RS 2.7

I am pretty mad at myself right now. About 5-6 months ago I was looking for a 89-91 rx-7 turbo II for my next car. However all this time i was tempted to get a 944 for several reasons (i think everyone knows these reasons--these cars are great) but what i was worrying about was maintenance costs.

to make a long story short i couldnt find any decent 944s to buy (or turbo II's), so i settled on a 1990 NA rx-7. while owning this car i stumbled accross a BEAUTIFUL '84 944(the one i own now). white fuchs, perfect body and paint, excellent condition overall and i couldnt pass it up so i sold the NA RX-7 and bought the 944.

everyone told me i couldn't afford to maintain it because I am only 17 and i didnt have a lot money and not a really high paying job, but i guess i set out to prove them wrong so i bought it.

anyway since owning it looks like i have learned my lesson
i should have known that this car was going to be expensive to maintain.

so far...
-cam belts $450 parts and labor
-water pump $250 parts and labor
-e-brake $20
-intake manifold gasket $45

and that isnt all. sure a lot of you might be saying that is nothing compared to what you have spent, but keep in mind i am young and have VERY little money. what makes this even worse is that all those costs above were with the porsche technician at the dealership doing the work for me after hours for cheaper, and the owner of the dealership now told me that i have to get maintenance done during hours ($70 an hour )

what should i do? obviously we both know these cars are reliable but things are always going wrong with them, and this probably wont stop.

right now im looking to sell, because i dont know what i will do when the clutch goes, or something else major

i dont really have the tools or the knowledge to do the major things myself either.

SANDOVAL

Those are pretty minor or typical repairs for ANY used car you will buy. That is just part of owning a car close to 20 years old. No matter what car you would have purchased it is a gamble and things just happen. I think you are being to hard on your self there was no lesson to be learned other than if you want a car that won't have maintenence issues buy a new car with a warranty. You pay for it one way or another.

No one says you HAVE to take your car to a dealer for minor repairs. If you can not afford the extra $20 or $30 an hour take your car to a regular mechanic for the minor stuff or DIY.

Paul C 944

Time to learn,..............as much as you can! ALL cars cost a lot of money to maintain.Try to find a local independent mech in your area,at least if you have to have work done it should be less than dealers.Good luck do what you can to keep it!

951Badger

One of the things I tell people about my Porsche when they say "Oh, it'll be in the shop all the time", is that it is extremely reliable BUT when it DOES need repair or maintaining, it can be pricey. It is a Porsche. It is a fact that, to maintain a high performance German automobile, it will cost some money.

When I was 17 I drove a 1977 Chevy Impala (like the cops drove way back when). It had a dent in the side and the seats were torn but it started everyday and, as much as I abused it (no oil change for...well did I EVER change the oil???) it ran forever! You're only 17...sell the car and buy something cheap and reliable. You will enjoy your Porsche FAR FAR more when you can afford it. I LOVE my 951 and part of the reason is that I know if it needs something...I can now afford it.

When I was 17 I was more concerned with having the money to eat at Taco Bell...not maintain a Porsche.

Good luck!

Tom R.

when i was 17 i was trying to restore a 10 year old firebird convertible that i am still trying to restore 23 years later, while driving a POS VW dasher, pos beetle etc I stress the POS part.

Good thing my girlfriends parents had two jags and her housekeeper had a formula.

and unlike badger they didnt have taco bell or wendys... it was the big M or the king that topped my needs.

Yes you are in over your head but you only live once so you might as well live it up!!

M758

Well, those repairs don't seem so bad.

Porsches are not cheap cars. Never have been never will be. The 944 normally aspirtated is one of the cheapest Porsches, but is still a Porsche.

How much did you spend on the car to start with...

3k??? 4k??? 5k????
Reason I ask is because and diecent daily driver 944 will end up costing about 5k after acouple years. Why things need to be replaced. Time and miles wears on parts and like any other cars they need to be replaced. Problems is the Porsches are not know for their tolernace to non-maintence. Some cars you can beat the snot out of never doing any maintence and they still run. Forget preventative maintence and upgrades for common wear items in a Porsche and the car will fail.
You can't expect to spend $3500 on 944 and never need to spend anymore on repairs. If $3500 is already tight for you then you will never be able to keep the maintence up and the car die.

For a $3500 car figure at least another $1500 in maintence in the first year just to bring it up to standard. More if the Previous Owner was cheap and never replaced stuff on time.

