Thoughts on Prosche 944, 944T series

I have owned a 944t since 1996 and love it. It is pretty reliable, but there are certain things that are prone to go wrong with them. The timing belt needs to be changed as Porsche reccommends. The engine is an interference engine and you will bend valves if the belt breaks. Clutch hydraulics are a common failure as the car gets miles on it. Not too expensive or hard to do though. The turbo has a oilcooler and seals on this can fail allowing coolant to mix with the engine oil. A clutch replacement is like a 10 hour job. You probably can figur about 1000 dollars a year for maintenance on a turbo. I think the ultimate 944 is the 88 turbo s or 89 turbo. If you get one that has been taken care of, I think you would really enjoy the car. This site has a lot of good info:
www.clarks-garage.com

 

No one has nit-picked you yet, so here is the obligatory speech.

T, for Porsche, has always meant Targa. There were no 944Ts, they did make a 944 Turbo which you will almost always see written out or written as a "951" with is exactly the same thing as "944 Turbo."

The year of the change anyway is 1985.5. They switched not only the exterior but the interior. The pre 1985.5 944s had a very 924ish looking interior, ie nice and blocky. The 1985.5+ have a better, more rounded, interior.

Yes there is a difference between the 951 and the 944 concerning possible suspension. The 951 could have an LSD and IIRC had a better suspension standard in general and had better brakes, and obviously a lot more horsepower.

Personal recommendation would be to go for a Turbo and ignore the normal 944s. An 85, 86 or 87 Turbo would be good. a Turbo S would be better. I don't personally like the S or S2. Though the later S2 has almost as much power as the turbo (less torque IIRC).

 

They look great parked next to a 40ft Yatch.

 

I have an 89 turbo(which is considered an S but the letter S got dropped after 88). Anyways here is my take on the car. Mine started off as a street car and turned into a track beast which is no longer street legal. I have gone through about every cost imaginable on this car after tracking it so if you have specific questions about cost I can def help you out. If you can spend the extra cash get an 88 turbo S or an 89 because you will end up getting more hp, lsd, and several other upgraded goodies. YESUD is right about the maintnance, make sure you can get records of service to see if the timing belt was done and other parts were kept up to date. When taken care of they are reliable but if you find one without service records just let it pass. If you are looking for a fun car with a lot of tuneability this is it. With a simple chip/boost controler/exhaust you can keep up with some of todays fastest cars and that is not an exageration. If you are so inclinded you can upgrade her some more with new turbos and other goodies and hurt vipers and other supercars. I have eaten up vipers 911 turbos and z06s on several occasions but the car is heavily modded. You will also enjoy the 50/50 weight distribution which makes this car very forgiving compared to other p-cars. I think it makes for a wonderful all around car for the price. If you want I will keep my eyes open for a nice example. If I find one, I will send you a PM

 

Some more info here:

http://www.grmotorsports.com/proj944.html

 

Find the April issue of Excellence. It has a short description of each 944 variant (incl 968s), and a price guide.

 

A 944, if in perfect shape, is a cool car. But it is EXTREMELY slow when accellerating. A really nice one ought to fetch 6k$ or so...

A 944 turbo is another animal altogether. I had an '86, in decent shape, paid 5-6k$ a couple of years ago, 100k miles or so, with lots of wear an tear. But boy, was that a fun car. Handles great, relatively quick, great bang for the buck. The problem though, is that it isn't worth fixing. My turbo started to go/leak, sold it to the next guy for what I paid for it...he was going to "upgrade" it.

Very cool car, actually liked it more than some of the early 911's...

 

Here you go... 951 are a blast. Don't have one but I may be taking delivery of a 944s2 Cabriolet in a few months that's been sitting in a yard under two tarps for about 3 years.
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/showthread.php?t=187558


http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/forumdisplay.php?f=70

And yes I know I'll be going through the car above and rebuilding just about everything... but, the price was right on it. Well, maybe right. We'll see.

 

The turbo's will be considerably more to maintain from what i have heard. If you're not counting on the acceleration, a regular 944 would be just fine and be less to maintain- in fact the handling is so good especially given the power, you could wind that thing out and have a blast and still be below 100mph. It's kind of strange, but I still find a non-turbo 944 to be one of the best looking cars from the dead on angle....and to think the 944 look (924, but with wider fenders and integrated fog lights/spoiler) is now 23 years old! Still looks fresh to me

I don't know what an IIRC is...the turbo has beefed up suspension, but not a major redesign as far as I know. There were revisions to the suspension from mid year of the 1985 model ("1985.5") however, along with the interior update.

 

Bah, Just because the only Porsche to ever actually be named 9XXT had the T meaning Touring means nothing . That would be my story and I'll kindly get off the stage before the rotten fruit shows up.

 

Just to clairify- there were changes to the suspension of the base 944 from 1985.5 and on vs. the 1983-first half of 1985, along with the interior change.

The turbo added the turbo/intercooler (obviously), as well as upgraded suspension, brakes, and differently designed front spolier, and rear lower valence. The turbo was some car in it's day, and still is pretty decent. The 944 was the benchmark for handling for the first few years of its existence- took a long time for the competition to catch up.

Today, a 944 would be a great buy- yes many have high mileage, but you can still find the low mileage sorted out cream puff for well under $10K. If I had the garage space (and a few extra bucks), I'd have one (along with a ferrari of course, and a lime green VW bug coupe from the late 1960's )

 

Just having a little fun, my friend

 

I think that they are cheap to buy, but don't get behind on the maintenance. I much rather pick a nice 944 then a 968, but that is just me.

 

I always liked the body style too. I was never a fan of the bath tub look.

 

You must follow theses 3 steps to see if you have the right personallity for a Porsche.
#1 take a $100 bill out of your wallet
#2 Light it on fire
#3 if you didn't flinch your ready to own a 944 turbo
if you did flinch repete steps 1 & 2 until you pass step 3. GOOD LUCK!!

 

Owned a 944 then bought a 944 turbo( 7 yrs of ownership with these models) both great cars fantastic balance nearly 50:50 . Turbo is the one to go for has more go but also more maintenance needed it can also be modified easily up to about 300bhp making it a v fast car. Have also owned a 911 carrera 3.2 and I think that the 944 turbo has more usable power and better handling than the 911 of the same vintage. I still miss the turbo but have to say the 308 gt4 I sold it for has more character but is not a daily driver that the Porsche is.

 

I've own an 83 that I bought for the girlfriend for about $2500 to keep her out of my other toys. I also have a 944S that I really like. I would go for the 944S. It has good performance and the maintenance is not too bad. I would not touch a turbo. Too costly.

 

I had a '88 944S and a '95 968 Cabriolet. 968 is a very different car. I liked the 944S better. It's lighter, more nimble, less refined, more fun. Maintenance costs are similar. (high) Timing belts & motor mounts must be replaced every five years. Water pumps are a common issue.

Well put together and very reliable.

IMHO

 

I've had a few, have an '86 951 now that was my DD for a while but am going to sell as I have too many toys.

Pros: Great fun to drive, great handling car, turbo is very peppy, good gas mileage (~30mpg).

Cons: Underpowered (non-turbo and pre s2/968), expensive parts, electrical system is **** (and Porsche wiring diagrams have their own special corner in hell).

I really like them and am having a hard time parting with the 951. We race a 944 in chumpcar and it's been pretty good reliability wise, and we beat the piss out of it.