Porsche’s front-engined V8 grand tourer was once tipped to take over from the 911, yet today it sits in the classifieds for hot‑hatch money. That disconnect between historic ambition and current pricing is what now makes the 928 GT one of the most intriguing performance buys on the used market. I want to unpack how a car conceived as the future of Porsche became a bargain alternative to the very icon it was meant to replace.
From 911 successor to misunderstood outlier
When Porsche engineers set out in the 1970s to future‑proof the brand, they did not imagine a gentle evolution of the 911, they imagined replacing it. The company Introduced the 928 in 1978 as a potential successor to the 911, with a front‑mounted V8, rear‑wheel drive and a focus on combining long‑distance comfort with serious performance. That was a radical break from the rear‑engined 911 layout, and it reflected a belief inside Porsche that tightening emissions rules and changing customer tastes would eventually make the classic air‑cooled formula obsolete.
History played out differently. As later chronicled in a detailed Nearly cancelled history of the 911, the slump in sports car sales during that decade had Porsche executives seriously considering a full switch to the V8 grand tourer called the 928. Yet the 911 refused to die, sales recovered, and the rear‑engined car became the untouchable core of the brand. The 928, including the later GT variant, was left in an awkward position: engineered to be the next big thing, but forced to coexist with a legend that never vacated the throne.
How the 928 GT sharpened the grand tourer formula
Within the 928 family, the GT badge marked a clear attempt to give the big V8 coupe a more focused, driver‑centric edge. While the earliest cars leaned heavily into luxury, the GT arrived with more power, shorter gearing and chassis tweaks that made it feel closer in spirit to a fast cross‑continent weapon than a plush cruiser. Contemporary buyers who wanted 911 agility still tended to gravitate to the rear‑engined car, but the GT’s blend of long‑legged pace and refinement was exactly what the original concept of a V8 successor had promised.
That intent is reflected in modern price guides, where the GT is treated as a distinct high‑spec evolution of the 928 line. One detailed valuation notes that no direct successor to the 928 was ever produced and explicitly asks whether enthusiasts today realise that the 928 almost replaced the 911, before charting how the 928 GT now sits in a niche of its own. In other words, the GT is not just another trim level, it is the closest expression of Porsche’s original plan for a V8‑powered flagship that could have rewritten the brand’s hierarchy.
The market reality: a flagship for used‑hot‑hatch money
What makes the story compelling in 2025 is not only the history, but the pricing. While air‑cooled 911 values have rocketed, the V8 grand tourer that almost replaced them has quietly become accessible to buyers who once assumed any classic Porsche was out of reach. One detailed survey of classifieds points to a 1982 928 with 124,388 miles listed for $11,900 in Commerce Charter, Michigan, and another example offered at $29,900 in Grand Rapids, using those cars to argue that The Porsche 928 Is Now Relatively Affordable. Those are not GTs, but they set the tone: even well‑kept V8 coupes are trading at prices that would barely buy a tired modern hot hatch.
Zooming in on the GT, a separate analysis of Porsche’s V8 grand tourer that almost replaced the 911 concludes that the car is now a Bargain relative to its engineering depth and historical significance. The same piece underlines that this was the Grand Tourer That Almost Replaced The 911, yet today it sits in a price band that overlaps with ordinary used coupes. For buyers who care more about driving experience and story than badge snobbery at the coffee shop, that mismatch between intent and resale value is exactly what a bargain looks like.
Why 911 prices keep climbing while the 928 lags
To understand why the 928 GT is cheap, I have to look at what is happening on the 911 side of the fence. Enthusiast forums are full of frustration at how resilient 911 values have become, with one widely shared discussion asking whether it is normal for cars that were released around ten years ago at roughly $100k to still be listed used at around $70k or $80k. The poster, writing in Isnt it unusual terms, concludes that there is nothing normal about used 911 pricing and that the market is as much about the brand and heritage as it is about the metal.
That sentiment is echoed in video guides warning that this is the last chance to buy a cheap 911 before the next wave of appreciation. One such breakdown, framed as advice for anyone who has been dreaming about a Porsche 911 since high school, argues that if you are thinking about finally buying that car, you need to hear how quickly values are moving and how few truly affordable examples remain, especially in the United States, where Nov market dynamics and Porsche scarcity collide. Against that backdrop, the 928’s softer curve looks less like a failure and more like an opportunity: the V8 car never built the same mythology, so it never attracted the same speculative money.
Depreciation, desirability and the V8 factor
Depreciation is not unique to the 928, but the way it has played out is. Modern supercar lists routinely highlight how far some high‑end models have fallen from their original sticker prices, and Porsche’s own 911 Turbo is often cited as a case study. One recent rundown notes that Porsche’s 911 Turbo was and still is a supercar, and that While the more athletic Porsche 911 GT3 and its RS offshoot grab the headlines, the Turbo has quietly become one of the most depreciated supercars you can buy, complete with a quoted fuel economy of 16/23 MPG to underline its everyday usability, a point backed up in a detailed Turbo analysis. If even a 911 variant can slide that far, it is not surprising that a less iconic nameplate like the 928 GT has sunk further.
Yet the V8 layout that once made the 928 controversial is now a selling point for a certain kind of buyer. In enthusiast discussions about moving from V8 muscle cars to non‑premium level Porsches, one contributor in the Comments Section underlines that they would rather have a base 911 or any AMG than compromise on character, while another, Big‑Independence258, describes buying a first Porsche after years with American V8s. That tension between the raw appeal of a big eight‑cylinder and the prestige of a 911 badge is exactly where the 928 GT now lives: it offers the soundtrack and torque of a muscle car, wrapped in German engineering, but without the 911’s price premium.
