masterdave

So im looking in to making a 944 a daily driver, before I ask any questions a bit of a back story is in order.

Back in high school a friend of the family had a beat up 924s that did not run and he was looking to get rid of. In short, he gave me the car to save him a bunch of trouble. It has a fried ECU which took about a month for me to figure out at the time. Once I got the car working I used it as my DD in high school. I only drove it about 3 miles to and from school as well as to my friends houses locally and what not. The car never left a 20 mile radius from my house, this was mostly because it was not in great shape. As we all know there is a difference between running and road trip worthy. It never left me stranded despite its condition and was a great fun little car. I still have it but it needs a full over hall. Because I was a noob at the time I never had FOES done as I had no idea what it was. The timing belt is very old to say the least. The engine could use a full rebuild, the interior is less than attractive, and the body is all there but dented and chipping paint. All that being said it simply can not be used as a DD its just not reliable enough in its current state.

Any way, last May I bought a 1978 911SC Targa, I love it. Its in great shape minus some dings (one was my fault) but mechanically its solid. In the summer its a great car with the top off, however in the winter, the heat does not really work and the window to top seals are far from perfect. As a result it gets stored for most of the winter but once the nice weather hits it more or less is my DD and i have not had any issues yet.

Ok so to the point. I am in college (junior year) and have been driving the old family minivan at school because the 924s is not road worthy and I dont have a garage to keep the 911 in down here (Lehigh university, Bethlehem PA). On that note Bethlehem is a bit shady and I dont want the 911 to get stolen on the street. The minivan is kind of my dads but has been more or less given to me at this point, the other day I brought up the idea, to my dad, of selling it and getting a more fuel/size efficient car. I simply dont need all 7 seats to drive my self to and from school and around to run errands.
Now that the option to replace the van has become real I have been considering cars. The key factor here is cheap and usable. The first thing that came to mind was a decent shape 944. I know they can be had for 2K-5K in nice shape. I have never really owned any thing but a Porsche as I consider the van my dad's not mine, so I feel some what obligated to get a 944 and I loved my 924s so much. I would be using this car to run daily errands, and drive back and fourth to school, and work this summer.

So here are my questions

Who here uses there 944's as a DD and do you have any complaints about it?
I know what im getting in to but how long would a fresh fan belt and water pump last in reality?
Is any one in either the NYC/Westchester area or the Bethlehem PA area selling there 944 or want to trade for my Minivan(to appease the wife)?
I do all my work my self, and always have, but I know I cant do FOES cause of tooling and stuff, what is the average price from a good P-Car mechanic on that?
For people that do there own work what is your average annual upkeep costs for a DD 944?


Remember I am young and have a very big tolerance for uncomfortable suspension, AC that does not work (as long as I can pop the top off) and little things like that. However I am looking for a car that has nice paint and a nice dash and seats to impress the ladies.

Regards
Dave

86 951 Driver

An NA wouldn't be bad. I had a 924s as well for 7 years. It worked rather well. Just make sure you have the front end service done and the clutch isn't a rubber centered one. Other than that most of the jobs you can do yourself.

They can be reliable as long as you make sure everything is up to snuff. Vacuum lines are important as there are a lot of them.

Rudeboy42

I've been using a 944 as a daily driver for two and a half years now. I bought a red '87NA at the beginning of my senior year in high school and I just replaced it with a black '85.5NA in October.

My '87 was rough. At times it was a nightmare as a daily driver and other times it was fine. However, even when it was running fine it still felt very tired and old. I couldn't really rely on that car. It sounds like it was similar to your 924s maybe a little better. I put a lot of money into that car and didn't get very far. I like to think of it as "paying my dues." Anyways that car was a fairly bad DD and when the clutch went out on it at an autox event in late September/early October I decided I had enough and started looking for a new one.

I ended up buying my black '85.5 from a fellow Rennlister. He had it for ten years and took very good care of it. It had all of it's maintenance records and a PPI. Man what a world of difference! This one has not let me down once and I've barely had to do anything to it. So get one in good condition and it should make a perfect DD. You'll probably end up spending $4k-$6k.

