Did it today. Picked up a v. nice all black '90 944 S2 Cabrio and drove it straight to a good 944 shop for timing belt replacement--on illegal plates! Sure steers different than my almost stock 2.0 Teener. Didn't goose it, as I don't know about the age of that belt, but guess it out-hussles the 914, but can't corner with it. Not sure I'll dance with this one for too long, but the $6.5 grand price made it worthwhile. And just about flawless! As the mechanic noted, speechless, I could flip it for double tomorrow, over 15g tuned and detailed. I'll use it for a season, 'till fall, and then decide if she's a keeper. I need it like a hole in the muffler, but I had to bite--won't get another crack at a real luxury GT car so cheap, even if it's just a fling. Guess my insurance will be up a bit. Haven't even put the top down yet. Should be out of the shop early next week.
Some of you probably wonder how I got the other half to approve. Sadly, Lost my wife to cancer 20 months ago. Hadn't planned to get even one, but have bought 3 Porsches in 18 months! ?Compensation? -I guess everyone always did say they're the next best thing to sex.
Y'all VA-MD-ers: this makes it hard to know what to drive to what event, but see you out there. And if the 9014 isn't ready to take to Hershey, maybe I'll drive this. Now to wire in an ignition kill switch. -Chris

Congrats on the 944 Chris. Sorry for your loss as well. Problem with the 944 is that anything majorly wrong can total the car. Keep her in good shape and have fun.

I dunno about the Cabbie, but a stock 944 will outhandle and outrun a stock 914 anytime, anywhere, with the possible exception of a tight autocross course. The Cap'n

Outrun... maybe...

Outhandle... mmmm... don't bet the farm on it!

And I speak from driving several of each...

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I'm gonna say probably not on that, unless it has like 20k miles. You can get into nice 968's cabs in the 12's right now. But, you might clear 2 G's if the clutch holds out for you. You should have the mechanic check your chain tensioner while its in there. A worn tensioner pad can be totally catastrophic. As in, start looking for another head and cams.

Another word of caution about 944 values, they go down every day. Every day they get older, people get more scared of them. Broken clutches are putting regular old "16 Candles" (remember the 944 in the movie????) NA's in the junkyard. Also, I know a guy that picked up a Boxster in the 12's. So now those are starting to look more attractive to the budget Porsche buyer. Either way Congrats, its a fun car. ALSO, sorry about your loss that crap hits close to home.

Congratulations & my most sincere sympathies as well. Compensate w/ as many Porsches' as you can afford. As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone do what makes you happy. All the best & enjoy.

Let me the first to say:



Very sorry to hear about the loss of your wife.

About the (not) photos: my camera hasn't been talking to my computer for some time, so none yet available. Plus I drove it straight to the 44 specialist, gently, to get the belts and chain taken care of, w/no chance to shoot it anyway. Will try to rectify if I can reconcile the two electronic devices. In the meantime, you can go to eBay and put in auction # 120088672924 (now ended), a '91 which is virtually identical except mine only has the orig wheels. Anyhow, I got the papers done, put plates on it--at the shop. I'll get it back Tu. or Wed. Should be a new trip--they do steer different.

They DO steer different, and if set up right , will out handle, and out gun just about anything. They Really love the tight twisty's and long sweepers. They only are at a disadvantage on an extreme H.P. track or approaching insanely warp drive speeds.

A tip here to proper set up as long as we are still off topic on teeners.

-Lower the tail as low as it will drop. There is a gain to be had in this !
-Do a 4 wheel alignment and a weight , corner balance set up
-Set the front camber, toe , and alignment settings to as radical as you dare for on street driving
-Set the rear to as negative camber as you can live with for tire wear
-If it has LSD.....all the better. If not think about it, or learn to drive without
-Make sure you have the front and rear sways, if not get some really good aftermarkets
-Change the brake fluid religously....meaning often. And don't forget to bleed the slave cyl. for the clutch.
-Get the stickiest dot rubber you can......forget tire life, its not an issue in this game
-Take a drivers school as a refresher on safe and fast driving....preferably using YOUR car and your helmet. PCA clubs all across America give some of the best DE schools bar none.

You have now found out , after doing this short set of upgrades, you have one of the most nimble and quickest responding track cars in the world.....and it can still be used on the street. These are the biggest E ticket rides ........and they can be had for a song.

Oh, don't forget your Valentine! Or Escort .....
The car is so ethereal in its approach to spirited driving, you will find yourself doing " EXTRA " legal almost all the time. It really is THAT good.

mrgreenjeans

Not a good barometer for the value of your car. The auction ended unsucessfully. With the reserve not met on a car with 135k miles. And its hard to tell who is doing the bidding. Also his ad is bullshit. The car is not 238 hp its 208 hp, and it won't go 170mph.

And I particularly like this line "THIS AUTOMOBILE IS FASTER THEN MOST: TURBOS,911,Ferrari, 350Z,CORVETTES, AND A LOT OTHER CARS ON THE MARKET TODAY" Do yourself a favor, don't try and find out if your S2 is faster than any of those cars, because you will be sorely disappointed and possibly embarrassed.

I'm calling shenanigans on that auction.

I could cite many examples to justify my opinion of value, In fact I did, but I chose to delete them because its really irrelevent. You got a great car and I think you will really enjoy driving it. If you make any money on it at all then thats great. Theres nothing better than owning a cool car and getting paid to drive it in the end.

I would... engine in the front, tranny in the rear. Read Elfords book, it's a much more stable and predictable 50:50 platform. Keep in mind, he said stock:stock. But hey, you've got the seat time in each, not me. I'm just reading from a book.

Also keep in mind, the 968 was the extreme high water mark for handling by Porsche engineers. Not too far off.

Congrats on your Purchase.