How the 928 drives: grand tourer first, sports car second
On the road, the 928 GT delivers a very different experience from a classic 911, and that is part of its charm. The car was designed from the outset as a comfortable grand tourer with highly capable performance, a point that comes through vividly in a recent description of a Guards Red example that is not for sale at a New Jersey dealership. The post, which opens with the line And the chicken was still warm and goes on to say that The Porsche 928 was always ahead of its time, describes a front engine rear wheel drive sports car with a carpeted interior and seats that feel like you are sitting on a couch, a ride worth experiencing according to the And the enthusiastic caption. That is pure grand tourer language, not track‑day marketing.
Long‑distance capability has become one of the car’s defining virtues in retrospective rankings. A list of underrated Porsche models notes that the 928 was Once seen as the oddball, now loved for its boldness and long‑distance capability, explicitly calling out the Once maligned V8 coupe as a car that finally fits modern tastes. In that light, the GT’s slightly firmer suspension and extra power do not turn it into a 911 clone, they simply sharpen a package that was always meant to devour miles at high speed while keeping its driver fresh.
Production numbers and the slow burn to “modern classic”
Another reason the 928 GT looks undervalued is that it was never built in huge volumes, yet it has not been fully recognised as a collectible. Across the 18 years the 928 was in production, Porsche built over 61,000 cars in total, including the later Porsche 928 GTS, a figure that underlines how significant the model was to the company’s strategy even if it never dethroned the 911. One detailed retrospective stresses that Despite this, the 928 was no flop and that Across the production run Porsche managed to keep the car evolving, before concluding that it is now a smart buy if you are looking for a project car, a view anchored in the Despite detailed breakdown.
Enthusiast media have started to catch up. One recent cover story describes Taking pride of place on our front cover this month is the fantastic and bargain priced Porsche 928, before asking whether it is time to move on from the 911 for a space in your garage, a provocation that reflects how far opinion has shifted. That same feature frames the Taking 928 as epic and affordable in the same breath, which is exactly the combination that tends to precede a slow but steady climb in values as more buyers wake up to what is on offer.
Inside the Porsche boardroom: why the 928 never took over
To grasp why the 928 GT is a bargain, I also have to look at why the original plan to replace the 911 failed. Internal accounts from the period show that senior leadership genuinely believed the rear‑engined car had reached the end of its development path. Schutz, CEO Porsche AG from 1982 to 1987, later reflected in Tony Corlett’s book Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera: The Last of the Evolution that the company was wrestling with how far it could push the 911 platform. That context, cited in a detailed look at how Porsche’s 1980s V8 grand tourer is surprisingly affordable, helps explain why the 928 was given such a free hand to innovate, a point underscored in the Schutz‑anchored analysis.
Yet the 911 refused to fade away. As that same historical arc shows, the 3.2 Carrera era revitalised the rear‑engined car, and the emotional pull of the 911 nameplate proved stronger than any rational argument for a front‑engined V8. The result was a kind of internal competition that the 928 could never win: even as it improved, it was always judged against a car whose identity was already cemented. That is why, decades later, the 928 GT can be objectively rare, technically sophisticated and historically important, yet still trade at a fraction of the price of a comparable 911 3.2 Carrera.
How it stacks up against other “911 feel” alternatives
For buyers chasing the 911 driving experience on a budget, the 928 GT is not the only option, but it is one of the most interesting. Enthusiast threads about the closest affordable car that gives the feeling of a 911 are full of suggestions ranging from rear‑engined sports cars to mid‑engined coupes, with some posters arguing that certain modern hot hatches are too fizzy and modern to capture the same vibe. In one such discussion, a user named SithSidious replies Disagree to a popular suggestion, arguing that the car in question misses the mark, a debate captured in an Oct thread that shows how subjective the idea of “911 feel” has become.
There are also more literal alternatives. A guide to affordable 911 rivals highlights a mid‑engined sports car powered by The Toyota sourced supercharged V6 tucked away at the back, which is completely visible from the rearview mirror, using that engine layout to argue for a similar sense of connection and drama. That The Toyota powered option may deliver a comparable thrill, but it lacks the historical weight of a car that was once meant to replace the 911. The 928 GT, by contrast, offers a different flavour of Porsche heritage, one that leans into refinement and V8 torque rather than rear‑engined bite.
Signals from the wider Porsche market
Clues about where 928 GT values might go next can be found in other corners of the Porsche world. Limited‑run track specials like the GT4 RS have already shown how quickly modern Porsches can move from showroom sell‑outs to used‑market darlings, with one video on the almost discontinued GT4RS arguing that the factory has a really good gauge of its customer base and does not seem to make too many cars, which in turn keeps demand high on the second‑hand market, a point made explicitly in a The almost GT4RS analysis. That pattern of constrained supply and strong demand is exactly what the 928 GT never enjoyed when new, but it could benefit from in hindsight as more people realise how few clean examples remain.
At the same time, mainstream coverage of Porsche’s V8 grand tourer has shifted from sceptical to celebratory. One recent feature on the 1980s V8 coupe frames it as surprisingly affordable and uses that hook to revisit its design, engineering and place in the brand’s history, arguing that the car now offers a rare combination of usability and character. Another list of underrated models explicitly calls out the 928’s boldness and long‑distance capability as reasons it deserves more love. Taken together with the growing chorus of voices pointing out that Porsche’s V8 Grand Tourer That Almost Replaced The 911 Is Now A Is Now Bargain, those signals suggest that the 928 GT’s time in the bargain basement may not last forever.
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