Friday 20th May 2011

SOTW: Porsche 944

All right it's not a 993RS, but what do you expect for a thousand quid?

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One of the key appeals of Shed motoring is the opportunity to smoke about in a car with a badge on the nose that Shed non-believers will struggle to believe is achievable for just £1k.

In that regard a Porsche SOTW is hard to beat, because when you casually drop the fact that you drive a Porsche into general conversation, people will often jump to the conclusion that you own and run a car that cost several tens of thousands of pounds. Which you manifestly don't (well, you might, but it won't be your Shed).

It's an appealing idea (providing you don't break the illusion by actually showing your car to those with whom you are conversing), which makes it all the more odd that the Porsche shield doesn't grace SOTW's pixels on a more regular basis.

There are a couple of good reasons for this, however. Firstly, there is the fact that most Porsches advertised within Shed's £1k budget are so evidently foxed that they fall beneath even Shed's distinctly low standards of quality.

Perhaps more importantly, although a Shed-level Porsche's sticker price might have fallen from premium levels, it won't have forgotten its premium roots when it comes to running costs. Put simply, while a Porsche like this might be cheap to buy, it is unlikely to be cheap to run.

Still, this particularly 944 looks like a surprisingly non-sheddy proposition. Its interior looks tidy, those refurbished teledial alloys look lovely and the vendor certainly claims to have done plenty of work on it.

Okay, you'll have to put up with the 150bhp (or possibly 158bhp) 2.5-litre slant four rather than the slightly pokier 2.7or the 3.0-litre S2, a fair few dings and dents (from the sound of it) and a "knocking noise coming from the back on when you come of the power", but you ain't going to find a concours condition car for SOTW money.

Oh, and we do find it odd/worrying that the seller omits any mention of how rusty the car is, but go in with the view that there is no such thing as a cheap Porsche, merely a cheap purchase price and you're unlikely to be disappointed.

So there we have it, a Porsche as SOTW. hope fully that makes up for the three Rovers we've featured in the past six weeks (sorry about that).

Advert is reproduced below:

Bargain!!! 1988 T&T Porsche 944 2.5 (1988)
160,000 miles £1,000

Porsche 944 2.5. The very last of the 2.5's. This car comes in (without doubt) the best colour.
6 months tax
6 months MOT.
The car has done 160k but till feels tight. This was gonna be an ongoing project for me but my girlfriend can't drive the car so it's gotta go.
Electric sunroof, wing mirrors, central locking, Porsche immobilizer, CD, uprated speakers, electric drivers seat, rear wipe etc.
Refurbished Interior. Seats and interior look like a new car (very expensive). Just had new armrest made (not in photo)
Refurbished teledial wheels - look fantastic (again, not cheap)

The car starts on the button every time. She's had new:
2 new tyres (50 miles ago)
Headlights (uprated)
Arm rest
Cam belt
Power steering belt
Alternator
Alternator belt
Battery
Earthing strip
All the electrics have been overhauled and everything works.
The bad news:
There is a knocking noise coming from the back on when you come of the power. I'm told this is to do with the clutch but the clutch is fine.
Just drove over 400 miles to Derbyshire and back with no problems - oil pressure, volts, & temp prefect, a real pleasure to drive. Feels like a new car.

There is a dent in the rear quarter
There are a few dents in the front wing
The is a whole in the front wing where is got curbed.
The previous owner lost the history but it doesn't matter on a car this age (it didn't matter to me!)
Not that bad for a 22 year old car.
Believe me this is a good solid car and I love it. It drives lovely and I absolutely love the car but after 18 months she has to go.

 

 

 

[DCLane]

Good shed imho, but a bit 'purple' inside for me.

[Luke.]

Love it.

[MGZRod]

DCLane said:

Good shed imho, but a bit 'purple' inside for me.

Agreed, a bit 'exploded baby' in there.

Still, for £1k can't complain if you ran it for a month or two.

[bikemonster]

PH Article said:

Oh, and we do find it odd/worrying that the seller omits any mention of how rusty the car is...

I didn't spot any rust in the pics, and this car will have a galvanised body, so there should not be much rust to mention, should there?

