mike16v

Anyone on here able to give me any info on this car? I found a nice one with 107k miles,('91 H) and a Full Porsche SH

What insurance group are these?
What is the service interval?
How much is servicing?
Is this a good idea to even be considering one??????

I guess it ain't going to depreciate much in a year or 2 either....

Tricky Dicky

Is that the one at Braidwood Motor Company...???

I have just bought one of these as well.....nice Blue one,
but dont pick it up till 13/06.

So i would be interested on any feed back as well

davyboy

Fen has a lot of knowledge of these and has one him self. I am sure he will be along shortly, but do a search on Porsche 944 there is loads of info.

A guide to servicing costs can be found at http://www.jzmachtech.com/html/frame..._frameset.html

And a good way to learn more about 944 is on the mailing list http://www.titanic.co.uk/944/

I think they are fantastic cars - I have a 1990 Turbo.

mike16v

yeah, it's the one at Braidwood... had a mate go to view it at lunch cos he works near it and he said the exterior was nice, but the interior was tatty. Rip on drivers seat, carpets wooly etc...

Having a 2nd thought, and looking for a newer car again. Scoob, Supra, or a 1 year old Ibiza Cupra.

Mind you, until I shift my Golf I'm screwed! Can't believe how bad the 2nd hand market is! Unless I take the expensive route and trade my car in....

LanciaChris

My dad got one of these (guards red 90, 120k) in a fit of jealousy when he realised that my cars were better than his. If you can find a nice one then they are awesome. They have the proper porsche 3 litre rather than the poxy van engine, they look fantastic - id have either guards red or a deep blue, very driveable round town, plenty of torque. It all feels very well put together. Servicing costs are within the realm of mortals if you go to an independent specialist.

The most surprising thing about it all seems to be that he leaves it sitting outside under a cover for weeks on end, but when you go to start it it goes straightaway and runs perfectly every time.

If I were to criticise id mention the carpets that are a bit wooly, the usual misting rear window in the hood (but why are you driving it if its not nice enough for the hood to be down?) and lastly that under the bonnet doesnt look very pretty. Hardly a major list of faults

kenny.c

mike16v -- well the sales person/owner is quite difficult to barter with. My x boss was seriously considering a porche 996 convertible they had in at £50k but he would only go down to £49k..
his attitude was if you dont buy it someone else will..........so be prepared................

I know 2 different guys who went to braidwood to look at cars and on both ocassions he said the same thing.....oh another was im not going to cut my own throat to get your sale.

well if you do go for it then good luck.........

mike16v

nah, deffo giving it a wide berth now...

cheers for the info though folks

RB5#295

I'm expecting around 25 people round for a BBQ in half an hour (after a week of decorating so I've been a bit quiet) but I'll post some stuff about these later if anyone wants, since I'm on Cab no.1 and 944 No.5.

Fen

dharbige

Fen,

I've just (i.e. yesterday!) bought a G reg 944 S2 Cabriolet, and I'd be very interested in any information and tips you have on the cars.

Regards,

David H.

RB5#295

They're getting popular now, aren't they?

I'm a bit drunk and very tired after a birthday BBQ that started at 1:30 and only just finished so I'll put something together tomorrow.

Fen

RB5#295

To answer the original post:
Group 20 (special case actually cheaper than lots of car in lower groups)
12,000 but it's always a good idea to do the oil and filter at 6,000 as well (turbos must have a 6k change)
£400 cam belts, maybe £150-£200 for a specialist to do a 12k service)
Yes! They are fairly bomb-proof so long as you get a decent one (and keep back about £1,500 to sort out little problems you come across when you get it). 107k is nothing if it's been looked after.

I think the 944 has almost found its bottom level now. Cabs go for anything from £7k to £14k, but just 'cos it's cheap it doesn't have to be bad (or good if it's expensive).

