The 924 wasn't a Porsche, but it became one

Planning

Volkswagen found itself in a financial crisis after the Beetle. This was due to the Beetle being the mainstay of its sales, which was already quite old in the 1970s. Customers were buying more modern cars. So Volkswagen had to innovate, and for this purpose they wanted to develop a new sports coupe, preferably cheaply. This is how the EA425 came into being, which later became the 924. 

Difficult beginnings

It was originally intended to be a sports coupe made from Volkswagen and Audi parts and marketed under the Volkswagen logo. However, this fell through when Volkswagen preferred the Golf-based Scirocco for this purpose. This decision was prompted by the oil crisis of the 1970s. So Porsche bought the project from Volkswagen and started doing what it does best: taking a concept that should never work on paper and makes it world class.

There was an Audi-powered sports coupe with a four-speed manual transmission, the rear suspension of which came from a Microbus, and the front part came partly from a Super Beetle. To make matters worse, the brakes were taken from a K70 VW sedan, which meant that there were drum brakes at the back. This was a problem in several ways, primarily because the predecessor of this car – the 914 – already had disc brakes at the back. The problems didn’t stop there, as the already not very powerful 2-liter engine had to be derated to 95 horsepower for the American market due to emissions laws. The overall picture certainly doesn’t look good, but it’s nice to win from here. 

At the time, car magazines weren't too impressed with it, it was hard to accept a water-cooled, nose-engined Porsche. It was even harder to accept one with an Audi engine. I would like to quote a 76 issue of Motor Trend magazine translated into Hungarian: "To accept a car with a water-cooled four-cylinder engine in the front and a driveshaft that drives the rear wheels as a Porsche requires a certain amount of psychological adjustment." -Motor Trend, 1976

The developments

However, Porsche worked tirelessly to improve this car. First, the transmission was placed on the rear axle, achieving a nearly 50/50 weight distribution. Later, the 4-speed transmission was dropped and replaced with a 5-speed. It was available as an option from 1979. At first, it was a "dog leg" transmission, but from 1980 this was changed to a standard H transmission. The engine was also revised, so the cylinder heads were Porsche-developed, and electronic fuel injection was used instead of a carburetor. The Audi engine thus produced 125 horsepower.

However, the complaints were not mainly about its agility or driving experience, but about its speed. The public was not impressed with a 125 hp engine, but Porsche tried to find a solution for this. They released a turbo version, which immediately increased the horsepower to 170. Journalists and customers were very satisfied with this. However, there was a problem. According to the contract with Volkswagen, 100.000 engines are provided for the 924 and Porsche was very close to this number. So a new engine was needed. The 928 V8 engine was cut in half with noble simplicity. This resulted in a 2,5 liter inline 4 from the 5 liter V8. Which was then developed so much that it shared almost nothing with its V8 sibling engine. This was sold as a new model, the 944. A wider, bigger and faster 924. Still with Beetle suspension. Why did it become a row 4? Because of the gearbox located at the back. It had a terribly long propeller shaft (170,18 cm long and 2 cm wide) that rotated at the same speed as the engine, creating a huge vibration.

The end result

However, without the 924 they didn't have a cheap, entry-level car, so they didn't want to stop producing it. From 1984, the 924 received the 2,5-liter engine of the 944 with slightly less power. It was almost as fast as the 924 turbo. At first, this version was available with 150 horsepower, and in the last year of production, almost 160. The 160-horsepower 924 boasted a higher top speed than the 944. This was due to its narrower chassis and better aerodynamics.

The car was a huge success. More than 150.000 of them were produced. This also shows that Porsche got the maximum out of the initially despised EA425, a Volkswagen project, in terms of quality, enjoyment and performance. In pursuit of perfection, they solved the problem of having an affordable successor to the 914, which offers at least as much experience as a traditional Porsche, at a much lower price. 

Production of this car ceased in 1988 due to the unfavorable economic situation. Despite its success, the 924 did not receive a successor in a similar price range…

Gedei Zalan