I suppose it’s beating a dead horse just a bit, but it’s astounding what a good deal the overlooked 944 Turbo is these days. You can get a very clean early 86 944 Turbo for around $10,000 – significantly less than what an equivilant E30 M3, Quattro or 190E 16V will cost you. Performance from the turbocharged inline-4 will surprise the other three legends, too. Even in early 220 horsepower specification, the 944 Turbo will easily out accelerate, out turn and out brake the other three. The most aerodynamic of the three, it will also return the best fuel economy on a long trip. The only downside is that, unlike the others, the rear seats are mostly useless to anyone who has legs; but they’re there in a pinch, and the versatility of the hatch in part makes up for some of the downside. But for Porsche, it wasn’t quite enough to have a car capable of besting its contemporaries, so in 1988 Porsche upped the ante with the “S”; an additional 30 horsepower, trick M030 Koni suspension, limited slip differential and forged Fuchs wheels led the list of changes that were carried over into 1989:
