J Berk

Arash

You did very well then (re: $11k)...I have seen a few sub-10k cars around but they are mostly rats....yours is a beaut!

Jay Gratton

My friend who works on Porsches for a living always says stay away from any Porsche that ends in the number 8! Does that help? (Go with the S2)

KLR

I'll throw in another 2 cents. You can't really go wrong with either, and for your intended use they would offer a pretty similar experience. The 968 is preferable given the added power, more attractive styling, and the fact that they are newer. At the end of the day, though, the differences between the 968 and a 944S2 are fewer than between a 964 and a 993. The 968 was named as such for marketing reasons -- it was originally intended to be called the 944S3 and this is pretty much what it is. Same suspension, largely the same motor, basically the same interior, etc. I would be inclined to decide based on what you can find for sale. If I found an S2 in perfect condition with a freshly upgraded, $4k track tweeked suspension, I would take that over a 968 that has been some secretary's daily driver for a decade and needs sorting to be reliable in a DE environment.

Having said all of this, I would be sure to drive a 951 as well. A lightly modified 951 like mine is very reliable and the difference in maintenance costs between a 951 and 16v are pretty modest in reality. A clutch job takes longer on a 951, headers can crack, and the turbos eventually need to be replaced. But, a cracked head on an S2 or 968 is a $5k proposition. At the end of the day, when I look back on the maintenance expenditures on my car back to 1996 (as far as I have records for it), there is very little that would have been different if it were an S2. A clutch job might have been a few hundred $ less, the SFR headers that I put in to replace cracking originals could have been skipped, and the electric turbo waterpump wouldn't have had to have been replaced. OTOH, the head freshening would have been more expensive and I would have had to have done the chain ramps on a 16v. Not much of a difference.

PorscheDude1

The cam service (chain and pads) on a 16V is less than $300 including labor.

FRporscheman

Joe, thanks! I got the car for 10k and it was in fantastic shape. The PO had 6 968s at the time... The good part about buying a car from a collector is they know how to take care of them. The bad part is, they usually strip all the goodies off for their other cars, like belly pans, batwings, uncracked fog lights, etc. Fine with me if I get a good car for a good price. I did all my own work, so the $1500 has just been for parts/toys, I've had the car for over 2 years.

KLR, I agree, I think a sorted 951 is reliable, and the availability and better cost of parts makes it a good track car candidate.

Smokiemon, that's a fair price, but only on the 968. The S2 tensioner assembly must also be replaced during the service, that's another $300! When I serviced my car, it was $82 for two pads, $16 for the chain, and a few bucks for some o-rings and copper crush washers - about $100 parts. Add 300 for the S2. Not that it's a huge deal! Basically, do it once and never worry about it again. Someone with an S2 please correct me if I'm wrong!

Riff

The top pad of chain tensioner of the S2 is readily available, but the bottom one is not. I have changed the tensioner on mine 2x in the time 11 yrs of ownership, probably could have just changed the top. Back when I first bought the car, the top pad was not even available seperately. I have never changed the chain.

Cone_eater

951. They have a very good base to build on. You will spend thousands less buying a good one. Also 951 parts are easy to get a hold of and if you are racing it isn't if you will break... it's when. If you have any kind of luck like mine it will break at the worst time so the easier you can get the parts the better.
I don’t know about anyone else but I love big kid go-carts! That’s all a 944, 924S, or 951 is.

rdhayward

To each his/her own. But my $.02 worth is that you couldn't give me a 944; not if you expected me to keep it, that is. I've always seen the 924/944 line as AMC Pacer of the Porsche namebrand, and I was happy to see the refinements in the 968 when it was introduced.

My late mother (who was German) went back to the old country to buy a new 944 in 1983. I took care of that car for her for much of the time she had it. But when she bought the 968 in 1992, I was glad to see the refinements although it still seemed like a rinky-dink Porsche to me compared to the 930 Turbo's and 928-S4's of the day.

Then again, a few months ago I went to Mid-Ohio to watch a young friend of mine drive his 944, and listened to him harp on how much he would like to have a 968. And this is why I've kept my mother's 968 and am now restoring it cosmetically and mechanically. I'm going to drive the shizznitz out of this thing!

Luis de Prat

Aside from the Varioram, front and rear bumper redesign, exactly what refinements are you referring to versus the 944S2?

The turbo-nosed S has less aerodynamic drag, weighs less and costs less than a 968. Sounds like a pretty good proposition for a track car.

alex

He was probably comparing the early car to the 968, lots of updates (interior & suspension come to mind) between those cars.

I've said it before, but here you go: I've had 3 944s, each time a newer model (84, then 85.5, now 88). I've always liked the improvements with each model, and I've always wished they were faster. Get the 968.

J Berk

I think it's interesting to compare....but I assume also that he was talking about the early cars.

My S2 is light-years more refined than my old 84 NA was!

alex

I assumed as much from his post regarding his experience with 944s.

rdhayward

I do apologize if I ruffle some feathers. I wouldn't even keep this 968 if it weren't a piece of my mom's life. She died a few months ago, just after buying a new Mercedes SLK-350 as a birthday gift to herself. She still had the 1974 Jaguar XKE-V12 convertible she bought new just after finishing medical school, with just 53k on the odo; I've just sold it to www.classicjaguar.com and will be delivering it to them next week, too dilapidated for me to reasonably restore.

So the old gal had a penchant for fun cars. I'm gonna pay respects by having fun in this 968, and maybe I'll see a few of you racing past me on the road somewhere. Peace, out...

CARNEXUS

I have a 1990 S2 with a 968 engine for sale PM me, it's the one in my avatar. You get the S2 price range with the 968 power.

Jfrahm

The 944S2 (and 32v 928) bottom tensioner pad is available now for a reasonable price.

I've had two S2s and now have a 968 cabrio. I think the S2 is better bang for the buck. On the track the 968 6-speed is probably better but on the street I feel the extra gear is not much to write home about. I do like the power of the 968, it feels stronger over the whole RPM band. Not a lot stronger, but it's there. Looks are in the eye of the beholder but the 968 is a lot less common, at least. I've seen more M030 968s than I have S2s and I think I've heard of more LSD equipped 968s as well. Offhand I do not know the price difference to add an LSD unit to either trans, which I think you would want on the track.

Is the extra gear and 15% more HP worth the $3-4k? For many the answer is yes.
-Joel.