RE: Spotted: Porsche 944

RE: Spotted: Porsche 944

Author
Discussion

Jasper Gilder

2,166 posts

272 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
This car is more practical than a Veyron at 0.5% of the price - here's the example

A Veyron and a 944 leave an autobahn service area at the same time. The Veyron driver has adjusted his aero using the key in the sill and reckons his bottle will run out at 200 MPH. He belts off into the distance whilst Porscheman settles down to a comfortable 140MPH

At 200MPH the Veyron empties its tank in 20 minutes - so, 20 minutes later, having done about 66.66 miles, Veyronman pulls into service for a lot of petrol. At this point Porscheman is 20 miles behind, but at 2 miles a minute he'll be just about level with Veyronman as he screeches back on the autobahn ( If he's had to queue for a pump he may even get a cheery wave at Porscheman drives by) This continues until the Porsche needs fuel too - but Porscheman will arrive only about 10 minutes after Veyronman after about 250 miles

On this basis the 944 is a more practical car than the Veyron and if you have the choice and get the Porsche there is money left for a full rebuild, a very nice powerboat and a Portuguese Villa!!

folos

900 posts

141 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
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GranCab said:
I had a 944S brand new in 1988 - Guards Red from Gordon Lamb in Chesterfield F944 CHL - where are you now ?

Superb car - I was smitten with it !
Still alive!

The vehicle details for F944 CHL are:
Date of Liability 01 04 2013
Date of First Registration 01 10 1988

tomoleeds

770 posts

185 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
i can see why a 944 turbo might be worth, but the one featured here surley more like 2k,there are plenty for sale,there was a mint 924 i think but looked like a 944 ,can remember which. for sale locally last year in red for £1,400 took a while to shift

zcacogp

11,239 posts

243 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
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J4CKO said:
... people know they arent massively expensive so you dont get the resentment
In my experience the vast majority of people simply don't know what it is! I have had a number of people ask me once they have seen it, several people thinking it is 'something old and Japanese' and,in once case, I stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let a guy cross the road in front of me and he stopped half way across and bent down to look at the badge on the front of the car!

All of which suits me fine; there are enough bad jokes going around about Porsche drivers, and we have all heard tales about Boxster owners not being allowed out at junctions and what not. If people don't recognise my S2 as a Porsche then I'm quite happy ...


Oli.

Dalto123

3,198 posts

162 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
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J4CKO said:
I read about yours getting written off, very sad.

I mean, just look at those photos, dont think you can get much more for four or five grand in terms of a distinctive car, they do seem to get a good reaction, kind of in your face a little perhaps but people know they arent massively expensive so you dont get the resentment, I perhaps get a little but the one time was a bloke in a Bentley Conti GTC giving me a dirty look as nobody was noticing his 140 grand car, too busy looking at my four grand one, have had the wife of a serial supercar owner getting all misty eyed as her husband had one back in 1990 and it was her favourite of all his cars, she loved it despite him having pretty much every exotic since, women eh, imagine that, getting a Lambo or Ferrari and being told she prefers the crusty old 944.
The car being written off was very sad frown But if it was of any testement to the build quality, me and Dad managed to get out ok smile

In terms of value for money I really do struggle to think of a better car. When we bought it, the previous owner (and a friend of my Dad's) had just finished restoring it. New panels, full repsray, retrimmed interior. Dad paid £6500 for it! Not bad considering it was the equivilent of about £90k new!

I get what you mean about the attention. It was largely ignored, but a few times there it did get some admiring glances and comments from others. I know one time when Dad had popped out in the car he came back to someone have a close look over the car. A real enthusiast who knew all the details about the car - I know it really made the enthusiast's day seeing it, my fathers and mine smile

Also on that thing that made me laugh was when Dad had to take the 944 to work - One of the directors there had a classic Mercedes SL (the 1980's quare type car - a big modern classic's enthusiast) - As Dad left one day - got into the car, fired it up and looked to his right where the diector in her SL was staring and as im told was pretty much jaw dropped and went 'Nice Car!' biggrin

I've said it once to Dad, and Ill say it again here, I will get a 944 at some point - It's an itch that needs to be scratched smile

Iceman82

1,311 posts

235 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
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A very timely thread indeed!

I have just purchased an '87 Lux and should be picking it up on the weekend! £3995. Decided I needed to sell the Volvo (twas a great car and sad to see it go so quickly!) to free up some cash for my forthcoming wedding and decided a 944 was the best way to spend those proceeds not earmarked for the wedding!

