944 Turbo S vs. Ferrari 348 GTS / 944 Turbo S vs. 911 Turbo

[frodefe]

Some oldies for you...



http://www.reodor-racing.com/gallery/album23

[bmwmpower]

thanks,944 turbo is cheap but briliant,

[cooperluke]

Ahm.... the 944 is a great car... but not a real PORSCHE!

It has an adapted Volkswagen truck engine... It has the engine in the wrong place, and with the wrong displacement...

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Thanks for the article and the comparison in it indeed......those old school (and legendary) cars are great to drive and its not common here in Spanish old car magazines to find out comparisons like those showed above...thanks a million

[lakatu]

Thanks so much Frode . I have been looking for a long time for that Automobile article “A Tale of Two Turbos” that compares the 911 Turbo to the 944 Turbo S. I was mostly interested in the 911 Turbo aspect of the article and the fact that they used Derek Bell as a commentator and to drive the car on Willow Springs race track.

BTW, the 944 models engine is actually taken from ½ the 928’s V8. While it is not my favorite Porsche, I think you have to at least recognize how effective it was as a sports car .

I believe the main reason Porsche released the S version of the 944 Turbo was to qualify it in a racing series or class in the U.S. called “showroom stock”. The regular 944 Turbos were being absolutely dominated by the Corvette in this racing series and it was bad for Porsche’s image.

The 944 Turbo didn’t have wide enough tires and suspension to compete with the Corvette in the corners and the low end torque of the Chevy’s V8 helped it pull stronger out of the turns. The 944 Turbo made up for it on the straights with a higher top speed but could never overcome the cornering advantage of the Vette.

BTW the following year the 944 Turbo was upgraded to the S specifications to better compete with Corvettes on the street. Too bad they could never really compete against the Corvettes in the showroom stock series :cry: .

[frodefe]

And to further fuel the desire

http://www.puppan.se/944_vs_911sc.htm
http://www.puppan.se/968%20och%20951%20reportage.htm
http://www.puppan.se/trio_i_potenta_951.htm

[cooperluke]

the 944 models engine is actually taken from ½ the 928’s V8.

Yeap.. you're right... the ones that had the VW LT Van engine were the first 924's!

[jamberl]

Originally Posted by cooperluke the 944 models engine is actually taken from ½ the 928’s V8. Yeap.. you're right... the ones that had the VW LT Van engine were the first 924's!

Wow... never knew that!

Thx for the scan.

[lakatu]

Originally Posted by cooperluke the 944 models engine is actually taken from ½ the 928’s V8. Yeap.. you're right... the ones that had the VW LT Van engine were the first 924's!

Well you are referring to the 924’s engine which did share the same engine block as the Audi 100 and the VW LT van. But the 944 engine was a total redesign and as I said before Porsche based this on their 928 V8 and basically took the V8 and cut it in half. Porsche discontinued the 924 before the 944 was sold and then several years later resurrected the 924 as a cheaper model of the 944 called the 924S. Basically the 924S was a 944 in a 924 body.

Porsche built the complete drive train for the 944 in house and then shipped the drive trains to Audi to be assembled with the rest of the car. Although I have heard that the 944 transaxle was built by Audi instead of Porsche and so I am not absolutely sure about the entire driveline, but the 944 engine for sure was built by Porsche.

So while the entire 944 design was created by Porsche, the car was manufactured by Audi with the exception of the drive train. This is why when you look at he 944’s body the quality isn’t up to Porsche standards. There are much wider gaps between the body panels and the paint quality and finish isn’t the same as the 911 which was mostly hand built at the time the 944 was being produced .

Thanks Frode for the additional articles. I really like the one that compared the 944 to the 911SC. Are you aware of additional 911 or 911 Turbo articles?

[944SR]

http://www.pff-online.de/wbb2/thread...d=2621938&sid=