Justin:
First and foremost, "Welcome" to the Pelican clan!
Second, you did the right thing by posting here to get some advise from some of the good people whom live here on these forum pages.
Third, I am very happy to hear that you have chosen a Porsche 944 car as a first vehicle. There are no better than a German automobile. (And, I have driven many in my life time.)
Now, for some advise which I hope you will heed:
1) **Very important** Are there any records with this car? Such as service records, Porsche dealership records, maintenance records?
2) Do not buy the first Porsche car you see just because someone knows someone who owns it.
3) If there are records for this car, then read them...all of them! This will give you an idea of how good this car really is and what, if any, maintenance was done.
4) 70,000 original miles is a wonderful number for a car twenty-seven (27) years old....however, the original timing belt and water pump WILL FAIL...soon. Why you ask? Because, rubber is a material with a MTBF #, period. AND, if it fails on you the cost will be exponential as other components will also fail.
Now, while I will be the first to be skeptical about this car being pristine, I also will admit when I am wrong about something. And, I hope I am wrong about this car needing lots of work. I find that fact that the "original" timing belt and water pump being in this car as one of the following:
a) An out right LIE or b) someone did not maintain this car like they should have!
Belts and water pump should have been checked and replaced before 60,000 miles (Porsche factory scheduled maintenance fact).
The most important thing you can do right now, if you truly want to own this car, is take it into a Porsche shop and get a PPI (Pre-purchase inspection). That way, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt what this car is currently capable of, or whether there is some hidden problem lurking that no one has the good sense to tell you about.
If you do the PPI and purchase the car, do not drive it UNTIL the BELTS and WATER PUMP are replaced.
Once again, I really hope I am wrong with my assumptions here, but I have seen too many people get their hopes washed down the drain, due to other's greed.
Good luck with your endeavors and keep us all posted on your progress.
Cheers
