A 944 will get you the Cash 4 Clunkers curse at leMons. Much like the curse the 944 is fun to look at but not so much that you will spend the money to have claimed ownership.
I don't care how well it's been looked after, 12k is just a down payment. You'd better have 8k a year more to keep that little 16v happy. If I want to enter Porsche Maintenance Purgatory, I'll spend my 12k on a 911, thank you very much.
Nice price, but only in the context of "I'm going to use this as my daily driver." The would-be "collectable" angle of this low-mile example is more than negated by the fact that they made 800 billion of these, along with the widely held opinion that the 944 was a great car, but not a great Porsche. But, for your commuter car, which would you prefer: a new Aveo, or this?
@PatFromGundo: Actually, I think they only cranked out a grand total of about 160,000, of all the variants. That's not a lot, when you think they were rolling them out for about eight years
@Elhigh: What, you actually want me to back up my comments with FACTS?
Seriously, that production total is surprising. This may be a case of the SoCal survivor rate skewing my perception...how many of these will you find running around the streets of, say, Cleveland?
@PatFromGundo: I know there's a high bad-taste-quotient in Cleveland, and plenty of body hair, but somehow the two never really met up with Porsche in Ohio. I'd say it's a fair bet the Cleveland has, at most, one.
@Elhigh: Don't be too quick to judge. Cleveland is home to Stoddard Porsche, possibly the single most important purveyor of vintage Porsche stuff in the U.S.
My sister had one of these things. I only drove it once. Jee-suz! Despite things like $900 tune-ups (in '85 dollars; that was how much they charged her for the 30,000 mile service) I'd like to own one of these today.
You jalopniks would respect my sister , I think. When I was in hi-skool and she was in college up in Tallahassee I remember her coming home one weekend with a ticket for 106 in a 25 zone. That, as the phrase goes, is just how she rolls. She achieved this in a six-cylinder Chevelle with the worst brakes of any car I've ever driven. I drove that car a lot; I'd never have guessed you even could get that old heap up to 106 mph.
It isn't often that the eFMV (patent pending) smokes the pipe of crack. In fact, the eFMV was set up with the express purpose of proving most of the cars Mr. Graverobber finds are, indeed, nice price.
This is one of those few times, though. The only other Porsche 944 found on Autotrader.com was a non-S, 1988 model. It was listed at $3450, which sets our base price. The NPOCP 944S above has low miles, which adds $1500 to it's value, as well as General Awesomeness for being the turbo version. That's good for another $1500. So, we get a fair market value of this one at $6450, well below the $12000 asking price and deep in Crack Pipe territory.
Crack. Even with a turbo, you'd still be driving the second-worst poseur Porsche of all time. The only use I have for a 944 is to track it, and for that purpose, I don't need the one that's been in bubble wrap for 20 years, and I won't have to spend $12K to get it.
A time-machine Porsche is cool, but let's be honest, a 944 is made for hooning about, not sitting in the garage queening things up. You can only lose money on this unless you don't drive it.
I'd look for a decent early 80s 911SC or maybe a 968 convertible and get some real speed for my $12K.
Even though I can't fit into these, I have an irrational liking for them and voted nice price. You certainly won't find a better-handling car at that price.
Crackpipe. For just a little more, it's possible to have a cheaper-to-maintain, reliable driver-condition 911SC. No 944 should have an asking price over $4000.
Unless there's some hidden mechanical weirdness going on, this car is a hoon-tastic Nice Price.
Just bring a razor blade & some Windex with you when you buy it, since the first step after purchase would be to strip that hideous "Porsche" windshield decal off before it even leaves the driveway.
I was friends with the hunky quarterback in high school. Maybe he wasn't quarterback, we weren't very close friends, but he played football among other sports and was popular.
We took auto shop class at the same time for a year or two. Our junior year, 2001, he bought one of these for about $2500. If that's all my contemporary Jake Ryan would pay for one of these, I sure as hell am not paying almost 5 times that, inflation be damned.
12k for a 944 initially had be thinking crack pipe. That's easily three times what you can find a nice example for, but...
Those will all invariably have more than 100k miles on them, and there is a definite value associated with low miles (to a point)
Ascribing my admittedly unrealistic 10 cents per mile rule, this car should be worth $8500 more than a still low mileage 100k mile example. If I'd consider $3500 for a 100k mile 944, My own math says I must vote nice price.
Plus, it's the more valuable "S".
Using reason, it's worth it, and for some ungodly reason, the 944 has always been a favorite of mine, even if it was the "chick car" in Porsche's lineup.
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Seriously, that production total is surprising. This may be a case of the SoCal survivor rate skewing my perception...how many of these will you find running around the streets of, say, Cleveland?
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You jalopniks would respect my sister , I think. When I was in hi-skool and she was in college up in Tallahassee I remember her coming home one weekend with a ticket for 106 in a 25 zone. That, as the phrase goes, is just how she rolls. She achieved this in a six-cylinder Chevelle with the worst brakes of any car I've ever driven. I drove that car a lot; I'd never have guessed you even could get that old heap up to 106 mph.
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This is one of those few times, though. The only other Porsche 944 found on Autotrader.com was a non-S, 1988 model. It was listed at $3450, which sets our base price. The NPOCP 944S above has low miles, which adds $1500 to it's value, as well as General Awesomeness for being the turbo version. That's good for another $1500. So, we get a fair market value of this one at $6450, well below the $12000 asking price and deep in Crack Pipe territory.
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Am I the only guy who saw her in "Space Hunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone"? Boy was that a dumb movie.
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I'd look for a decent early 80s 911SC or maybe a 968 convertible and get some real speed for my $12K.
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Just bring a razor blade & some Windex with you when you buy it, since the first step after purchase would be to strip that hideous "Porsche" windshield decal off before it even leaves the driveway.
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We took auto shop class at the same time for a year or two. Our junior year, 2001, he bought one of these for about $2500. If that's all my contemporary Jake Ryan would pay for one of these, I sure as hell am not paying almost 5 times that, inflation be damned.
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Those will all invariably have more than 100k miles on them, and there is a definite value associated with low miles (to a point)
Ascribing my admittedly unrealistic 10 cents per mile rule, this car should be worth $8500 more than a still low mileage 100k mile example. If I'd consider $3500 for a 100k mile 944, My own math says I must vote nice price.
Plus, it's the more valuable "S".
Using reason, it's worth it, and for some ungodly reason, the 944 has always been a favorite of mine, even if it was the "chick car" in Porsche's lineup.
Nice price.
10/05/09
If I'm going to drop five figures on a front-engined Porsche...it'll be a 928.
Oh, and Molly Ringworm is not lustworthy in any way, shape, or form.