For sale for the last time one way or the other!

[Peter Empson]

Good idea Tony, how about black wheels with the rim painted red?

Sorry, gone a bit OT again []

Dragging it back to reality, Ben have you considered just getting a second bonnet (apologies if this has already been convered)? They cost next to nothing (you may even get lucky and find one in the same colour) and can be changed over in minutes. This way you can photograph the car without the scoop and then let the new owner decide which way to go.

 

[DivineE]

!
Getting abusive now! Were not achieving anything new here.

Actually I've been shocked at how much interest the car has had! I could see the sale being a long drawn out process but it is a very rare car and one that's been built properly. Forgetting the tuning for a minute anyone who knows what its like to try and build even a standard 944 turbo engine out of components can appreciate the joy of having one that's already done, has a warranty attached and has only run in miles on the clock. I'd buy it!

I've been offered £10k for the engine alone and good 944's still come up and sell for £10-12k (more has been paid for totally mint examples). I hardly think the £13.5k I'm asking for is excessive!

Regards,

Ben

p.s. Having tried a few I actually prefer the standard suspension out of choice. The weight transfer is an advantage in terms of putting grip down and with all that power the last thing you want is stiff suspension, which will be upset by bumps on the road and give the wheels an opportunity to spin! If the car was going to spend more time on the track than on the road then I would agree because tracks are smooth and wide but on the road I can make progress a lot better with the softer suspension. Its more fun to drive as well!

 

[Fen]

I think you must not have been in a KW car...

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: DivineE

Getting abusive now! Were not achieving anything new here.......

Oh I don't know. [] I haven't noticed any actual abuse as such. Some very helpful advice perhaps.

BTW Pete, I think I suggested the new bonnet on page one. []

If you have been offered £10K for the engine let him have it. You might pick up another £1500+ on parts, interior etc.

You are selling into a dying market. You either need to sell now at the best price you can get or mothball the car and hope demand recovers.

944's are a very special car but few appreciate how good they are/can be. You are trying to sell and old Audi with a Porsche badge (in the eyes of the uneducated) into a market where you can buy a Boxster for less.

I don't think you will find many who think tired original suspension is a good idea with a suped up engine.

 

[nick_968]

Talking suspension, KW can be set hard or soft and spring rates can be custom ordered. If you reckon a car on standard suspension (even if it had brand new shocks and springs) can grip or lay the power down better than one with KW, you need to think again. Wherever you got that idea from its quite simply wrong. Having had a car with and without KW with 350hp+ I can testify to to fact that the difference is night and day. I am sure Fen will back me up on this one.Having suspension as soft as standard on a car with that kind of power does nothing for the balance as all the weight heads for the rear and the front points skywards, with the rear fully compressed you have lost all your ability to soak up bumps, its less than ideal. Have you ever noticed that most factory cars increase the stiffness of their suspension in line with an increase in power (if nothing else changes) and asked yourself why that is??

 

[DivineE]

John,

Sad but true people would rather drive a boxter than a 944! Why? Lovely handling I know but any 944 turbo with a chip would dust a Boxter on the road and Porsche have always been more about the driving than posing (IMHO). Plus Boxsters have cheap M96 engines which eat themselves.

I have some interest in the car at the moment and am just waiting to meet someone but if that fails I have a plan B to get the money so I can keep the car.

Regards,

Ben

P.s. If I keep it you'll have to take some brave pills one day and I'll take you out down a dilapidated B road like the ones around where I live. I will change your mind. It glides over and absorbes bumps that would launch a stiffer car off the road and into the hedge rows. The slight roll in the body really helps you feel the grip on the back tires through the wheel allowing you to lean on the back end on turn in and drive the car through the bend on the throttle. I don't want to upset its balance by altering the set up because the 250 turbo I had was no where near as nice to drive, always used to understeer first then snap to oversteer mid bend.

 

[daro911]

ORIGINAL: DivineE

Sad but true people would rather drive a boxter than a 944! Why? Lovely handling I know but any 944 turbo with a chip would dust a Boxter on the road and Porsche have always been more about the driving than posing (IMHO). Plus Boxsters have cheap M96 engines which eat themselves.

Sad but equally true the game has moved on since the 944. Why? Because Porsche engineers managed to not only create the best 2 seater roadster in the companies history but also a financial miracle that managed to pull the company from the edge of financial disaster to the top of the tree again.

From day one straight out the box in 1996 right up to 2008 nobody has yet built a better roadster. Even the great Porsche hater / Boxster loather Clarkson recently admitted he would never own one but as a car its simply wonderful.
http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=381598

A 944 Turbo with a chip might dust a Boxster but what if the Boxster was chipped too? Keep it like for like []

Porsche has always been more about driving than posing you say but I can't see where the Boxster isn't more than full filling this brief [&o]

Cheap M96 engines that eat themselves ....News to me and I am sure the majority of Boxster owners world wide

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: John Sims

BTW Pete, I think I suggested the new bonnet on page one. []

Good idea! [] I have the memory of a goldfish with alzheimer's so you can't expect me to remember anything.