Also $70 /hr is downright cheap for a Dealer. One around is at $96 /hr... Heck even Honda dealers are at $72-80 /hr. Labor is VERY expensive for any car. Porsche parts ARE more expensive that most cars due to lower volume.

TaboII

Hey RS

There are plenty of us out here to assist you in fixing most of not all the problems that come up with your car. There may even be some of us out in your area who wouldn’t mind lending you a hand and fixing what ever may break. Forget the dealer. When I was 17 I could only be found under the hood of my 68 Stang and it spent most of its life in the drive way till I had enough money to start fixing it up. Ask SC for a new set of basic Metric tools for Xmas and get to work. You have the support of thousands to get information from and well I haven’t found anything that I couldn’t fix with a simple question or two if I was lost. Don’t give up just yet. Make it your challenge and go for broke “Sorry for the pun” you not going to find another car out there to buy that isn’t going to cost you in one way or another. Might as well go in style with a little punch.

Well just my .02 but I would stop wasting money on mech for simple repairs we can walk you through most.

Good luck.

951Tom

Spend some time on the website below and you'll see that the 944 is waaaaay cheaper to maintain than a RX-7 turbo.

<a href="http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/lemon_site/default.htm" target="_blank">http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/lemon_site/default.htm</a>

Bob S. 1984 Silver

Sorry, guys....

As much as we love our cars, I think that sometimes this clouds our judgement to a certain extent. We can quote all the old axioms like "These cars were made to be driven", and "What did you expect? It's a Porsche", and a thousand others. Just look at the number of recurring problems in this bb itself, and the costs involved in rectifying them. I drive my '44 much less than I probably should since I live in a desert and being stranded in the middle of nowhere on a summer afternoon is not something I would look forward to. So, the '44 becomes a fall/winter car, and the driver is always equipped with a celphone. True, some contributors state their specific vehicle has given them little or no trouble, but in many of these cases when one reads the number of changes/modifications that have been done to the vehicle, either by the PO or the CO, this simply means that problems were headed off by a plethora of new parts at a cost far exceeding the value of the vehicle.

The comment about the age of the car comes into play. True, my specific vehicle is 19 years old. It has new discs/pads/rebuilt calipers/flex lines/water pump/idlers/balljoints; all the things I feel necessary to maintain a car this old. However, I had a ancient (1986) Ford Station Wagon when I lived "back east" that was my winter car for over ten years. When I moved in 2001, the people who bought my house wanted that car!! I got $500 for the poor old thing. 141k miles on it. Never had the heads off, transmission was still fully operational, original suspension (obviously had new shocks), and the other necessary maintenance items. The body had terminal cancer, but the thing ran like new. Even passed emissions. Complete records were handed along with the keys to the new owners. My wife sold her 1987 Sundance when we moved, 137k on it, owned for seven years, former fleet car. Replacement items over the years she owned it? Water pump, timing belt, radiator. Period.(yeah, brakes and exhaust..those are maintenance)

The point? If one has limited resources, one must take into account their own willingness to study manuals and learn to do much of the work themselves, or find a vehicle that is less likely to require massive repairs. They must also realize that the rarer the vehicle, the more it will cost for parts and labor, since economies of scale (for the parts) and expertise (training) have associated costs.

Owning any Porsche will be more expensive in the long run than owning a piece of Far Eastern or Detroit iron. It's a fact of life. And, unless it is one of the more "desirable" models, the cost of maintenance will far exceed the value of the vehicle.

If, tomorrow, I found I had won a sweepstakes prize of a new Ferrari, I would probably sell it immediately. I know I do not have the financial resources to maintain such a vehicle (let alone license it in AZ since the annual fee is based on book value!!)

Flame on..Nomex skivvies installed

Cheers!!!

GOBOGIE

[quote]Originally posted by SANDOVAL:
<strong>Those are pretty minor or typical repairs for ANY used car you will buy. That is just part of owning a car close to 20 years old. No matter what car you would have purchased it is a gamble and things just happen. I think you are being to hard on your self there was no lesson to be learned other than if you want a car that won't have maintenence issues buy a new car with a warranty. You pay for it one way or another.

No one says you HAVE to take your car to a dealer for minor repairs. If you can not afford the extra $20 or $30 an hour take your car to a regular mechanic for the minor stuff or DIY.</strong><hr></blockquote>

READ THE ABOVE AGAIN... I COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TaboII

You can let life guide you or guide your own life. Make a decision despite all our opinions and go with it. Either way you win because it is what you want to do.

