924 might not be the greatest sports car but certainly the most influential coupe in the 70s and 80s. Its emphasis on elegant engineering inspired many rivals. No other cars in its segment were so well-made and well-tuned. None of them had the same level of handling. It was this car which accelerated the transformation of Japanese sports cars from cheap metal to excellent machines. Its styling was also imitated by rivals. If you look at Mazda RX7, Mitsubishi Starion, Toyota Supra, Chevrolet Corvette and Dodge Laser, you'll either find a trace of its shape or its features, e.g. pop-up headlamps and the distinctive swoopy rear glass window.

924 was originally a joint-project with Volkswagen (once again). Porsche knew very well that a budget sports car needed mass production parts supplied by a giant car maker, so was the investment. Therefore 924 was designed to use many VW / Audi's components - many parts of the front MacPherson strut and rear semi-trailing arm suspensions came from Golf, so was the door handle, instrument gauges etc.. The four-cylinder engine was designed to be shared with Audi's forthcoming 100 saloon. However, due to the energy crisis, VW quit the project (once again !!) when the car was still under development and sold the production right to Porsche for $60 million, which was a decision that VW would forever regret.

The 924 was a success in the United States. Apart from praising its beautiful and elegant exterior, most people were impressed by the first class handling, superb steering feel and stable cornering. The latter must hanks to the adoption of rear-mounted transaxle gearbox which counter-balanced the front engine. Superb gearchange and strong brakes (always a feature of Porsche) also contributed to the handling competence.

In contrast, since the 2-litre injected engine (125 hp in Europe, 95 hp in US) did not provide sufficient punch, performance was just OK. Autocar measured 126 mph and 9.5 sec for 0-60 mph. Obviously the US version was much worse. Of course, Porsche wouldn't ignore the requirement from its biggest market, so in 1978 the 924 turbo was born.

924 turbo

Having experienced in 911 turbo, Porsche put a KKK turbo (without intercooler) into 924's engine in 1978. Power and torque  jumped to 170 hp and 181 lbft respectively. Autocar recorded 142 mph and 7.7 sec for 0-60 mph. Now the 924 became a real winner.

I still remember the first time I saw it - when I was a 13 year-old school boy. The red 944 passed in front of my eyes very fast. The widened arches, about it I will never forget, made me believed it must not be an ordinary 924. I guessed it might be a 924 turbo which I had never seen before. A month later, I read the 944 in a car magazine.

944

944 S

944 turbo

The biggest difference from 924 was the engine: instead of the Audi engine, 944 was powered by a true Posrche-built unit. It was derived from 928's V8. Displaced at 2479 c.c., it was extraordinarily large for a 4-cylinder. To cure the vibration problem which usually occurs in a large inline-4, Porsche installed twin-balancer shafts, which was a patent of Mitsubishi although originally invented by Lancester (Dr. Fred). There were 3 different versions of the engine - an ordinary 8 valves version used in 944 Lux (or simply called "944"), a 16-valver used in 944S and a 220 hp 8V turbocharged version powered the hottest 944 turbo.

All of them were as smooth as six-cylinder. The base engine had useable performance from the 163 hp output. The turbo was crazy fast - 153 mph, 0-60 took only 6 seconds flat. The 16 valves provided good performance from 185 hp while without the turbo's drawback - turbo lag and high fuel consumption. Anyway, compared with contemporary 911 turbo, 944 turbo had a much better manner.

944 was very popular in USA, sales over there peaked at 30,000 units in 1986, the highest record for Porsche until today.

944 Series 2

Perhaps Porsche did too little on the revised versions, Japanese cars headed by Nissan 300ZX, Toyota Supra and the cheaper Celica ate its market share rapidly. These cars imitated the Porsche but was sold at a much lower price while offered better cabin and long list of standard equipment. Porsche started to realise the golden age of 944 had gone.

I must point out that the 944 Series 2 still offered the best handling in its class. Autocar compared 944S2 with the handsome Nissan 300ZX non-turbo, the UK magazine still chose the Porsche as the real driver's choice but also praised the overall competence of the Nissan. Meanwhile, Fast Lane magazine compared 944 Turbo SE with the 300 hp 300ZX twin-turbo and Renault Alpine A610, still rated the Porsche's handling as marginally better than rivals, although eventually chose the Alpine as overall winner.

Under the bonnet was 944 S2's 3-litre four added with a kind of variable valve timing called "Variocam". Three different valve timings were set to serve different engine speeds: below 1,500 rpm minimum valve overlapping improved torque and refinement. From 1,500 to 5,500 rpm medium overlapping was used. Above 5,500 rpm the largest overlapping helped raising rpm as well as top end power. As a result, maximum power jumped from 211 hp to 240 hp and torque was increased from 207 lbft to 225 lbft, a record for any production 3-litre normally-aspirated engine. That was the last glorious moment of the big four-pot, and also the last shine of the mighty 924 empire.

Now six-speed gearbox replaced the 5-speed. 4-speed Tiptronic was carried over from 911.

968 CS

Because of the discarded equipment, Porsche UK could price it at under 30,000 pounds, which was considerably cheaper than 300ZX turbo and the like. But most important, its handling became even sharper - Autocar elected it as the best handling car in 1993 and 94, against Ferrari 348, Lotus Esprit and Honda NSX etc.