fiat has ruined me on porsche's

bikesandcars

bikesandcars

True Classic
Stupid little x19...with its light weight, great handling, and simple design...has completely ruined me on Porsche 944's!

I have an 83 P-944 that I've been saving for years to use as a track and fun car, I got it dirt cheap and all it needed an oil cooler gasket. I did the gasket, and now the engine runs well.... to get it going on the street will take some more restoration work.. and I have completely lost interest.

That funny little x19 that wandered into my life has made me dread working on the complex, heavy, jam-packed, and under-powered 944 that's taking up valuable driveway space..... I think I'm going to wash the inside and sell it so I have more room for restoring the 76 fiat I acquired as a parts car....thanks a lot fiat!
 
Been there

I have owned 3 944's. 84, 1987 944S, 1986 951 Turbo (Moded bad ass machine) I will own a S2 Convertible down the road but nothing beats the feeling i have with my X :sun:
 
I had a 65 Mustang

Nothing special, but it only had 15k on it and needed restored. Engine was locked up and someone else started doing body work (poorly) and the interior was dryroted (a little) but complete. When I moved into my girlfriend's (now wife) condo, something had to go, the Mustang or the 2 X1/9s. The only time I regret the decision to keep the X's is every time I hear another X part is no longer available or stumble across a MASIVE parts catalog for an older Mustang. LOL I do like the fact that the X is not common. Every town has a Mustang club, and if there is an X at a car show, it's usually the only one, but has a crowd around it talking about how great of a car it is. :sun:
 
I pretty much got ruined on Porcshe right after I bought a 914. The first time I had to replace coolant pipes on a Cayenne pretty much sealed it.
 
Besides the aversion......

Working on Fiats has created a set of mental thresholds that I apply to a great many things. "If I can drop the trans on an X1/9 and reinstall it, I KNOW I can change the starter on my Baja boat with a V8 350." That's nothing to some of you guys. But I only work on cars because I own Fiats, I don't take working on cars as a 'thing in itself' as Heidegger would say, it's strictly in the coure of ownership.

On the other hand, it creates a more naturally conditioned aversion to things mechanical if you don't have a cool place to work on it! I admit, when the summer cooks down here in the South, the last thing I want to do is pore over, in, and between the tight spaces on an X. Even the Spider seems huge by comparison and I'm more prone to dive right in on it. I've never owned a Porsche, but I've found that people either swear by them, or at them, with little in-between. And I must admit that the Boxster seems to be a fine modern mid-engined car, several friends have those and love them, but they don't work on them either.
 
It's weird that my $800 X can even hold a candle to, let alone outshine, some "classics" that costs 20x that. I went to a cruise in Sat. night (actually 2) but I brought my Midget (trying to sell it you know). Same story there. Mostly muscle cars that, I'm sorry, I don't really care a lick about. I used to own a '68 Chevelle (way way before they become grotesquely over valued) and I don't see the fun in it. Sure you can go fast straight for a little while, then what? BORING. Talked to a guy there who was driving a '57 Isetta. I loved it. He told me to steer clear of certain cruise-ins. They not only don't appreciate "those foreign jobs" they are openly hostile. Just don't get that at all. I work with a guy who loves fast cars but he has money and doesn't wrench. Heck he spends more on tires in a season then all the $$ I have in my X. The fact I have more fun at a fraction of the cost is icing on the cake. To me anyway.
 
944! one of my favourites
I would still have one in the garage, but it would be used as a social car, not a fun car... even though they do go quite well :)
 
hehe... I don't think I'll lose my passion for other cars...I still like porsche's...but I"ll give an example from last night:

I can change the timing belt in my x19 (granted i keep the timing belt cover off) in about...oh...10 minutes with a 17mm wrench, and it only takes that long because I need to get the tools out and the alternator belt off

I'm about 4 hours into my timing belts on my 944 and I need to order a $40.00 flywheel lock tool, and am about 1/2 way done....

944's are great track-day cars, lots of technology for the money and very reliable (if you keep up with maintenance)... just more expensive and a pain to work on.

On the plus side, compression on the old 44 tested very well, 175-170-172-180, so it got me a little more psyched that after my maintenance is done it will run nice.
 
...

As the owner of a daily driver Cayman S, I can categorically say the Cayman is the best car I've ever owned/driven.

On the track, the Cayman is magical - and in fact, the X1/9 and Cayman share very similar handling behavior.

However, for track use, I prefer the X1/9 - 90% of the benefit, 10% of the cost. Our Lemons X, actually, probably handles better than the Cayman - but is very much a one-trick pony (not a setup you'd want to drive on the road).
 
cmice said:
As the owner of a daily driver Cayman S, I can categorically say the Cayman is the best car I've ever owned/driven.

On the track, the Cayman is magical - and in fact, the X1/9 and Cayman share very similar handling behavior.

However, for track use, I prefer the X1/9 - 90% of the benefit, 10% of the cost. Our Lemons X, actually, probably handles better than the Cayman - but is very much a one-trick pony (not a setup you'd want to drive on the road).
Click to expand...

You mean you wouldn't want to take something like this down the road?
IMG_6520.jpg
 
I'm a car WHORE.

I've had one of everything. One thing I've learned, cars are a compromise. They lean towards economy, or performance, or reliability, or comfort, or work. No car does EVERYTHING. So there's room to appreciate all cars.

BUT, those huge catalogs full of Mustang parts are all made in CHINA and are complete crap. I just restored my '65 Mustang fastback, and seriously %25 of the parts were faulty and unusable! Complete $HIT!

The X strikes a balance that I REALLY admire and appreciate.
 
eflexter said:
BUT, those huge catalogs full of Mustang parts are all made in CHINA and are complete crap. I just restored my '65 Mustang fastback, and seriously %25 of the parts were faulty and unusable! Complete $HIT!
Click to expand...

Serious problem with a lot of the "classic" auto parts these days... Much coming out of India and China with no quality control what so ever, being sold by retailers that appear not to care. Very discouraging at times...
 
X1/9 -v- 944.. They are very different cars. I do like the 944, better still a 968..

These are touring cars meant to go long distances at high speed in comfort (front engine, rear transaxle = high polar moment of inertia). while the x1/9 is more of a Go-Kart (small mid-engine, low polar moment of inertia) or they are on opposite ends of chassis design goals.

Both are valid and have an interesting driving experience to offer.

That 4 cylinder in the 944 is basically half of a 928 engine, it got the same problem with # 2 con rod bearing and oil control problem found in the 928.. Both of which comes to roost during LeMons racing..

Once cost comes into consideration, the X1/9 does well indeed. There are very few cars that can offer what the X1/9 does at the price..and it's potential for increased performance is high.

One thing I have not liked about Porsche.. the cost of ownership is high and more recently, they have designed and built their cars to be less than serviceable. This is a change from what Porsche did years ago when they attended to all the significant little details with obsessive German thinking.. Remember when Porsche was in finical trouble due not too long ago? Then came Wendelin Wiedeking and the Porsche Cayenne profit center and grossed me out that Porsche would stoop to prostituting their name for profit..

Bernice

bikesandcars said:
Stupid little x19...with its light weight, great handling, and simple design...has completely ruined me on Porsche 944's!

I think I'm going to wash the inside and sell it so I have more room for restoring the 76 fiat I acquired as a parts car....thanks a lot fiat!
Click to expand...
 
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