As far as the front end work goes; I've done the front end seals which are kind of a pain but not terrible and I've changed a timing belt three times. It's not really that big of a deal. You can get the tools from arnnworx for a very reasonable price http://www.arnnworx.com/catalog/

odurandina

dicey.

Butters944

I'm a junior in high school and own an 83 944 na. My dad and I did the timing belt/water pump ourselves, with NO SPECIAL TOOLS. The car's never been to a mechanic (besides new cat install). Everything is possible with a garage and decent tools. I've been daily driving it for a year now (since I've had my license, I'm going on 17 now). Never have had any issues with it mechanically speaking. My ac and heat don't work but I'll get around to it eventually. I've never owned anything but a porsche, obviously, and I feel like I'm going to be addicted for life have somewhere around 3k into the car right now. It pleases the ladies (or, lady, now, haha)

God_Bot

Due to a recent wreck I've been using my 944 as a daily driver lately. It's not ideal because I brought it to school with me so I could work on it, not drive it everyday. 230k miles and right now everything but the third brake light is working. I think it's plenty of fun to drive everyday, but it doesn't have near the traction my Monte Carlo does in the snow (FWD vs RWD and winter tires vs all-seasons).

My only complaints about switching daily drivers these last few weeks are that the 944 is much quieter, both stereo and exhaust, and that it's light enough to be blown sideways on icy roads with the all-seasons on it while at highway speeds.

zerMATT951

My '87 924S was my DD for about 5 years and I loved driving it every time I got behind the wheel. A 944 is basically the same car, and I wouldn't hesitate to rely on it every day once I've gone over the basics to make sure everything is current (belts, rollers, WP, seals, brakes, etc). My Turbo has been by DD on my 92-mile round-trip commute in Dallas traffic, and it's doing well so far. I do park it and drive the Avalanche in bad weather (like the 5 inches of rain we got in the last 2 days) simply because of the added comfort during the stop-and-go traffic that the rain causes, and having ABS available is nice too

techartisan

front of engine service at a decent shop will easily cost you 2X+ the cost of tools.

CyCloNe!

I've used my 1986 951 as my daily driver for over two years, paid 2,800 for it and put over 3k into updating all the maintenance I could. Honestly I haven't had issues, biggest thing is get the maintenance up to date especially the important stuff and you should be good to go. I still do preventative maintenance just to kind of restore and keep the car in reliable condition.
I honestly would drive my car to across the country without any worry, I currently drive my 951 on 600mile round trips every few months.

V2Rocket

i am a senior in college and my 944 has been my DD since sophomore year of highschool (bought nov 05).

rebuilt or replaced basically everything on the car, on my 5th or 6th set of tires and last year got the car painted. running total is 12 or 13k, including purchase price of the car (excluding gas and oil cost)

i even crashed and 'totaled' it once...then re-built it.

lots of little things that pop up not infrequently but generally nothing serious enough to park the car non-op. runs like a bat out of hell every day.

JohnKoaWood

I have been using my 44 and 51 for DD duty for over 4 years...

Once the front end seals are taken care of, you can get by without any special tools..

I have over 50K on my water pump, and 32K on my belts in the last 9 months... I drive a lot (daily commute is 62 miles each way)!

Nice clean starting point, with recent service should be good till you get out of college!

IGROWL

I bought my Black 1987 944 new and I drive it daily. I have gone through many 2nd cars in that time but the 944 is still in front of the house. I keep up with the maintenance and I have a 80 mile round trip a day with the car. Things do come up sometimes as the car is 24 years old, but nothing that with the help of rennlist or clarks garage you can't figure out.

bordin34

I daily drive mine, paid $2200 for it and have less than $3000 in it total.
I did the timing belt and water pump myself, it was actually pretty easy.
You've seen it, just wait for a good deal nearby. I drove it about 700 miles last month with no problems.

pettybird

3.5+yrs here, with a turbo for the summer and a 44S for the winter. there might be better choices, but the 944 is a lot of fun if you can do your own work.

GTSilver944

Used mine as a DD for the last 6.5 years. And I've had another "toy" car for a few years now. If you already have a Porsche, why not get an E30 or E36? Cheaper parts, easier to work on, and still quite fun. Having one toy and one practical car might work out better than two cars that can have issues.