Do I need a 944

[Mike_Dawson]

Hi, first post etc.

I have a small collection of elderly British cars, very nice in the summer but rubbish in the rain/ice/snow and they rust. I also drive a rep mobile by F*rd, bland as bland. I need a winter car with a sense of occasion and reasonable wet weather handling; having considered a 6R4/quattro/RS200 and then reviewed the bank account, it is time for a 944. But, and it's a big but, it won't have a garage, the garage being full of other things. Will a 944 deteriorate over winter? Home Counties so no extreme conditions. Thoughts please!

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: Mike_Dawson

Will a 944 deteriorate over winter? Home Counties so no extreme conditions. Thoughts please!

Not at all. I have two 1989 models, one is garaged and one is parked on the drive. They are both used regularly as daily drivers and cope with all weathers with no drama. Though they were galvanised from new, they are still 20 year old cars and gradually the tin worm will slowly get in there, but Porsche are very good at stocking replacement panels for older cars so it's simply a case of keeping on top of things before they get too bad (and too expensive [])

Properly looked after you will have no major worries

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Will a 944 deteriorate over winter? Home Counties so no extreme conditions. Thoughts please!

Hi Mike,

My 944 lives outside, one thing to mention is that Guards Red is a colour that will inevitably fade in sunlight. Better to pick a metallic car or you'll need to keep it covered.

Unless a garage is de-humidified it's not going to prevent corrosion anyway, as Paul says regular prevention and prompt treatment are the only way to stop a car corroding. 944s are far better than most cars from their era.

 

[poprock]

As an aside, careful tyre choice can keep your 944 handling beautifully in the wet. I use Continental Super Sports all round and find the wet grip fantastic. If and when your rear end does start to slide, the 944 gives you an amazing amount of control and is very easy to bring back into line. Something I feel very pleased with, living in Central Scotland where the weather is bad more often than good!

 

[pauljmcnulty]

As an aside, careful tyre choice can keep your 944 handling beautifully in the wet.

As an aside to an aside...[&:]

Tyre pressures are unusually sensitive on mine, the odd PSI out between one side and the other completely changes the handling. Odd, because I thought nothing could affect the performance characteristics of my P6000s.....[8|]

 

[Mike_Dawson]

Thanks for the replies, there are some good looking 944s for sale in Guards Red ... can the faded paint be rescued by anything short of a respray? Can an unfaded Guards Red car be treated to prevent fading?

Is there a buying-a-944 checklist anywhere?

The 3.0 is out of my price range but the 2.7 is attainable, I'm looking forward to being a Porsche owner! Thoughts on insurance? Must be a thread or two here.

Edit: Check list in the stickies!

 

[944 LIL]

Mike

I've just bought my first Porsche too. I've done a lot of insurance hunting - I'm keeping my other two cars so LIL is my third.

I've put all the no claims on the porsche and have none on my BMW. My wife's no claims stay with her on her car.

The 3 cars now cost less than the 2 did previously!

Admiral came out trumps £929 for all three, Direct Line second a £100 more.

 

[poprock]

Insurance can be had really cheap if you're okay with limited milage policies (6,000 miles per year being the norm). It only rises high if that sort of arrangement doesn't suit you. Most classic policies don't accrue no claims though, so be aware of that.

944s are in the higher Road Tax brackets, I think they all come in at £180""190 per year just now.

The 2.7 tends to be looked down on as more complex and harder to maintain for very little performance gain. Not that a good one can't be run cleanly, but it's worth noting. There's quite a bit of difference between the early 2.5 models (square dash) and the later versions (oval dash). Not much in performance or handling terms, but a lot of little details that really add up in terms of convenience and comfort. Probably worth considering if you plan to do a fair few miles.

 

[sweetpea]

Hi Mike,

Do i need a 944?

In a word ... yes!

I bought mine a few weeks ago... and i luv it to bits... can't resist just going for a drive in it!... i'm the sure the missus thinks i'm seeing someone else! []

Get one.. you won't be dissapointed if you get a nice one.