Fen

dharbige

Just thought I'd post a few piccies of my new car:







It seems to be in pretty good condition to me, but I'm going to get an expert opinion ASAP.
Does anybody know of any good independant Porsche specialists near Milton Keynes?

davyboy

She looks a beauty!

I use http://www.jzmachtech.com/ for my servicing. Based in Kings Langley.

The is a good source of info at http://www.titanic.co.uk/944/ and a mailing list too.

RB5#295

I'd echo what Daveyboy says about Titanic. Are JAZ near MK? Northway is in Reading - is that any good?

How do you get on with LHD and the rear three quarter visibility with the hood up? I had a LHD S2 coupe which was OK but I deliberately decided against a LHD 968 Cabrio because I thought it might be difficult at roundabouts etc.

Fen

RB5#295

By the way it looks very nice. What sort of mileage has it done? Where was it from, Germany? I wish my leather was as good as that.

Fen

Gastro

...Autofarm is near Bicester (approx 30 mins from MKGH)... inspection cost £150 (I think) - but their service is superb and they would let you know if its a good one...

Gastro

Gastro

BTW - car looks lovely... great piccies - what camera/resolution are you using ?

see Fen - red is nice

Gastro

dharbige

jzmachtech was where I was planning on going - I just wondered if there was anybody nearer. I've heard good things about Autofarm too, and that would be closer. Nice run over to Bicester too!

The 3/4 visibility is not good - especially when the rear screen is fogged, but as I'm a biker, I'm used to checking over my shoulders constantly, and I'm paranoid about making sure I've seen everything there is to see. I don't plan on driving it much with the roof up in any case!

It was imported from Germany about 5 years ago, and hasn't been used that much since. The interior is in very good nick - just a little bit of stitching that's come undone on the passenger seat, and a dodgy clock!

It's done just over 100K kms - so I guess it's just about run in. I'll feel better once I've had some experts go over it with a fine tooth comb though.

dharbige

Camera is a Sony DSC-P9.
The pictures were taken at max resolution (2272x1704), but I scaled them down to 40% so they wouldn't be too big for the board.
You can see one of the originals here.

RB5#295

A mate has one exactly the same as that and it was on my drive on Saturday - therefore I couldn't possibly:

criticise the colour
have one that colour myself.

Actually I was going to look at a red one because I decided condition was more important than colour (OK, I would have drawn
the line at white or that metallic gold they did) but the Mrs said I wasn't allowed a red one either. That wouldn't have stopped me of course, but it shows it isn't just me.

Nothing wrong with red, David it just isn't for me.

Otherwise the car sounds pretty good and if it's just a top-down toy then the LHD won't be an issue. Mine is a daily driver (about to drive Devon - York in about 10 mins). BTW a wind deflector makes a huge difference at motorway speeds.

Fen

dharbige

Fen,

Who do you get insurance through? I got a very good quote from AON, but they will only cover the car if it is garaged.

RB5#295

I'm with Liverpool Victoria - a legacy of my RB5, but it runs out early next month. I may well stay with them as they are mod friendly and do multi-car policies, both of which I'll need when I get the engine in my Turbo rebuilt.

Other decent ones are Highway, Jardine Faber, Performance Marque, Herts Insurance Consultants, NU Direct, Peart, Tesco, Barclays, Aon, AmEx, Direct Line, Insurance World. that should keep you busy for a while...

Fen

davyboy

I am also with Liverpool Victoria.

They have even offered me free track day cover this year.....and I have got it in writing

RB5#295

I'm almost looking forward to bagging a renewal with them - two cars, one modified and track cover - yes please!

Fen

iguana

RB5295 has pretty much covered all of the 944 issues but also a 944 buyers guide on pistonheads which although more biased towards the cheaper 944's you might find useful-

www.pistonheads.com/porsche/default.asp?storyId=6090

Ps I've got an S2 coupe myself but cash flow means I will sell soon... boo!!

RB5#295

OK, I've posted a bit about 944's on here before but I'll try to recap a bit.

