"mint" s2 or turbo [unmodified] how much£?

[jasonp]

hiya, thinking about the cosmetic issues i intend to have done in the very near future and a visit to daytona to have job done properly costing at a rough estimate aroud £2.000 to £2500 on a 166,000mile car, i now use almost daily, i decided against buying a "daily driver" before last xmas cos s2 handled the increased use without almost missing a beat, and now i am thinking would my money be better off spent on a lower mileage "minter" and hopefully let my baby go to some one who could get cosmetic work done cheaper, how much is a "minter" worth in peoples opinion? there are some lovely turbos and s2s from £10,000 to around £7,000, was wondering what peoples real values would be? cheers and regards jason p

 

[colin944]

What's wrong with making yours a minter. Spend the money get it done and you will have a minter that you know and love.I would never sell a good known car and buy another in " better condition".Problems I can see with that are as follows

low mileage------- not used, sat in a garage decomposing
Exellent Body work ----- Shinny paint hides loads of sins
An unknown car can have a full service history etc but whats to say the owner wasn't told at the last service that he was going to get a big bill next time round.

stick with what you have "Better the Devil You Know"

 

[JamesBall]

I've only ever seen one mint 944 ( I haven't seen that many 944s in total though tbh) and that is the gold car that RPM have put a 968 engine in. It has had just about everything replaced including every suspension part and bush and will be going for £15k+. If you want a perfect, albeit not standard, car it would be worth having a look at.

 

[simkin911]

I think the condition is more important than the mileage. For example, that low mileage "minter" may be on the original clutch, suspension AND crucially may have issues relating to lack of use. It may cost more than your 166k s2 in the long run and give you little more satisfaction. Then will you worry about the impact on the value by putting on miles?

In answer to your posting, s2 max £5.5/£6k? Turbo £8k or perhaps abit more for the right car for the right buyer? I'm sure others will have an opinion here.

 

[blease]

Seems about right, Simkin. Agree with the comments about putting the cash into improving your own.

 

[Copperman05]

Why buy a minter that you'll be afraid to drive (to stop making it a non minter) when you can fully use the one you have? I dont think there are any true minters out there anyway unless its uber low mileage (and all the problems as above again).

You'll only get the same issues with the minter you get with your current car tbo, it just takes longer....

Edd

 

[pauljmcnulty]

There are some absolutely perfect 944s out there, just go to any of the concourse events to see them. The insurance values are high as well, you'd have to spend a fortune to replace a low mileage, low owners, full documented history car, then get it back to the condition of a concourse car. Along with the highly-modded Turbos it's a very limited market, but prices would still be well over £10K, as the owners wouldn't sell for less and would wait for the right buyer.

Why do you want a "mint" car? If not keeping it locked away in storage, and only bringing it out occasionally, it won't be a mint car for very long. A low mileage car might, as mentioned, bring it's own set of issues, as would any new car you buy. If it's a daily driver, it'll be running up mileage and picking up stone chips and parking dents very quickly, so you'll lose the money you've spent on it anyway.

I'd wonder whether it's even worth spending a load on paintwork on a daily driver. Mechanically you've got to look after it or it'll let you down, but cosmetically I'd feel too nervous driving it all the time. I'd certainly keep maintenance well up to date, and make sure any rot is treated and protected, but I'd probably just keep and cosmetic work to a minimum.

 

[andrew_churcher]

Jason - am pretty sure someone on the forum paid about £2.8k for a black s2 in good condition with similar mileage. You are looking at spending that again on the paintwork and it may not add any value in the current market.

If it were me.....and i used it daily....i would attend to the work that was necessary on your car...and then spend £200 a year on a good detail and some maintenance wax every qtr in between. Your car looked great after that detail and some good wax will keep it looking Red in between.

It would wind me up to have all that paintwork done....drive it daily then in a few mths it was all stonechipped again. That is me though. If it was just a weekend car....which you wanted to show at club events and was a "keeper"....i would spend the dosh

Good luck!

 

[Copperman05]

I disagree that doing £2000 worth of work is going to make the car any less usable, probably the opposite infact. If all of us didnt do things cos they didnt add significant value to our cars then we would all be scrapping them as the costs would not be worth it. We dont do that because we are enthusiats and are willing to spend money here and there to get the cars how we want them, often regardless of market value.

To me its not about how much your car is worth or market value but more about getting the car to how you want it to be. I've done a similar thing to mine and I've used helicopter tape to help protect it, it def works. Yes it has maybe one paintchip, but so what? Still money worth spending and the car looks a whole lot better now (still) than it did before the work was done.

If the car is overall sound then it may be worth keeping.

Edd

 

[jasonp]

thanks for all the replys, it seems the general concencous is " better the devil you know", i really value peoples opinions and was undecided whether to keep my baby and spend whats needed on cosmetic work, i think i will keep mine and have the work done, my mechanic/specialist has told me to " spend money on cosmetics as at present theres nothing whatsoever that needs attention mechanically and to deal with any problems as and when they occur and to stop looking to throw money at stuff thats not neccesary ", so along with the wise words of forum users i will keep her and have the work done along with a wheel refurb , thanks again all, cheers jason p

 

[ukmastiff]

I know its entirely personal but I genuinely would not even want a 'minter' I would always go for the well presentable head turning but 'real' when looked at up close 80's car that can be driven anywhere and enjoyed. I do think I might keep my next classic though so had better pick carefully. If you want a change then of course go for it ! , I live for change but I'd be going for a car to be driven and maybe even do the odd track day. You wouldnt want to track a minter surely []

What ever you do or get , I look foreward to seeing it

Regards Mas

 

[sawood12]

If I ever dip my toe into old Porsche ownership again I would take great delight in buying some garage queen and using her every day in all weathers. I hate the idea of these things not being used as they were intended - buy them, drive them, repair them when needed and drive them some more. Buying a car like this and keeping them locked up and hardly driven is the same as taking a beautiful animal out of its natural setting and putting it in a zoo. It is just wrong. Unfortunately just because these cars look like they are mint doesn't necessarily mean they are, they like to be driven and don't respond well to being left idle, which is why in your case it is probably a case of better the devil you know and lavishing your cash on your current car.

 

[jasonp]

thats what i was thinking sawood, buying for example a £7,000 or £8,000 low mileage car with all history plus recent clutch change, cambelt and water pump,immaculate bodywork, all mots etc and then driving the "nuts " off her in all weathers, as i understand our cars are to be driven?... mas, why not take a low mileage "garage queen" to the track? esp if shes a keeper, would much rather spend my money that way if a newer daily driver was needed then go and pay a bit more for a 3series or new shape golf gti.. food for thought! cheers jason p

 

[pauljmcnulty]

buying for example a £7,000 or £8,000 low mileage car with all history plus recent clutch change, cambelt and water pump,immaculate bodywork, all mots etc

Of course, that car would be the ideal 944 to buy, regardless of it's cosmetic appearance. Far better than spending a few £K less on a car that needs a list of things doing; with current labour rates and 20% VAT a lot of jobs are now threatening to cost the thick end of a grand, something that used to be the scary figure we quoted as a clutch replacement cost.