Thinking of buying a porsche 944, good idea or bad?

Question

will be between 1986 and 1990, think they look cool but not sure about buying such an old car- breakdowns, repairs etc.....

Answer 1

If you do buy one make sure it is a good one. Running costs aren't as horrendous as on some sports cars but it still won't be cheap and almost all spares will only be availible through Porsche. Only buy a car with a Full and comprehensive service history and try to get one that hasn't had a dozen or more owners.
As for reliabillity, well as long as it is well maintained it should be ok. Why do you think there are so many high milers out there? because they are well engineered in the first place and built to last. Do not expect to run one on beer money though. Just because you can buy one for a few grand doesn't mean it will cost the same to run as a second hand Mondeo.
Ideally a car like this is best suited to being a weekend toy where annual milage is low. This way the running costs are minimised and if it does let you down it's not too much of a problem.
Find a Porsche forum on the internet or contact an owners club first. That way you can speek to a few owners and get an idea of how much it's going to cost to run and they will point you in the direction of where to buy a decent, well looked afer example.

Edit: just read some of the other responses.

'Poor mans Porsche'?? well it won't appeal to snobs if that's what you mean. It doesn't make it a bad car though. Shat?! At the time it was considered to be a better drivers car than the 911.

Reliabillity is not non existant?! That comment is pure drivel. Reliabillity is affected by poor maintenance and buying an abused car. It is not the kind of car that Bob at your local back street garage can work on. Yes it is over engineered but that's part of the rreason why there are so many examples with over 200,000 miles on the clock still going strong.

Insurance won't be that expensive. Get a classic policy with a limited milage and you could be paying less than £200 a year. If you are 17 and plan to do 12,000 miles a year though it could be a bit pricey but no more than any other sports car.

The Turbo is not crap at all although the S2 is supposed to be a better car. The 944S is actually supposed to be the one to avoid.
The S2 and the turbo are the two where the performance lives up to the Porsche name.

As for people will think your a ******. Who cares. That says more about them than it does about you. Besides, most people won't think anything anyway and those that do (Micheal S) will be the kind of idiots that no one cares about anyway.

As I said before. make sure you can afford to run it, buy the best one you can find/afford and then enjoy it.

Answer 2

Honestly, it depends on what you want to do with it.

First, if you find one to buy - have it checked out totally. It seems when Porsche came out with the 944 - a whole new "Porsche" person was born, and they just didn't understand about maintenance. Many of them were "rigged" to keep on going, and not necessarily by anyone who knew how to properly service them.

Second, without a thorough going over - it may not be reliable as a daily driver.

If you are looking for a track car - then this is wonderful. You might consider putting a 968 engine in it - a new brain chip -- and have fun.

If you do find one - see if it is the original owner and if all records were kept. Ask who has been servicing the car - is it a reliable mechanic that specializes in German cars? That would be a starting point.

Good luck - and don't forget, once you own a Porsche -- join your local Porsche Club of American -- 52,000 strong and growing... it's not just the cars...it's the people.

If you find you have questions beyond this one - you may want to check out the www.rennlist.org forum. All Porsche talk - all the time.

End of commercial :-)

