Porsche 944 potential

[Gravy]

Hi All,

I hardly ever post on the site, but am constantly scanning the clasifieds and have come to the conclusion a 944 may be the way forward!

I looking for a bit of owner insight into these cars if possible?

I will admit now that I am a BMW nut and currently have an E30 and an E36 318is.

Trouble is, my E36, although a lovely low mileage car, just isn't that exciting and it certainly isn't an event to drive.

I'm thinking that a 944 S2 would be and am looking for some guidance on what they are like to own and use?

Many thanks

[andy97]

If you want a bit of excitement (and the possibility of tuning to add more) then the 944 Turbo is the way ahead. Great cars, great value, Porsches most under rated car.

[Gravy]

Yeh I thought about a turbo, how are they for reliability?

[IMI A]

andy97 said:

If you want a bit of excitement (and the possibility of tuning to add more) then the 944 Turbo is the way ahead. Great cars, great value, Porsches most under rated car.

Agreed one of the best and most practical sports cars Porsche has ever made. I loved mine to bits. Very well screwed together too. There is one in Top Marques for £10k - pre cat model with only 36000 miles

[PJS917]

To own a 944S2 is a pleasure, they are great cars not as tuneable or as raw
as a turbo, but a very sweet drive with fantastic handling. The mechanicals are strong
and not expensive to maintain. Some of them are now starting to rust but find a good one
and it will be great.

[andy97]

All 944's handle sweetly but the turbo has the added kick in the back! You can certainly tell that it has an extra 40 horses than the S2 (250bhp model, obviously). No reason why they should be any more unreliable than any other 944 or Porsche as long as they have been serviced properly, belts changed etc. Of course, all 944s are getting on a bit now but they were built extremely well & can take a lot of miles - I sold a 2.7 944 Lux a few years ago and the trader that bought it commented that at 90K miles "it was just run in"! An older 944 is probably just about as reliable an older car as you can get....provided it has been looked after OK.

The turbos can be tuned anywhere between mildly & "Oh my god" (3.2 litre 400(ish)bhp conversion covered in last months "Porsche & 911 World" Magazine!), it just depends on your wallet, and the handling can be improved by fitting different suspension such as KW. Again, depends on your wallet.

My Turbo is a standard 250bhp model with just 41K miles. It eats the miles and is a good track day car, too. My 4th car! Sadly an imminent house move will force me to sell...send me an e-mail if you are interested. Not advertised yet but will be asking £6500.

[diver944]

I've never driven an E30 or E36 so can't compare but a good 944 will happily cross continents at illegal speeds all day long with a boot full of luggage and two children in the rearseats. After that it will gobble up minor A roads with ease and with enough finesse to bring a smile to your face every journey.

Not the quickest thing in a straight line compared with some fairly mundane modern cars but find a good one and you'll not go wrong. A bad one will be rusty, have soggy suspension, lacklustre brakes many minor niggles and will cost an arm and a leg to make nice so make sure you look at LOTS before you buy. Good ones will be £5k at the least

[chris_speed]

Couple of notes of caution - 944 Turbos can be very expensive to run. My car was a good example - but on inspection, still needed £1.5k of work doing. This was taken into account on the price I paid for it - but I'm expecting less work to get it through the MOT, but only a couple of problems can leave you reeling from £1k bills.. Most guides effectively say bank on £1k a year running costs. 18.5mpg hurts the wallet too! More info:

http://www.axux70.dsl.pipex.com/944t/

That said - it's been perfectly reliable for 2.5k miles now, and it's a very characterful and involving car to drive. RWD and LSD help with that too. The VFM of owning a Porsche Turbo capable of 165 for around £5k is not be sniffed at either. Just go in knowing that the bills can associate with that. More seat time and I suspect it will become one of the best cars I've ever owned.

Chris.

[tertius]

I don't think an S2 would be an event to drive. They are fantastic cars and unbelievably strong - I sold mine with 155k on the clock and it looked and drove like new, and I still regret it. However, they aren't hugely powerful, are quite heavy, and so neutral that they actually seem slower than they really are.

Great car though.

[chris_speed]

Previous replier is correct. Very accomplished car, but a bit of 330CI kind of motor I much preferred the turbo because that kick in the back and the lag, adds to the challenge and character of the car. Both are not raw however. You want a Caterham, my previous car! Just my opinion re the S2 btw..

[Hammerwerfer]

951 is the magic number.

[pcn1]

Generally very happy with my S2. Get a good one and you shouldn't get any nasty bills, just the gereral running costs. I think my 2 year ownership has cost about 1.5K and that includes a new alarm and belt/roller change. But I do the spanner work my self so that makes it cheaper to own.
I do think about a 911 one day, but money means a 944 turbo or 928 next, and it must be WHITE !

[Alan26]

I'm a new owner of a 944S2, after looking longinly at articles and adverts for months, it's my weekend car. Buy the best you can afford, and be picky - there are alot of "tired" ones out there. Even with good service history, you can still get caught out (like me), as an "overheating" problem was cured after the water pump was found as the culprit (thanks to Hartech), but it cost alot of money to fix. Hope the head gasket will hold out!!
They have great "lazy" performance and are well equipped, but I find it very noisy (tyre noise, gearbox noise), compared to more ordinary cars. The starter sounds like a "lorry" when cranking the engine.
Check the lower edges of the wings/wheelarches and sills for corrosion, and that the black plastic trim is still on the lower edge between front & rear wings. Also the lower edges of the doors, and the rubber trim around them.
Underneath, check flexi brake pipes (at connection points), and metal fuel pipes which corrode behind the rear axle tube.
Inside, the drivers seat takes a pounding 'cos it's low to get into. The dash top also cracks from the sunlight and is expensive to fix (screen out job!).
Quiet a few spares are available on eBay etc., but it still requires an expert look-over on a regular basis. Happy hunting !!

Edited by Alan26 on Thursday 16th August 23:04

[nos4a2]

I haven't looked back since buying my 1989 Turbo. But be warned, even if you get a good one, it's very had to resist the siren call of "more power..."

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Gravy]

Guys, thanks ever so much for your inputs, most useful, and good to hear that on the whole, these are great cars to own.

I now have a dilema!

A friend of mine has an MK Indy with a Honda Blackbird engine installed.......with NOS!!!

It is so raw, so crude and such a bloody buzz that I can't shake it out of my system!!

Plus, I still have a V8 sat in my garage from a BMW 740i and I'm thinking about putting it into a BMW E28 M535i (was going in my E30 but I'm bored of the E30).

Or a 944 turbo.......