1986 Porsche 944

The Porsche 914 was the company's entry-level automobile, fraught with political controversy, and built with a handshake agreement between Porsche and Volkswagen. After Volkswagen ushered in a new chief, Porsche was left footing the bill for development. Nevertheless, the 914 went on to be a sales success and by the time production ended in 1975, a replacement was badly needed. A temporary solution was found with the 912E, a stopgap model built for a single year as Porsche scrambled to find a permanent replacement for the 914. Once again, they turned to Volkswagen for partnership in its junior sports car development. A new front-engine, rear-drive sports car was already under development by Volkswagen and Audi, to be sold by VW, Audi, and Porsche as part of their marketing alliance. Just like the 914, VW/Audi once again pulled its financial support. Porsche soldiered on and developed the car into the 924, which utilized an Audi-sourced, water-cooled 2-liter four-cylinder engine and rear-mounted transaxle.

The 924 was aesthetically pleasing, well balanced, and lightweight, but the Audi engine was widely criticized for being too harsh. Instead of starting from scratch, Porsche heavily reworked the 924 into the 944 of 1982. By placing the transaxle in the back, Porsche was able to achieve a perfect 50:50 weight distribution. The overhead-cam four-cylinder, water-cooled engine displaced 151.3 cubic-inches and was very smooth-running thanks to two counter-rotating balance shafts running at twice engine speed. The bodywork was revised with wider wheel arches similar in appearance to that of the 924 Carrera GT. The interiors were upgraded and the brakes and suspension were modified.

In 1985, performance increased further with the introduction of the 944 Turbo, also known as the 951. To cope with the 220 horsepower engine, the suspension was retuned, the clutch and gearbox uprated, and bigger Brembo brakes sourced from the 911 were installed.

The Porsche 944 Turbo came with a different front and rear spoiler than the naturally aspirated version and the rear skirt served as an underbody spoiler. The front end was slightly revised with integrated headlamps which improved aerodynamics. 16-inch wheels were standard and forged Fuchs alloys were optional.

The 1986 Porsche 944 2+2 coupe had a base price of nearly $23,000 while the Turbo version was listed at $29,500. The 151.3 CID four-cylinder unit offered 143 horsepower at 137 lbs-ft of torque. With the turbo installed, power rose to 217 (SAE net) horsepower at 5800 RPM and 243 lbs-ft of torque. A five-speed manual was standard and a three-speed automatic was optional.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jul 2020