Black leather interior, red and with about £4k spent in last ownership including new belts, suspension and brakes as well as a new exhaust.

Handling was excellent, quite a surpise in a way that a car from 1987 still had such great handling!It also sounded great in the cabin. It just looks cool in a retro '80s way!

rallycross

12,703 posts

236 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
These are superb old cars, the ones to go for are the late model Turbo SE or Turbo S models as they have an LSD, bigger turbo, bigger brakes, stiffer suspension, sports seats and usually have aircon as well.

Prices on these turbo 250's have been rising and you will need £7k plus to get you a decent one.
2.5 16v have not held their price well £3k should get you a really good one.
3.0 S2 16v prices start £3k but £5k will get you a really good example.

Great cars to drive, excellent on long journeys, good on track (a bit soft and you will need an lsd) and the build quality is superb, parts are not too expensive, not much in the way of electrics making them simple to fix.

These cars are old now, they stopped making them in 1992 so will be at least 20 yrs old, dont buy on mileage buy on condition and recent service history.

I've owned a few of these from early 2.5, 2.5 16v ventillier, 3.0 S2, early turbo 220, Turbo S, (silver Rose), Turbo SE, Turbo Cab and 968 sport. The Turbo 250 models are the ones to go for and its easy to get closer to 300 bhp with a few tweaks.

The S2 is quite lively on the road but not much good on a track and miles off what the turbo can offer if you add some extra boost. I preferred my turbo 250 to the 968 sport I had after it.


mattnunn

14,041 posts

160 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
I know it's not the same, but, there's an SLK AMG32 less than 10 years old on Ebay at the moment for £5k.

Got to be a better car than a 20year old 944.

J4CKO

41,195 posts

199 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
mattnunn said:
I know it's not the same, but, there's an SLK AMG32 less than 10 years old on Ebay at the moment for £5k.

Got to be a better car than a 20year old 944.
Define "Better"

Faster, yes, better handling probably not, more rewarding, unlikely, as rusty, almost certainly !

Anyway, I dont see one for 5k the only one there for that is a dealer wanting to buy,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-SLK-230-28...

The SLK is a nice car but it never had a reputation as being a drivers car, am sure the AMG is a faster version of the same recipe, it has an auto box as well, not really an obvious rival of the 944, the Crossfire SRT is the same car in a slightly more unusual body, again probably a nice car, very quick but these kind of cars to me are a sort of Fools Gold on the route to driving pleasure, we get seduced by toys, power figures, performance figures and ignore reputations, ok sometimes it gets a bit tedious and predictable but there is a reason certain cars get singled out and others dont.

mattnunn

14,041 posts

160 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
J4CKO said:
mattnunn said:
I know it's not the same, but, there's an SLK AMG32 less than 10 years old on Ebay at the moment for £5k.

Got to be a better car than a 20year old 944.
Define "Better"

Faster, yes, better handling probably not, more rewarding, unlikely, as rusty, almost certainly !

Anyway, I dont see one for 5k the only one there for that is a dealer wanting to buy,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-SLK-230-28...

The SLK is a nice car but it never had a reputation as being a drivers car, am sure the AMG is a faster version of the same recipe, it has an auto box as well, not really an obvious rival of the 944, the Crossfire SRT is the same car in a slightly more unusual body, again probably a nice car, very quick but these kind of cars to me are a sort of Fools Gold on the route to driving pleasure, we get seduced by toys, power figures, performance figures and ignore reputations, ok sometimes it gets a bit tedious and predictable but there is a reason certain cars get singled out and others dont.
This one, but it is a 2001 model.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-SLK-32-AMG-1-OF...

It just caught my eye because I couldn't believe the price and no one had bid, I accept the auction hasn't finished, but I checked the book and it's not far off book price.

I'm sure the 944 is different and a great car and will have less rust! But I dunno, just seems you can buy a lot of good fast sports cars for £5k these days.

zabba

2,118 posts

214 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
I'm a big fan of the 944, offers everything I would like in a car, but I think it's bit old for what I would want.

It's just a shame that there are so few 2+2 rear wheel drive coupes out there in the £5-15k bracket with sensible running costs!

