Am I mad?

[Guest]

Thought I'd run my plan past you as I imagine you would know the answer to my question better than anyone.

I have around 12K including the trade in of my current car, I intend to find the best 944Turbo (S with the M030 handling pack if I can get one) I can with a lowish mileage if possible.
I then plan to use this as a daily driver and will be doing Euro trips of upto 3K miles in it.

I was thinking of getting a modern small high power diesel VAG hatchback and remap to 190bhp for around the same money and then looked at the depreciation involved over 3 years. I reckon they would shed about 6K of their initial value.

I'd expect a 944Turbo with say 50K miles on it now bought for 12K to be worth about 9K if I came to sell it with 90K miles 3 year later.

That leaves me 3K for extra fuel costs and maintenance or 1K a year.

Is 1K a year a realistic budget for maintaining a 944 Turbo?


Does the 944 make a decent GT car? Will I be comfortable over long distances and what range can I get from the car witha brimmed tank?

The only downside I can see at the moment is the fact that the luggage area seems totally uncovered.

Other than that I'd rather drive around in a Porsche getting 20 odd miles to the gallon than sitting there all smug in my dull and boring diesel hatchback.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

I think you already know the answer...![]

 

[Fen]

I drive a 944S2 Cab as my daily driver and I do 500/week (25k per annum). I also have a 944 Turbo that I used to use daily at a time when I drove as part of my job and it covered the equivalent of 50k per annum. Finally, my immediately previous daily driver was a SEAT Ibiza TDi Sport with the VAG 130PD engine chipped to 184bhp and 306lb/ft, so maybe I am qualified to answer []

Firstly I wouldn't pay £12k for a 944T. 4-figures should be enough to bag a really nice one and regardless of what you spend you will be looking at up to £2k straight-off to get the car the way you want it. I also wouldn't fuss over M030 because a 50k miler with M030 almost certainly has suspension that has seen 50,000 miles and at least 13 summers. May as well pay less for a Boge suspension car and retro-fit new M030 yourself as it's going to be no more expensive than replacing worn M030.

Once you have it right then you might get by on £1,000 per year to maintain it. Be aware that it will more than likely need a head gasket within 3 years if it hasn't had one already and if it needs a clutch that will take out a whole year's budget in one go. Otherwise you will be looking at tyres, servicing (interims at 6k are a must with a Turbo as well as £12k full services) and at least one belt change. You really are asking if £1k plus what you'd spend on a VAG hatch would cover it though, not £1k absolute, so I think you would be OK with that so long as you don't expect that to be a smooth £100 per month - maybe £700 one month and nothing much for another 6.

The car will do something between 320 and 420 miles to a tank depending on the driving and the driver. A tank is 80 litres and I tend to run 30-40 miles after the light comes on and put in 70-odd after that. They are reasonably comfortable although I get thigh ache after a couple of hours, which is not so good as I found an Impreza for example. I think it is the relatively low seating that does it.

There is a luggage cover - it's a roller in the one-piece backrest cars and a suspended blind in the split backrest ones. I've only ever had rollers and they are pretty good. For a top money car you should expect to have one that retracts as they are supposed to.

I got bored of the Ibiza pretty quickly (and it was less comfortable) but don't kid yourself the 944T would be a cheaper option. If you go the diseasel rout I'd recommend a Fabia vRS or a Leon Cupra TDi these days. The Fabia outshines the Ibiza now it's available and the Leon is (literally) in a different class to the Ibiza.

HTH

edited to correct a typo in the tank capacity

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info Fen, you've hit the nail right on the head re the servicing budget it was 1K+the VAG diesel car costs.

Looks as if I can save a little cash then, buy a top end but cheaper car and not worry so much about M030.

The 944 Turbo search starts here.

 

[Fen]

Start to go see as many as you can. You'll soon realise that you can find just as nice £9k cars as you can £11k (or rather just as nasty £11k as cheaper ones). First nice £9k car you find, buy it.

 

[wedgepilot]

In addition to Fen's excellent advice, I wouldn't expect the 944 to depreciate massively if you put a few miles on it, as these cars are good for over 200k if looked after. Most knowledgable buyers know that, and will buy on condition and history, rather than mileage (unless you put intergalactic miles on it [] ). If you keep the maintenance up to date, you could well sell it for pretty much what you paid for it. Of course, you may not be able to bring yourself to sell it, but that's another matter.

Oh and don't forget to add in the costs of the various performance upgrades available for the turbos - you will be tempted... []

Good luck with the search!

 

[Diver944]

A brilliant plan Febus []

I've just come back from a 10 day 2000 mile tour of Northern Europe in my Turbo, with 4 occupants and 3 large suitcases and can vouch for the ease that a 944T will eat this mileage up. My 944s are both daily drivers that rack up about 15k a year each and have averaged out at about £1k to maintain and fix. Some years will be more if you need a clutch or the belts doing (or the exhaust in an emergency [] )

I needed 5 tanks of fuel for my trip (best was 450 miles!!!!!! worst was 280, but that included the Nurburgring)

If you buy well at around the £9k mark and maintain it well I do not envisage you will lose anything in depreciation if you really do become mad and ever think about selling it []

 

[chrisr]

Yep , the thing that has surprised me really is the space isnt half as bad as expected and like Paul I recently went on a 10 day trip around France and fuel economy was pretty dam good, mines used 7 days a week - the best advice has to be drive a few, look at even more and buy the very best for your money based on condition / history not mileage - unless its been to Mars and back, mines done 130k and currently feels good for another 130.