Magnanimous

Hello all,

To preface, I've never actually owned a car. Motorcycles have been my primary source of transportation since I received my license.

However, the frequent South Florida rains and occasional need to carry a passenger or more luggage than my saddlebags can handle have me looking to get something with four wheels and a roof.

Naturally, I'd like something interesting to drive, and I've always preferred smaller, lighter cars.

In my search, the late 80's porsches have caught my eye. From what I can tell, they seem to be just about everything that I want in a car. Small, light weight, fun to drive, still somewhat practical in terms of storage space, etc.

A local clean, one-owner N/A 944 in particular has me interested in particular.

However, they are now 30 year old German vehicles, and my wallet isn't exactly bottomless.


What does the cost of ownership look like, overall, for mid-80's 924/944's?

How easy is it to find parts when things eventually break? My research suggests that the 924's at least share a lot of parts with VW/Audi products, is it the same case with the 944?

How reliable are they, in general? Would a clean, well maintained example nickel and dime me to death? Or will they run reliably for a fairly long time with basic maintenance?

And how easy are they to work on for a somewhat novice mechanic?

odonnell

Step 1: don't get your heart set on a particular car...it's a buyer's market and there are a lot to look at and test drive. Went through all this a few years ago.

Worst case scenario: you buy a cheap one and not surprisingly you are broke within a year. If not broke, you may as well not have a car because it will be parked waiting for parts or time to fix it.

Best case scenario: you get one in great shape and it ends up averaging $800/yr in upkeep. One year may be $200 and one year may be $1000.

Everything in between: Interpolate. These aren't predictable breakdowns all the time, but do some searches and you'll learn the basics quickly. Plenty of other threads discussing these in depth.

Karl_W944

I never picked up a wrench before I bought my '84. I was literally a "disaster case" for owning a 944, with no mechanical experience, no sense of costs of owning an older car, or some other infamous things on this forum.

But I was very fortunate in finding a very clean example. I've only spent about $300 on mine for maintenance in the almost 7 months I've owned mine. Even better, all the work that's been done has been done with the help of others willing to help me learn how to wrench on my car. I'm also a college student with a college-student budget. Anything is possible if you can put the time, money, and effort into it, and you'll be rewarded in spades in the end.

Sometimes I think of myself as the poster-child for the person least likely to succeed in running a 944 but ends up being successful in the end.

Finding the best car for the money with maintenance and service history will put you ahead of the game on maintenance, and you can budget your needs from there on. You'll be saving money in the end if the car is well maintained compared to one that needs work. Of course, some things will break, but there's plenty of parts to go around to my knowledge, we're not talking about spare parts for an old 50s 300SL; the 944 is a car with considerably big production numbers compared to some P-cars. They are and will be reliable so long as you can maintain them properly. Mind you, some quirks will rear their head sometimes, but this forum is a bounty of information so if you have any problems, there's no doubt that someone else has had that problem at least once or twice even.

So if I can own and run a 944, so can you!!
Best of luck with the search!

jeffrsmith

Early 924's (through 82) share some parts with Audi and VW, but a lot are not shared. Many of the Porsche specific parts are no longer available making maintenance and upkeep a little more of a challenge than the later models. Parts for the 924S and 944 are pretty plentiful and there stills seems to be a sizeable enough market to make it profitable for those who deal in parts. Just remember that the parts that made these cars expensive to start with have not gotten any cheaper with age.

944Ross

There was a thread on here titled something like, "How much does a $1200 944 cost?" The answer was pretty uniformly, $5000. That's if you are bottom-fishing for the car, and what it takes to remedy all the postponed maintenance (and doing it yourself).

I've had 2 944's, an '84 and my present '86, both NA's. Once I brought the maintenance up to date, both were and have been very reliable. I've put 25k miles over the last 6 years, including DD use and road trips thru the middle of nowhere of up to 5k miles in 3 weeks. Never a problem. And getting great gas mileage, with a huge smiles-per-mile factor.

With any used car, you are ALWAYS better off buying "up", not bottom fishing. A $6k car with current maintenance (and records to prove it), clean bodywork, etc. is a much better deal than a $3k car that has a questionable history.

Having owned both an early (pre-'85.5) and late 944, I strongly recommend the later cars. Much nicer interiors.

Magnanimous

I definitely know the risks of buying a bottom-of-the barrel car, growing up my parents got by with a series of gifted or sub-$2k cars that wound up costing more than they were worth in repairs and maintenance, and I at least know enough to avoid those mistakes.


I found on craigslist what the seller claims to be a single-owner 1984 944 with a 5 speed and ~100k miles for $4500. The seller claims that it "Needs usual minor work typical of a 30 year old car (worn upholstery, hood and hatchback struts, etc.)"

There aren't any interior pics, though I'm willing to look past a moderately poor interior as long as the rest of the car seems mechanically sound (and as long as the aircon works, Florida sucks in the summer.)

Does that seem like a reasonable price for a 944 of that vintage?

Also, what are insurance prices usually like on 924's/944's

drive135mph

as a different point reference, I bought my car having little money but extensive mechanical experience and connections. I estimate I spend around 400 per year on maintenance and random problems. Mine was in decent shape when I bought it and i have clocked over 200k. I've never driven another car I would trade for my 87 944.

pcarfan944

These cars have a long list of "gotchas" so do some research before you jump in. Porsche still makes parts for every vehicle they've ever made, however 944's are fairly labor intensive for the novice home mechanic.

That said, they are seriously dependable cars when well sorted. I've owned my 86 n/a for 12 years and can think of one time it's left me stranded. Maintenance costs are a crap shoot; I've had years where I only had to change the oil, and others where I spent $2000. Typically, I average about one major repair per year. Most of my money was spent early on working the bugs out. You'll be money ahead to pay more for the best example you can find with lots of recent service history.

Dino V

The main concern would be if all the major maintenance stuff has been done (timing belt, waterpump, clutch, etc). As always, buy the best you can find. Will help minimize headaches and unneccessary cussing.

Arominus

As said, some gotchas, but the car is not very hard to work on if you have experience working on things

konakat

For $4k you should be getting a car that is in good to great shape with decent maintenance records but has a few specific things needing done. Like if the interior and exterior are quite good but one of the seats is torn and it is due for a timing belt and water pump, that would be a decent $4k car. There are pros and cons to early vs late cars that I think mostly even out, you just have to decide if you want the more modern interior or not.

V2Rocket

I'm at $16 or $17k or so in the last 10 years, including purchase price, paint, new leather seats, new AC system, all new suspension, and a crapload of other stuff.

morghen

A 924 2.0L will be cheaper to maintain but you need to start with a well running one.
The engine is simpler than the 924S/944.
If you find a good one or make a bad one run well it will be reliable and fun, but not fast as the U.S. models suffered even further detuning to meet us regulations.

Magnanimous

Is there a guide out there for belt/water pump replacement?

Sounds like that's going to be the biggest maintenance item, I'd like to take a look at it to see how doable it would be for me.

I have a fair amount of experience working on motorcycle and marine outboard engines, but haven't ever done anything more complicated than a battery replacement on a car.

tempest411

I've got 1000's of dollars into mine, and I don't even own a 944 yet! Seriously, 99% of these cars are beat-down in so many ways, I think the best way to get a reliable one is to start off with new/rebuilt everything. Once I've collected it all, I'll find a car to put it in. My estimation is by the time I have something to drive I'll have about 15K into it. Quite a bargain for what it is, I think.