944 as an everday car?

[sbloxxy]

Due a change in circumstances, I find that I now need to use my 944 S2 as my every day car, possibly covering 12-15,000 miles per year. Trouble is, the car has already done 155k. Am I asking for trouble or is this possible without too much hassle? You may have seen from a previous post that I've got head gasket trouble at the moment - the cars in a million pieces as we speak and I expect it to be back on the road next week. I'm just worried that I'll end up throwing the contaents of my bank balance at it. Should I buy a lower mileage 944 or even a 968?

 

[Guest]

Naah, don't worry. Mines got over 300k Km on it, and runs just fine every day! Hell, it's my workhorse! every day driving, trips to europe, you name it!

Just make sure you do the servicing at the right intervals (just as you do now I suspect?), and you'll have no more problems than a lower mileage car, or even a Mondeo.

 

[sawood12]

Agreed. Mines a daily driver but the wife and I tend to use her car for the daily grind to work since we both work at the same place so I only really put 6 - 8k miles a year on it. However for the past 3 months or so while we've been waiting for her new car my 944's been the workhorse. I was a bit concerned at first but I soon found that the car drives better when used every day - everything loosens up, especially the gearbox. Also my intermittent ABS warning hasn't occured since. I'm missing it now that she's got her new car but as soon as the novelty of a new car has worn off we'll be back in the 944 again.

I would get your cylinder head gasket sorted out though and the only other heartbraking thing about using the car daily is the rate at which it picks up stone chips no matter how carefully you drive so i'm starting to put a little something aside each month towards a bi-annual front end respray.

 

[Fen]

When I bought my S2 Cab as a daily driver I was using it in lieu of a company car for 50k+ per year. I bought it with 142,500 on the clock for that purpose and while I changed job 3 months later I still did 50k in it in 21 months, 4 of which I almost exclusively used a Mk2 Golf GTi for then realised leaving the cab sitting was worse for it that using it. Call it 50k in 17 months then. Don't worry and drive it!

 

[John Sims]

Beaky is certainly my car of choice when having to be out and about with two provisos:-

1. You can park it somewhere safe - 944's may not be as expensive as a great many cars on the road but most people don't realise that. If you are unlucky enough to match ignorance with Neanderthal tendencies "... it's a Porsche so you are a rich stuck up git and I have every right to vandalise your car...." you can have a problem.

2. 944's are old Porsches - They are old so, no matter how well built, things will wear out or break if you don't replace them. When they do wear out or break they aren't cheap.

There are probably 100's of 1000's of cars out there that are cheaper to run, more likely to be reliable and less of a liability. But, will they give you as big a smile?

 

[Guest]

Use mine everyday, 10k pa, 150k+ on the clock, I think it does them good to be used. The other model you mention is the 5ltr job ? You might need a fair petrol budget to run it. I worked out my 944 costs about 40p+ per mile to run including Petrol, repairs, insurance, mods, tyres, tax, etc literally everything.

 

[chrisr]

Ive used my S2 as a daily driver in all weather conditions for 2 years , 144,000 miles and never missed a beat... superb car that if maintained to a high standard and bought on condition not mileage ( which cannot be said of all Porsches [] ) they will be an excellant daily car that WILL put a smile on your face , and yep the maintenance isn't going to be Mondeo money but neither is the depreciation !!

Chris

 

[cornishgrose]

My '85 Lux had been sitting in a garage for 2 years and only driven for the sunny weekends. I am now paying (literally) for that, I drive it to work everyday and nothing has gotten worse or fallen off (yet!?). As said it helps keep everything chugging over and as I work at a Nissan garage, I can say my '44 is much, much more reliable and easy. Go for it and enjoy the car while you can!

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: scz

...... The other model you mention is the 5ltr job .....

I sometimes muddle up 968's and 928's as well. It must be an age thing. []

I had forgotten to say that 944's are far happier being driven than sitting at home.

I am also starting to wonder if a higher mileage car is better than a low mileage one as there is a possibility that a good many of the components could have already been replaced for newer ones? History, history, history.

 

[Diver944]

Everyone's telling you to go for it Bloxxy, and I'm just the same.

I bought our S2 to do exactly what you are contemplating, 15k a year for a new job. That was seven years ago and it's now at 164,000 miles with no major problems. Keep on top of regular maintenance and budget about £1000 a year for normal wear and tear and it will be a reliable workhorse for years to come.

We've just done a mini tour of Wales to visit my parents and after 600 miles in a couple of days our S2 never ceases to amaze me at how smooth, economical, practical, FAST and great fun it is to drive []

 

[Guest]

think of it this way:

A 6k mile service is £165 (at JZmachtech)
A 12k mile service is £295
A set of tyres will be ca £400 (assuming you're not running 11x18 and 9x18"'s!)
your insurance will be higher (again, assuming you're on a low-mileage classic policy now). lets say £300...?
and a few quid bunged in for normal running costs: oil, wiper blades, the odd failed DME relay, lets say £300

so you're loooking at around ~£1500 a year!

Assuming you're doing 4k a year now, you must be spending at least £800 a year at the moment. So in my mind, it's actually cheaper running it as an everyday car than sitting in the garage for 6 months of the year!

 

[sbloxxy]

Thanks everyone. The idea that regular use is better for the car makes sense. I'm also encouraged that so many people are using theirs in the way that I intend to use mine. Just need to tell my insurance company now..

 

[Guest]

I haven't had my car on the road for long enough to class my use as every day, although I have driven it at least 400 miles a week since I got it back on the road. However, these cars really do feel very well screwed together. I find it hard to believe that I'm driving a 17 year old car when I'm sat behind the wheel. It feels like it could quite happily manage another 17 years as a daily driver.

As for regular use. This is true of any car. A car laid up for weeks on end will degrade rapidly. Seals will dry out, rubber will perish and become brittle. flexible joints will seize up. A car that is regularly driven (and properly maintained) will last much better (although superficially it may be a lot less shiny).

I had a TVR Cerbera which I did 25,000 miles a year in. I very rarely had any trouble with it (although it cost an arm in servicing and fuel bills), whereas friends with cars that did 2,000 miles a year (weekend dry use only) and spent the winter tucked up with a hot water bottle would break down all the time. I had a lot more fun on the road too (you try driving a powerful rear wheel drive car with no driver aids on packed snow some time) []

Cheers

James

 

[steve 944t]

well, just to add some balance to this discussion (a post on an internet forum where everyone is in agreement - whatever next? [:-]), I have just stopped using my turbo as an everyday car. My "donkey" miles are now eaten up by a trusty £700 Mondeo estate. Real quality! However, this is more because I am renovating a house and hated filling the 944 up with bags of rubble to take to the tip, combined with a limited mileage classic policy.
The best thing about this arrangement is that when I do drive the 944 it feels like a rocket ship in comparison to the rather uninspiring Mundano. The downside is all the above posts saying what a bad idea it is to keep a 944 as a "garage queen"! Oh well, time will tell!

 

[Guest]

That is the one downside about driving your performance car every day. You stop apreciating the performance quite so much. Until one day you drive a regular car [:'(]

 

[Diver944]

I know what you mean. Since I've started driving a van every day for work the 944 feels almost strange and alien after sitting 6 foot up in the air with the lightest power steering ever and no clue as to which way the wheels are actually pointing..

This weeks trip to Wales in the S2 in the pouring rain actually made me nervous at one point, I'm just not used to it any more. 210bhp and RWD in the wet - yikes! []