944 (944, S, S2 (naturally aspirated))

Half a 928

The 924 had kept Porsche solvent through the 1970s, but its Volkswagen-Audi engine was always a reproach and VW's plans for it were finite. Porsche's answer was a four-cylinder of its own, conceived as one bank of the 928's all-alloy V8 and first raced in the 924 GTP that finished seventh at Le Mans in June 1981 with only 21 fuel stops. In road trim it displaced 2,479 cc on a 3.9 in (100 mm) bore and 78.9 mm stroke, with a single overhead camshaft, two valves per cylinder and Bosch Digital Motor Electronics. Its distinguishing feature was a pair of counter-rotating balance shafts to cancel the secondary vibration of a large four; Porsche paid Mitsubishi a per-engine royalty for the patent. Engines were built at Zuffenhausen and trucked to the former NSU works at Neckarsulm for assembly.

Frankfurt 1981 and Neckarsulm

The 944 was unveiled at Frankfurt in September 1981 wearing a productionized version of the 924 Carrera GT's flared arches, from Anatole Lapine's studio, and listed at $18,980 in the United States against DM 38,900 in Germany. European cars had 161 hp at 5,800 rpm; American cars, sold from May 1982 as early 1983 models at $18,980, had 143 hp by most accounts, although PCA and Pelican Parts give 150 hp. Britain took its first cars at Easter 1982. Motor Sport's 1983 test of a Lux recorded 0-60 mph in under 7.5 seconds, 0-100 mph in 21 seconds and 137 mph, found the gearbox impeccable and the steering a little low-geared, and returned about 26 mpg. America was warmer still: Car and Driver put the 944 on its Ten Best list from 1983 to 1985 and in August 1984 named it the best-handling car in the country over the Quattro, the Esprit and the C4 Corvette. Dealers took 30,000 orders in the first year and by 1983 the model was about 51 percent of everything Porsche built.

The Oval Dash and the Sixteen-Valve S

Power steering became standard for 1984, and midway through 1985 came the revision that divides 944s in the market: a new oval dashboard with a raised wheel, new door panels, an antenna embedded in the windshield, a 115-amp alternator in place of the 90-amp unit, a larger fuel tank, a flush-mounted windshield and phone-dial wheels in place of the cookie-cutters. The 944 Turbo arrived the same year and is covered separately. For 1987 Porsche added the 944 S, the first Porsche four with twin overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, a layout taken from the Le Mans engines; with hydraulic lash adjusters and knock sensors it made 187 hp to a 6,800 rpm redline, and PCA quotes Road & Track's 7.2-second 0-60 mph. ABS and airbags arrived the same year. The S was short-lived: 12,936 were built in two model years, and its small displacement left it short of the 8-valve car's low-speed flexibility. For 1988 the base engine's compression went from 9.5:1 to 10.2:1 for 158 hp, and a Celebration edition marked the 100,000th 944.

Three Liters: the S2

The 1989 model year reset the range. The 8-valve car was bored to 104 mm for 2,681 cc and 163 hp, a single-year engine, while the S became the S2 with the twin-cam head on a block bored and stroked to 104 x 88 mm for 2,990 cc, the largest four in any production car at the time. It made 208 hp at 5,800 rpm and 207 lb-ft at around 4,000 rpm, most of it low in the range, and inherited the Turbo's rounded nose, integrated bumpers, rear valance, brakes and suspension apart from slightly smaller front springs. Porsche quoted 0-62 mph in 6.8 seconds and 149 mph; Excellence records 6.9 seconds to 60 mph and 2,998 lb. Motor Sport lapped Snetterton in one in October 1989 in 1m 19.64s, four seconds quicker than a 928, and noted that it cost thousands less than a 911 with a better-balanced chassis. In the United States the coupe passed $45,000 and the Cabriolet approached $53,000.

Cabriolet and Run-out

The S2 Cabriolet, converted from coupe shells by American Sunroof Corporation, entered production in May 1989 per Wikipedia; PCA and Ate Up With Motor say 1990. Porsche states 6,980 were built through 1991. The S2 and Turbo stopped in July 1991, with a UK-only S2 SE of fifteen cars at 222 hp closing the account, and the 968 replaced the line for 1992 with the three-liter engine carried forward.

