86 Porsche 944 (nt) vs. 87 e30 325iS

[RobertK]

An old friend of mine stopped by this weekend while I was having horrible issues with removing my transmission and was trying to talk me into buy his 86 944 non-turbo Porsche and he would trade straight up for my e30 and all the parts I have bought for it so far. All the 944 needs is an engine and I was able to find a non-turbo replacement engine for $650. I did a little research though and found that the 86 944 non-turbo makes less hp at the crank then the M20 2.5 does and revs lower. The 944 non-turbo is also a heavier chasis (around 2700lbs).

Does anyone here have any experience with the Porsche 944 or Porsche in general? What do you guys know as far as reliability, known issues, handling, etc.

I asked one friend and he mentioned that the 944 was the "Boxster of the 80's" or more or less a poor mans Porsche.

[Jarvis]

My roomate has an n/a 944.
It handles well and is 5x more attractive than an E30 in my opinion. But it's less practical and parts are more expensive. Sports coupes/sedans and legit sports cars can't really be compared.

[terrybpp]

I have owned 3 p-cars so far. A 1980 911, a 1976 914, and a 944 non-turbo and by far the most unreliable shit box was the 944. Constantly breaking small parts, head gasket problems, 3 water pumps. Be prepared to spend an average of $200-$300 a month in bullshit maintence. And SLOW compared to the 911. Don't even think of trying to turbo it, you might as well buy a turbo. You also have to have tiny hands because everything is impossible to reach.

On the plus side the car handled excellent and was very comfortable. Audi designed engine.

[screamingbmwe30]

get one and slam a ford sohc 2.3 turbo engine in it. or better yet

http://www.renegadehybrids.com/LS-1/...ersionkit.html[/url]

[E30godz]

christ, they put that in everything nowadays

[screamingbmwe30]

well, yeah. cheap,powerful,light

too bad im not a chevy fan =(
and ford doesnt make a reasonably priced aluminum block v8

[Rob]

what terry said, dont waste your money/time

[Mtriple]

I too have recently had an offer to trade my E30 for an 87 944 turbo. I was very interested at first being that the car dynoed at 349rwhp and is in very nice shape. I have been doing some lurking over at Rennlist and these cars appear to be maintenance nightmares. Just to give you an idea, the motor has to come out of the car in order to replace the clutch!

While I still have not made up my mind(I'm leaning against it), I would highly recommend that you do some digging before you take the plunge.

[rwh11385]

From the vanished Ted Anthony:

DasAuto325 (10:45:35 PM): fuck that
DasAuto325 (10:45:59 PM): you will not find any support for front engine Porsches from me
DasAuto325 (10:46:10 PM): they are maintinence night-mares
DasAuto325 (10:46:33 PM): let me mput it this way
DasAuto325 (10:46:44 PM): clutch on N/A 944 = 11hrs
DasAuto325 (10:46:52 PM): clutch on 944T = 22hrs
DasAuto325 (10:47:09 PM): belts are a PITA to change
DasAuto325 (10:47:27 PM): and they are a fuckin pain to work on

[Erick]

Wow havent heard from Ted in a long while. Good to know his view hasnt changed much :P

[RobertK]

It seems that someone mentioned the maintenance problems when I looked into these before I just was not sure.

22hrs to replace a clutch! Engine has to come OUT of the car!

[AdironRider]

Youd be much better off with the e30

[DaN]

I've driven and worked on one before, what a turd.
E30 for life!

[diegom6]

bit off topic but what is the main difference between 944 vs 928 ? looks similar in shape but has different shape at the same time, I never undertood why two similirar cars, or the 944 was the new model/replaced the 928?

:oops:

[terrybpp]

The 928 was introduced around the same year as the 924-944 model. The cars are very different. The 944 was a poor mans Porsche for the time. The 928 was very high tech and extremely quick and very expensive ($50k in the mid 80's). 928 was a V8 300hp all aluminum. Built for top speed (I think around 170 mph). Touring type suspension.

No comparison between the two.