2022 What Is It like to Daily Drive a Classic Porsche 944 Turbo

When most people think about a car they would use as a daily driver, a classic Porsche is extraordinarily far down that list. I’m not most people (to say the least), and here I am going to discuss what life is like using a classic Porsche for daily transportation. I’ve been in love with the Porsche 944 ever since I could remember, so it's only fitting that I drive my 1986 944 Turbo just about everywhere I go. Here is some more information about my personal car; it is finished in Grand-Prix White over Can-Can and optioned with an LSD from the factory. I purchased the car from its first owner in February of 2022 with 94,629 miles on the odometer, although it had not been driven more than 1,000 miles in the past 15 years. If you are familiar with Porsches of this vintage, you may know that a can-can interior 944 is an extremely rare (can-can is a bright red) interior color, rumored to only have been 45-50 ever built. On the window sticker of the car, it states “Special Order Interior”. Alright, enough about my car and more about what it's like to live with it.

Initial Impressions Of A Pre-Worshipped 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo

When I first bought the car, I knew it needed the usual service items for a Porsche 944 of any vintage, which included a new timing belt and water pump. I use an amazing shop in my hometown that specializes in 944s, and they recommended that I do a whole laundry list of preventive servicing that includes everything from new fuel lines to addressing some electrical issues. All said and done, my total bill was approaching $10,000, I know that sounds ridiculous (it is), but when you factor in the fact that this little Porsche has similar performance to a Lamborghini Countach and can double as a pickup truck, a $10,000 service bill makes a little more sense. The shop replaced all the fuel lines, brake lines, timing belt, water pump converted the A/C from R-12 to R-134, transaxle fluid, engine oil/filter, brake fluid flush, rebuilt control arms, brand new factory Turbo S spec suspension, steering rack seals, and a bunch more (service sheet was 15 pages long).

Has The Porsche 944 Ever Left Me Stranded?

Unfortunately, even with all that service work done, I still was left stranded - twice. I was stuck a few towns over when the camshaft positioning sensor failed; luckily my AAA membership was valid. Needless to say, I lost a lot of confidence in driving the car long distances after that and whenever I left the house, I would always have AAA’s phone number ringing in my ears. The second time I was stranded was my own fault, you’ll know more about that in a minute.

The 944 Turbo Needed A Lot Of Fixes

In addition to the camshaft positioning sensor, a few other items made their way to the grave as well. The first item on the list was completely my fault. I like to say I have mechanical sympathy, which I truly do, but sometimes I tell myself, "it's a Porsche it should handle some abuse." Coming home from an extremely long road trip, I decided it was a great idea to powerslide the 944 around a left turn. Having the transmission in the back, there is a lot of mechanical grip to fight in the 944.

Luckily, I knew how to combat the grip. I begin the turn with a nice 4,000 rpm clutch dump and cut the wheel left, the car gets sideways a bit and then grips back up. As I felt the car begin to grip up after a wimpy powerslide, I clutch kicked it again in an attempt to lengthen the slide. I’ve heard a lot of bad noises in cars, but I'm fairly certain this is the worst one I've heard yet. I tried second and then third, fourth, and then fifth, but I had no gears. I had enough speed to coast into a parking lot right next to the now infamous corner so I could take a look underneath.

Luckily, it was just the 36-year-old axles taking their last breath and not the transaxle. In addition to the axle, the A/C compressor clutch failed right after the shop converted it to R-134. I had a new A/C compressor installed that included a refreshing two-year warranty. Besides that, the car has been rock solid.

It Isn't Too Hard To Live With A Porsche 944

To be honest, it is just like a normal car. It has amazing air conditioning, a decent radio, great visibility, and a huge trunk to boot (no pun intended). One downside is how small the rear seats are. I have had a few of my friends sit back there for a decent amount of time, and it is definitely no S-class, to say the least. You do need to drive around the incredible amounts of turbo lag, although it's something that I love about the car, it reminds you that you are driving something special. Believe it or not, it is incredibly fuel efficient as well, I can average around 400 miles to a tank, which is not bad for a classic car.

The 944 Turbo Can Be A Good Cruiser

I’ve only owned the car for about seven months at the time of writing this article, and yes, I’ve done some amazing things with the car. I’ve driven it from Connecticut to Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, and back the same day, which totaled to over 800 miles. I have taken it to many different automotive events across New England with up to four people in the car. I’ve even driven it to the grocery store, the gym, restaurants, business events, moving, and hauling car parts every week for the past few months, and the car loved just about every minute of it. I have added 6,000 miles to the car since my purchase, which means I am just about to hit 100,000 miles. Let's see how fast 200,000 miles come and go.

This truly depends on your circumstances. If you are single with no kids and want to have an 80s driving experience but cannot afford to keep your daily driver, then I would say go for it (just be cautious of maintenance expenses). If you are daily driving a Chevy Tahoe with a family of four, I would not recommend the 944 as your only vehicle; it's just too small.

Final Thoughts

The 944 is an amazing “do everything” sports car relative to its competitors in its day. In modern times, we have Ford Explorers that are just as fast as modern Porsche sports cars which gives us more and more reasons to just take the Explorer. If you have the ability, do yourself a favor and explore the decade of excess with a Porsche 944, you won’t regret it.