Cole

You know there are all sorts of 100,150, 250K 944s out there. They were running to make it to those miles. Forums have a way of tainting the perception of reliability. Everyone here came here looking for answers to a broken car or to modify one until it is broken.

Porsche has rated in the top ten fairly often for reliability over the decades.

pnbell

Get an "8 valve 944na" and learn two things... How to keep the back-end of the car behind you, and "Righty-tighty Lefty-lossey" with a wrench.

P.S. Don't worry about girls... You'll spend most of your freetime working on your 944!

I_am_imprezed

if your trying to get a 944 for girls your doing it wrong imo. I had better luck with girls driving a Forester then my 924S. You end up spending all your money and donating most of your time to a car...girls do not appreciate that...

1985porsche944

As a 19 year old that ended up getting a 944 when he was 15 i would say to get an N/A. Like many people already said the maintance is going to be a good bit less on an N/A. Also the power wont get you into nearly as much trouble as a turbo although you still will try to see how fast you can go. Another reason is that you can teach yourself to probably be a better driver in controling the car because of the lack in power. Either way, if you do decide to get a turbo or N/A, go do some autocrosses with the car and a driving school that will allow you to use your own car so you know its limits and how to get out of a bad situation better. Another idea that someone else has stated would to get an s2 which would probably for you as of now than a turbo but would be less to run than a turbo.

944Ross

Exactly. I'd suggest a late-'80's American car. They're cheap too. But if you live where there's snow, make it a FWD Olds or Buick. You'll be STYLIN', bro!

DANNiE

Buy a VW... LoL it was my first car and liek all first cars they are exspensive to fix when you dont know anything about fixing them...

I paid like 2 grand in my first VW to have a motor swaped in cause when i bought it the block started to knock so 2 grand later it actually ran...

I would say get a $500 reliable honda, VW, or toyota and get a 944 turbo for the track so you can actually have fun with it learn how to drive better and not get in trouble doing it... and learn how to fix your own car... if you plan to have a shop fix your car a porsche is not for you because unless your wallet is big its not the car for you...

mike10562004

second that happens to be my case

lovemyp-car

first of all, it sounds to me like you (the o.p.) is set on buying a porsche...i know exactly how that goes, i had owned 4 porsches by the time i was 17, bought my first when i was 16(ish?). Word to the wise, buy a car that has a few nailed down issues at the most...don't be afraid of higher miles...i bought my car with 206,000 miles on original engine and transmission, it was still fine except for the second gear synchros starting to go.

don't be scared off by these guys that say that these cars aren't reliable or that they always break...mine almost left me stranded once, when the dme relay was going bad, it was an easy fix and since then i haven't had any big problems...

these cars also aren't THAT expensive to maintain, on a late car the biggest items are clutch, ball joints, timing belt etc...but if you can learn from someone who knows these cars, you'll learn that these items are actually really easy to do.

When i was 18 i started in on my senior project, building my relatively recently purchased 87 944 with 206,000 miles into a monster. Over the course of the next 6 months i successfully transplanted a chevy v8 (LT1) with close to 400 horsepower into the car. I have less than 8 grand into the car including purchase price and the work i had to do to get it inspected. This original work was ball joints and a couple other miscellaneous things that needed to be replaced, the work cost 1600, which was WAY more than it would cost me to do it now. I could probably do it for half that working on the car myself. These cars will teach you an amazing amount about general mechanics and you'll pick up on little tricks you can teach others.

If i were you, i would go for a late model 944 n/a, they're slightly newer, less maintenance intensive than a turbo, have a little more power, which you can handle if you're responsible...i didn't get my first ticket until i swapped motors and accidentally laid rubber pulling out of a gas station.........so you can definitely stay out of trouble with a stock n/a. You will need to watch out for the big ticket items with the 944 though, make sure you get one with a new clutch, because these engines are a bitch to pull the first time, and a clutch job is expensive to source out. Have the car checked over by a professional mechanic that you know and will tell you every little thing wrong with the car BEFORE YOU BUY IT!!! People won't necessarily be trying to screw you, they may just not know what is wrong with the car, especially if it's a weekend car that spends most of it's time sitting. So watch out for oil leaks, bad ball joints, any kind of rust, because that can often mean a previous accident that may not have been declared to insurance.

These cars are great cars, they will teach you a lot about yourself and about working on all kinds of cars...good ones to start with most definitely...find a nice one, be prepared to spend some money getting it going, and be wary of the bad apples, because a lot of people get them.

Good luck
Ethan Cooper

tifosiman

LOL.

Saying that to a 17 year old is like telling a crack addict to not worry about his next fix.

Cole

Like it stops after 17 I'm 21 years after 17 and still facinated by girls

krystar

944 5spd is a very bad option for high school kid looking to impress girls. yer much better with a buick or some other american land boat.

reason: 944 has NO BACK SEAT. and the trans tunnel makes front seat interactions even more difficult. hehe

Cole

I'm 6'2 and had a managed some fun in an MR2 when I was younger. The 944 has so much more "storage" space in the back.

You are discounting the motivation and creativity of a 17 year old

User 52121

Hahhaha

I paid $11k for my '86 951 in June of this past year. PO essentially had the entire drivetrain rebuilt during his ownership, he was **** about having it maintained at a local Porsche specialist shop (and had a wife that made MONEY so he was the shop's wet dream when it came to maintenance.)

Even after all that - the car has almost stranded me twice, and actually stranded me once. Almost stranded me the first time in a not-so-nice part of the city of Chicago due to a bad DME relay (fortunately I had a spare in the glovebox, thanks to the tips from the folks here), the 2nd time was because I developed a pinhole in one of the rad hoses (fortunately I was only ~3 miles from home so no REAL damage occurred.) And it actually stranded me once due to a dead battery (ok not the car's fault... I was waiting in the parking lot with the car off listening to the radio while the wife shopped.)

In contrast, I paid $14k for my 2003 VW GTI (that my wife now drives.) I've put over 80k on that car in 4.5 years, and it's never even come CLOSE to stranding me anywhere.

You can do a LOT better for the money as far as reliability and longevity is concerned. The GTI is almost as much fun as the 951, too. That being said... I love my 951

Cole

There is an updated DME relay and as you mentioned, you had an extra anyway.

Pinhole in a radiator hose can happen to ANY car. Dead battery can happen to ANY car.

So what I am really seeing here is that your 23 year old Porsche has 1 easily addressed electrical quirk, an old hose and battery that you have not experienced "yet" on your 5 year old VW. I would hardly call that an expensive unreliable car.

V2Rocket

yea not sure what youre talkin about, im 6'6 and with me in the drivers seat my gf has no issues coming over to my side of the car lol.

definitely