Thoughts on Prosche 944, 944T series

I've had a couple of 944's over the years, both non and a turbo or two. Maintenance isn't really that bad. Its fairly normal in that regard, a lot less then a 928. They are easy to work on, still lots of parts available. As far as European parts go they are reasonable. Even the turbo is still inexpensive to buy.

I had a 94 Mercedes S500 (father owned since new), people are not interested in old Mercedes these days. By chance had someone with a 944S wanting to trade. Took the deal. Just sold the 944 about 3 months ago. Its a little slow by todays standards. If I ever get another one it will be a turbo. My last one was an 87 S with 158k kilometers. I replaced the windshield, a panel on the nose due to dings, put in sports seats. Got $6k, not bad for the money, but they are now just cheap transportation.

In the pic you can see the dings just under the Porsche crest on the nose. Pic taken before I fixed the panel.
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I love when a thread converstaion picks up a decade later- I always wonder how that happens?? Someone makes a comment, and a person mulls it over for 10 years before stating a response- ha!!

But I'll add to the discussion I always loved the look of the 944...when I was in my teens and saving up for a first car, I had one of the earlier versions of the Dean Bachelor Porsche buyer's guide. The 944 chapter opened with this picture:

1983 Porsche 944 Automobile Photo Poster ZC6398 A8ECF8 | eBay

I always loved that shot- the 80's chick wearing what looks like overalls/a jump suit next to a fancy car I wanted...the nose of the car looks so much nicer than the 924 with the fender flairs...

Another picture I looked at a lot in that book was this one or one similar to it (I was also contemplating the 924 turbo- with the NACA duct and four intakes it looked agressive):

1982 Porsche 924 Turbo Automobile Photo Poster ZAA2487 QVX8GX | eBay

I had a budget of ~$10K after mowing lawns and saving since I was 12...the 924 turbo and 944 seemed to be the only two porsches in my range in the late 1980s (didn't want a 914 or regular 924)...but then I found a 78 911 sc that was a little cheaper then other SCs since it was a Euro/grey market car and I bought that instead. My mechanic told me the 924 turbo was a difficult car to maintain and the 911 was a better choice. I certainly was very excited to have found a 911SC in my price range (I wasn't going to get a 2.7, only SC)- I couldn't believe it!

After getting the 911, the only 944 I ever drove was an automatic a friend's uncle bought in the late 80's...it handled great but was very slow, even when new as an automatic (mid-high 9 second 0-60 I'd say, with no real torque).

I was glad I got the 911, but still do love the 944's looks!

 

On the automatic 944's, think they are almost 1 second slower to 0to60 over a manual. They are really slow and its not a very good automatic. Its a 3spd and same as a Datsun 280Z if I remember correctly. They should have used the Mercedes sourced 4spd from the 928. Id never buy an automatic 944. They are also worth a lot less then the manuals these days. Makes an already slow car even slower.

 

Yes- the 944 auto was only 3 speeds. I typed my prior message a bit hasty- what I was trying to say is that even when the 944 was a new car, a 944 automatic was considered slow. It was probably around 9.5 seconds 0-60 and didn't have a lot of torque (i.e. if you were part throttle there was so little power with the auto), so that plus being spread through only 3 speeds made me and my high school friends wonder why anyone would spend so much money for that as a new car in the 1980's..since it was mostly about 0-60 times when we were that age The stick 944 was about 8.3 0-60 which was considered "quick" by us, whereas a 911, corvette or 944 turbo was "fast" with ~ 6 seconds 0-60 (930 and lambos were incrdably fast in the 5s 0-60). At that price point we couldn't understand why buy "a Porsche" that was "slow" vs just getting something else like a BMW or benz, since the performance from a speed perspective was not good and we figured a buyer of an auto 944 wasn't concerned with speed/performance enough to justify not simply going with something else.

 

12 years of ownership under my belt (86 944) and they are seriously dependable cars when properly maintained. Build quality reminds me of an old school Merc and makes a Boxster feel tinny. Just an all around great car that nets great gas mileage, huge storage space in the rear hatch, comfortable yet lots of fun to drive, all while retaining that magical enchanting Porsche charm.

They used to be a dime a dozen, now good ones are getting very hard to find.
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This ^^^

Miss my '88 944S

 

I have a 944 S2 cab that's been hanging around in my garage a while. It's a great little car that's just starting to appreciate. I think these and the turbos are the ones to buy now.

 

Beautiful car there!

 

I'm very happy with my 1988 model Turbo.

Once you are travelling and slow speed boost is out of the way, they are still be a very quick car. Great on the highway.

Sensible, low cost modifications deliver results that enable these Turbos to be quicker than over 90% of so called performance cars on the road today. On track, performance is about similar to a current VW Gold R and a very little bit better than a current VW Golf GTi. Plus you can carry tools and 4 track tyres in the back.

Pretty amazing for a car 25 plus years old that has done over 245,000 klms without the engine ever being freshened and requires no oil top ups between oil changes.
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Best concise summary of a 944 ever written. 100% correct in every way, hit all the main strengths.

