Porsche 944/951 Turbo

[whakiewes]

I need a little help here. I have been looking at a few M3's to be used as a daily driver/weekend racer. I was at a local auto-x a couple weeks ago and saw a 951 ripping it up. Its made me wonder about a few things. I can pick up a 944T for about 6k or an M3 for about 19k. I know that the M3 is newer, but the 944 can be made into a supercar for cheap and also only weighs 2700lbs. I need to know from the people that have owned/own them about what you think of them.

Thanks,

Wes

[Bimmer328]

I personally never owned a Porsche but my boss has owned the following

- 1976/1986 911 Race preppped (76 shell 86 engine)
- 2000 Carrera 2 Cab
- 2001 Carrera 4 Coupe
- 2002 996 TT

the first porshe ( the race car ) well it put him back 15,000 canadian to get it almost running again before he ditched it, the 996 TT would have cost him a 19,000 tranny if it wasn't for warrenty, when I was getting my first car I was looking into porsches but he convinced me not too because of cost of maintenance, there is nothing cheap for those cars everything costs crazy amounts of money.

[DSK M3/4]

there are a couple threads on this board about the 951. do a search and they'll pop up. bottom line, i would look for a clean, stock '88.5 or '89 turbo s. very well balanced, beefed up suspension, tranny, and motor. they are not cheap to operate. be prepared to drop some fairly big bucks each year to keep it in good shape.

i had the opportunity to buy an '89 turbo s from the original owner who literally only drove it on weekends. it had 15k miles. beautiful car. i was still in college, and couldn't scrape together the cash. by the time i had the cash, he had sold it to a friend (who gave it to his grandson). bummer.

[coolcar-LESS]

this is one i was just checking out today. im gonna try to arrange a test drive monday.

low miles and should go for a good price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1863654803

[count_schemula]

They are solid cars good to 150k to 200k miles easy. That 86 turbo with 31k miles is very nice.

[m3bs]

Just remember: There's no such thing as a cheap Porsche. BTDT.

[///Mracer]

Well let me tell you, I owned an '86 951 (120K) prior to buying my M3. I started auto-xing the 951 before I began the ever expensive repairs. Within a year I spent a couple of grand on repairs.

Back then I thought my 951 was fast. It was stock at the time. My brother had a 951 also which he was doing some turbo and boost upgrades to. His was a little faster than mine. Well, after a while i grew tired of the repair bills and sold it to a co-worker. I when out and bought my M3.

WOW, was I amazed at the performance of the stock M3. I could handle my borthers 951 pretty well. Now, with my slightly modded M3, I can toast his 951, on the track, auto-x, and street. I DAD bought a slightly modded '89 951 "S" and his is a little better competition on the track only. However, I can still out perform him and love it.

Now I know my M3 costs alot more than the 951 did, but the reliability and newer tecnology of the car was well worth it.

In the right hands, a 951 can be modded correctly and become a monster on the track, but it does cost a lot to get that kind of perfomance out of it.

Just my insight

[alexd]

My dad and I had a 1987 944 Turbo that we bought in the spring of 2000, at the time it had 21,000 miles on it. We ran it on the track for 2 years and loved it, what a great car!! But we always had in the back of out mind that it was a 13 year old car. We put only track miles on it and the only repair we HAD to do was the head gasket.

We sold the car last spring and bought the M3 in my sig. I just got back from Watkins Glen last night and we had a ball with the car on the track.

My conclusion is after having those 2 cars I would take the M3 over the 944 or 951.

[cvacca31]

I owned an 87 944T for 2.5 years and LOVED it! I sold it because the mileage was getting pretty high (181k miles). Yes, Porsches are expensive to fix but heck, so are bmw's!

a 944 with only 30k on it is a great find. Usually, the following things go on them:

water pump (~70k miles) - change this before it goes!
clutch (also around 70-80k miles)
timing belt (~50k miles) - you BETTER change this before it goes or else you will have maj$r pr$blems.

