will be between 1986 and 1990, think they look cool but not sure about buying such an old car- breakdowns, repairs etc.....

Bad idea. Not very reliable cars.

OMG..Run..NOOOOOOOOO! Just to put a timing belt on one
of those overengineered piles of poo is a nightmare and expensive. The reliability is virtualy nonexistent.. unless yours
will be the exception. Try calling the local parts Store for any
part for it.. after the counter guys get up off the floor from lalughing so hard and wipping the tears from their eyes. YOU
wa not what hahahahaha.. sorry we could maybe order that for you..

Bad idea (poor mans Porsche) its not just that, the added fact of running cost for a relatively shat car

l cannot say ''please dont do it '' enough times ,,as with all older sports cars they might seem cheap to buy,,,but believe me ,the parts and the labour ,are just as expensive ,as it were brand new ,,anyone can buy a secondhand porche ,,very few can afford to keep it on the road pleeeeeeeze ,,,,dont even think about it

The problem is not if you can afford to buy one but can you afford the upkeep.

My partner is buying a brand new one in the New Year, not sure what model though. l told him to look at older models as the thought of spending that much on a car horrified me. However, all the older models had such high mileage and were not very nice at all and would have been high in repairs. l think the odd used decent ones that do come up go very quickly. l would start saving for a newer model, l have now been converted!

When it breaks down be ready to spend a small fortune on parts, and wait for a long time to get them.

Repairs could be expensive, as will insurance and other maintenance costs. Frankly, it is probably a bad idea.

l just drove a Porsche Boxter 2004. The interior looked like it had been made in 1984.

A Porsche might be fun to drive but at that age it will be very dated, very old, and will have been thrashed to death by various owners before. I'd wait until l could afford something a lot newer and certified.

Very ££$$ on parts. Dont touch a Turbo , or a softtop.both crap..A nice 944S is a great car.. and still can cut it with all the high tech stuff on the road today... Oh and make sure its Manual..( Autos are very ££$$ to repair ). The only good Auto Porsche is a 928S . but that another story..
Good luck mate.. Hope this helps..

I'd say bad. Practical considerations aside, an unfortunate side effect of owning a Porsche will be for a large proportion of people to automatically assume u r a w*nk*er. There r more expensive & more ludicrous cars u could get but none seem to attract the same sort of 'instant w*nk*r' reaction that Porches do. This particularly applies if u r male & tending towards middle age in which case ur new car will be seen as a clear attempt to compensate for ur declining vigour, virility & advancing years.

If u do buy one make sure it is a good one. Running costs r not as horrendous as on some sports cars but it still wo not be cheap & almost all spares will only be availible through Porsche. Only buy a car with a Full & comprehensive service history & try to get one that has not had a dozen or more owners.
As for reliabillity, well as long as it is well maintained it should be ok. Why do u think there r so many high milers out there? because they r well engineered in the first place & built to last. Do not expect to run one on beer money though. Just because u can buy one for a few grand does not mean it will cost the same to run as a second hand Mondeo.
Ideally a car like this is best suited to being a weekend toy where annual milage is low. This way the running costs r minimised & if it does let u down it is not too much of a problem.
Find a Porsche forum on the internet or contact an owners club first. That way u can speek to a few owners & get an idea of how much it is going to cost to run & they will point u in the direction of where to buy a decent, well looked afer example.

Edit: just read some of the other responses.

'Poor mans Porsche'?? well it wo not appeal to snobs if that is what u mean. It does not make it a bad car though. Shat?! At the time it was considered to be a better drivers car than the 911.

Reliabillity is not non existant?! That comment is pure drivel. Reliabillity is affected by poor maintenance & buying an abused car. It is not the kind of car that Bob at ur local back street garage can work on. Yes it is over engineered but that is part of the rreason why there r so many examples with over 200,000 miles on the clock still going strong.

Insurance wo not be that expensive. Get a classic policy with a limited milage & u could be paying less than £200 a year. If u r 17 & plan to do 12,000 miles a year though it could be a bit pricey but no more than any other sports car.

The Turbo is not crap at all although the S2 is supposed to be a better car. The 944S is actually supposed to be the one to avoid.
The S2 & the turbo r the two where the performance lives up to the Porsche name.

As for people will think ur a ******. Who cares. That says more about them than it does about you. Besides, most people wo not think anything anyway & those that do (Micheal S) will be the kind of idiots that no one cares about anyway.

As l said before. make sure u can afford to run it, buy the best one u can find/afford & then enjoy it.

l will need to be a VERY well cared for and low mileage model to be worth considering.. Make sure that it has full Porsche service history.to buy a car of this type is always a gamble but if you find a good one it will keep a huge beam across your face every time you drive it.

The only cheap older sports car you'd dare buy would have to be Japanese. Mazda RX-7 possibly, but those Wankel engines are not understood by many mechanics if you have a problem. Best bet is a Toyota Supra, Nissan 200/280/300, Mitsubishi Starion. They're all fairly cheap now, will perform better than the 944, be cheaper in every aspect, and will keep going.

Honestly, it depends on what u want to do with it.

First, if u find one to buy - have it checked out totally. It seems when Porsche came out with the 944 - a whole new ''Porsche'' person was born, & they just did not understand about maintenance. Many of them were ''rigged'' to keep on going, & not necessarily by anyone who knew how to properly service them.

Second, without a thorough going over - it may not be reliable as a daily driver.

If u r looking for a track car - then this is wonderful. You might consider putting a 968 engine in it - a new brain chip -- & have fun.

If u do find one - see if it is the original owner & if all records were kept. Ask who has been servicing the car - is it a reliable mechanic that specializes in German cars? That would be a starting point.

Good luck - & do not forget, once u own a Porsche -- join ur local Porsche Club of American -- 52,000 strong & growing. it is not just the cars.it is the people.

If u find u have questions beyond this one - u may want to check out the rennlist.org forum. All Porsche talk - all the time.

End of commercial :-)

Bah haha, r u willing to sell ur soul?? No, really read some of my recently posted questions & it will give u a lot of insight.
My 944 has owned my life since l bought it!! It is a love hate relationship. One of the posted on my question was ''why would u want such an unreliable money pit.'' or something close to that. l read this & laughed cause its true, why would l want it? BUT l DO. My husband does not understand this cause he is never driven it (he can not drive manual). l love to drive that thing, nothing can compare. Try taking anyother car at over 40mph on a roundabout, nothing has such a nice turn radius & handling.
My point is tho, l love it, but l honestly wish l did not buy it. It is like getting attached to a bad relationship. Just today my friend asked ''.if u we're getting paid $27/hr, what the hell did u do with all that money??'' l thought for a minute ''yeah where did that go.'' then l remembered, ''oh yeah my car.'' l have over doubled the amount spent on repairs then the original cost. If u have access to a shop & can do repairs yourself then sure get it. It has an engine that never ends, mine is still purring while all around it everything else falls to pieces. It accelerates awesome, few things r so delightful as kicking the trash off the line of some wannabe fast & furious rice-rocket! Insurance is surprising good priced (at least mine always has been). BUT u will give basically every penny u make to keep it happy.
l do not recommend it. l love it BUT LIKE l SAID
Are u willing to sell ur soul?

l have owned a 944S for ten years with no major problems but it is only driven occaisionally. If you cant work on it yourself l would not recommend it as they are expensive to fix,parts are hard to get,lack of qualified mechanics (who dosent charge $100 an hour labor rate) and insurance is high

l am a boxster owner and l personally do not like the design of the 944. Note that you will encounter less technical problems with a Porsche than with any other car,