Mike []

 

[Fen]

Just watch with Direct Line. I read on another forum about someone who was getting a load of hassle from them after he was rear-ended because he had replaced a badge saying TDI with one saying TDI, which was apparentyl an undeclared modification. I didn't keep an eye on the thread to see how it worked out in the end and I assume they applied common sense, but it all seemed pretty unnecessary.

 

[homesea]

Do I need a 944?

No.....but without one I would be driving something much more boring.

My 1st 944 blew its gearbox within 48hrs of buying it, then everything fell off it or broke. Engine blew up and it was run into 4 times in 3 months. But I still bought another one.[8D]

 

[944 LIL]

I think its an industry thing - many moons ago I wrote off my Alfa GTV - they sent an assessor round and he actually questioned if I owned the car as I didn't have any photos of it - fought tooth and nail for every penny and swore never to use them again. That was Admiral - who I'm about to go with for all 3 - £100 quid less.... and I tell myself I drive more sensibly []

I'll post a ton of photos when I can and perhaps the eagle-eyed among you can point out any mods - so I can let the insurers know!

 

[Copperman05]

The 2.7 tends to be looked down on as more complex and harder to maintain for very little performance gain. Not that a good one can't be run cleanly, but it's worth noting.

Dont you mean the 944S which has all the added complexity of the 16 valves, extra camshaft and cam chain, servicing costs, etc. I thought that the 2.7 is a fairly simple upgrade to the 2.5, essentially just a re-bore.

Edd

 

[Copperman05]

Mike,

I too have just bought a 944 after wanting one for years, well, it certainly exceeded my expectations, its a great car and already a true classic of the period. Servicing costs may be a little more expensive and they need a certain amount of looking after to keep them sweet but it is a Porsche after all..

Good luck finding a good one, there are some around...

Edd

 

[pauljmcnulty]

The 2.7 tends to be looked down on as more complex and harder to maintain for very little performance gain.

2.7 is just a slightly more torquey version of the 2.5 8-valve.

The lux models, 2.5 and run-out 2.7s, are the cheapest to run if all else is equal. Bodywork is less corrosion-prone without the black trim on the wings and cills that traps dirt, and there's no silly 16-valve stuff or pointless turbos to worry about. [8|]

Joking aside, as Fen has pointed out before flat red paint can be the most expensive option on a 944. I know, I've got one. Weigh up the cost of an engine rebuild against a proper glass-out respray. That said, most cars will be in need of some metalwork and paint attention by now anyway, and they do look good in red. A proper machine-polish can work wonders, but it's only a temporary solution as the red paint will always oxidise. Again, constant waxing will help, but if it's outside and uncovered it'll fade like any other flat-coloured car.

Set the time limit on "display topics from" to a year and you'll find pretty much everything you'll ever need to know about the cars has been discussed. Often at great length, and several times over, which is why we're creating the "faqs" section.

 

[Hilux]

Can an unfaded Guards Red car be treated to prevent fading?

It needs regular waxing to stop it oxidising. Red is the only colour that still relies upon natural pigments so is prone to UV attack.

 

[homesea]

To be honest the best treatment for Guards red is to set fire to it. Especially if it's NOT one of them pointless turbos....[X(]

 

[pauljmcnulty]

To be honest the best treatment for Guards red is to set fire to it. Especially if it's NOT one of them pointless turbos....

Which is how I feel about mine, which started with one shade of red but now has at least 57 varieties on one car....[&o]

 

[Mike_Dawson]

And yet Guards Red is The Colour for a 944, and there's an S2 in Red on ebay, it looks OK .... No, I mustn't, this is intended to be a winter car, to be kept outside in all weathers, to be purchased with the head not the heart. Although it can't be that hard to keep it waxed and protected ... can it?

Thanks for all the replies, 'phone call to Hagerty later this morning to see if I can extend my policy to include a 944.

 

[Neil Haughey]

Red on mine as well. TBH it is not a great colour on a daily driver because whilst a freshly polished and waxed red car looks amazing on a sunny day it looks equally bad on a dirty car on a wet winter morning. The problem I have is that some of the paint on my car is so old and dead that polishing it has stopped working, I can make it look half decent for perhaps a week and then it fades again. This is the risk in buying a red 944 at the moment. You could easily buy a car that looks nice because the guy spent 6 hours the day before sorting the paint work.