porsche 944 coupe 83-88 review

Have a picture of Porsche 944 Coupe 83-88?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of Bob Astleford.

Average Ratings
Performance	8.5/10
Practicality	7.5/10
Reliability	8.5/10
Value for Money	9.6/10
Reviewer Rating	9.1/10
Overall Rating	8.4/10

94% Recommended16 out of 17 Reviews

Quick Links: Write your review

Overview
Reviews
- bailey25t's review
- 9 Comments
Write your review
Ask a Question

Review of Porsche 944 Coupe 83-88

Previous
Review 5 of 17
Next

By bailey25t on 28th Sep 2005

bailey25t's Ratings
Year Manufactured	1700
Length of ownership	No longer than needed
Doors	Escape Hatch Only
Performance	5/10
Practicality	2/10
Reliability	1/10
Value for money	6/10
Overall value	5/10
bailey25t's recommendation

Good Points

It's Porsche.

Bad Points

Everything else.

General Comments

The Porsche 944 Coupe is a complete dog for a 3-litre turbo. Less rear visibility than a World War 2 pillar-box. A cam belt that stretches round the world twice. Which costs about the same, as the amount owed in world debt. A throttle cast in iron. Power steering, ha! It has bigger flat spots the whole of Lincolnshire. Oh yea. Once the blowers get working your that busy straining with the throttle and clutch you hardly notice it. The clutch! Warning, releasing the clutch to quickly may result in your left knee going through the dash and windscreen. I have track driven this car and was massively unimpressed. I had more fun in my fiat Punto on the m62! I also had the misfortune to experience a high-speed lap. I was more scared in my mates Honda CRX. Which was scary. And faster! No wonder you can pick up a 944 for £1500. Thanks, but no.

Respect given for bailey25t's review.
Helpful	Unhelpful	Agree	Disagree
0	3	0	0

Total Respect: -3

How have you found this review?

9 Comments on Review by bailey25t for Porsche 944 Coupe 83-88

nexus6 on 21st Jan 2006

The original reviewer of this article cannot possibly have driven a well maintained Porsche 944 and still written the bile filled article presented here. It appears that this review may even have been written without ever driving a Porsche. There are glaring errors in the review - 1. Porsche never produced a 3 litre 944 turbo this engine was 2.5 litre. - 2.The term 'blower' is used by any experienced car enthusiast to mean supercharger not turbo. - 3. A rating of 1 for reliability shows that the reviewer has no in depth knowledge of this Porsche model. - 4. To say that the doors are 'escape hatch only' and rear view is negligable leads me to believe that the reviewer may be extremely short and extremely broad. - 5. The clutch is perfectly usable by anyone with enough muscle and experience to handle a real car. - 6. As you may detect from these comment I am incensed by this review and this reviewer should be restricted to a very rusty bicycle for transport as appreciation of anything better is obviously impossible.
bailey25t on 25th Feb 2006

Point of fact it was not a well maintained 944 it was a race tuned model. Spend a £180 to drive a 944 around a circuit and you will be as bitter and unimpressed as I. I have a video of my driving of the car with the certificate of my undersatisfying day. Never the less If it helps you sleep i'll send you a copy. No doubt you drive a diesel 330 bmw estate round the M25. The 944 is seriously out classed as an 80's performance car rivalled by many 90's saloon cars. for example: If you put a 944 and a 1997 volvo s70 stats together, I am confident which would triumph. Go Sweden. As for the ethics regarding the term "blowers" In your apparent suprior knowledge of all things Porshe and stomache acids alike, i'm sure you know... A supercharger gains it's power from the cam belt, a turbo from the outlet on the exhaust. Both coincidently producing the same result. BLOWING air into the engine. I have heard the term blower used for turbos yet not superchargers both proffessionaly and in common terminology. As for the 2.5/3 litre thing, yes that is my error. Thanks for pointing that out. If I was to buy an old porshe it would be the 928. Might come with a bit of DECENT power. Then again, being British i'm not a lover of things german. Enjoyed the banter.
Jimmy 951 on 8th Mar 2006

To say that the 944 Turbo is cramped and has poor rear visability is just not true on any level (err the whole tailgate is made out of glass. Hello!). With regards to the so called lack of performance and dodgy clutch this could only be due to a poorly maintained car (race tuned or not). The clutch on the Turbo is actually pretty light and only someone who has spent their whole life driving a Ferrari 360 could be dissapointed by the 944 T'S awsome Boooost and mid range power. Finally anyone with any true knowledge of the car and it performance simply just could not make a basic mistake about its true engine capacity of 2.5 litres. The 944 Turbo was a great car in the 80's and still is today. But dont just take my word for it, look around you wont find a bad review, at least not one written buy anyone that knows anything about cars!
bailey25t on 18th Mar 2006

Well it would seem my review has caused a few raised eye brows. Maybe I was ever so slighty hard on it however I still stand by the fact the car is a dog. My account of the vehicle is a true account from my opinion of the 944 I drove and spent the day with. You can argue the toss as much as you want as to the authenticty of of my review as it obviously winds people up. So heres some more. The accelerator was more like an on and off switch. Hard to balance on corners. In order to reverse the car out of the garage and on to the pit lane without death or serious injury was a 2 man task. As an average motorist and racing enthusiast alike i will confess, I am no mechinical engineer or vehicle expert. Never the less I am educated enough in the automotive world to be familier with the term turbo lag. Don't get me started on it for this particular car. For all of you who have any comments on my review please get in touch I will give you the details of where you can take part in a track day in this vehicle for a £180. Then you can find out how disappointed I was for yourself. Most of the people writing against my review own these cars. Which makes the opinion biased. Driving a sport or super car should feel sporty or super. Driving the 944 didn't. If the 944 is either sports or super car then a turbo charged c reg escort is a hyper car. And i'll leave it at that.
mattp on 8th Jan 2007

I own two Porsche 944 T's, both from 1986, and I appreciate your comments slightly, but give yourself two weeks of ownership to adapt to the heavy controls and you'll be amazed how good the car feels. I just did 160 miles to Brum and back, and I felt completely excited and refreshed on my return. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The control is fantastic! As you come off tight slip roads onto the motorway you can keep the car on the edge of grip very easily. Very impressive for a 20 year old car!

