Newbie questions - '89 2.7 Lux

[hamzamian]

Hello,

new to this place and to Porsche ownership... well technically i'm not even an owner yet. Coming from owning an E46 M3 (which I'm keeping, the Porsche is to go alongside it)

I have put down a deposit on a F plate 1989 944 2.7 Lux in white with teledial alloys, half leather trim. Car seems to be in fairly good condition, has some history but not all and has been owned by an enthusiast who has repaired all the minor niggles for the last year. There are some very small rust spots on the arches and possibly some minor rusting on the sills also. All the electrics work and the car is straight with no panels out of shape or misaligned.

Mechanically the car seems to be in good shape. It has 92k on the clock, drives well though the brakes do feel like they are made of cheese. Is this normal?? Is there much that can be done to improve them without going all out and putting on new calipers/discs/pads etc?

Currently has the teledial alloys on it which I am not a fan of to be honest, would quite like to put some Design 90s on there, can anyone confirm if they fit the Lux models?

Lastly I'm paying £3,100 for the car described above, does this sound like a fair price and good car to buy?

Thanks in advance for the tips!

 

[paul kelley]

Hi

Call or e mail Paul McNulty 944 Reg Sec (m) 07971832780

Have fun

Paul Kelley

 

[Guest]

Realy depends on a few things when where the belts last done have all the fluids been changed regular these go on well and truly in to the 150k plus as long as they have been maintained the sills are a bit of a worry they could be expensive to renew unless ur a decent welder and painter
i like you took a chance with a c plate lux in white had it looked over for the above and all seemed ok
as for the mechanical side of things who knows if the above things have been done the likely hood becomes less but with a 20 yr old car who knows
i think most people on here allow a contingency of about 1K in the first yr just in case
as for the wheels you need to check the off set if you look through previous posts youll be able to find where to find what is stamped on ur teledials think its 55 but ill stand to be corrected on that

hope this helps a bit like you i am newish to the 944 and have manadged to pick up these few tips from the guys on here who are so helpfull stay here mate and no matter what you wont go far wrong
As for the price most say on here pay as much as you can afford in the begining as saves in the long run ( Ie: you pay for what you get )

Paul

 

[hamzamian]

Thanks for the replies.

Tried calling Paul McNulty a few times but didn't manage to get through to him. Who is he in any case and how can he help?

I'm setting aside about 1 to 2k for work on the car. I'm planning to pretty much take it straight to a independent porsche garage to be checked out and a major service including belts etc if necessary. Any recommendations on where to take it? I was thinking of using Jaz Porsche as they are local to me.

If mechanically everything checks out okay i might well get all the rust sorted asap too so long as its not going to bankrupt me. Should be a nice tidy car after that.

So hopefully it wont let me down as shortly after that its going to have to get me to the southern most tip of spain and back for a charity drive!

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I'm home now........[]

For the benefit of other viewers, I'd say that £3100 is pretty top money for a Lux. Not saying it's not worth the money, but I'd certainly want to see the bodywork being nothing worse than superficial corrosion, Luxes are usually better for this. It should have good recent history (past few years) with all the major things being either done or allowed for in that price. I'd expect not to have to do the belts or water pump, replace the clutch etc. for a year or two at least. That's the reason to pay towards the top of the market, and allows you some spare cash for any unforseen work. Does look like a nice Lux, though!

Oh, I'm the volunteer who runs the 944 section of the Club. You'll get more sense from either the assistants or the technical advisor.....[]

 

[hamzamian]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply Paul.

I think the car is mechanically sound and the seller is actually resolving a number of small problems before i buy the car and getting it checked over by his local garage before handing it over... so hopefully everything should be fine with it....

The rust looks to me (the untrained eye) that it is just surface... so im hoping that does indeed turn out to be the case! I am planning to take it in to Jaz Porsche sometime next week or so to have it properly checked over, serviced and so on so that its ready to a drive to Spain in a month or so.

Will post a few more pics once I pick the car up... in the meantime if anyone has some nice Design 90 wheels they want to swap for some teledials then let me know

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Hi Hamza,

Sounds pretty good, if the seller is prepared to fix things I guess he's confident there's no more serious reason for them to need fixing. If that makes sense!

If you trawl back over the last year or so on this forum there's everything you'll ever need to know about the rust. From checking the extent, to fixing it and preventing any future problems it's all there in gory detail! That said the luxes have to be about the most corrosion-free 20-year-old car you can buy so it should not be a real issue unless it's been allowed to spread. (Can anyone think of a car that corrodes less? [8|])

Mechanically the big things would be clutch, head gasket or a service to include belts, water pump, rollers and oil seals. Any of these could be a £1k job, so evidence that they've been done would be an advantage. There are loads of potential problems on any older car, but many of the parts are surprisingly reasonable considering the brand and they are more reliable than most makes.

The other Paul was right, allow a £1k contingency fund for the first year and you should be fine. Even if you spend that, you've still got a Porsche, in great condition, for about £4k. That's a bargain in anyone's book!