I bought my first 944 in 1997 and my tenth last week. I've driven a total of about 300K miles in every variety of 944, the majority of those miles in an '83 and an '85.5. The bodies last forever (add "galvanized" to the list of pluses), and there is no reason the engine won't go 500K miles if properly maintained. I have sometimes referred to the 944 as "Porsche's diesel Mercedes," or "the W123 of Porsches" due to their longevity and ability to travel many, many miles. You will never get tired of driving it, and you will never stop enjoying the sound of that engine.

Many people who used to own 944s say "I miss my old 944..." Those have been my thoughts, so I when I found a good one, I snapped it up.

 

Funny you say that, I just sold my 944 to buy back a superb '99 Boxster I sold too soon. Hasn't even been two weeks yet and I'm already going through 944 withdrawals, and have been scouring eBay and craigslist for them.

Think I'll try an 83 this time. Always loved the early dash and manual steering

 

the engine is half a 928 - what's not to like

personally I'd go for an '86 onwards.

 

I was in college when I saw one of the first 944s. I loved that car. I wanted one so bad but obviously could never afford one back then. My friend had a turbo and it was a great car.

 

Any of the 944 guys have an exhaust recommendation. I have a 90 S2 cab and I just spent a month doing the whole front end service myself while my 355 was away for the belt service. Now that the engine is running great I want to fix some rattles in the exhaust and replace everything from the headers back.
Any suggestions?
I tried searching already but surprisingly it's easier to find Ferrari exhaust than 944 exhaust.

 

I'd recommend contacting Albert at Broadfoot Racing (www.broadfootracing.com) -- he makes custom exhausts for the 944, and can also suggest other options as well.

 

I like the DIY approach myself. Check this write-up.

3" Cat Back DIY (lots of pictures now) - Rennlist Discussion Forums

 

I've owned a magnificent, ultra optioned 85.5 944 (full leather, electric sport seats, sport suspension, color coded Fuchs), 951 track car, 968 coupe, and a 968 cab with every mod you can think of.

These are magnificent cars, only held back by the numbers produced (over 150K) of all types. While the slower models aren't quick, they share one thing-get them up to speed, and not much will keep up with them except on open highways.

 

Not true...

Early 911's had three levels of performance. 911T, 911E and 911S.

Had nothing to do with whether they were targas or not.

 

If I could weld I would try that. Looks pretty straightforward.

 

Since this thread was revived from 10 years ago, posting after only a couple months should be OK. I have had a number of 944's over the years with the first one being a new '83 back in the summer of 1982. I wanted to drive it so my wife and I plus our two kids (13 & 11 at that time) drove to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado from our then Indiana home. I had a Fuzzbuster radar detector which worked great as there was no instant on radar available. Speed limits were 55 but we traveled nearer to 80 most of the time and sometimes faster. The kids could lean back and see out of the rear hatch window so their job was to spot airplanes. Unbelievably, no tickets on that trip.

That was the first of many vacations taken in both NA 944's or in a 944 Turbo. We attended the 1985 Porsche Parade in Portland, ME in a 1984 red car with red center Fuch's wheels.

I rarely own cars for very long but I did own this 1987 944 Turbo for five years, which ties my all time record. Again, from Indiana, we traveled to Quebec City, to Charleston, SC, Savannah, GA a couple times and to Florida. It was, and still would be, a great vacation car. Got great mileage and there was plenty of room for luggage.

It also saw some autocross time.

The other car that I owned for five years was a 1983 944 that my wife and I ran as a track car. Besides the mid-western tracks like Road America, Mid-Ohio, Blackhawk, Grattan, Gingerman, Putnam Park we also ran it at Watkins Glen, Summit Point, Pocono, Road Atlanta, Sebring and even made it to Laguna Seca once. I passed many 911's with this car as it was set up well and it was so much easier to drive it on its limits than it was to do the same in a 911. I know as my last track car was a '82 911SC with an '89 turbo motor. I had to work a lot harder driving that car than I did in the 944. The first photo was taken after two hard days at Laguna Seca with the first one having be mostly in the rain. The second one shows it with the trailer I pulled behind it loaded with jacks, tools, tires, etc.

And don't you wish you could find a 944 like these that were loaded on trains at the Audi factory waiting to ship. We visited the plant in 1985 while on vacation in Germany.

Since this was the summer of 1985, the photos below are of some very early built models of the 944 Turbo. Test drivers were tearing up and down the streets with cars fresh off the assembly line.

I have been a PCA member since 1978 with our first Porsche being a new 924. So I have always had a soft spot for the water pumpers. As you can see, you can go on vacations with them, you can autocross them and you can drive them to a race track pulling a trailer and then drive it home.

The only track we did not drive to was Laguna Seca. I had a 928 owning friend who had an RV manufacturing company. They sold to the LA area from Indiana so we had two motorhome drivers pull trailers with our cars on them. We flew to LA and then drove up to Laguna Seca. The next time he drivers going to LA, they picked up the cars and brought them back to Indiana.

So, if you can find a nice 944, you can still have a ball with it. Both looks and chassis wise, they are hard to beat.
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The handling was great and it felt a lot faster than 150bhp and 0-60 in 9.0. Mine was Guards Red with black Fuchs wheels.