History of the Porsche 944

Built on the same basic platform as the Porsche 924 is the Porsche 944, a sweet ride with amazing design specs that was in production for nine years, beginning in 1982. The last year for the 944 was 1991, and although it was supposed to continue through the 90's, there were major changes planned for the vehicles and the manufacturers decided to release the 968 instead, replacing the 944 completely. The 944 was available as a coupe or cabriolet, and was also available in turbocharged form.

The original model that the Porsche 944 is based upon was originally a joint project between the two car manufacturers giants, Porsche and Volkswagen. They created the 914, which was sold in Europe under both makes, and in 1972, Volkswagen begin to plan a replacement for the 914 under their brand name, to be sold as part of the Audi series, under the arrangement by Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche. However, the project was canceled when the production costs got too great.

Porsche purchased the design from the German manufacturer and developed it completely, with an Audi 2 liter engine that was criticized by some. Porsche introduced the turbocharged engine for the 924, but consumers were unable to reconcile the price and despite the vehicles superb handling it didn't sell well. Porsche decided to remake the 924, which resulted in the Porsche 944.
In the 944 the Audi engine was taken out and Porsche replaced it with an all alloy 2.5 liter engine that was basically a halved design of the 928 5.0 liter V8 engine, the four cylinder engine chosen because of fuel efficiency and size, and because it had to be put in from below on the production line. To combat the harsh feeling of the engine Porsche fitted it with two balance shafts that rotated counter, and that ran at twice the engine speed. This technology was invented by an engineer named Frederick Lanchester in 1904, patented by Mitsubishi in 1975. This technology enabled the four cylinder engine to feel just as smooth as a six cylinder.

The first set of major changes to the Porsche 944 came in the middle of the 1985, namely upgrading the dash and door panels, and making the radio antenna embedded. They also upgraded the alternator to 115 amps, which was previously 90. There was also the addition of upgraded sump oil capacity and a larger fuel tank. You also now had the option of heated and powered seats, a new Porsche hi-fi sound system, and they made changes to the mounting of the transaxle because of the noise and vibration it caused. The wheels were upgraded from the cookie cutter style to the new phone dial wheels. One final change that was made was new cast alloy control arms and semi-trailing arms in the front and rear.

The Porsche 944 Turbo was instroduced in 1985 and was a higher performance option of the luxury sports car. Inside the doors of Porsche it was known as the 951 and 952, but released as the turbo. This upgrade featured a turbocharged and intercooled engine that produced 220 horsepower. This particular turbo model was unique because it was the first to use a ceramic portliner to retain the temperature in exhaust gases. There were several other changes as well, included upgraded aerodynamics, a reinforced gearbox, wider wheels and a better suspension, as well as a standard transmission oil cooler. There were over 30 engine component revisions made to compensate for the new internal loads and heat that the upgraded turbo engine brought.

In 1987 Porsche released the 944 S, which stood for Super, a naturally aspirated engine. This new model had a much more powerful version of the original 2.5 liter engine and featured twin camshaft that were overhead and sixteen valve heads. The new model went from 0 to 62 in 7.8 seconds. This year also brought dual airbags and automatic braking system as options on the 944.

There was also the turbo S version of the Porsche 944. The Turbo S had a much more powerful engine than the standard turbo version. It has 247 horsepower and 350 nm torque. They were able to achieve this by implementing a larger turbo housing on the side where the exhaust was, and remapped the engine computer. The 944 Turbo S tested a 0-60 in 5.5 seconds and a time of 13.9 seconds. Another change in the Turbo S engine was an additional vacuum port on the intake manifold. The upgraded suspension was state-of-art for the time, with Koni adjustable front and rear shocks.

Another change came in 1989 when Porsche released the 944S2, which had an upgraded engine, going from the previous 2.5 liters to a 2.7 liter engine, which only had a little more horsepower but quite a bit more torque. The new engine had larger valves in addition to more displacement.

The 944S2 was also released in 1989, which had a 3.0 liter engine, available as a cabriolet as well, which was the first time a 944 line had been made available as a cabriolet. It had a top speed of 150 miles per hour, with a manual transmission. In 1991 the 944 Turbo was also made available as a cabriolet, making a total of 625, 100 of which were right hand driving models for the South African, Australian, Japanese and UK markets.

In 1990 the engineers at Porsche began working on what would be the third in the 944 series – planned to be called the S3. However, upon working with the model, they realized that there were too many parts that were being changed and that the final product was basically an entire new vehicle. They decided to make it the 968 instead, and released it in 1992. The 944 remained on Car and Driver's Ten Best list from 1983 to 1985 and was called the “Best Handling Production Car in America” in 1984, also by car and driver.