ETA: It's a Porsche and it's got pop-up headlamps. That makes it a very PH shed indeed!

[Gibby78]

Whoever purchases that is going to get wallet bummed big time, lovely cars imho but I'd rather spend more on a sorted example as parts aren't cheap.

[soad]

Excellent- nice to see what can be had! Don't mind the interior colour that much either personally.
Will it cost a small fortune in maintenance though? Hmm...

[Jellymonster]

Gibby78 said:

wallet bummed

[MadRob6]

bikemonster said:

I didn't spot any rust in the pics, and this car will have a galvanised body, so there should not be much rust to mention, should there?

ETA: It's a Porsche and it's got pop-up headlamps. That makes it a very PH shed indeed!

I have a 1988 944S which has enough rust that I could easily put a screw driver through the sill. My 1983 944 however is pretty much rust free.

The sills are always the first thing to go on these and the black stone chip finish on that one does set the alarm bells off, they rust from the inside out so it may have been a cheap but full fix or just a patch up job.

[Muzzlepop]

Enjoying the puddle underneath on one of the last pictures... I'm sure it is a genuine puddle to be honest, but still found it pretty funny at first glance.

[Google [bot]]

Article said:

Okay, you'll have to put up with the 150bhp (or possibly 158bhp) 2.5-litre slant four

163BHP IIRC

/pedant

[johnpeat]

Nice shed - but you HAVE to apply proper 'shed' rules, moreso than with some other recent examples.

Every week people start talking about restoring paintwork and interiors - doing cambelts - adding performance tweaks - none of which is something you do to a shed.

Want a nice 944 you can cherish? Buy a MUCH better example, it will cost you far less overall.

What a Porsche to drive until it breaks? Shed it and when it stops working/fails the MOT - sell the bits...

[Baryonyx]

Very good shedding, but when it goes 'bang' it'll cost a hell of a lot to fix!

[BMWill]

I reckon PH must have been waiting for midnight to post this on as SOTW hey? It's still Thursday over here!

[RSchneider]

These are quite practical cars and even with the smallish engine still have decent performance and a good driver's experience. But sorry, that purple inside ruins it - even for only GBP1k, which will certainly not be the end of it if you want to use it for anything else but autocross.

[TheBigUnit]

I love these but as a couple of my friends have found out, there really is nothing more expensive than a cheap Porsche.

[lordlee]

Sounds like the pinion Bearing could be on it's way out. Not a cheap fix and I suspect the vendor already knows this. I reckon an S2 or a Turbo would suit entry level Porsche ownership far better as the early 944's do feel rather lethargic. Watch for rust in the sills as Rob said but also the lower part of the front wings too.

[Fartgalen]

I'd have that to turn into a track toy.

[billzeebub]

absoloute classic, my dream car as a teenager..seem to remember this originates for me from some TV comedy series in the 80s where an estate agent drove one..succesful type and smooth, think I aspired to be him..anyone remember this?

[mrtwisty]

johnpeat said:

Nice shed - but you HAVE to apply proper 'shed' rules, moreso than with some other recent examples.

Every week people start talking about restoring paintwork and interiors - doing cambelts - adding performance tweaks - none of which is something you do to a shed.

Want a nice 944 you can cherish? Buy a MUCH better example, it will cost you far less overall.

What a Porsche to drive until it breaks? Shed it and when it stops working/fails the MOT - sell the bits...

Hmm, not so sure I'd agree with this entirely. The cosmetic and tuning stuff I agree is not worth bothering with on a car like this. But getting it mechanically sound wouldn't be too expensive, provided you can work on it yourself.

I would consider buying this then spending another few hundred in parts to be a sensible proposition. Cherish it? No. Use it as a rather entertaining daily hack for a couple of years for minimal outlay? Certainly.

[g3org3y]

Properly good shed imo.

The truth will come out 6 months down the line when it goes for MOT.

How easy are these car to work on? ECP sell Porsche items (not sure how much of a premium there are over BMW or Merc parts for example), if you're handy with a spanner it'd save you a packet.