Is the question here, "Will the '83 944 keep up with and/or beat the M3 on an open road or curvy road course?"

If straight, my answer would be that there's NO WAY your '83 944 is going to keep up with the '88 M3. If you're talking curves, then your 944 has a fighting chance provided your springs/shocks/tires are in top-top condition.

If your car has any induced body roll or loss of traction due to bad alignment or worn shocks, you don't even have a chance.

Greg

 

Guys, not to add fuel to the fire, but even my '94 BMW 325i Convertible, (5-sp) is faster than my 944. About the handling though...the 944's definately better.

 

Here are some stats from a 1988 R&T.

M3....0-60 7.1 sec, 1/4 mile 15.4, brk from 80: 239, 0.82 on the skidpad

944: 0-60 7.5 sec, 1/4 mile 15.7, brk from 80: 236, 0.85 on the skidpad

944 Turbo: 0-60 6.6 sec, 1/4 mile 15.1, brk from 80: 237, 0.80 on the skidpad (perhaps wrong tires?)

944 Turbo S: 0-60 5.5 sec, 1/4 mile 14.2, brk from 80 232, 0.89 on the skidpad.

Yes, of course the M will beat the normally aspirated 944 in a straight line, but I see no handling advantage whatsoever. I'd bet my 83 944 could stick with an early M3 on a tight back road without much difficulty at all.

 

The difference between .82 and .85 could easly be based on stock tyres. Also, skidpad doesn't mean much. Slolum speed means a lot more.

 

John, I have an old R&T from '86 where they test the '86 951.
0-60 6.0 secs
1/4 mile: 14.6 @97.5mph
skidpad: .90G (does anybody have another number for the Turbo S? I keep seeing .89 but I cant believe that)
SLALOM (for you tabor ): 62.8mph
other 2 cars tested at the same time are the vette and RX-7 Turbo
slalom speed for vette=61.0mph, rx-7=63.1mph