There is a throttle cam you can buy for about £20 that makes the pedal lighter and more responsive, and if it's not fast enough, you can fit a bleed valve for another £20 to increase boost pressure from 0.8bar to 1.2bar (the engine and turbo can easily withstand the increase, as it is a Porsche and built for the tough stuff), which will definitely get the back end sideways if you hit maximum boost coming out of a tight corner!!

Not much you can do about the clutch, but make sure your seat is in the correct position so you get good leverage, as it makes a lot of difference!
davemoc on 3rd Mar 2007

I have a 944 turbo (2.5). The model I own is the 250 BHP and having owned over 100 cars personal in my lifetime, this car is the best overall car to drive. Yes for sure some cars have been better in some areas, but as a package 944 turbo is the a supercar and very underrated.
I would love to know what car the person who made negative comments drives around in himself and can also think that 944 he drove must have been very tired indeed.
bailey25t on 2nd Apr 2007

To mattp

Thanks for your reply and your acknowledgement of my findings. A well written reply. For the record I was rooting some old boxes and found the certificate for the day. The 944 was a 3ltr turbo (not 2.5 as previously ridiculed) 221 bhp. It was at Croft race circuit in Darlington and cost £180 for the day. I enjoyed the day, and I enjoyed the track experience on the whole. I was expecting a lot more from the 944 for the price of the day. In the defence the instructor, weighed in excess of 20 stone. I could use my own car, which is just as quick a car for half the price. I would like a second opinion, but for £180 I'm just not that curious. Happy motoring.
bailey25t on 2nd Apr 2007

To davemoc

As you asked: I drive a 2002 Volvo s60 2.4 turbo. I was originally looking at a 1997 250bhp s70 T5 ex-police. 120k granted. Also had sat nav built into the dash. It was £1500, and with the insurance premium for that model it contained, I feel "the whole package". Plus an endless list of extras. Just not the Porsche badge. I found sports car performance that comes through well built moderately popular saloons is an underdog. ie the Volvo. I can honestly say the Porsche 944 was an option until I drove it and looked into reliability. It didn't feel to me like a sports car. Albeit an 80's sports car.
min1300 on 1st May 2008

Ummm, this is an 80s car, designed (although not the engine) in the 70s. Of course a late 90s Volvo is going to give it a hard time - shove a Volvo round a corner at the speed of the '44 and it's bye-bye.
- Previous owner of Volvo 850 T5.
- Current and proud owner of Porsche 944 2.5 Lux (yep, the slow one).

Enzo Ferrari

Car Information: Insurance Groups; Used Car Prices; New Car Prices

View 17 more

Hot Stuff in Performance Cars

Performance Cars

Web Results: Musclecarclub.com - American Muscle Car information, statistics, and ...
The home of the Muscle Car Club featuring information, statistics, and pictures of American Muscle Cars ... Home of the Muscle Car Club and the Word Wide Muscle Car Registry
www. musclecarclub .com; home page of Muscle Car Technology
Muscle Car Technology specializes in importing classic American sports cars, muscle cars to the UK market. ... Welcome to Muscle Car Technology
www. musclecartechnology .com; YearOne, Inc.
Inventory of GM and Mopar parts for muscle cars. Catalogues by make and models include...
www.yearone.com; Muscle Cars.NET - Internet Muscle Car Picture Archive
News, pictures, car cruises, articles and information, forums, top ten, links, contact and contribute images. ... Albuquerque, NM will be host to the Supernationals Car Cruise coming up here shortly.
www.musclecars.net; NoNeck's Classic and Muscle Car Site
Classic Cars and Muscle Cars for the enthusiast. Large visitor photo album, classic car shows, great car links, ... Welcome to NoNeck's: This site was created for the muscle and classic car enthusiast.
www. noneckschevelle .com; Classic Cars For Sale, Muscle Cars For Sale, Classic Car ...
classic cars, for sale, muscle cars for sale, classic cars for sale by owner and dealers, for classic cars, photo classifieds ads, classic cars wanted ads, online trader...
www. musclecars-and-classics .com; Muscle car - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high performance automobiles.
en.wikipedia.org; MuscleCar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
MuscleCar is a television program whose hosts demonstrate how to rebuild muscle cars while sharing information about these cars and their history.
en.wikipedia.org; Muscle Cars for Sale, Classic Pictures
Find muscle cars, hot rods, street rods, and classic car pictures, parts, and accessories for Chevrolet, Ford, and Mopar. Read muscle car reviews and get free new car price quotes.
www. top100musclecarsites .com; Mostly-Muscle-Cars.com
Please bare with us while we continue our upgrades. We are looking for submissions from you on YOUR Muscle Car projects.
www. mostly-muscle-cars .com