The pattern is consistent across the American, British and German guides. Belts head every list: the timing belt and the separate balance-shaft belt age as well as wear, the water pump, rollers and tensioner are usually changed with every second belt, and worn tensioner pads produce an audible rattle. Stuttcars quotes $1,200 to $1,800 for a full belt and water-pump service in 2026, while Pelican Parts puts the belt alone at about $300 with parts and labor. The 16-valve S and S2 add the cam-chain tensioner, which is oil-pressure controlled and can, in Porsche-Mania's account, throw the timing or crack a head when its guide rails or oil pipe fail. Oil leaks are chronic rather than serious: front crankshaft seal, balance-shaft seals and O-rings, cam-tower seals and, worst to fix, the oil pan gasket, which Pelican Parts puts at around $600 with $500 of that labor. The oil cooler seals and the oil-to-coolant heat exchanger can put oil into the coolant. Cooling systems suffer from tired radiators, lazy fans and corroded thermostats, and Porsche Club GB warns that the alloy engine wants a top-end rebuild from around 120,000 miles and a full rebuild from 150,000. The DME relay is a $20 part that stops the car dead. Power-steering pumps and pipes leak. Transaxles whine on worn pinion and differential bearings, torque-tube bearings whir, and gear linkages go vague. Clutch replacement is quoted at $1,500 to $2,500 by Stuttcars and $1,200 to $1,500 by Pelican Parts; the transaxle makes it a long job. Dashboards crack, hatches and sunroofs leak, starter motors are impossibly lethargic in Porsche Club GB's words, and cruise control fails often enough that owners stop repairing it.

The belt history comes first. Every source consulted puts the timing and balance-shaft belts on a four-year or 30,000 to 48,000-mile cycle depending on who is asked, and on the 16-valve S and S2 a broken belt puts valves into pistons; Pelican Parts adds that a fresh belt should be re-tensioned after about 1,000 miles and then every 15,000, which needs a factory tool. Receipts, not assurances. On the S and S2 the chain and tensioner between the camshafts is a separate item, oil-pressure controlled and worn by 100,000 miles by Porsche-Mania's reckoning; a rattle from the head on start-up is the warning. Oil should be checked for milkiness, because a failed oil-to-coolant heat exchanger will mix the two long before a head gasket does, and the expansion tank examined for crazing or warping that betrays past overheating. Underneath, look for a dented sump from careless jacking, weeping seals near the belt covers, and a whine from the rear that Pelican Parts and Porsche Club GB both trace to pinion or differential bearings; a whirring under load points to torque-tube bearings. Bodies were galvanized, so rust in the sills, the rear suspension mountings or anywhere other than the battery tray suggests accident repair or salt exposure, and a paint-depth gauge earns its keep. The hatch seal, sunroof drains and rear lamp seals all let water into the trunk. Inside, the post-1985.5 oval dash cracks and the odometer stops if the trip reset was pressed on the move; early cars have trim that is harder to replace. On S2s the Turbo-derived aluminum wishbones carry non-replaceable ball joints, so a knock over bumps means new arms. The clutch pedal should be firm with no free play; a soft pedal points at the master or slave cylinder and a high biting point at a disc, with the rubber-centered original disc and its damper wearing sooner than the plates. A car with a complete belt service, a documented cam-chain tensioner and a recent clutch is a different proposition from one with none.

As of September 2026, classic.com prices the naturally aspirated 944s as four separate submarkets. The standard 944 carries a benchmark of $14,485 against an average of $14,334 across 336 recorded sales, in a range from $1,000 to $105,000, with a 17,000-mile 1985.5 car at $36,000 in July 2025 showing what a low-mileage original will do. The Celebration edition sits lower at $10,363. The 944 S benchmark is $16,729 on a downward trend, with an average of $16,715, a floor of $2,200 for a project car in July 2026 and a tracked high of $25,000 in January 2026; recent results run $18,850 in July 2026, $14,369 in April 2026 and $11,500 in October 2025. The S2 coupe is the strongest of the four: benchmark $25,015 on an upward trend, average $26,607, a low of $4,944 for a 1989 car in November 2023 and, at the top, $50,000 in August 2026, $45,944 in February 2026 and a tracked high of $78,800 in April 2026. The S2 Cabriolet sits at $18,866 and trending down, with an average of $21,503, a $5,720 low in March 2025 and a $44,988 high for a 30,000-mile 1990 car in June 2026. Across the whole 944 family classic.com's average is $23,510, though that figure includes Turbos. Auction-house results are consistent with the benchmarks: RM Sotheby's Miami sale in February 2025 sold a 16,434-mile Alpine White S2 Cabriolet for $34,720, and its online Driving into Summer sale in 2020 took a 45,000-mile 1991 S2 coupe to $25,850; neither lot page states whether the price includes premium. Renndriver's June 2026 guide bands good to excellent cars at $10,000 to $22,000 for a 2.5, $15,000 to $30,000 for a 944 S and $20,000 to $45,000 for an S2.