Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I am a serious buyer in the market for a 944 S2 or a late 944 Turbo

After trawling many "For Sale" adverts and going 130 mile to Cardiff on a one way ticket I must say I am VERY disappointed with 944 owners "opinions" of their cars. btw the cost of a "pay on the day" ticket to get home from Cardiff was 4kin horrendous !!

As a self employed mechanic and an MOT tester I may well be checking these vehicles a little more diligently than your average "rose tinted glasses" car buyer.

I am not a tyre kicker or wannabee 944 owner and go with cash TO BUY

I have looked at 2 (originally priced at) £6k cars and I feel really let down by what was presented to me.

I am NOT after concours but I do not expect to have to replace sills when the vehicle has only recently (within the last 2 months) had an MOT (yes I could have contacted VOSA as corrosion is "reportable" within 3 months of an MOT pass)

Please sellers be honest with your adverts description and price your cars realisticly

If it needs sills then tell potential buyers it needs sills

Do not say "cambelts and guides replaced 10,000 miles ago" if actually you mean it was 6 years ago (by previous owners before you owned it) but you have only covered 10,000 miles in that time !

Well tomorrow I am off to North of Newcastle (I live in Wednesbury - The Black Country in The Miglunds) on a one way train ticket AGAIN

Lets hope this car is a more honest example - the word IMMACULATE was used in The Ebay title !!

RANT OVER - hopefully - lol

To any sellers advertising on TiPeC that I have been in contact with ONLY via the telephone then I am NOT talking about your vehicles so may well be back in touch

i totaly agree with that comment

Mike

sometimes a return ticket is only a small amount more than a single.

lots of things are missed off of adverts,
sometimes because the owners are not mechanics they don't know things are crap underneath

keep looking and you will find a good one.

Anything wrong with an early Turbo? You will be hard pushed to beat Hairyarse's car or Copperman's S2

Both stunning cars!

+1

My advice would be NOT to buy cars advertised by the general public. Only buy cars from Tipec or PCGB as on the whole they are a far better class of vehicle owned by enthusiasts. Snobby comment, but a true one IMHO

Most 944's are sheds these days (sad but true )

Also, get yourself along to the Tipec Porsche show at Gaydon on Sept 8th and you will see dozens of immaculate 944's (and yes a few more sheds )

Good advice from Paul, I have owned 3 944's 2 purchased via Tipec/PCGB = good ones, an S2 Cab via Autotrader (heart ruling head =needed £2k+ spend)
Would recommend getting return journeys on any visit to purchase, could save money in the long run.
Tipec show could have some good ones for sale
Clive

Well my faith has been restored lol

235 miles ride home in a 99,000 mile J reg S2

A true gent selling the car and full Porsche dealer history

Pics will follow soon as I am just eatin me chips lol

+1 on Paul's comment. I went for a car known in the circles and it certainly stood me in better stead .

Great to see you have found yourself another motor . And yes, there are plenty of sheds about. When I first was looking out for 944s many were wrecks, and even my old S2 which really was head and shoulders above the rest was not a patch on my current car .

It took me over a year to find the right Turbo, that was 6 years ago so I expect there's less good cars about now.

Heres a pic I took today through the B pillar inspection hole when I was looking the car over

Loads of lovely waxoyl obvioulsy been there ages

I have to say I gave up on my 944 S2 aspirations after my experience being the same as your initial experience.

I ended up getting Merc R129 SL 500. Initially I wanted an R107 but a non rotten one was out of my price bracket so started look at 944S2's and gave up on that as well after finding that in general they had rotten sills/ too many owners/ old "new" belts or at the mileage where a camshaft/chain replacement was due. With the R129s the poorer examples had rusty wings and worn interiors/ soft tops along with variable history.
Im sure i must have covered at least 1500 miles searching for a car that met my criteria and felt like was good value to me.

As always a car is always worth what someone is willing to pay for it, when viewing R129s the prices varied between £3K at the bottom end of the market to over £10K at specialists. i think i bought the best one I saw but it wasnt the most expensive.

Im still on the look out for a non rotten usable 924 or 944 around the £1K mark to use as a DD but not holding my breath as I dont think such a thing exists as the market probably dictates these cars are worth more than this but im in no hurry and the right car may turn up

I think the problem is with cars in general that there are probably a few good cars for £xxx but people look at whats for sale and assume their car is just as good when in reality its not. Also another problem is that nobody really knows how much people pay for cars so usually add in a margin for discount.

The only thing that is consistent is that good cars priced keenly are snapped up very quickly.

Ebay is the only place you can keep a track of the final price of cars and as we know generally they are not the best examples

Interesting thread... a decent seller will always try to put themselves in the buyers shoes, but let their conscience call out the realities.

A '92 car is now old enough to go in All Bar One (assuming it's not wearing its work clothes) and so the number still being cherished is falling fast. An S2 is a lovely thing though and it's worth holding out for a good one. I agree wholeheartedly that many 944s now are tatty and requiring more than many owners would want to put into them... but starting with a good car and having a realistic budget of £100 a month to either squirrel away or spend on bits that dissolved that month should be adequate to maintain a car that you're "on top of".

It seems like sills are going to rust unless previous owners have had the foresight to augment the original anti-corrosion protection frequently. As long as the job has been repaired correctly though with decent quality metal, to a good standard, and then painted to the same and given a good level of protection it seems like it's not the end of the world. I'd be frankly more concerned about an overall tatty car with a nasty interior. Good to see a wad of history and extra-nice when a little care has been taken with keeping all of the vehicle's features in good shape.

We must be approaching the time when cherished 944s and 924s are few enough in number that appreciation of the good remaining cars starts to push their value? I am already concerned that my opportunity to find myself in a position to get a strong turbo with less than intergalactic mileage is a closing window... perhaps with this thread in mind I should either get my finger out and get into the car I think I'll stick with, or hang on to my lovely Pastel Beige 944 Lux and accept that for the price of a turbo I could have the Lux in "investment" condition and still with change for chips in my pocket... hmmmm.

Thought provoking thread, and looking forward to seeing RS2000s S2 pics ASAP please!

I finally put my 944 S2 over the MOT pit today and again was pleasantly surprised

Wearing my MOT hat I found a very small patch of welding required at the rear of the inner sill/outer sill/wheel tub area and yes I did poke around with the "corrosion assesment tool" lol

1 small rear brake pipe to caliper with light surface corrosion (certainly not bad enough for a fail)

1 front anti roll bar bush slightly worn but not to excess (again not a fail)

Light surface corrosion on 1 front brake disc inner face (brake balance was well within the limits)

All the above are easy (for me) fixes and only goes to prove the April 2013 MOT was fair and honest

Keep looking boys and girls good cars are out there

Now I can schedule the upgrades/service work I want to carry out (in no particular order)

Decat (legal on a 1992 model)

Promax or similar ECU chip upgrade

K + N

Full cambelt and tensioner replace (due next year anyway)

Water pump replace

Evans 180 Power Waterless Coolant

Camchain and wear pad replace

2 x auxillary belts replace

Fitting of a Quaiffe ATB LSD

ALL filters and use 20/50 Fully synthetic Lucas oil

Trans axle oil replace

Brake fluid replace (was done last year but I want to put minimum 5.1 fluid in

Also noticed front lower ball joints have grease nipples (they gonna get a load of grease through em - lol)

Have I missed anything ??

Did you check your fogs?

Good 2 have mot man on are side