The new Toyota will get there, but still too much money, the Z4 3.0 coupe and 350Z are the closest thing I can think of but both only have 2 seats.

poprock

1,984 posts

200 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
rallycross said:
Prices on these turbo 250's have been rising and you will need £7k plus to get you a decent one.
Don’t believe the hype. Mine was one of the best on sale over the past year. Started off advertising it at £7k, and I had to drop the price over and over again before finding any buyers. Took months, even so.

Richair

1,021 posts

196 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
Damn you PH!

I went to look at a lovely S2 yesterday and since I have been TRYING to talk myself out of it for the time being as a) I've just bought my first house and b) I really need to finish my rolling MX5 project before I buy another car...

I see this story as a sign from the car-enthusiast gods up there! (not that I'm religious, but when does man-maths ever need an excuse). <Runs off to the classifieds and the bank>

jmelhuish

68 posts

263 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
Jasper Gilder said:
This car is more practical than a Veyron at 0.5% of the price - here's the example

A Veyron and a 944 leave an autobahn service area at the same time. The Veyron driver has adjusted his aero using the key in the sill and reckons his bottle will run out at 200 MPH. He belts off into the distance whilst Porscheman settles down to a comfortable 140MPH

At 200MPH the Veyron empties its tank in 20 minutes - so, 20 minutes later, having done about 66.66 miles, Veyronman pulls into service for a lot of petrol. At this point Porscheman is 20 miles behind, but at 2 miles a minute he'll be just about level with Veyronman as he screeches back on the autobahn ( If he's had to queue for a pump he may even get a cheery wave at Porscheman drives by) This continues until the Porsche needs fuel too - but Porscheman will arrive only about 10 minutes after Veyronman after about 250 miles

On this basis the 944 is a more practical car than the Veyron and if you have the choice and get the Porsche there is money left for a full rebuild, a very nice powerboat and a Portuguese Villa!!

pcn1

1,209 posts

218 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
As an ex 944 S2 owner I really rate the cars.
But for that money you can get a very good S2, not a 2.5. For me I wont buy a car unless it has working A/C (Im a wimp I know)so Id want a turbo if I went back to a 944.

Better value elsewhere, and as others have said when you try and sell one you hardly get a phone call.
The problem is £5K can get you into newer, more powerful cars.

anything fast

983 posts

163 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
A 165 BHP C-reg 944 for nearly £6000? You must be barking mad! It might be low mileage and very clean but its a boogo common as much 944 Lux.

For £6000 you get a very decent Turbo! Thats where the smart money goes and I am sure the Turbos's will appreciate while the common ones will remain in shed territory when they get tatty.

Carnnoisseur

531 posts

153 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
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poprock said:
I’m just gutted about your timing Dan. This promotional activity could have got me a decent price instead of the pittance I let mine go for last night.

I mean, just look at it. It’s so pretty.



Over the years I’ve made a habit of embarrassing 911 drivers on PH runs and around racetracks. It’s been an amazing car.
I've always had a soft spot or these, didn't really like the later 968 or the 924, but these, they just seemed right. However, Back to our previous, you're right, that was a seriously pretty car....

s m

23,145 posts

202 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
poprock said:
s m said:
yikes 60 mph? or km/h?

I thought they did about 40mph at 6500rpm? What are you revving to?
MPH. I don’t recommend it at all, but for a wee drag race along the straight at Bruntingthorpe, it had to be tried just once … I hit 60 (indicated, not GPS checked) before reaching the redline, so I was quite comfortable doing it. The 996 next to me didn’t have a chance.

My car wasn’t exactly standard, but not heavily modded either. 280bhp at most.
Blimey, I didn't realise the later Turbos were so long-geared. My friend's is an 89 250bhp version and has similar ratios to this.



He'd have to rev his to about 10,000 rpm in 1st gear to hit 60mph!!!

poprock

1,984 posts

200 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
s m said:
Blimey, I didn't realise the later Turbos were so long-geared.
Remember that Porsche always used to be very conservative with their published figures as well …

poprock

1,984 posts

200 months

Wednesday 10th October 2012
quotequote all
Gaz. said:
Those Z3 vents on the wings didn't help, on every 'what car' thread where a 944 would be a good suggestion I saw your ad, then the vents and pressed 'back' and on several occasions yours was the 250 on sale.
That’s a matter of personal taste though. For every person who said similar, I’ve had others say they loved the wings. Seems like a 50/50 split, which I figure was fair!