Again good luck.


There are some that lead, there are others that follow and some just simply get out of the way.

Lillis Long

[quote]Originally posted by RS 2.7:
<strong>
i dont really have the tools or the knowledge to do the major things myself either.</strong><hr></blockquote>

When it comes down to it you have to make a choice. You can either learn how to work on these cars yourself, or sell the car and get somthing easy and economical.

The fact that you are 17 doesnt mean you cant keep your car. There are a number of guys on this board who are young and doing all the work themselves. For most it is the only way they can afford the car.

Dont get me wrong, these are not "easy" cars to work on but plenty of people have learned how by reading these forums and asking advice. We are all here to help and more then happy to lend a hand when possible. The real question is, are you willing to spend the time and energy neccessary to keep the car up or would you rather be playing nintendo?


PS: One benefit to doing the work yourself, if you can fix a porsche, you can fix almost anything ;-)

AndyK

I feel your pain...with a kid on the way, and a wife that will not be working for a while (income cut almost in half), it hurts to have to spend $500 on motor mounts!

Thing is, if you sell the car for $4000, what would you buy that wouldn't need maintainance? A 1992 Civic? I just spent over $900 fixing my dad's '90 Accord--guess what? Timing belts, water pump, o2 sensor! Same stuff that needs to be done to a Porsche. Sure, it would have cost me a little more for the 944....but it KILLED me to have to put that much money into an old Honda! A Porsche is a work of art--and a worthy money-pit! And unless you abuse the car, once you fix it, it will be reliable.

That said, if you buy a 944 that NEEDS a lot of maint. to bring it up to code, you are in for a heap of bills!

Tough choice! But bottom line--look at what you can get for the money if you sell the 44, THEN check the maintainance schedule of that car!

Tabor

I have to agree with Bob S. However:

Is it worth it to have a job JUST to pay for your Porsche? Maybe. It is for me.

Can you afford to pay for your Porsche working part time? Maybe. I do, but there are times when I don't drive it for a month.

I am surprised that Lillis had such nice things to say about Porsches (she lives with me).

PS- Working on my Porsche is a lot easier than working of some other vehicles I have worked on (Honda, Toyota, Etc). Parts aren't necessarily more expensive either.

ribs

Having owned 2 rx-7's ('81 w/ '89 n/a motor and an '88 turbo II) and now owning a 951, I feel I can give you a perspective that most here that haven't been able to own both of these automobiles can't. In fact, I am looking for a cheap 2nd gen rx-7 (preferably '89+) once I sell my all-trac, which should be within a week or two. I owned a turbo II for a year and a half, and in that time, I had 2 things go wrong...a starter and a clutch. It had grinding syncros and low compression in 1 rotor so it wasn't up to full power, but it ran and ran good, and only left me stranded once (the clutch). Then I let a friend drive it and because of the bad syncros he was able to shift it into 2nd gear going over 90 MPH and blew the motor up. I sold it for $300 with a blown motor.

Anyways, if you get a turbo II (I kind of wish I bought another one and hooked it up instead of getting a 951, but then again, I love my 951 too) there is a TON of stuff you can do with it. They are more moddible for cheaper than 951's (all though you will be able to get more power for cheaper initally with a 951), and there is a bigger aftermarket. There are only 4 or 5 moving parts in the entire mechanical portion of the motor (2 rotors, output shaft, output shaft bearings, and maybe another thing or two), as opposed to 50 or 60 in our 8V cars (crank, rod bearings, main bearings, rods, pistons, valves, lifters, springs, cams, etc. etc.) so the only thing that normally goes wrong with the motor is they run lean, detonate, and blow apex seals, or they overheat and warp the rotor housings, both requiring a rebuild. If you tune your motor properly and always use good gas, you shouldn't have any detonation problems, and if you keep on top of the cooling system (or put an upgraded radiator in) you shouldn't overheat the motor. If you are willing to foot a $10,000 bill for parts, you can drop a 20B cosmo 3 rotor motor in and with a couple of bolt ons you can easily push 400 HP to the wheels, and if you go all out on that motor, 700 HP is attainable on pump gas.

I did a search in the archives, and found an old thread you started with a lot of good information:

<a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=001827" target="_blank">http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=15&t=001827</a>