliable and it is usually a vacuum leak or the computer if she idles high, the most common malfunction. Some people have trouble locating cause and switch to carbs which is a shame as they don't get the same HP unless they change the cam where they'd get even more and without a choke it would need warming up to run smoothly, even then not quite as smooth as fuel injected.

Other than than, expect them to still be reliable in another 60 years, never mind 30. Just take a look at what they actually are before commenting no knowing or comparing them on any other 30 year engine in reliability,

let alone any water cooled junk ever produced at anytime anywhere to this very day, 2005/6.

Magical cars, only trouble is the rust, not the bulletproof engine and tranny that will go almost forever. The logitudinals and under the battery tray are the first areas to look for rust. If you find a good one, it is a car for life, not only a decade or two.

Yes, it really truly lasts that long. Amazing is an understatement.

No car will be reliable after 35 years unless it is looked after. Why do people not realise this?

I disagree with some of the above statements the car is 35 years old what do you expect. If you can't handle the work don't own a 914. 914 for life!!!

Just a comment on the VW engine comments: The 914 engine is NOT the same as the Beetle engine. The 914 engine is like the 411 pancake engine found in the buses, not the Beetles I believe. I have also heard that the Porsche engine is not the same as the VW engine - originally being built with some Porsche parts and to higher tolerances. Don't know if this is true...

The magical air-cooled engine? You've been hitting the magical pixie dust. They were an interesting attempt at innovation, much like Chevrolet's use of air cooling in the Corvair, but the air-cooled engine is now nothing more than an oddity (except for its use in the Pinzgauer). They were hardly great enough to relegate water-cooled engines as "junk". Before gushing about Beetles, let's remember that these cars were slow, underpowered, noisy, utilitarian rattle boxes. Some people think that they're cute enough to make up for that, and that's a personal taste issue. Reliable? Okay, sure we'll agree on that (at least until the block warps from heat and your oil spills out on the highway), but so is a mule-drawn wagon.

To the guy who says the 914 engine isn't a beetle engine: You're right and wrong. It's basically the same thing, but it's stronger, with bigger main bearing and stronger (thicker) case. It also has more fins on the cylinders, like Porsche engines, but it's also found basically in the same configuration in VW busses, and many late 60's Beetles have them, also.

To the May 7th guy, who says "They (air cooled engines) were an interesting attempt at innovation", and further goes on to prove how little he truely knows: By the time the 914 was produced air cooled engines had been used in mass-produced cars for over 50 years, and air cooled engines have been used in planes for just as long! I tell you, if you want relability, you look to airplanes; you don't want to be falling out of the sky because of a bad engine.

There was nothing innovative at all about VW or Corvair engines. They've been around forever! Corvair was an attempt at a light, well handling car, and it used an aircooled, aluminum engine because it was tons lighter than anything else, as Porsche demonstrated. Still is. Is it suprising to me that most of the post WWII non-turbine engine developers rallied behind what are essentially VW designs? No. If you follow maintaince guidelines they'll last nearly forever.

I posted the AMAZING 914 article, and I disagree with the unreliable part, my 914 is my daily driver (28 mpg vs my 10 mpg jeep, you decide) and I have had no major problems, tune up every 6 months or so, so maybe you got yourself a dud, cause the right mechanic can make the 914 a dream, cool, fun daily driver (but so cal in summer sucks with no ac, but still fun)

I have owned my 914 for the last 22 years and about 300,000 miles. It is my only car and it is driven nearly every day. In general the car has been very reliable with most of my maintenance costs associated with routine, periodic maintenance like oil changes, replacing brake pads and tires.

The only "significant" issue that I had with the car early on was that the OEM oil cooler couldn't really keep up with the heat load when on long hills in the desert during the summer, resulting in 'dangerously' low oil pressure due to the lower oil viscocity. (I frequently drove between Las Vegas and San Diego and the air temperature in the Mojave Desert in the summer frequently was about 120 F (50 C) and the temperature near the road bed was above 150 F (65 C). Adding an after-market oil cooler built into a box in the front trunk completely solved the problem and significantly improved bearing life.

I was happy to have found this website so I may also give honest facts about my Porsche 914 2.0 liter. I purchased this car, manufactured in 1975, in 1980. I was the documented third owner. I had loved the unique looks and the fine simple engineering Porsche/VW had put into these wonderful cars. I still own this car today. I have moved out of state and "she" follows me home. When properly maintained, the 914 is exceptionally reliable, gets easily 26-30 mpg city and on the highway I average 29-32 mpg. Everything is stock original to include the fuel injection system. The handling is like a go-kart. Clock the steering wheel two degrees and the 914 will move into the third lane on the highway/freeway. I have owned my 914 now for 27 years. I am a very happy with her. Maintaining and extending the life of a 914 that has a regular maintenance program and is stock is actually rather simple. Check the spark plug gaps and clean them every 3000 miles. CHANGE the motor oil during the same time as well as the oil filter. Check the air filter and change out if necessary. Check to make sure gas lines are not cracked or frayed in any way. It is always a good idea to have an onboard fire extinguisher, preferably one with Halon as its contents. Happy motoring :)

Porsche 914s have Type 4 engines, which are similar to Type 1 engines (engines in ALL beetles). Beetles NEVER came with Type 4 engines, however buses & 411/412s did. Type 4s are bigger and have various differences to Type 1s. Type 3s or "Pancake" engines are also similar. Type 4 engines are the most modern of the aircooled volkswagen engines.

It's just like the person from May, 2006 said: of the people I've known that gushed and fawned over their Beetle, Karman Ghia, and Mini-Bus, they were all left sitting on the highway with warped blocks squatting over pools of oil.

To the reply above.

They sat there after miles and miles (and miles and miles) of fun driving.

I bought both a Beetle and a 914 as a package deal back in 1975. The Beetle was a 70 and the 914 is a 71.

I don't know much about mechanics of either vehicle. Or for any vehicle for that matter. I know just enough to do general maintenance myself.

I started off driving the Beetle more often, because at the start I thought Porsches were high maintenance, performance machines. The Beetle was very fun to drive, fun to look at, sit in, you name it. The fact that it is probably still the cheekiest cars on the road today, and one of the simplest cars ever engineered.

Then one day I dusted off the 914 and took it out. I noticed it was even more fun to drive. I did some research and figured out the engine in my 914 was similar to the ol' VW, yet performed completely different. Since then I have been driving the thing daily. I sold the VW back in 1995 and took that money to hire a man to rebuild my 914's engine. I've clocked over 550k miles in the car and loved everyone of them.

Sure the car's not the fastest car on the road. Sure it has it quirks, but what car doesn't.

You just need to stop comparing it to other cars and take it for what it is. It's a simple car that does what you want it to do.

As for the problems I've had with my 914... Just paint, seat tears, and my tachometer stopped working. All easy fixes and it's still my favorite car. I did relocate the battery and remove the OE battery tray. but that was simple and I did it myself for no cost.

I would just like to state that the aircooled type 1 engine is the most produced engine, ever. They were in Beetles from the mid 30's until the 2000's. I don't think one of the largest automobile manufactures would keep an engine going for that long if it was just an "experiment". The aircooled engine works, period.