The reality of a cheap 944S2

[sbloxxy]

Lots of talk on here at the moment about S2 values and what you really get for your money.
Well as some of you may recall from a previous post, I bought a '92 944S2 late last year for £1500, 157,000 miles, slightly dodgy paintwork on a couple of panels but recent belt change and a full service history.
I thought it was worth a quick update about the problems I have had so far as it might give potential new owners an indication of what you're letting yourself in for.
I reckon I've added a couple of thousand miles so far and its not been completely trouble free. First thing I did was service it, though that was pretty straight forward. The first serious problem was overheating, not dramatically hot but just running hotter than it should have been. I changed the thermostat (horrible job) before discovering it was a tiny leak at the top of the radiator. Cost was £60 to fix. The starter motor died one morning, thanks to a corroded cable between the solenoid and the motor. My local auto electrician rebuilt it for a very reasonable £35. The latest problem is a battery thats been finished off by the extreme cold weather - a new one is going to cost £75-ish.

There are a few issues on the horizon: the rear tailpipe is pretty corroded but I'll take the opportunity to replace the rear section with a performance one, price is around £270. The bottom of one of the front wings is looking scruffy and I really want to sort out the dodgy paintwork before the summer. Fortunately, I work in the motor trade so I don't expect a particularly big bill.

And thats about it. So far, reasonably cheap motoring and probably less than I expected given the purchase price. It drives superbly and looks wonderful and hopefully this helps show that not all cheap S2s are ratbags. If anything, it should illustrate what good value the S2 is at the moment.

 

[Fat Albert]

Bearing in mind what you paid, then I think you have done pretty well, any car that you could have bought for that money could potentially have lots of issues. I paid £1500 for my last SAAB and 2000 miles in it threw it's turbo which was an £840 hit.

I was cautious in my first year of 944 ownership and just did the necessary bits; belts, tyres, service, etc, which came to £750. Now the car has proved itself I have lavished more money on it this year and have spent around £2,200. although over half of that was getting the Sills done and having my belts done again (twice!) due to a cracked Cam cover.

So 2 year's motoring for around £3k, which if you take depreciation (or lack of) into account is about the same, if not cheaper than the run-rate on my old SAABs, and much, much cheaper than my Wife's 7 series that we have just traded in (for a 535D M Sport!) which depreciated at an astonishing £500/month over the past 3 years

 

[simkin911]

Very reasonable and good news all round really. It's probably a hit or miss. Some buying at this price will get a good deal and others will get a horror show. I've come to the conclusion that ALL are going to require some work (or is someone going to pop up and say their car is perfect - like it left the factory!) but it's the nature and extent of work that mostly determines the sale/purchase price.

 

[ukmastiff]

I'm really glad you posted your story as this is one of my pet hates. Every time someone says
" ooh don't buy a cheap one it will end up costing you a fortune theyre not worth it " it makes my blood boil. Classic example , the other day a 944 S2 which was up for 2500 with a good history was snapped up by a dealer ( I suspect for 2200 maybe ?) , it immediately went on sale at just over 4,000.

So this car which was obviously " bound to end up costing you a fortune " must by their logic suddenly becomes a potentially relaible car just because a cheeky chappie has slapped around 80 to 100 percent on the price.

There are loads of examples of this of late including 968's as well.

A well 'picked' cheap 944 is the car bargain of the decade in my book , I'm proud of you []

Mas

 

[red leader]

I too picked up a 944 S2 for cheap money £1200... but needed work.. Clutch.. belts and while i was there a cam chain and service. Got the clutch from Alister £75 belts£35 cam chain and pads £47. service parts £40. 2 days to do myself F.O.C Fully sorted S2 for £1400 well chuffed

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Fortunately, I work in the motor trade so I don't expect a particularly big bill.

That does help. My bill this week for some brake re-furbs and a few other bits will be more than you paid for your car, and it needs a service in a few months as well.

