I have been lusting over 944's for about a year. I have been doing some research and have started test driving some cars that are for sale. The first was an 88 non S. It had far too many mods and a rough interior. But, WOW when the turbo kicked in I couldn't help but smile! Today I drove an 87. Guards red with black leather interior. Not optioned real well but a nice 82,000 mile 2 owner car. Looks good, runs good and fairly well maintained. The price on this one is $7500. Seems like a good deal based on the condition of the car. Since I am considering buying this one, I took this one onto the interstate. WOW!!! I can now relate to all of the accolades that these cars get when the turbo kicks in at 75 mph . This car felt great! Strong, well mannered, smile inducing fun.

Based on my research so far, I was really looking for an 88S or an 89. But haven't found one close enough yet to test drive.

Should I hold out for an 88S or an 89?

Am I crazy thinking that a 944 turbo will be a good "daily driver", no snow driving.

Any advice on the 944, 944 turbo is greatly appreciated.

Hi Doug,

As a former 944 owner... I loved my car. However, it regularly ripped thousand dollar holes in my wallet. Timing belts are cheap but replacement requires an expensive special tool. Timing belt failure is catastrophic to the engine. The labor to do the job costs as much as the tool.

Water pump failure was common on the early cars... not sure if they ever really corrected the issue, but it requires R&R of the timing belt.

The 944 clutch job is far more difficult than anything I've ever done on my 914 or 914-6. As these cars are getting older, they are also as prone to leaks as our 914s can be.

Remember - you're buying a fairly high-end Porsche for <10,000. That said, you're going to pay high-end prices for parts and labor.

I would read and memorize the 944 FAQ. Insist on complete maintenance records. Few people sell a solid car they just put big maintenance dollars into (recent documented water pump and timing belt, maybe clutch too)... but that's what you're looking for.

http://www.connact.com/~kgross/FAQ/944faq.html

-Rusty

Great car, love mine, me personally I wouldn't use a turbo as a daily car. N/A is a great daily car, not much of a loss if it gets wrecked. Turbo stuff is just too damn pricey. Obviously watch out on the maintanence front. Avoid a non-turbo, S car. They have cam teeth issues and the cams are pretty rare ( $$$$$$$ ) Kind of a pain to do the chain on the S car as well. Turbo wise the turbo S is the way to go. The turbo itself is the biggest difference, hence my search for a 26/8 turbo. INCREDIBLY responsive to bolt on performance crap. Lindsey has a very nice package for the turbo cars, 3" or 4" exhaust, chips, boost controller, wastegate for 1600.00 for a claimed 305 wheel h.p. The sky and your wallet is the limit on the turbo's h.p.

I had a 81 924 turbo when I was 17...really liked the car, but it's No 914. My biggest issue was it was extremly expensive to have worked on and parts were (are?) outrageous. Of course I'm in a diff. place today as you...being able to work on my own cars and having some loose change to pour into them.

Also do a search here for 944. This has come up numerous times before and most of your questions have already been addressed.

WORLD of difference between a 924 turbo and a 944 turbo WORLD of difference

In general, turbos arent cheap to maintain. Beware of anything that has been modified. As with any turbo car, it's easy to make power by cranking up the boost and slapping cheap chips in the DME/KLR. 88S or 89 have some extra goodies that you could always upgrade to: K26-8 turbo (250hp stock), 928S4 brakes, stiffer suspension, etc etc.. http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/pit/4786/

Things like a clutch job cost serious $$, i believe 15 hours by the book. Early turbos are actually more difficult to work on engine wise due to the single piece cross over.

They are a blast to drive, especially on the track! Check out rennlist (Water Cooled Technical Discussion Areas 924/931/944/951/968 Forum). There are a TON of members, mass amount of 944 knowledge on there. They will certainly give you more info that you need to make an educated decision.

Lastly.. 3 words - pre purchase inspection!

I had a 944S2 strip the teeth with 45k on the belt. The S2 is 16v so I lost all 8 exhaust valves. New those valves cost like $100 each!!!! I was lucky and I sourced all valves used and got the head refurbed cheap. On the later cars (I think 87 on) you can safely do the timing belt changes without the tension tool because it has the spring loaded tensioner. The balance belt is still a little tricky, but the tension on that is a little less critical.


AGAIN!

I also lost the clutch on my S2. These cars came with the stupid rubber centered clutch from Porsche. Clutch disk far outlives the rubber center. Most cars that have had a clutch are upgraded to the spring centered clutch. The 944 clutch was one of the most difficult procedures I have ever done on any car. And, I've done my share of car work. I think Porsche specs at least 12 hours labor for an NA clutch and more for a turbo because of the turbo plumbing. (at what $125/hour?) Figure $1k for parts to do the clutch right.

Also, the door handles break ($250 new), Motor mounts are usually wasted, power steering eventually will leak, oil pan leaks, front seals leak. BTW the oil pan repair requires you to support the motor from above, and drop the cross member including everything related to wheels brakes shocks, etc. for access. You can't drop the pan without dropping that stuff.

If you don't get docs on clutch, timing belt, and probably water pump, budget for those repairs, at a minimum.

It was a fun car and I still love the styling. I'm far enough removed from my ownership experience, I actually miss the car now. The best and worst days of my life were the days I bought and sold my 944S2.

BTW if you are serious, I would shop for the S2 or try to get a 968. Those really are the best 944's. Maybe not as fun as the turbo, but all around a great car for DD.

We had an 86 944 turbo. Loved it. We bought it used with 27,000 and put over 100,000 more miles on it. It was pretty near a daily driver for us.

The biggest drawback is what Rusty said, it rips $1000 holes in your wallet. That is pretty much what it cost us for every service. That doesn't count the extra trips to the shop for other weird stuff that happened. We followed the recommended maintenance on the belts and didn't have a problem. I don't remember that we had a problem with the turbo either.

But for example, some coolant hose had the come aparts one day, garage floor covered with coolant. We had to have it towed in, and about $1000 later is was fixed.

One other data point, we sold the car in 1994.

I used to have a 1987 944 N/A as a daily driver and drove it until it spun a bearing. Since then i have upgraded to a 1994 968. If you can swing the extra cash the 968 is the way to go when looking at this style of car. All the benifits of the turbo in a NA engine. True it still has all the maitience costs as a NA 944 but generally it is 8 to 10 years younger. Ive had mine for 3 years and no unforseen issues. I did replace teh cluth can timing belt as the clutch was slipping when I bought it and the dealer could not provide me documentation on when the timing belt was last done so i figured I would do it instead of pay for a top end rebuild.

Also I do not think you need the special tool for the 968 belt. It has a tension roller for the timing belt that I believe does away with the need for the $800 tool.

You can get a ver solid 968 for the 12-15k range if you want a coupe. for a really good cab you are looking at the 15-20k range.

p.s. yes my 968 even gets me through Nebraska winters.... you just have to take a little extra time.