Now what were we talking about? []

Btw have to disagree about the suspension issue, my Leda wont fling you off a bumpy road unless you go for very stiff springing (as I now have) and the improvement in traction is very noticeable.

 

[nick_968]

No offence mate but I think I will save my brave pills, I dont really want demo in a car with 400+hp which is under braked and under suspended and not driven by myself!!! You only need to take a look at what happened to Paul to see what happens to your brakes if you get even close to using the full potential of your power curve under sustained use. My car likely has less power than yours and I wouldnt even consider driving it at its max potential without the obligatory big blacks and KW (or other uprated suspension). You are comparing old 250 suspension with old 220 suspension both are 20 years out of date and neither were designed for 400hp. When you have tried the best then come back and say you want to keep your old suspension, and I mean driving on the limit not on B roads where you will never be able to exploit the full power of your engine, you will be lucky to get out of second! If B roads are your thing then why not get a lancia integrale, much more fun for that kind of thing if you can handle LHD, if not get a scooby or Mitsu. 951's are all about high speed performance driving, any old hot hatch will terrorise them up to 70 mph on track or road.

Good luck with the sale, if I were you I would split the engine from the car, a shame but probably the best way to extract max value.

 

[John Sims]

The Boxster is a hugely capable car. I'm not keen on drop heads myself and am relishing the point when Caymans become affordable as a play car. I chased a Cayman around Silverstone and it was far from wanting. I have no reason to believe a Boxster would be less than half as good.

Why would someone spend £13K on a sports car when, for £3K less, they could buy a car as capable in 90% of situations. I chased a friend in a Boxster up an Autoroute and while I probably had the legs on him we were both going as fast as I wanted. Think what you could do with £3K to spare on a Boxster.

You can't argue that a 944 is better than a Boxster just because it has the 944 has £10K of new engine in it. The Boxster will take longer to rust, be easier to insure, be less likely to be written off in an accident , be less likely to kill you in an accident, be easier to get spare parts for and 9 times out of 10 make the driver just as happy.

Ok, so a 944 has 2+2 seats and a large(ish) load space but, if you just want a play car, so what.

If someone can just about afford £13K they can't afford to spend £13K on a 20 year old car (new engine or not). If someone can easily afford £13K on a play car they could most likely afford more in which case the alternatives are numerous.

On the other hand. If you wanted a track car with the potential to embarrass a GT3 then you might be on to something, except your car needs another £5K spent on it in suspension, brakes, roll cage, tyres etc. Then you are talking £18K and the argument starts all over again.

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: DivineE

...... you'll have to take some brave pills one day and I'll take you out down a dilapidated B road like the ones around where I live. .......

That is so not going to happen.

 

[nick_968]

Our 1995 LHD 993 only owes us 17k and thats with full cage, recaro buckets, track pads, harnesses, track tyres, KW and its only done 45k Its not quite as quick round the track as a GT3.....but still a lot of fun.

 

[Hilux]

It glides over and absorbes bumps that would launch a stiffer car off the road and into the hedge rows.

What Fen said............seconded

I think you must not have been in a KW car...

I dont really want demo in a car with 400+hp which is under braked and under suspended

Is it that powerful?? Deffo needs uprated brakes ??....................`kin ell.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Following this thread I don't think it's the spec of Ben's car that's the problem, but the market. People won't be looking at this as an every-day car, and the market for totally unnecessary toys is flatlining.

Anyone who actually knows what the engine is will be intelligent to understand that a plastic bonnet scoop can be removed! Similarly, many will want to strip the interior anyway, so won't care if it's the wrong colour for them. What worries me, and I'm trying to sell a house at the high end of the local market and am having the same problem, is that there might not be anyone out there at the moment who both wants it and has the spare cash to buy it.

I'm at the point with the house that if we drop any further we will be selling for less than we are prepared to take. So, we'll be staying until the market picks up, probably at least 3-5 years. There is a point at which anything will sell, it's a case of whether you NEED to sell regardless of the loss. On the basis that you'll be running a car of some description it might actually be less of a loss to keep it?

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: DivineE

I've been offered £10k for the engine alone

Yes but I only said that if we can sneak it into my wifes S2 witout her noticing

Seriously that is fantatsic news. I would set yourself a deadline to sell the whole car and if that time is reached then flog the engine seperately.

 

[jackregan]

having just read all of this i agree - but why does ben need to raise money to keep the car? Is it being held to ransom? []

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: jackregan

having just read all of this i agree - but why does ben need to raise money to keep the car? Is it being held to ransom? []

Lol, don't know about that but it's not in Northampton, [].

 

[Fen]

I take it we have a new owner then?

 

[pauly]

ORIGINAL: Fen

I take it we have a new owner then?

No, I mean't the car is in Bournmouth the last I heard.

 

[Indi9xx]

Not held to ransom, but it is in Bournemouth waiting for a new owner

It came down here because a previous potential buyer wanted it to be here and once the sale was complete he wanted us to put a whole load of important bits on the car and take one unwanted bit off (the bonnet)

Now another potential buyer (well 2 that I know of) are on the scene and one of those wants some bits done down here if the deal is done.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this potential buyer takes this opportunity to buy a 3.2, as his plan for it is perfect and he is a right person for a car like this.