951Badger

Was thinking about how special these cars are and started wondering if others have the same reasons as I do for owning one.

So...

What made you decide to go Porsche? And why did you go with your current model over the others?

My story is pretty simple. I'd always admired these cars but never really thought seriously about owning one. Several years ago, for some reason, they started catching my eye and soon after I vowed to own my own Porsche.

After years of dreaming, I finally purchased a 1985 928S Euro. Flash forward to today where I own my 1988 944 Turbo S. I'm in love.

There is something about looking out my window or into my garage and realizing I OWN that PORSCHE. It's MINE! It NEVER ceases to thrill me thinking about owning that car. I hope the feeling never goes away!

And then I drive it...Wow!

Schuey

Loved them as a kid...now as a 30-yr-old kid, I can afford one...always loved the 911 and 944, and most recently the 968...have the 944, the others will come...

KY-91C2

To me, there is no purer sports car. If you look at the interior of a Porsche, until recently, they do not have all of the extra decorations of other so called "luxury sports cars". What you are paying for is the engineering of a true sports car. You are paying for the brakes, the engine, the transmission, the performance of the car. In a nutshell the racing heritage, which flows back into their production cars.

Ron

85.5 944 NA
91 C2 Cabriolet

mrmunky

my friend recieved his family's old 944 when he got his license.. i was always jealous due to having a beat-up '93 eclipse non-turbo to look forward to when i got mine.. so flash forward to about 6 months before getting my license.. my father says something to the effect of "well i don't want you driving that piece of crap around and i just got a $7,000 bonus, so let's get you a car". my dad is a sports car guy and so am i.. so i did some research and found that the best car i could get for the money was the 944. i talked to brett and his dad, and that was it. i just waited til the right one came along and i jumped on it. i wanted a turbo but the parents agreed that my first car shouldn't be turboed.. they were probably right, but i'll most likely be moving up to a 951 for the next car, now that i have some driving experience.

so basically, it was the best car for the money. and, now that i own it.. one of the big perks is that high school girls are easily impressed by my car.. i never ever get tired of answering the question "what kind of car do you have?"
it is going to be very very hard to peel me away from the porsche marque..

for that reason, and that, and i hate driving anything but my car.. sitting in that recaro seat surrounded by my black leather cockpit, with one hand on my steering wheel and my other on the shifter that feels juuuust riight.. it's a feeling like no other. due to my blown head gasket i'm using the aforementioned crappy eclipse with the peeling paint and the loose shifter and the engine that sounds like s***.. ugh. it's not driving, it's just transportation.. know what i mean?

lol i didn't mean to write a novel there but that's my story.

thanks,
ian

crazandy

Once i hit about 15 i was looking at trucks constantly, i was going to get a toyota tacoma or a ford ranger, i swore i would never get anything but a truck, but then a little while after my 16th birthday (last september) i came across an 1989 944NA with 66000 miles. Once i saw it i knew i had to have it, so i went home and told them about it and they said no way at first (too much money) with insuarance rates and everything. It took a day or two of research and convincing my parents to let me get it, but i finally did. but maybe they were right, the clutch died on me a month after i got it, i drove it a lil rough at first, but now i've chilled out after 2700 for a new clutch cv joints and a few more things. but other than that its been a great car and plan on takin it to my grave.

ribs

I really could care less about the badge...I bought it because it was the most sports car for the money. I was basically at a crossroads and was either going to dump $7000 into my rx-7 turbo II to make it a beast (I kinda wish I did that...that would have been fun), buy a 3rd gen rx-7 (I still want one...maybe my next car), but there were no 3rd gen rx-7's in my price range when I was shopping, but then I learned more about 951's and I decided on this. I still want to buy a 2nd gen rx-7 and beast royally on it (bridgeported motor, T66 turbo, wolf3d ECU, tons of fuel, huge FMIC, full suspension, big brakes, widebody, 18" wide *** wheels, stripped and on a diet...600 HP in 2500 pounds...that would be fun), buy a 3rd gen rx-7 and do pretty much the same thing listed above, and finally, if I ever buy another porsche again, it will be a 928, and I will do a twin turbo set up on a bored out lowered compression 32V motor (6 liters? 1000 HP? I think so) with the widebody and the steamroller 18" wheels and the works.

So, in conclusion, even if hyundai came out with a fast, well balanced, good handling sports car 15 years ago and they were available for a cheap price today, I might have bought it over a porsche...I don't really care about the make, just the final product, and porsche happens to make a fine one.

Joe944

Yeah, I just sort of fell in love with the 944... I never really wanted a 911, although they are very appealing to me, the 944 was the first Porsche that I actually looked at because it was affordable I guess.

I was thinking of getting either a 944 or an rx7, and the 944 just seeemed to be a better choice, and I found one that I liked. Insurance isn't crazy, 50 bucks a month for an 18 year old isn't so bad.

Now that I've had it for a little under a year, I just love driving it. I don't think of it as a Porsche, but as a true sports car.

Dave in Chicago

Fell in love with the "best handling car in America", pulled a poster out of Car & Driver, stuck my wedding picture in the driver's seat, and put it up in my garage. That was about 14 years ago.

