Turbo S or S2 Cabriolet?

[pschaars951]

ok I am doing some work on my 87 944 NA to fix it up and sell it. I want to upgrade to something better, but I cant decide what. I am looking for a Porsche that will eventually be worth more than it is now. The turbo S seems to me to be the best 944 ever made, so therefore I was thinking it would be the best investment. But cabriolets always seem to do good as investments too. The are both about the same price too. What do you guys think?

-pete

[Bob's944]

Convertibles always do better in general. Turbos always require more in maintanance and the S model parts would be the rarest. Turbos are much faster tho, that in itself will make the cars hold value. I'd go for the drop top if you really want to have a car you can drive and hopefully break even (considering maintanance costs), or maybe even make a little cash, when you decide to sell it. If you can work on your own car and really really like speed, you might want to go the turboS route, but I wouldn't ,expect to be bragging much on total cost of ownership. The key to selling any of these cars is luck and the luxury of time to wait on your price, so it shouldn't be a primary driver.

[Goku]

"Turbos always require more in maintanance and the S model parts would be the rarest. "

That is a false statement (about the turbo always beign more expensive). I have my turbo for almost 2 years and hear you guys with more maint. then I have had. The ONLY turbo related part i've replaced is the water pump recently. The correct way to say that is the turbos have the potential to have more maintanance since there are more parts. I would definatly say it wasn't a given though. Turbo S would will be worth much more than the S2 cab in my opinion.

[adrian jaye]

An S2 Cab is a damn site better looking than any Turbo Coupe'

hoe about (though they are rare) a turbo cab !

[Z-man]

If I had the choice, I'd go with a Turbo S. I'm getting more and more into DE events, and cabrio tops on the track scare me, even with proper roll-over protection. A bar over your head isn't going to protect you as well as a whole roof!

That said, IMO, the Turbo S is a more exclusive car. It has more power and I believe less were made. Although, the S2 engine has more low end torque which can make it faster through some corners....

Still, I'd search for a 951S. Just be careful: many of the 944's have been abused: make sure you do a Pre-Purchase inspection on whatever you're looking at.

Just my $0.42.
-Zoltan.

[adrian jaye]

an even more exclusive car would be the turbo cab

I also looked into roll bars, the windscreen pillars on the cab acts as a roll bar it is strrong enough to protect you in a roll.

belts and braces would be to add a roll bar.

However cos of the nature of cab's there is inhereently more chassis stiffening than on an s2 or s or a coupe !

[944s2cab]

if I'm not mistaken, the turbo cabs were never shipped to the US(?)

[jetmax]

Adrian,
Common mistake of not knowing where the person is you are talking to. He is in the US and we don't have the luxury of having the turbo cab imported by Porsche.

[pschaars951]

yea, i am dreaming of a turbo cab, but I do live in california. I was browsing classifieds anyway and found one for sale in the UK for 9995 pounds. what is that about 14000 dollars? if it were a left hand drive and I didnt have any trouble registering it in the US... but anyway, I think I decided on the cabriolet. If i ever feel the need for the power, PowerHaus has a kit to upgrade it to a 968 turbo engine specifications.

thanks for everyones help in deciding
-pete

[adrian jaye]

Most turbo cab's come from europe so tend to be left (hookers)
£9k seems to cheap, an s2 cab runs at about £10

most turbo cabs are at least 3 k aboove that

[pschaars951]

does anyone know how hard it would be to get one (turbo cab) registered in California?

-pete

[kenny]

If the car wasn't imported into the US it is almost imposible.

Since Porsche imported some similar models (turbo, cab), you may be able to bring the car in if the same year turbo-non-cab was imported.

The car would have to go through a conversion shop that specializes in bringing the Your-a-peeing cars up to US DOT and EPA standards. It is not cheap. Most people that do it are bring over an expensive MB or other car that is cheap enough in Europe to justify shipping and modification in the US. Some people were doing this in the eighties when Porsche was not importing the 930.

The exception is for cars 25 years and older. The gov-ment figures that if you are bothering with a car this old it is a collector car and won't be driven much etc. I've checked on it several times as I have the hots for a Fiat 500 and a Fiat 500 cab kit that was manufactured in Brit-land. The US Customs Website has all that info availible to down-load.

A 25 year old P-car would be EASY!