General 944 potential problems are:
(apparently - never happened to me) front wishbone bushes that are something stupid like £400 a side to replace because they're integral with the arm. You can have the arms machined to accept replaceable bushes for £150 a side.

Steering racks leak and a recon is the way to go - £200

Noisy transmission, can be one of two causes, each about £300 to fix - I've never botheres as it doesn't do any harm and isn't that noisy either.

Cam and balance shaft belts should be replaced every 48k / 5 years, most people do it every 36k / 3 years for safety. About £400 from a specialist. The rollers it runs on get noisy and cost between £30 and £75 each (there are 5). The water pump will snap the belt if it siezes so it £100 extra well spent if it's at all suspect and the belts are being done.

Front oil seals weep - there are quite a few with balance shafts, crank, cams etc. to consider. A kit is about £70 IIRC.

Clock displays are often cracked by clumsy cleaning. They're like rocking horse doo-doo from breakers and cost something like £150 from the dealer. If they don't light up (when the ignition is on) then it can be a wire disconnected behind the stereo as well as the bulb. They should dim when the lights are on.

Stiff gearchange is usually just lack of lubrication on the bushes in the linkage.

Driveshaft joints can get sloppy or click. There are 4, all the same, and they can be swapped over as a temporary fix. They're £40 each to buy, but I believe that VW Transporter ones may be the same for £30.

Hatches and sunroofs can leak. Sunroof mechanisms strip nylon gears. Both cheap / free to fix.

S and S2 specific there is a single chain between the two cams. This isn't checked as part of a main dealer service schedule so the chain or the tensioners can be very worn by now. There can be all sorts of problems here - the nylon 'slipper' on the tensioner can break apart and jam the chain making it snap; the case-hardening on the cams sometimes goes bad after about 10 years and the teeth start to shear off (you'll end up with teeth somewhere in the engine ); the chain wears and stretches to the point where the tensioner has to move so much it starts to run on the inside of the cam cover; the chain can just break through wear. I have had 2 S2's and the first had missing teeth, the current one had pitting and an excessively worn chain (not running on the cover though). This time around I had a 48k service, all tensioners and front oil-seals, belts, cams, chain, tensioners and a leaky clutch hose replaced by a guy who has just left an OPC and is staring up on his own for £1,500.

Again on the S2 the clutch has a rubber cushion in the centre. More often than not this will one day break up, usually while the friction material still has a lot of life left. £800 fitted.

Turbo specific problems are head gsakets failing after about 10 years (going brittle?), wastegates getting weak and losing boost pressure and springs in the clutch plate centre breaking up.

S2 and Turbo have problems with the brake callipers. The callipers are aluminium and they have steel plates fixed on to protect them from the pad ends. Over time these plates corrode in behind and push away from the aluminium, eventually jamming up the pads. They can be reconned if it hasn't gone too far.

Cabrio problems I have heard of are rusty sills, rubber seals that cost an absolute fortune both for the roof and also along the tops of the doors. The hood lasts 10-12 years and is about £1,000 fitted. The tonneau cover is expensive to replace if it's missing (£400 from a dealer). Bits of hood frame can break, microswitches and motors can fail, all needing a specialist to put right.

Personally I've had 5 944's (including the current pair) and run them for perhaps 75k miles. I've had to replace:
2 steering racks
2 pairs of S2 cams
3 belt services (including rollers on 2)
several front oil seals
1 turbo head gasket
1 S2 clutch through rubber centre failure
1 turbo brake overhaul
3 sets of shocks / struts
4 seats discs / pads
3 968 castor bush sets (to allow bigger than 16" wheels without excessive tramlining)
1 anti-roll bar drop-link
1 turbo exhaust system (the tail-pipe breaks off the back box)
numerous dash bulbs
1 plastic linkage clip in the air-con (72p!)

That's all I can think of for now - hopefully i haven't scared you too much, David!

Fen


[Edited by RB5#295 - 6/8/2003 11:31:50 AM]