auryn0151

Hey everyone, first post, and I appreciate any help. I currently don't have a car since I use public transit to get to work. I'm looking for a fun car to run around on the weekends. I've found an 89' 944 2.7L with 66k miles on it. The interior is immaculate save for a few dash cracks. Every last blinking light works. The owner is asking $6100 for it.

My main question is this: The research I've done suggests that being handy with a wrench is almost a prereq for buying one of these. I can do things like oil changes and change brakes, but I'm not able to fix seals and gaskets. At only 66k miles, would you anticipate major maintenance being needed soon? I'd like to own the car for a few years without going nuts on maintenance. If any more info is needed, please ask! I know it's a bit of a vague question, but is 66k miles anything to be concerned about?

seafeye

Perhaps the best spent money would be a $200 per purchase inspection. It will turn up a lot of hidden surprises. Some big home small. In any event the $200 will be returned to you when you can show the owner all the items that need fixing and you can negotiate a lower price. If by a rare chance a mechanic can't find a simple item that needs fixing, you have found a great deal. Buy it.

divil

Hi and welcome!

Yep - having a huge pile of money to spend is a viable alternative, but then you'd be unlikely to be looking at this car. As a rule of thumb, if the price of the car is one of the things that makes you interested, then be prepared to get your hands oily

Honestly though, if you can change the brakes on a car then you can do a lot of work on this - they are not difficult to work on.

I'll leave model specific advice to people who know this model...I have a turbo which has various maintenance issues that don't apply here. You should tell us where you are - there are a lot of really helpful people on the forum who will go and look at it for you if you're nearby.

auryn0151

The car is a few thousand below my price limit, so I'd be happy to save that for future maintenance, though I'd like to do as much as I can myself.

I'm out in Arlington, VA, just outside Washington DC. If someone would be willing to look at it I'd be extremely greatful. As the first poster suggested, I do plan on having a PPI done.

divil

Cool...unfortunately I can't help you there, I'm in Kansas (rennlist won't let me update my location unless I also give it a ton of other info )

But maybe someone will chime in. Of course you are dead right to get a professional PPI done anyway, but a second opinion is always a help. When I found my car, a rennlister helped me out and found some stuff that the owner fixed before I even booked a pro inspection, which was great. Then I went ahead and did a pro PPI anyway

Sounds like you have exactly the right attitude for owning a 944!

JohnKoaWood

The metro dc area has quite a few good options... And tons of good folks!

If you have space in your budget, and this is intended to be a weekend fun car, I would suggest a turbo or S2....

I live in Richmond, but have spent plenty of time in NoVA, and work in stafford... I daily drive my 88NA and have a project 951...

auryn0151

I would really love a turbo or s2, but honestly the ones I see available just have really high mileage (120+) or are just completely beaten up. I do think the N/A felt a bit slow when I drove it today, but it's such a good looking car and the steering is so precise. I think I would be OK with the acceleration of the N/A.

szabon

I am a Realtor in the NOVA area and am out in Arlington all the time, and have no problems if you wanna meet up. I have an 86 turbo that I just got, but I have been elbows deep in it for a while and am getting a pretty good feel for the car. Where is the car?

divil

Lol...120K is not high for a 25 year old Porsche! I meant to address this from your first post: don't worry too much about that mileage. There is no reason to think that a 66K mile car is going to be in much better shape than a 120K mile car. Maybe if they were both 5-10 years old...but 25 year old cars - not so much. Recent maintenance history is the only thing that matters here (besides a good PPI) .If they don't have any, devalue the car accordingly - because you will definitely have to catch up with that maintenance out of your own pocket.

Timing belts, bushings, vacuum lines, coolant hoses, engine seals etc...they all deteriorate with time. Each of these things that has been taken care of recently is money you won't have to spend, regardless of mileage

auryn0151

Szabon - The car is out in Bailey's Crossroads, right off route 7.

Divil - I was under the impression that, as with most cars, a car with only 66k miles compared to have 120k would have a lot of mechanical parts that are in better condition simply because they have been used fewer times. Things like belts and hoses don't worry, where things such as joints and mounts do. Here are a few of the cars in my area that are currently up on CL. Based on your experience, mind telling me which you think would be worth checking out? (Thanks).

Here is the car in question: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/n...138581048.html

1991 944 S2: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/n...127817284.html I emailed the guy and it has 145k miles.

1986 944 Turbo: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/m...121777826.html

J Berk

I would rather have a properly maintained, high-mile car than a low mile car that was not up to date on all it's maintenance.

In fact...my S2 now has over 200,000 miles and still does a Driver's Ed (track day) or two a season.

Look for solid maint. records rather than focusing on mileage.....if you find both...that's a score !

divil

Well I suppose that is true regarding some mechanical things, but not all. I am not really that experienced but the 3 biggest things that would worry me are: engine wear, timing belt and clutch, because these are the most expensive things to fix. Leaving aside the belt, the number of miles that the engine and clutch can withstand depend a lot on the owner rather than the miles. My clutch currently has over 95K miles and is still going strong, whereas some people can burn out a clutch in a fraction of that. Ditto for engine compression. I suppose cv joints and ball joints etc will depend more on mileage but I think these things are the least of your worries - not that they're cheap, but that the other things are so much more expensive.

I think all 3 cars are worth investigating if you can. I don't know enough about these (or cars in general!) to say which one looks like the best deal...

J Berk

The S2 is the same year as my car. If it has solid maintenance records and a recent clutch then thst price is not bad.
You also want to look for desirable options... For example, I can see that that S2 gas the 10 speaker audio option.
There is a sticker in the spare tire well... On the inside rear of the car... Which will have a bunch of 3 digit numbers.... Another good one is #220 = limited slip transmission

and definitely get a pre purchase inspection!!

szabon

Records, records, records. I would much rather buy a 200k mile car that has been cared for than a 60k mile car that has just been stored in a garage. Sometimes it is not good to not run the engine too. 66k is less than 3000 miles a year. Engines need to run a bit more than that, or they need to be cared for a bit differently, and most people don't care differently for their car...

Also, from what I hear, if you are the type of person that is going to want to get more out of your car, you are eventually going to sell an N/A to get a turbo, so it might be best to look for a turbo, if you are going to want to get some juice out of it.

J Berk

Unless the NA is an s2.

Up-side... Almost as much hp as a stock turbo without the maintenance aspects of the turbo

down-side... Harder to mod if you decide you need more grunt.

Only time i have ever lacked hp was on the front straight on track days....