Other than that, these cars are extremely reliable and awesome to drive. As some other people already said, they can be modded pretty easily to produce over 300HP. The best part of a 944T is that the transmission is over the rear axle which means almost perfect 50/50 weight distribution. Beef up the rear sway bar, add a rear tower to tower brace, and that car will kill in the corners.

Anyway, good luck with your shopping and let us know what you end up doing!

[Dark Helmet]

eh, get the BMW....

[M3inSC]

What kind of 951 can you find for $6,000? You could blink and put another $10k in repairs. A good friend has an 89 TurboS and he probably has $25k in it!

[count_schemula]

Originally posted by dasMafia
eh, get the BMW....

ut oh...

[Dinan3XI]

Hey Bro, I just picked up an 89' 944 turbo S about 3 weeks ago. The car had about 63k miles and had a lot of work done to it. Look at my sig for full mod list. I paid about 11k for the car but this was quite a deal. The owner needed the car sold ASAP because he was getting married. I would recommend this car highly. I walked away from a Dodge Viper on the highway at 12psi(i can run up to 20), have video footage of this to prove this.The car eats up C5 vettes all day long and handles amazing. I am big into road courses and autocrossing and the car is perfect for that. I will be up at Road America this weekend with the car with BMWCCA and will let you know how the car ran. Overall an awesome car. I would recommend having it checked out by a good mechanic though, I needed to replace a couple seals and it cost me about 1k.

[AvusBluR]

Originally posted by Dinan3XI
Look at my sig for full mod list.

Hey Mo, you forgetting something?? Here man, let me help you out

Porsche 944 TurboS: Autothority Chip, Boost Control, Ported/Polished Heads, Fabspeed Exhaust w/cat bypass, Koni Adjustables, Yokahama R compound tires, harness bar/camara mount. Soon to come: K27 Turbo upgrade, mass airflow meter, Gutted Interior, larger sway bars, Turbo Twist wheels.

[Stuttgart951]

A good 944 Turbo is hard to find. They are either modded to hell and tracked extensively or bone stock and neglected.

I would stay away from the lower milage cars, these cars need to be driven - its not the miles that can hurt you, its the age of the car. Ive seen 944T's with around 200,000 miles and no major engine work.

They are EXPENSIVE to maintain. Parts prices are rediculous and alot of the jobs will require a Porsche Tech unless you are VERY familiar with the series.

That said:

Its the best car Ive ever owned. Ive had mine for almost 4 years and it never fails to put that evil grin on my face every time.

The car makes 217HP/243FT# stock on 12 PSI. A basic chip upgrade (DME/KLR and BB or wastegate shims) will let you run between 15 and 16 PSI and bump you up a very realistic 40 HP/FT#. Cost? You can find this setup used for $150 no problem.

The car is not a dragster, but any length you lose on launch will be quickly made up. Over 60 MPH cars with twice the power have trouble keeping up. As was in an above post, its the only four banger I know of that can pull on C5's.

Gearing is phenomenal. Balence is supurb. Brakes are 10x more than what the car needs.

If you want more than 300RWHP be prepared to spend alot of cash. Turbo, intercooler, software, MAF or MAP, testpipe, etc etc etc. 300RWHP is pretty much were the stock K26 turbo runs out of gas.

Oh, and if I had to choose between a 951 and an E36 M3 and had say $1,000 worth to mod it... Id choose the 951 if I wanted to go fast on the weekends and Id choose the M3 if I wanted to go "kinda" fast on the weekdays.

Ive driven plenty an M3 in my serach for one... they are GREAT cars... although... sorry guys, cant hold a candle to a mildly modded 951 IMHO.

If you'd like any more detailed information, PM me.

Check here for more info:

www.rennlist.com

[m38itch]

m3 without a doubt cuz u gots ur lux & speed .....good luck buddie