Would a FSH 944 remain reliable doing 20k a year?
Discussion
Specifically this little beauty at 4star cars.
http://www.4starclassics.com/porsche-944-S2-For-Sa...
I'm aware of the robust nature of these cars but has anyone done anything so stupid as to run one of these as their main car and put 20,000 miles + on them per year? I'd imagine it'd be a shock to its system but if that's mainly long motorway slogs, I wonder if this would strike a balance between fun and reliability.
Bit of a mad question, I'll admit that, but it is intriguing me.
David
http://www.4starclassics.com/porsche-944-S2-For-Sa...
I'm aware of the robust nature of these cars but has anyone done anything so stupid as to run one of these as their main car and put 20,000 miles + on them per year? I'd imagine it'd be a shock to its system but if that's mainly long motorway slogs, I wonder if this would strike a balance between fun and reliability.
Bit of a mad question, I'll admit that, but it is intriguing me.
David
I used my Turbo as an everyday car about 10 years ago and it was great fun. But with every older car, you havd to consider what the fsh actually means: after 20+ years and many '000 miles, what parts are worn which are not yet discovered?? just the consumables, or other bits which might fail after continuous use
I used to do 20k a year in our S2 along our countrys fine motorway network and the car never ever let me down. Now she's down to only 6k a year because I changed jobs. 20K a year will mean one major service and two oil changes but as long as you keep on top of replacing parts just before they wear out you should allow maybe £1.5k a year for trouble free motoring.
Pictures can hide a multitude of sins so give that one a good check over in the flesh, but it does look nice. Good luck
Pictures can hide a multitude of sins so give that one a good check over in the flesh, but it does look nice. Good luck
At that kind of mileage I guess most of it would be motorway, this put almost no stress on the car and so it should be fine.
Ours was a daily, bought at 180K on the clock and used for 11K a year for two years, no problems.
In the past I have done 30K a year and the cars just didn't wear that much, just regular oil changes, you will find that tyres,brakes etc all last much longer.
Ours was a daily, bought at 180K on the clock and used for 11K a year for two years, no problems.
In the past I have done 30K a year and the cars just didn't wear that much, just regular oil changes, you will find that tyres,brakes etc all last much longer.
I had a 1982 2.5 and done 145000 miles in it over 8 years. It cost me £3100 to buy the car 17 years ago and the majority of the cash i laid out on it was for upgrades like wheels, spoilers. seats, s/wheel, paintwork etc. None of it needed doing, i was just a 23 year old who loved spending money on his car to improve the looks.
I had weston Porsche in beckenham service it for me and it needed nothing in that time except routine maintenance which wasn't expensive.
XLW 613X was a great little car.
I had weston Porsche in beckenham service it for me and it needed nothing in that time except routine maintenance which wasn't expensive.
XLW 613X was a great little car.
Edited by mez3 on Friday 24th August 19:28
.Simple answer is no. Whether an S2 is worth that money is a different question, but it's the sort of cash that buys a low-miles concourse car that deserves to be kept in a museum unless you want to lose all it's value!
If you want to do double the average annual mileage of a new car, but in a 20-year-old Porsche, then you need to buy cheap, maintain it religiously, and be prepared to be late for work occasionally. You can do it, Fat Albert has proved how reliable they can be running motorway miles. But you want a scabby old car with faded paint, a worn interior, but recently-refreshed mechanicals if you want to run it in to the ground over those sort of miles each year.
Buy a diesel Focus or Golf for the motorway miles, with comforts like cruise and air-con, and save the running costs for a weekend toy 944.
If you want to do double the average annual mileage of a new car, but in a 20-year-old Porsche, then you need to buy cheap, maintain it religiously, and be prepared to be late for work occasionally. You can do it, Fat Albert has proved how reliable they can be running motorway miles. But you want a scabby old car with faded paint, a worn interior, but recently-refreshed mechanicals if you want to run it in to the ground over those sort of miles each year.
Buy a diesel Focus or Golf for the motorway miles, with comforts like cruise and air-con, and save the running costs for a weekend toy 944.
7 years ago when I bought my 944 it got pressed into becoming my daily driver doing 38K in 18 months. It was great, I called out the AA twice both to punctures. Otherwise I did the oil & filter changes every 6K & generally got an indie to do the 12Ks although I know have tools to do these myself. I really enjoyed driving it & some drives still stick in my mind A64 from Scarborough to Leeds from a customer. Customers either ignored it or it became a point of conversation, as an ice breaker. They are about as bombproof as a classic can be, although Class 1 business insurance was expensive. My 2.5 did around 33MPG, excluding all the improvements I did it was around 28pence per mile.
The irony of it was that it was more reliable doing mega miles than it is now only doing 2k max a year.
As for that S2 it is light on service detail. If it is OPC then the camchain & tensioners aren't part of the schedule & must have been done, otherwise it could need cams as well. When did it last have a clutch, have the fuel lines been done? All critical. Older cars need maintaining well beyond the service schedule.
The irony of it was that it was more reliable doing mega miles than it is now only doing 2k max a year.
As for that S2 it is light on service detail. If it is OPC then the camchain & tensioners aren't part of the schedule & must have been done, otherwise it could need cams as well. When did it last have a clutch, have the fuel lines been done? All critical. Older cars need maintaining well beyond the service schedule.
Edited by tr7v8 on Friday 24th August 22:30
blade7 said:
tr7v8 said:
I called out the AA twice both to punctures.
Was it the butlers day off 
.
The AA relayed it to Bradford where I was going & a colleague ran me to a garage in the morning with the flat & got a new tyre fitted!The second time I simply could not undo the locking wheel nut & in fact got home on a tin of tyre weld & then sacrificed a socket to get the bloody locking nut off. I then took the rest off & binned 'em!
Not much help though if you nick the side wall and the side wall blows out. Happened to me years ago on a mini which luckily had a full size spare.
My commuting car is a Fiat Panda, 50 mpg 35 quid tax, is insured on a multi-car policy which costs the same for our 968+rangie+panda as it did for just the 968. Quite literally a zero care or worry car, needed a new front tyre the other day, £38 for a Continental. Brake pads are under a tenner etc. etc.
I did between 15k miles and 20k miles PA when I first got my S2 over a decade ago, it half made sense then when the cars where 1/2 the age, parts were 1/2 the price and easily available and my indie was charging £27 per hour labour. Still though the wear and tear I put on the car and subsequent costs down the line were huge. It also meant that it was very many years before I could afford to go on track with the car which is something I very much regret.
My commuting car is a Fiat Panda, 50 mpg 35 quid tax, is insured on a multi-car policy which costs the same for our 968+rangie+panda as it did for just the 968. Quite literally a zero care or worry car, needed a new front tyre the other day, £38 for a Continental. Brake pads are under a tenner etc. etc.
I did between 15k miles and 20k miles PA when I first got my S2 over a decade ago, it half made sense then when the cars where 1/2 the age, parts were 1/2 the price and easily available and my indie was charging £27 per hour labour. Still though the wear and tear I put on the car and subsequent costs down the line were huge. It also meant that it was very many years before I could afford to go on track with the car which is something I very much regret.
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