Finally after nearly seven years of ownership, I have fulfilled a long term ambition and taken the 944 on a European trip.
Monday last on a cold and foggy morning in deepest Sussex, I pointed the nose out onto the M23, Ashford bound. I love the Eurotunnel, less than an hour and your back on the road...only on the wrong side.
The weather was perfect when I hit Calais with clearing skies and bright sunshine and 298 miles through four countries to cover - France, Belgium, Holland and finally Germany. For a thirty year old car (albeit in excellent condition) this car is fantastic, fantastic and fantastic.
With the dulcet tones of Matt Munro wafting out 'On days like this' (the younger members need to view the opening sequence of the original Italian Job to get this) I crossed over into Belgium, threw caution to the wind and nailed the throttle.....non-stop to Holland with only the occasional hold up of a lumbering overtaking truck to hold me back and quickly dispatched once the road cleared.
The last 100 or so miles spent swapping the lead with a German registered 964 who tried as hard as possible to get away....only to realise on anything more than a sprint, he couldn't escape so we settled down to a fast paced game of cat and mouse...
....and that really sums up the car, were talking the earliest incarnation square dash non power-steered normally aspirated 2.5 Lux being used as it was meant to be. Not even a well driven 911 (964) could outpace it, despite being 10 years younger and 60bhp more powerful. The car was sublime, I cannot even begin to imagine how superior it was compared to traffic in 1983.
Eventually, we stopped just short of the Dutch border where the 911 pilot enthused about the 944 and how fantastic it looked and his regret at selling his own 944. Oh, and he did admit initially that he'd tried to outrun me, but it was a case of real road dynamics evening up the race!
The final dash was solo through a brief section of Holland and then into Germany via back roads to Geilenkirchen. All this used 3/4 of a tank of standard unleaded. Commendable consumption of about 33 mpg considering the pace.
A few days R&R and a quick visit to the Anuga Food Fair then morphed back into 80's playboy mode for the cruise back to England. Again the 944 showed it's true strength eating up the miles through massive rain showers with ease until the peace was shattered by the car park better known as the Brussels RO! 2 hours to cover 7km in a nose to tail horror story. I don't think I'll ever complain about the M25 ever again. The only good news was that the 944 coped admirably without any complaint, even if my left leg muscles got a major workout from the clutch.
The last section of the journey was marked by a quick dash up the M20 sandwiched between two very rapid modern 911's before turning off to go cross-country through the Weald of Kent and finally back into Sussex.
Anyone who hasn't taken their 944 on the continent, I recommend for little money there is a whole extraordinary experience just 23 miles across the channel where you can use the car as it was really designed. Brett Sinclair Cravat and string backed driving gloves plus a set of Elvis style chrome sunglasses are absolutely essential of course
edited to correct the I-pads own adjustments to my original text! Oh how I hate predictive text....
