Taymar

if I'm understanding this correctly, the 944 turbo S was introduced in 1988, and had quite a few upgrades over the 944 turbo.

It sounds like from 1990 onwards, the regular turbo got the more powerful engine, and the 'S' was dropped from the name. Please could anyone tell me if the other changes from the turbo S remained, or was it just the engine?

Or, I guess to reframe my question - if I'm looking for the highest spec 944 turbo, should I be looking at 88-89 Turbo S cars, AND 1990 on turbos, or just the former?

thank you for any advice.

BobSantos

I believe that unless you need a Silver Rose color combo any turbo starting in 1989 was similar spec.

This website has some useful information.

MAGK944

The 88 TurboS became the standard Turbo from 89-91, so they are basically all the same performance spec in all those years. 88 TurboS Silver Rose still fetches a premium and has some unique cosmetic upgrades, seats, paint, etc.

divil

Whenever I have read about that at least regarding the US cars, the word is that the 89+ Turbo cars were identical to the 88 S. However, there was recently a huge debate on the 944 Turbo Facebook page where a guy who knows a LOT about 944s (he's here on rennlist too) says that in Europe, the 89 cars were not all the same at all. He has seen them without some of the S features from the factory. I noticed that the Wikipedia entry on the 944 Turbo has since been updated too reflect that.

My US 89 has all the stuff the 88 S is supposed to have with the exception of headlight washers ...engine, lsd, 928 front brake calipers, adjustable struts, CS wheels (9" rears) 10 speaker setup & graphic eq. I am pretty sure they all have that in the US or else we would know by now!

Oddjob

The 89 Turbos had all the performance upgrades of the 88 Turbo S cars. There were a few differences that did show up as options in late 88 and 89, like split rear seats for example. Also included in that were body colors and interior color and seat material, that differed from the first run of the Silver Rose 88TS cars. Late in the MY89 production run, there were some other delete options like no head light washers, rear swaybar size change (16mm instead of 18mm), etc. The omissions were probably done to reduce the cost of the cars in the weakening market at that time.

For MY90 RoW Turbo models (not available in the US), the 247hp engine was still standard. I believe that the M030 suspension became an option. Not sure if the M030/928S4/Turbo S front brakes also became an option on these later Turbos, or if the AOR LSD trans was always standard. The wing spoiler (968 type) showed up in '90 on the RoW turbos. Will need to get some input from the Euro experts on the 90-91 cars to confirm.

Van

I don't know if it's true, but I once heard that the '88 Turbo S engines were made on a separate production line than the regular turbo engines - they were made by the guys building the Turbo Cup engines. And that '89+ the regular engine MFG line made them.

Taymar

Sorry, should have mentioned that I was looking at cars in the US. I've seen a couple for sale that were imported though so that's good to know.

Is it correct that not many (or no?) turbos were imported to the US for 1990 and 1991?

Also, what does RoW stand for please? I saw it mentioned 'cars for RoW markets' but I'm not getting the context.

thanks again for the help all.

divil

RoW means Rest of World (i.e. not US).

According to Wikipedia I think there were a few hundred Turbos sold in the US in '90. If you want the S spec the '89 will be by far the most common one, and it will have all the important mechanical stuff from the S.

Oddjob

No '90+ Turbos were imported to the US by PCNA that I have ever heard, I would be skeptical of the wiki info - although possible some did go to Canada.

Any that are in the US are gray market cars, and there are likely very very few that have been imported that way - not worth the effort since the 88TS and 89 Turbos are available. Only worth importing models/versions that were not available here, like 968 Clubsports, Euro 964 Carrera RS's, 993 Cups, etc.

Taymar

Got it. So sounds like an 88 turbo S or an 89 turbo would be the best ones to look out for?

87 944 C

they'd be the easiest to find in the USA, the 91(good luck on that) would be best from the rarity point, the last my for the 944 here, and also the into of the 968 spoiler.

88 silver rose engine were the same engine's used in 944 turbo spec racing that year. built on the same "line" as a standard 951 engine but pulled aside and finished/spec'd out in Stuttgart.

in 89 for the US market, the 951 was a 951S just dropped the S moniker. however, the S from 88 lsd standard, the 89 still an option. interior and exterior colors were the same. the silver rose was a selection group for the 88 951S. it added unique interior seat patterns and a slight variation of silver outside(a cross between silver and flamingo metallic, very diluted flamingo)

as a whole, 89+ are the best to get, but don't pass up an 86-88 951. they're still good, more often than not, lighter than the later turbo's, and really not to difficult to the 247hp.

the S engine had a lot of differences over the standard 88 turbo engine, but bggest power gain was from the larger snail and slight boost increase, common stuff for turbo engine's to get more power.

87 944 C

and as far as I know, an 89 951 wasn't an S model in Europe, you could get the S engine but the lsd and some other things were still optional.

and for 87 951, trans cooler was an option, standard on all other 951 MY's


this is from things I've read while doing my research project

the S package, for 88 added $5,300 USD to the price(bringing it to around 38g starting) it included:

larger wheels, 225/50r16 front, 245/45r16 rear
abs, lsd, rear wiper, side molding, headlight washers, full power seats, split rear seats, hi-fi sound. the silver rose edition(can't find a price) added special interior with cloth only seats and special exterior paint.

most turbo s cars ended up right around 45g all totaled between the car and options added in

MAGK944

There was no Turbo S (any year) offered in Europe, they were all called the Turbo SE. They also had a 91 Turbo cab in Europe that was just called Turbo but had the Turbo S/SE engine.

Other changes:

89's had a 3-way catalytic converter (worldwide), 90's had an improved cam belt drive, 91's had different fuel injectors and a remapped DME.

[from Peter Morgans book]

Taymar

If I'm looking at an '89 turbo, is there an easy way to tell if it has the LSD or not?

MAGK944

Lift the rear & spin the wheels.