April, 2+ years ago. I had sold the Merkur Scorpio to get the minivan (2 kids, dog, you get the picture). Stuck driving the wife's old Ford Escort.

Hmmmm.... Maybe those old 944's are still available? Start looking, find this list and a plethora of support in the 944 community. Hunt down a nice specimen (looked at maybe 10 of them by then). Roll it home. That's pretty good, but it gets MUCH better.

My buddy around the corner (forgive him, oil-cooler, but TRUE Porsche fan) says "great, now bring it out to the track and learn how to drive it." Man, the rest is history. This list, the original Beer Nights in Chicago, PCA events, track driving at Road America and other tracks, and the pleasure of driving a great machine every single day... these have all added up into the most positive car experience since my first car ('66 Mustang).

Only two cars I'd stand in the garage and smile over now... My 944 and that '66 Mustang.

Keep the shiny side up,

v-tach

TO 951BADGER
you owned a 928 now a 944 turbo
i own a 951 as well - it's a 1987
but i always admired the 928
tell me the difference and which you like better ?
thanks
vtac

triscadek

Blew a head gasket on my last car and after a little surfing found that I could get a decent 944 for the same price (really less) than a 93 Accord. Looked at a few and decided to rescue an 87 944S from a dirt lot dealer in KC. who didn't know what he had. He told me they called it an S bucuz that meant spesha (ebonics I think)

The PO (orig) told me he was about 60 and had a heart attack and his wife made him trade it on an Accord auto. because she couldn't drive a stick and was afraid he would keel over again and she couldn't drive him to the hospital, so it wound up at the auction and the dirt lot.

Til my 14 year old gets his license and I quit hauling around BMX bikes it's this one, the I guess he gets it and I get a really clean S, 951 or hopefully a 968.

Madly in love since that 1st drive and it still makes me smile no matter how bad the day has been!!!!!!

Z-man

In college, I drove my cars ('81 Plymouth Turismo TC-3 and '87 Mustang LX 4 cyl) on the country back roads without abandon. That's when I first fell in love with driving.

Out of college, I got replaced the Mustang with an Integra. Great handler, still drove the back roads.

While owning the Teggy, I started thinking about getting an older sports car, like a Fiat, Alpha, Porsche, MG...etc. Started to research the cars, and determined that the most reliable sports car was the Porsche marque.

Sold my motorcycle ('82 Yamaha Seca 750) and started research. Bought an MR2 as a 'gap car' until I could get a Porsche. (The MR2 was bought to sell to my bro-in-law when he got his license: but I enjoyed it for a couple of years! ) Four years of research later, I bought the 944S2 that I currently own and enjoy.

Was involed with PCA before owning the 944S2: with the MR2 I attended their autocross events. Started running the 944S2 in autocross almost immediately after purchase; ran first track/DE event with it less than 6 months after ownership.

Why the S2? I was looking at the 944 line due to the handling and the less expensive maintenance costs (yeah, right!) The S2 came up in a local paper and it was a right-car-right-person-right timing thing. I had been agressively searching for a 944 for 1/2 a year by then. The S2 was my top choice.

That's my story, and I'm stickin by it!
-Zoltan

Manning

I'm with Ribs, I could care less about the badge. My Scirocco 16V was totalled and I needed a car. I like off-beat cars, which is how the 924S strikes me. If my mood was right or something else had come along I may have would up with a Corrado or a Peugeot 405 M16 or maybe a MB 190 2.3 16. Ultimately the bang for buck was in favor of the '88 924S (lighter, lower CD, blah, blah blah), so I set myself to find one.

Ken D

Strangely enough I have either owned or considered buying all the same cars that Manning mentioned.
I was VW through-and-through until I bought a 1st gen 240SX SE. Great car, loved the RWD with great balance, 4w disc brakes, nice hatch with useful storage space, etc. Then it was totalled by someone who ran a red light and t-boned me in the driver's door. Bent the frame, what a mess.
Came across a beautiful low-mileage 944 na in my area with a folder full of receipts. Drove it, loved it, bought it. End of story (for now...)

Brian S.

Ever since I was 15 and my dad got an '87 951 I have wanted one. Unfortunately, he only had the car for two years then sold it.....I probably only got to drive it 4 or 5 times.

Never really considered it again until about 9 months ago I started doing some research & found how "economical" they were now (at least the initial purchase price----not long term as we all know

Found one I was happy with & haven't had a regret.....It's a BLAST!!!
<img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Curt N

hmmm.... I never really had a Porsche infatuation when I was younger. I knew they were fast, I knew that when I was growing up (in the 80's) that they were a definite status symbol, and when I was little (around 8 or so) I recall telling my dad I was going to own one someday.... but I quickly forgot about that.

After I convocated from University, and got my first "real" job, I suddenly had some free cash and a need for a car. I had no idea what to buy, until one day I drove past a used car dealership with my dad and saw a shiny red car that I simply had to stop and check out! All I did was sit in it, and the look on my face had already told my father I was buying one. A test drive later and I had bought my sweet little 951.

Now I really am infatuated with Porsche... a car built in 1986 that it seems the rest of the world is just catching up on. I like it!

I'm not wholely sold on the brand to the point where nothing is good unless it's a Porsche, but it's going to take a lot for my next car to not have that familiar, heartwarming little badge on it.