There will be a much greater divide in the future between people who work on their own cars and those of us who have to pay the prices charged in the South East for labour and VAT. I've noticed a growing number of posts here over the years along the lines of "I can't justify spending that much on a car only worth £xxx". I know their pain, but Jeremy's post above does put it in to context.

 

[supersport]

I paid £1900 for my 944 which is used daily and now had for 18 months and to date it has cost me:

4 x Falcon tyres £400
1 over priced service kit £42
Rear brake discs + pads + clean up £487
Little bit of welding on sills £150
1 x Windscreen washer pump £38
1 x Brake light switch £8
MOT £50
Oil £30
Clutch Master or Slave cylinder £100 fitted.
1 x overpriced Hand brake nob £16

I think quite reasonable as some of those things are general wear and tear.

 

[zcacogp]

I'll echo what McNulters said. A story such as this, from red leader:

ORIGINAL: red leader
I too picked up a 944 S2 for cheap money £1200... but needed work.. Clutch.. belts and while i was there a cam chain and service. Got the clutch from Alister £75 belts£35 cam chain and pads £47. service parts £40. 2 days to do myself F.O.C Fully sorted S2 for £1400 well chuffed

... would be eye-wateringly expensive had he needed to pay for the work to be done, and bought new parts at the going rate.

£75 for a clutch would become the thick end of a bag of sand, fitted.
£35 for belts would have become another £500 or so.
Cam chain and pads ... well, I could go on.

(I'd be interested to know why you paid so little for those parts red leader; I presume they were second-hand, but looked to be in good condition when they were stripped from the donor car?)


Oli.

 

[red leader]

Yes clutch was second hand but had only done 8000 miles. As for the rest of the parts being in the motor trade I get a good discount on the parts. Even more when I said it was my car.. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41022&id=170905179600624 bit of a blog on the car

 

[TheFiend]

I've had my £1400 944 for 2 years now, and done 22,000 miles in it so far...

Not counting the hit and run damage, mechanically it has only needed an alternator replacement ( £25 on ebay ) and a OSF Wishbone (£300), a small hose, 2 tyres, a couple of bulbs, a distibutor cap and spark plugs, filter and oil - about £600 over 2 years.

It now looks better and drives a lot better than when I got it....

The belts will need done in about 12 months time....

 

[jasonp]

hiya, i do no spannering whatsoever, i dont have the skills,insight,time,tools and not a clue what to do, so i am off to the specialists for even the most minor things but i wouldnt have it any other way, in over two years since my s2 arrived i have spent close to £3,000 but most of that amount was my choice, going for prevention and safety, i will soon spend another large chunk on colour correction with a front end respray, i believe my sills are "ok" but will attend to those if needed, again this is by choice, my s2 is now at 166,000 miles and i will never get back what i have paid out but i dont care cos i luv the car, i was supposed to get a daily driver a while back and after driving a few other cars i couldnt wait to get back to my s2 and i will continue to lavish money on her until she sadly passes away or the head gasket goes[] and then i will buy another s2 or 968, long live the 944 love affair!! cheers jason p

 

[colin944]

Hi folks. I've just read all of the above posts with great interest.I try to do as much of the work on my car as I possibally can.However some jobs are beyond my skills at the moment,but I will learn how to do them by reading and asking people who know and have done the tasks.I would think that the point of a club and a forum is to help each other to keep our cars in the best possible condition and preserve them for the future.I would very happily help any member who was stuck,I would not do the job for them but help them to do it themself.That way we all learn. You can go to any tool store or halfords and buy a basic set of tools that would cover most jobs for £100-£200 pounds. Put in 3 or so hours onb a job and youve saved enough in labour to pay for them.You still have to go to a specialist sometimes for the jobs which are really hard, but most things including brakes, supension, clutch and exhausts can be done in a day at most by you.So don't be afraid if you are an intelegent person you can work out most jobs with the help of a good manual.Get out there and start doing it yourself.then you will learn to love you car more than you already do.

