Dave

The weight difference is only a few lbs, the '84 is pretty heavy for an NA (more steel than the later cars and adds PS to the '83) and the '87S isn't much heavier than the '86 (the lightest NA). I found a higher number for the NA than Tifo did (2840 Lb) and couldn't find a number for the S but 50-90 Lb is a good guess.
As per Tifo's post, the S gearbox has a steeper 1st, 2nd and 3rd than the NA but the NA has stiffer gearing in 4th and 5th. I have to admit to being confused by the comment about the final drive ratio, the NA and S both have a final ratio of 3.89:1, I don't recall the number but the turbo's final is numerically lower than the NA/S.

tifosiman

I pulled those numbers right from the factory manual. I guess it could be off though.........

Dave

More unsprung weight would cause this. I'm guessing your '84 had cookies or Fuchs on it, pretty much ALL the newer wheels are heavier and since they are almost all larger the weight is further from the center of the wheel. Get lighter wheels and the S will have more of the feel of the earlier car, of course if you have ABS there is a little extra mass that isn't helping the handling.

Dave

You know how it goes, two factory sources rarely match! (eg Guards and India red are both mentioned by the factory for '86) Either way it is a pretty small weight difference when viewed as a percentage.

Porsche-O-Phile

My early '85 has front & rear sway bars, although the rear one is kind of small (I'll probably end up upgrading it to a larger one). Mine came with the "factory handling package" so this might've been an option as opposed to standard equipment on the later "S" models. So an early car MIGHT have a sway bar, might not.

Jim 944S

Dan...

35? as in "hundred" right?

I paid 4500 $ for mine about four years ago. All records (although those just indicate that the PO paid to have something done, it doesn't guarantee that it was Done correctly), All leather, etc. Runs great.

Wonderful car!!! Good Luck and, hopefully, welcome to the double cam club!

Jim 1987 944S

Tom

Rear sway bars were an option on both cars. My 87 S feels more powerful that my 84. It also has 16" wheels as opposed to 15" on the 84 but 15" Phone dials were standard 944S. I think the performance difference is within driver difference a good driver in the 84 will beat an average driver in the S. I noticed that I had more headroom in the earlier car and I seem to sit closer to the windshielt with the later dash car. Brakes on the S are a bit more prone to fade. The S likes to run more freely in the upper (3500+) RPM range. The big maintenence difference is paying attention to the chain tensioner ($300 every 100,000 mi). S owners should have lurking in the back of our heads that the cam gear sprockets will eventually wear out.

Tom

Forgot to mention the climate control on the newer cars is a great improvement but the 944S has put me through sunroof gera hell where I never had a problem with the "old" style on the 84.

v944god

3500 is pretty cheap, I would buy one for a family member if I found it at that price.

elvisizer

yeah, 3500 isn't bad at all. mine was $3000, and the paint is shot, and it had 215,000 miles when I bought it. of course, it did have complete maintenance records going back to the original purchase, and everything except the paint was in good shape.
i've had it for about 2 years, and i've spent about another $3000 on maintenance at 2 porsche specialist shops. (timing belt + rollers + seals, new chain tensioner, main rear seal, all new water hoses, new exhaust system from the header back, and other misc. stuff)

FormulaOne10

On a side note, I did run my S at the track with the phone dials (similar weight to the fuchs on my 84) and the handling didn't feel quite as nimble. I actually still run the phone dials with R-compund for autocross and use the 996 wheels for street and DE. I did run a good deal of negative camber on my 84 and I'm thinking that it could also be the culprit.

Redlyne_mr2

143hp..I always thought the NA's had 163....which would make sense because I dynoed 131whp which thus makes 143hp undrated..does anyone have any feedback?

944Play

ROW cars (10.6[?]:1 CR) made 163.
USA cars (9.5:1 CR) made 143 (claimed - improvements were made without raising the numbers).
The 1988 world market engine (10.2:1 CR) made 158.