Just having thoughts about a new car an was thinking of a 944 turbo s so anybody know a thing or two about them ? are they good ? would be used every day so would this be a good choice or not ?

 

944's are awesome, I love them. So beautifully balanced with the gearbox at the rear.

Make sure the gearbox feels good as anything involving that it tricky due to the torque tube.

Check ball joints, check the brakes, they should be good but can suffer from binding.

Engines are pretty bullet proof, but check the water pump. Either have history to say its been done or change it yourself as its a pretty cheap fix, but if it fails it can cause far worse problems.

Same goes for the cam belt.

Aside from that just bear in mind that its an old car, so use your eyes for bodywork issues, look for crash damage etc etc etc.

 

Tim who works for us has just got a s2. Atmo but is going to build a turbo lump ATM around 600bhp, he loves it but says its stupid slow. Turbo I'd imagine is much better again

 

In my thinking if Im going porsche it has to be turbo !

 

Do it!
Fantastic cars.
I've had most 944' including 2.5 16v, 3.0 16vS, Turbo S, silver Rose, Turbo SE and Turbo Cab (all 250) and 968 sport.
944 turbo One of the best chassis I have ever driven and really well engineered (eg external waste gate, diff oil cooler etc). The Turbo S came out in 88 and is rare, the Turbo SE from 90 is almost the same spec (lsd, big brakes, 250 bhp, thicker anti roll bars etc).
They are really nice to drive, long distances at high speed are a pleasure (I took one of my ones to the 'Ring). They are a bit soft on track but the handling is superb, so well balanced and easy to slide you just feel connected to the car, the steering is superb.

Its quite easy to get close to 300 bhp just with chips and a boost controller, the brakes and suspension easily cope with that, the engines are strong - some are running 400 + on standard pistons. Early turbos were 220 bhp but the big difference on the S/SE was LSD and bigger brakes - makes a huge difference.

Make sure the aircon works they get really hot in summer, and at this age the a/c usually does not work.

They are galvanised so dont rust much but look around inner outser sills and bottom of arches also rear panel under spoiler.

For upgrades you have Lyndey racing in the US (cheap) and Promax in UK who are near Milton Keynes.

I've got a 91 3.0 S2 at the moment its such a well built car for 22 yr old, good to drive but is nothing like a turbo S.

 

I've seen a few of these around lately and they still look like a really nice classy car and will definitely turn heads from anyone who grew up with them.