 

[sbloxxy]

Thanks everyone for your comments.
Thats kind of the point I was trying to make: buying a cheap 944 is not necessarily all about imminent financial disaster and unreliability.
I think its accepting that these are old and relaitively complicated cars and most of us will alway have a mental list of jobs to be done.

Wherever I go, people look at you as though you've just turned up in something a bit special, despite the fact that their anonomous 2 year old eurobox costs 4 times the price and loses more in deprecaition per year than I actually paid for mine.
Its still simply a lot of car for the money.

 

[supersport]

ORIGINAL: sbloxxy


Wherever I go, people look at you as though you've just turned up in something a bit special, despite the fact that their anonomous 2 year old eurobox costs 4 times the price and loses more in deprecaition per year than I actually paid for mine.
Its still simply a lot of car for the money.

This quite an interesting point. When I bought our 911 people in the office thought I had spent £70K on a car rather than the £14.5K that I actually did. Now that I have two Porsches it is worse. One chap at work said that we could never go anywhere in my car now. My two cars cost a tad under £16.5K which is about the same a Ford Focus or well specced Fiesta.

No one bats an eyelid when the lowliest chap in the office pitches up in a brand new one of these or comments that he will probably kiss good bye to at best half the value in the next three years. Had the 911 for six years now and with a little tidying up I suspect I would get close to what I paid for it and the same with the 944 which I have improved no end since I got it. All this just shows you how other perceive you with out actually thinking about it.

 

[Spy]

This is a really interesting thread. I think this would make a great Porsche Post article, summarising the common issues members have experienced and the relevant costs. Over all, given the prices these cars are selling at, they do look like very affordable Porsches, even with the maintennace expenses.

 

[235tonyw]

Hi Red Leader,
I like your style checked out the pic's on face book look's in good nick for £1200 buy, I appreaciate you getting trade prices but was wondering if the belts etc were genine porsche or not? I know Porsche 944 & 924 parts especially (lots from VW) come from various manufactures and found an alternative list here on the forum 3 pages of 944 parts from original suppliers eg Distrbutor cap from Porsche circa £44 from GSF £20 same manufacturer.
But I have to say £35 for the belts was cheap? I and no doubt many others would appreaciate being pointed in the right direction for saving money on parts even if we have to pay the trade to fit them?
I hope you enjoy your S2 as much as we all enjoy ours?

Regards

 

[235tonyw]

Hi Colin,

I agree with your attitude & like you do a lot myself, unfortunately the real problem for many of us is the time and a reasonable work space to undertake the work. Most of my tinkering takes place outside so it needs to be a dry weekend day, last biggish job was changing my drivers side door handle c/w lock (the one fitted, key didn't fit) and on the face of it not a long job - wrong! 1st issue getting door panel off as the plastic fixing points had been broken out someone had used silicone mastic to secure the speaker section! Once surgically removed I discovered the tricky part of unclipping the door latch linkage ball - you can see, it getting at it was something else! Once removed after several attempts removing replacing the handle easy, reconnecting that linkage a different story I lost count of the number of attempts before success! Total time approx 5 hours! I still have the near side central locking motor to sort out so waiting for spring! I don't know if doing that job on a coupe is easier but it wasn't on a cab!
regards

 

[Pastry]

last belts on mine were continental branded from euro car parts.

ive been adding up costs for my car over the last 2 years;

fuel ~£2000 (conservative estimate)
insurance £900 (paid til 2012)
servicing/parts/mot/tyres £930

so servicing has made up less than 25% of my costs, and overall the car has cost ~2000 a year, on a 5000 mile policy.

 

[red leader]

I too used Continental belts.. Been using them for years and never had a problem.. Always my first choice when ordering for any car.

 

[Eldavo]

Continental timing belt from GSF was under £12 2 weeks ago!