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We need some love for the 944!

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pixie*porsche

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What do you love about your 944?!

You don't hear nay-sayers in the MG world talking about their "lowly" B's ... and you all bought a 944 for a reason! So, what do YOU love about yours?

I'll start:

~ Mine looks absolutely gorgeous when it's been polished and you can see every reflection like a mirror.
~ The car has two personalities, it loves a B-Road yet is comfortable enough to cruise 300 miles down the motorway without you feeling frazzled!
~ Everyone seems to love the "QUATTRO" from the back of Ashes to Ashes but I think a 944 would have suited Mr. Hunt more! [:D]
~ Best car of the 80's ... no question about it.
~ No one expects me to drive a Porsche from seeing me, everyone who knows me couldn't see me in much else!
 
It is:
Great fun to drive, twisty Bs to Motorway cruising and I always get there quicker than I thought I would.
Amazingly practical - I can get my racing bike, two sets of wheels, kit and enough luggage for a weekend away in it without any problems and still loads of room for me and the boss.
Economical, I can't believe that I average between 28 and 30 mpg all the time in this car.
For a 24 year old car (in my case) I have absolutely no problems keeping up with modern day traffic, in fact most modern day traffic has a problem keeping up.
Simply beautiful to look at as well, despite the blemishes of it's 24 years without a respray.
This is a keeper.
 
Well, you could argue the 944 was Porche's greatest ever driver's car!

It's easy to overlook, but at 1,180kgs for the early cars, they're amazingly light-weight. Combine that with the famed near perfect 50-50 weight distribution of the 944 makes it a proper sportscar from the outset.

911: Unlike an endlessly tweaked people's car for example! You can't chuck an early 911 around in the same way and expect to stay out of hedgerows, while taming the inherent problem with traction control in later cars is not a driver improvement!
928: Decent handling and power, sure, but they're nearly half a tonne heavier than the early 944s! So it's a GT, not a sports car, and frankly it's not aged nearly as well either.
914: Same principle of lightweight neautral handling sportscar, but really just too slow to be a contender.
968: So they're really just an evolution of the 944, but it got fat, with fatter tires and gaining a couple of hundred kilos. I'd rather the lightweight, better handling predecessor than more power that I cannot really use. Perhaps that's the Brit in me talking.

And this one's a personal point, but given I spent a grand on mine, I'm quite happy to throw it around country lanes with the tail out in a way I couldn't bring myself to on anything more expensive!
 
ORIGINAL: Telster

And this one's a personal point, but given I spent a grand on mine, I'm quite happy to throw it around country lanes with the tail out in a way I couldn't bring myself to on anything more expensive!
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Perhaps that's where I went wrong. In seeking the ultimate 944 I lost what it was I liked about the 944, but now I couldn't go back to all the things my lux didn't have (Power, a big turbo, sports seats, working aircon, LSD, big brakes, unnecessary gauges). I traded up from the lux because I needed more power, the journey never ended and now I've ruined what I liked about the 944 :(

The 944 has been the longest obsession I've ever had about a car, nothing else has lasted more than a year (except maybe a mk2 golf) but I think like the golf I've finally passed it. I still love them but I've just moved on. Yep WUF has got to go after my exams are over.
 

ORIGINAL: DivineE

Perhaps that's where I went wrong. In seeking the ultimate 944 I lost what it was I liked about the 944, but now I couldn't go back to all the things my lux didn't have (Power, a big turbo, sports seats, working aircon, LSD, big brakes, unnecessary gauges). I traded up from the lux because I needed more power, the journey never ended and now I've ruined what I liked about the 944 :(
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Heh heh. All things I desire! I keep having to stop myself shopping for upgrades and scouring eBay for that very reason.
 
It is such a great all-rounder. Long drives of 2 or 3 hrs, no problem. Quick blat just for fun, done. Take the family on a day trip (just because), fine. Pop to the curryhouse for a take-away, slightly guilty feeling for using the car on such a short run but why not.

Mine is my only car (the wife has her own) and I use it for a bit of everything (although not a lot of anything to be fair).

As a third car it might be a bit lacking on drama/fun but as a second car it is great.
 
using mine everyday. love it!!! looks the biz, comfy, quick, and you dont see many around so has that exclusive appeal. handles brilliantly and as good on a very short journey as it is on a run.
 
Did Porsche make other cars as well????? The 944 is the best all-round sports car you can buy. In my opinion Porsche havent made as good a car since the 44 or 68. The 924- 968 model range is the best they have done since the 356.
 
