Hostile 17

Greetings,

I've been looking at a Porsche 944 with nearly 400,000 miles on it for $2600. The body is actually in pretty good shape (some minor rust in small areas) and it appears to be in good running condition. The interior is a mess, however, with several cosmetic repairs needed - in fact, it could use a whole new interior.

The car was listed at $4000 and I worked it down to $2600 due to the very high mileage. I know it will need work and has no real resale value, due to it's age.

I've never owned a Porsche before. Is this a fair price?
--
John

"It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man."

- from Deep Thoughts
by Jack Handey

exc911ence

I wouldn't take the car for free... but I scare easily. I bet you could find a mint 944 with reasonable mileage for around $4K if you tried so putting dime one into the 400K-miler would just be a waste. Of course, if you could nurse the thing to a million miles, maybe Porsche would give you a new car like both Volvo and Ford did in the past.

Mongo

I dunno where you live but here in the People's Republic of California, we offer owners with cars like that 900 bucks! And we make them spec cars!

Andy

thf944

i saw an 83 with over 500k on it once. it sold for about $2000 i think and that was at least 8 years ago. it didn't have a spot of rust on the body. some of the paint was peeling off and the interior had seen better days, but mechanicals had been cared for.

Friendan

no more than $1000 man. Don't even waste your time. $4000 starting price? What the hell was he smoking? California is the 944 capital of the world, so if a used 944 with 400k miles is $4000 in California, well then that must mean my car is worth, what...oh, an easy $70k-$75k???

Devia

Seller must be on crack! You can get a good, running 944 out here for $2000, with just over 100K miles on it!

Pass, bad deal, bad deal!

You can find running 951s for under $5K out here.

- Julie

Dave

I don't see your location, it can make a big difference. Cars seem to go for half as much in california as they do elsewhere.
That said, stay away from ANY 944 with ANY rust on it! 944s were among the fiest cars to get galvanized bodies and under normal circumstances they should not rust. Here in the land of road salt there are almost NO American or Asian cars from the '80's left on the road, 10-15 years is all you get before they rust away to nothing. OTOH, it's rare to find a Porsche from the 80's that has any rust on it. My daily driven, year 'round, never garaged, 944 has a small rust bubble on the passenger door where a dent was improperly repaired before I got the car (I've had it >5 years). I have a spare door that will be installed when it gets warmer out.

The only place on a 944 that should EVER rust is under the battery! There are places where $2600 might be a reasonable price for a very high milage car (like here) but a trashed interior on top of it is pushing it and any rust would kill the deal. Here that would be a track candidate and $1500-2000 would be the top price assuming there are records and everything is up to date.

Hostile 17

Thanks, guys.

Yes, I'm out here in Pennsylvania and only found two other examples of this car, priced in the $5000-6000 range. They were in good shape, while this one was not necessarily so.

I thought I might get away with doing some minor work on it, and I'd already planned to replace the timing chain for $300. The car has no service history with it, so I'm flying blind. I didn't think it'd need any more mechanical work right away, but who knows?

I guess I could get a PPI done and try to further get the price under $1500. I wasn't really looking to put thousands of dollars into a project car in any case.

So far all I'd lose is the fifty bucks I put down as a deposit. Glad I came here!

EZRider

My advice to you as a first time owner get the best example you can afford. Even with the good ones you'll find no shortage in projects These cars enjoy constant massaging and upgrades. But if you get a high mileage abused, ill maintained example then you will struggle to keep it just rolling. A car with a total interior loss is a very abused example.

Jim 944S

John...

Richard up in Orlando had a nice 1987 944S with a questionable engine that he sold for $1200. Wish I had gotten it, but am looking to buy some land and didn't have the space to put a project car.

$200 might have fixed it... $4,000 might have fixed it. You don't buy one of these for resale value. You buy and repair for your own use. Keep looking.
I don't regret a dollar of what I've spent on mine!!!

Jim 1987 944S

claw

I'll sell you my '87 NA with 167k and damn near everything replaced and I mean everything but the transaxle and engine for 4700. Owned it for the last 10 years and it is my son's daily driver. I moved on to an S2. He is heading off to college. No rust.

Hostile 17

Yeah Jim, that's really the way I approached it. I didn't expect the car would be worth anything even fixed up. But I considered it because I couldn't recall ever seeing a Porsche at that price.

It would seem that if I went back and got them to drop even further down to say $1500, it might be OK. But I really don't want to sink another $4000+ into a second vehicle. I already own a little "fun" car, a 91 Mercury Capri convertible that's great to tool around in during the summer.

My interest in this Porsche was only for the most noble of reasons - it'd be a chick magnet at my gym!

jjmson20

makes mine sound like a deal, 2000 with 123k on it

Dave

$5-6K is about right for a nice one, with current records. Maybe a little more near me, but I know there are better deals to be had in the Philly end of NJ than in the NYC end.
There is no timing chain in these cars (wouldn't work) there is a belt. The belt is serviced every 15k miles and replaced every 30-45k. Failure to maintain this leads to expensive repairs, if you don't know exactly when it was done last it should be done imediately. The waterpump should be replaced every 60k miles, if it were to fail it could take out the timing and balance belts, causing extensive damage. Again, without records it should be done imediately (as in, don't drive the car home, have it towed). These 2 items alone involve ~$600 in parts and to be done right you'll need access to the infamous "tool" (9201), or you can have a shop do it for $4-600 in labor. Clutches can be a week point in these cars too, it is a huge job to do at home (~15 hours) with $600 in parts, or about $8-900 in labor.
If the car has managed to go for 400k miles I have to believe there has been some maintanence done over the years, there will still be a lot of very tired parts in it so it may take a lot of work to keep it going. Even at $1500 and doing most of the work yourself, it would probably be cheaper to buy one of the other cars you've seen, you should be able to talk one of them down to $4500 and you are sure to put at least $3000 into a $1500 944 in the first year. You may also put $1000-1500 into a $4500-5000 944 but it won't have the bad interior or rust issues.
Put it this way, any of the cars you've mentioned will have set you back $5-7000 by the end of the first year, how many headaches do you want along the way?

Dave

Few women appreciate a fine automobile the way they used to!
A 944 will get you plenty of comments from the guys though