Page 94 - Wayne Carini's Guide to Affordable Classics

Under the car, 944 buyers got a modern MacPherson strut front suspension, with a more traditional Porsche torsion bar and trailing arm design at the back. The combination gave the 944 crisp turn- in response and eager cornering. Because of the transaxle design, the 944 is an exceptionally well-balanced lightweight sports car. In 1984, Car and Driver magazine rated the 944 the best-handling import car in America, saying, “it has no all-around equal.” Four- wheel disc brakes add to the 944’s sporty demeanor, eliminating another complaint left over from the early 924: rear drum brakes.
Inside, the 944 is an 80s flashback. The interior is trimmed with basic molded plastic, but that’s not such a bad thing. The materials have generally held up pretty well to the present day. A basic set of gauges was standard, including an unusual tach where zero is over to the right and the needle sweeps around the bottom of the circle to redline at about the 9 o’clock position. A water temperature gauge is present in the driver’s gauge binnacle along with some simple idiot lights. There’s an oil pressure gauge located in the center stack along with a clock.
In a nod to the times, an early fuel economy gauge was also present at the top of the tachometer face, so you could watch your MPG falling as the engine revs climbed. The 944’s seats were basic, and sometimes criticized for lack of side bolstering in energetic driving maneuvers, but more supportive sport seats were also available. As with many sport coupes of the era, the 944 has two rear seats, but they are small and you really wouldn’t consider it a four- passenger car.
Updates and Enhancements
In typical Porsche style, updates to the 944 came quickly and frequently. After three years, Porsche brought out the 944 Turbo, also known as a 951. Base compression was dropped to 8.0:1 to
accommodate about 11 psi of peak turbo boost. This engine yielded 220 horsepower and 243 lb ft of torque, which yielded an improved 0-60 time of 5.7 seconds. The turbo also received a bunch of upgrades, including a stronger transaxle, engine and transmission oil coolers, and 911 brakes all around. The inside of the engine was also redesigned to handle the additional compression and power. One final difference between the turbo and base 944 is that the automatic transmission option was not available on the Turbo.
ABOVE: The 944 engine was good to start with, and got better as the model was developed.
BELOW: Porsche kept the 944S true to the good looks of the original design. The higher performance of the 944S speaks for itself.
92Wayne CariniAffordable Classics