To buy or not to buy.. that is the question.

[Steve73-2.0]

My daughter is looking at buying a 924 or a 944 with auto transmission as her only car. What should she look out for or avoid? She is in love with how these cars look and only after the non turbo versions. Many that I have seen have pretty run down interiors, cracked dash etc. What major components are NLA? How much grief is on the horizon?
Cheers
Steve

[FLYGEEZER]

Flex disc @ the flywheel. They ALL fail ! My 84 944 has 144,000 miles and it has been replaced twice. The auto transmission is VW and almost bullet proof. The rest is "caculated risk". I love mine and bet your daughter will feel the same. Best of luck!

[Slam]

Replace flex disc with static clutch setup and fuggedaboutit. Do the timing belt/water pump right away and then every second or third summer afterwards, with a pump change every second belt change. Once sorted they're reliable but at the same time there's always some little thing that needs attention, and for the first while you'll be doing ALL the deferred maintenance. If you do that with your daughter, everyone wins!

The best thing is that parts are for the most part cheap and plentiful, but every now and then you'll be waiting for something unique (like quarter window seals). These cars are pretty easy to work on too.

Many will tell you to budget between $3500 and $5000, which seems about right whether you pay up front for a sorted car or get a fixer-upper and defer the outlay.

[jwmc1]

Really depends on what she is willing to pay...as others have said the damper in the transmission will fail...I personally just had to do this on my car at 72,000 miles...I chose to replace the OEM part and not do the static clutch replacement...spent about $1,000 more, but I was concerned that the shifting my be rough. I have heard from others that it works fine though.

[petrolhead611]

The 924 lacks the performance of a 924S or a 944 but parts are much cheaper and the timing belt is not an issue. Post 1981 they were galvanized throughout, rather than partially.