No doubt that the Boxster appeals to individuals who are in touch with their feminine side - but that does not make it less of a sportscar. You just have to deal with a different bunch giving you attention. Personally I consider going that way come spring - Ronnie is quite the persusder.

As for the 944. I love the design, like the handling but hate the engines. It is pretty boring and without character, but nice for daily driving - and yes I have had about 8 of them from 924S to 944 S2.

I've owned a handful of Rothsport built 911s, street to race. Sold them to buy a Dino GT4. I'm drawn toward the misfits and stepchildren of given marques since I don't listen to conventional wisdom nor the opinion of the crowd. Hence the 944 buy. 944s are maligned and looked down upon, I figured why not buy a pristine example and be ahead of the market. So I did and couldn't be happier. Great car! Got some race heritage as well...
Porsche 944 Turbo GTR

Christian, maybe you and Eric can co-buy (or is that "co-bi"?!?!) a Boxster together?! Imagine the fun you both would have tooling (literally) around the countryside, shirtless, in your open air ride!!!!

That car is over the topSmileWavy. Built like a 935
do you have any more pictures?

Wow...that flowed so easily into your, err, from your lips...

MattR

You said it. I would never have thought of such a thing, but Ronnie somehow visualizes these things with ease. Hmmmm.

Ronnies new ride:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1449862351.jpg

^^^

Don't be jealous, Matt. You can borrow it whenever you want and use it to get all the bisches, like I do. Or ask Eric and Christian if you can ride (in more ways than one) in their Richard Simmons mobile! Eric sez three is a charm!

I'll try to be a short as possible here:

IMO- the 944 was built as a lesser priced car, at a time when Porsche was planning to stop production on the 911. It is undervalued because there are so many of them, mostly in horrible shape, and the parts are expensive and it runs an interference engine which requires you to replace the timing belt and water pump every 3 years per Porsche.

It also used a rubber centered clutch, which after time proved to be not such a good idea.

If looking to buy a 944, skip on one without service records. Mine had full records and 66k miles on it and was in beautiful condition. I paid less than a 100k early 90s Miata for mine and immediately put $2509 into timing belt, water pump, etc.

The engine is a bit underpowered on the early years, but later in the 80s they added a good bit of power as well as the turbo model which is quite a car and not nearly as inexpensive.

All in all, great cars and a really great value for the right person. But they are not for everyone which of course hurts the value.

I'll add a bit to the above. The 944's follow a similar path as the 911 series, every succeeding year they got upgrades and improvements that made them better than the earlier ones.
The best value in my opinion and really underated would be the 1989 base model N/a. 167hp out a 2.7 liter hand assembled engine right along the 911's. The top speed is close to 140mph and a 0-60 conservatively rated at 8.0 flat... much better numbers than my 73.5 911T ever posted. ABS was standard as was a fully galvanized body the 85.5's and up had a more 911 like dash.
At the end of the run 944's particularly the 951 were not inexpensive cars. I was involved with marketing them from 89-91 and the 951's sold for more than a 911.

FWIW there is what looks to be a well loved 89 in the for sale section for 4500. A much better deal INMO for entry level P car ownership than the rusty 74 911 that was sold in the low 20's and is another topic of this marketplace discussion.

If you buy a 944 learning to do the timing belt is about the same skill level as adding oil fed tens to the pre Carrera 911 engine. The cars are robust and cheap right now, time to hop on the train if they interest you.
B