Answer 3

Porsche 944 Owners Club

Answer 4

Porsche 944 Buyers Guide

Answer 5

I am going to tell you the same thing that I tell every 16 year old who asks me about the 944 as a good first car: Don't. Unless you have $2,000 to $4,000 per year to spend on maintenance and repairs or are an experienced mechanic in your own right. Some common problem areas: DME Relay: This is the main relay that provides power to the ECU and the EFI system. If it goes bad, the car will not start or run. This is a relatively inexpensive part (~$50 US) and it is easily replaced. Many 944 owners (myself included) carry a spare relay in the glove compartment just in case. I have never needed to use mine, but it's a good idea to have it. Clutch: The 944 used a rubber-centered clutch and the rubber in the center degrades with time (not with miles). If the car is still on its original clutch and you notice backlash in the drivetrain it means that the rubber center has disintegrated and you will need to replace the clutch with the updated spring-center version. Changing the clutch on a 944 is a significant job; the shop time for a 944 clutch change is around 16 hours. You will want to have it done by a shop that knows 944s, you cannot just take it to the neighborhood Jiffy Lube. Timing Belt: The engine is an interference design. This means that if the timing belt breaks the pistons _will_ hit the valves and you will need to rebuild the heads. Allowing the timing belt to break is a $2,000 mistake in most cases. The timing belt interval is that it must be changed every 30,000 miles (50,000 km) or every 3 years, whichever comes FIRST. Even if you only put 500 miles on the car in three years, you will still need to change the belts again. The timing belt is also manually tensioned, so you will need to re-tension the timing belt 1,500 miles (2,500 km) after replacing it to account for the initial stretch as well as again 15,000 miles (25,000 km) later to ensure that it is maintaining proper tension. If the car does not have proof that the belts have been changed, you should _NOT_ start it but should have it towed to a mechanic's to have the belts changed immediately upon purchase. As with the clutch, this typically requires a dedicated Porsche mechanic, preferably one that works on a lot of 944s, you should not just take it to the local mechanic. Water Pump: The water pump is driven off of the back side of the timing belt. If the water pump seizes, it will take out the timing belt (see above for why this is a Very Bad Thing). The water pump should be replaced with every other timing belt change (every 60,000 miles or 100,000 km). Those are the biggies. Other things to know: 944s came from the factory fully galvanized. They do not rust. Any rust on the car is a strong indicator of accident damage and later repair. Interior pieces are getting harder to find and can be expensive in some cases. The air conditioning was not particularly powerful to begin with and has often been allowed to fail without repair. Proper repair can be over $2,000 (US) to bring back the A/C. The 944 can be a reliable car, but it demands maintenance and that maintenance must be on-time and must use quality (read: expensive) parts. A 944 as a first car is a recipe for someone to end up spending all their money on the car and never being able to afford anything else. To top it off, the 944 is not a very fast car in the straight line and the ring and pinion in the transmission is weak. If you attempt to drag race with it, you are almost guaranteed to ruin the transmission, which is an expensive mistake. Keep in mind that my daily-driver Volvo sedan (S70 T5) with an automatic is faster 0-60 (6.4 seconds) than the fastest non-turbo 944 (944S2, 6.5 seconds). The 944 handles really well, but it's not that fast. The standard 944 models post 0-60 times in the mid-to-high 8-second range. At 16, a 944 is not the greatest idea in the world, no car its age is. It will have little problems (like aging seals causing leaks when it rains, or rattles from things being loose, or a fuel gauge that doesn't always work) and it will have big problems (leaky steering racks, etc) simply because it's old, even with relatively low mileage. It's really not a good option for a first car because you'll end up either spending every last penny you have on it, or you'll end up with the car deteriorating around you because you can't afford to fix it.

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Answer 6

Bah haha, are you willing to sell your soul?? No, really read some of my recently posted questions and it will give you a lot of insight.
My 944 has owned my life since I bought it!! It's a love hate relationship. One of the answers posted on my question was "why would you want such an unreliable money pit..." or something close to that. I read this and laughed cause its true, why would I want it? BUT I DO. My husband doesn't understand this cause he's never driven it (he can't drive manual). I love to drive that thing, nothing can compare. Try taking anyother car at over 40mph on a roundabout, nothing has such a nice turn radius and handling.
My point is tho, I love it, but I honestly wish I did not buy it. It's like getting attached to a bad relationship. Just today my friend asked "...if you we're getting paid $27/hr, what the hell did you do with all that money??" I thought for a minute "yeah where did that go..." then I remembered, "oh yeah my car." I have over doubled the amount spent on repairs then the original cost. If you have access to a shop and can do repairs yourself then sure get it. It has an engine that never ends, mine is still purring while all around it everything else falls to pieces. It accelerates awesome, few things are so delightful as kicking the trash off the line of some wannabe fast & furious rice-rocket! Insurance is surprising good priced (at least mine always has been). BUT you will give basically every penny you make to keep it happy.
I don't recommend it. I love it BUT LIKE I SAID
Are you willing to sell your soul?

Answer 7

Repairs could be expensive, as will insurance and other maintenance costs. Frankly, it's probably a bad idea.

I just drove a Porsche Boxter 2004. The interior looked like it had been made in 1984.

A Porsche might be fun to drive but at that age it will be very dated, very old, and will have been thrashed to death by various owners before. I'd wait until I could afford something a lot newer and certified.

Answer 8

I will need to be a VERY well cared for and low mileage model to be worth considering.. Make sure that it has full Porsche service history...to buy a car of this type is always a gamble but if you find a good one it will keep a huge beam across your face every time you drive it.

Answer 9

Very ££$$ on parts... Dont touch a Turbo , or a softtop...both crap..A nice 944S is a great car.... and still can cut it with all the high tech stuff on the road today..... Oh and make sure its Manual....( Autos are very ££$$ to repair )... The only good Auto Porsche is a 928S ... but that another story..
Good luck mate.. Hope this helps..

Answer 10

I am a boxster owner and I personally don't like the design of the 944. Note that you will encounter less technical problems with a Porsche than with any other car,