Porsche 944 | The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly…

Hey guys welcome back to the channel and in todays video we will be going over the good bad and ugly on the wonderful Porsche 944. Let me know what other cars you’d like to see me go over and I hope you enjoy if you do please be sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more!

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[wackaircaftmechanic]

Just going to make a terrible decision and ignore the bad and ugly part lol. Good vid!

[rrassoc]

944s are EASY to work on! I am not a mechanic, yet replaced timing belts, water pump, front seals, cam chain tensioner pads...

Lots of parts & suppliers besides Porsche, as well... not so expensive.

These cars handle!

[Gerrit]

Thank you for your effort and for creating this video, which will certainly show the great Porsche 944 to some people who didn't know it before. As a 944 owner, I have to clearly disagree on a few points here! I drove my 1991 944 S2 every day from 2004 to 2015, about 45-50 miles a day and often significantly more on weekends. When you say "reliability is questionable" I can only shake my head. I have driven the car over 100, 000 km and never had a technical breakdown, it just did its job. My 944 received all the maintenance required by Porsche from a specialist workshop. With the VW Polo, VW Scirocco, Ford Mondeo, Ford Fusion and Peugeot 206 that I drove, I did have technical breakdowns with each car(!) and they were younger! The 944s shown in this video look tuned and tinkered with. As for the comment "it doesn't have space"...that simply is not true! This is a sports car that has 4 seats and if necessary you can fit up to 4-6 beverage crates in the trunk! The Porsche 944 is reliable, flexible and suitable as a daily driver if it is properly maintained.

[LucasBell]

My neighbor drives one and I love watching it go!

[jsmm]

I love my 86 944! She’s my fav! Always gets waves and thumbs up. No fancy electronics or gadgets just pure driving joy! 3 pedals and a stick is the only way. She isn’t my daily but I drive her at least 3 days a week she is addicting 👍🏼

[stitchk]

As a 944 owner: This video is awful. Literally half your script is Wikipedia knowledge.
As for reliability: It's a Porsche, and Porsches are the most reliable of German cars. I've driven my current car, a 1991 S2, on a 3, 200 mile roadtrip from Florida to Ohio for 944Fest 2022, including doing the track day there absolutely thrashing on it, and then I drove it back home without a single issue. I think you're mistaking a car's reliability for the owner's reliability. Use cheap parts and skip out on maintenance and you're gonna fuck around and find out.
As for cruise control: The only thing that happens is solder joints crack in them which need to be reflowed. Takes an hour to remove it, do that, and install it. And I'm being generous giving you an hour to do that.
As for the timing belt/chain: The timing belt is 45k mi/5yr replacement. It's not surprising it breaks if you skip out on replacing it, fuck around and find out. 16v cars have a timing chain inside the head to drive the other camshaft. They have two small guides that will fail and the chains themselves are a wear item that most S1, S2, and 968 owners neglect too. Also really, not that big of a deal.
The cost of doing a water pump, timing belt, all idlers/rollers, front engine oil seals, and then the timing chain cost me $800 in total for the parts. That's pretty good considering in 5 years I'll need to replace a belt that costs $30, and the rest lasts another 5 years, for 10 years in total.

Please talk to people who own a car before reviewing it. You've made Jalopnik look like real automotive journalism.
Source: I have owned five 944s and a 928, and I work on these doing repair and restoration.

[TornadoOfSouls]

Beautiful timeless design! Love me some 944's!!😍

[geek]

Hi Mark I am going to go along with others here and completely disagree with your reliability statement (disclaimer notwithstanding) . I have had my 944 for 18 years. Oil, filter, cam belts and a couple of oil seals. That's it! As for interior space, fold down the back seats and you can sleep in the damned thing, (Ask me how I know) There is so much interior space I have brought home IKEA Queen sized flat packed beds in it-fold down the seats and they fit into the passenger footwell and the hatch closes with room to spare..

Even with 163hp -mine has a little more) at 1170kg ii is very quick particularly for an '80s car. Think about how much horsepower a 5.0L fuel injected Mustang put out stock in 1985 ( tip 165hp)

944online, Rennlist and Pelican parts have very cheap parts for these cars. All US based companies. Put 18" wheels on it and it looks brilliant! Daily driver? I drove mine 200km a day for a year without a single issue. Drove my daughter to school in it every day for 7 years never missed a beat. As for the cruise control-take it out. Who the hell would rely on '80s tech like that?

Drive the damned car! It is a brilliant handling, quick GT car with heaps of boot space for trip luggage and with the right wheels (18" BBS-(no douchey bag lowered suspension),

Summary: A great looking classic that will outhandle any comparative era 911 with ease.

[QuickshiftCars]

I loved my 944, but it was leakier than the Titan submersible 😅 I think they can be pretty reliable if you replace all the rubbers, as you should with any 40+ yr old car. I got mine for $3k, but prices have skyrocketed since then...btw, transaxle just means the transmission and differential are integrated into one unit. It's also at the back of the car which is great for weight distribution!

[ryanroesch]

I daily my 951 everyday . Have not replaced my timing belt I owned since 2012. It's currently 10-19-2024. Driving it in he morning for a cruise . W my 85 944 (951) turbo

[Workerbee-zynx]

The turbo is very close to super car status..the chipped and modded ones are spooky fast..dont ask why. Mine seems reliable.

[gabem]

Love the 944, the modded front and rear bumpers on the red one at the beginning look really good. I wish Porsche went with something like that instead of the buck tooth bumper, the Euro bumper, or just use the turbo front bumper for all of them.

[marklawrence]

Erm, they are reliable if looked after - engines can do 250k miles without major work. They are old now so you will get classic issues. Do your research

[NCer]

The words “944” and “timing belt” are often said in the same sentence, but the importance of replacement is a little over-hyped because it has an interference engine. The belts only run about $20 and they aren’t any less reliable than anything else, but the replacement interval is about half that of most modern cars, and it does require specialty tools. The cruise control computers can be swapped out by removing two bolts and two electrical connectors. Used computers can be found for $70 and new ones are about $600 from Porsche.

[botondnagy]

Its reliable for an almost 40 year old car. What other 35 - 40 year old car can you say that is this reliable?

[Vyltax]

Not trying to flex but my father had a 944 turbo S! He enjoyed it verry much but eventually sold it to buy a boxster because the maintenance became to exspensive. The 944 is a amazing car!

[GermFreeAcron]

I have a 85 944 na, the reliability has been good ei, no new problems, and the work I have done on it has been easy and accessible. The biggest down sides about them is
1) the Turbo is less reliable, as far as I have heard, but has just enough power.
2)The NA does not make much power and is not cheap increase it.

[mademyownway]

I personally own 2 944's. A 88 Celebration Edition and an 88 951. I have done all the work on them from clutches to a head gasket. I have done a few upgrades to improve performance, interior sound dampening, handling and small other items. It is a Porsche and if you can work on your own car, then it is not a bad little fun car to own.

Like any car it must be maintained. Drive and enjoy them. I would take either one of mine across the country.

[RancidMartians]

“Porsche never really cared about reliability”… my guy Porsche is the German version of Toyota. Reliability is in their DNA.

[afeudale]

Great vid! I disagree on daily driving it though - i daily mine for 2+ years that i've had it and it's just as reliable as any other car ive owned 🙂