Lets not get carried away here! A 911 Carrera 3.2 has buckets of character, something a bit missing from the 944 and a lot missing from the 996. A 996 is now one of the cheapest ways to access crushing power and style.
To my mind, the 944 stands up quite happily on its own merits as an everyday sports car. A difficult trick that it pulls off with aplomb.
 
Interesting replies so far [:)]

Interesting regarding the 3.2 Carrera - I've not driven one but have owned 2x 911 SCs. Have you driven an early 944, square dash, no "mod cons"? I think thats a fairer comparison than a late S2 v 3.2 Carrera?

I personally find my LUX has "adequate" power but if I do go to seek more it won't be through the turbo route - not a big fan of forced induction but each to their own, not that I can't appreciate the turbo cars .... a 996 ruined my world back when I had my first Porsche (911 SC targa) I was young and just stepped out of a B Roadster, never forget the feeling - seemed the fastest car in the world, until I was "distroyed" ... by a 996 turbo. The bloke who owned it then took me out in it and I'd never felt a rush of speed like it! [:D]
 
ORIGINAL: pixie*porsche

Interesting replies so far [:)]

Interesting regarding the 3.2 Carrera - I've not driven one but have owned 2x 911 SCs. Have you driven an early 944, square dash, no "mod cons"? I think thats a fairer comparison than a late S2 v 3.2 Carrera?

I personally find my LUX has "adequate" power but if I do go to seek more it won't be through the turbo route - not a big fan of forced induction but each to their own, not that I can't appreciate the turbo cars .... a 996 ruined my world back when I had my first Porsche (911 SC targa) I was young and just stepped out of a B Roadster, never forget the feeling - seemed the fastest car in the world, until I was "distroyed" ... by a 996 turbo. The bloke who owned it then took me out in it and I'd never felt a rush of speed like it! [:D]
Click to expand...

Yes very true point! The brakes, steering and interior are MILES apart in the early car to the heavier oval dash/4pot caliper car. Somewhere by adding a 150kg of luxury, removing the delicate feel from the brake pedal, removing the quirkiness from the dash and putting a generic modern dash plus a bit more soundproofing. Porsche created a better car and yet lost the personality of the car in exactly the same way the 996 differs to the 911 SC. The 996 or 944S2/T is a MUCH better car, but it's JUST a car not a character you can bond with. That is a rarer quality.

p.s. For your peace of mind the 996 turbo still is THAT fast[:)]. I've taken out many people who's inturpretation of fast has been re-calibrated. Best one was when I went to look at a 250hp 650-700kg kit car at the start of the year (a fiberglass nothing). I was looking for a car that could be even faster than the 996TT and yet still affordable to maintain 'the next buzz' in my pursuit of performance. I went out with the owner and he absolutely hammered this thing around the roads he knew but I just wasn't impressed, it felt gutless. It SHOULD in theory have been easily faster than the Porsche but it just wasn't in the same league! So, curious to know I went back out with him as a passenger in my 996tt over the same roads (I didn't know at all) and his words were 'I've been in some quick stuff down these roads over the years, but I've never seen those speeds!' the difference in feeling was just instantly obvious, the feeling of acceleration was immense after the torqueless kit car and we were doing 30mph more everywhere!

It was then I realised figures are one thing but in the real world there's literally nothing bar a 997 turbo or R35 GTR like the 996 turbo. With nothing but a re-map it is still the fastest every day car in the world and what's more I reckon you'd have to be in the top 10% even on a track to beat it. Plus it achieved this with 4wd, full leather, cruise control, heated seats and sat nav.. 10 years ago! It really was an engineering masterpeice. It's just a pity they engineered out the personality at the same time.
 
I asked a very similar question a while ago ...

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=440544&mpage=1&key=negative&#440544


Oli.
 
I love the fact that it is a characterful car that will happily also eat the miles, I did 378 miles in mine yesterday with no fuss

I love the fact that you can drive it like an automatic on the motorway, leaving it in 5th and still out-accelerating everything as the boost gently comes in

I love the fact that it causes a reaction (good or bad) - I feel so anonymous when I am in My Wifes Beemer!

 
I love the fact that they are pretty much bulletproof if looked after.

Mine just spent close to 4 months sitting in a dusty bodyshop yet it drove straight round to the MOT station and passed first time, and all this at 21 years old with 202,000 miles on the clock [:D]

Then I drove the nuts off her the way home and scared myself silly with the performance (Italian tune up don't you know [;)] )
 
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