Which one?

[trev260764]

Silly me. Forgot the interior change (1985 I believe). Won't persue this one - especially at the price. Surely he has this at about double it's worth...

 

[Fen]

1985.5 in fact - to make the Lux the same basic interior as the newly launched Turbo.

 

[trev260764]

There you go again Fen. Too good. I know it won't please you mate - but I think I will have a look at the red un in Notts.

Do you not like Impreza's in red either....

 

[zcacogp]

Oh no, Fen loves Red Impreza's. Founder of the groundbreaking www.redimprezafanclub.co.uk forum, and is busily getting the Red Impreza Owners Club off the ground in New Zealand. He really can't get enough of them - in fact, here is a picture of one specially for him!

There you go Fen - don't say I don't think of you!


Oli.

 

[Fen]

A red Impreza. What can I say? I'd rather walk.

Thanks so much for the pic Oli; you don't see many of them in red, perhaps because it's pretty much the colour of a tomato. At least Guards is a proper red if you must.

 

[DavidL]

Trev,
I really wouldn't close your mind to the 16v cars. Nothing is selling at the moment (as I know) so it really is a buyers market and there is a lot of car for the money available.
No 944 is cheap to look after if you're paying someone to do it and you have a bad one. You could argue that a bad 16v car will be worse than a bad 8v but hopefully you won't get either.
In the 3 years I have had my S all the bits I have changed have not been 16v bits - brakes, steering racks, starters etc are common (ie they all have them) to all cars. A menu service is a bit cheaper on an 8v but usually a whole £10 or so.
A solid 16v car will be a whole lot less hassle than a poor 8v - and the current difference in price is not alot. Personally an 8v lux at 3000 represents lower value than an S at 3500 or an S2 at 4000. People may or may not agree.
There are a lot of cars available at this price so there will be a good one out there - I would expect the 16v bits to be kept as well as all the rest on a good one.

 

[steve 944t]

ORIGINAL: Fen

A red Impreza. What can I say? I'd rather walk.

Thanks so much for the pic Oli; you don't see many of them in red, perhaps because it's pretty much the colour of a tomato. At least Guards is a proper red if you must.

ho hum. This is my £24000 tomato, bought new in '99. To be fair, it is probably now worth slightly less than a pound of tomatoes, if it still exists. I rather liked it at the time. No use whatsoever to the op. Sorry []

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: trev260764

I do like the look of the White Lux in the link I provided earlier (and it is 8 miles from where I work - bonus...). Is such a low milage really a problem?

Unless you have EVERY single MOT and service invoice going back to year dot then ignore the mileometer completely. 944's were reputedly one of the top three cars to be clocked back in the 80's and 90's because it is so easy to do and because they were so well built. A high percentage will have been company cars and we know they can easily take 30-50k miles a year trundling up and down motorways. A 3-4 year old car with 100k miles could be worth an extra £5000 back in the late 80's if it was wound down to 50k miles

A good car with 172k miles can easily look identical to a 72k car

 

[944Turbo]

I wouldnt worry too much about a 16v car with new cams / chain/ tensioner they are the expensive bits that are known to fail, if they are sorted no worries,
Tony

 

[Peter Empson]

Ok, how does this sound for a bit of fun. Based on nothing more than pure guess work and a certain degree of ignorance here's how I would classify the various values at the moment.

Oval dash 944
£800 needs work
£1,500 nice average car
£2,500 rust free, well sorted mechanicals
£4,000 Concours
Subtract 20% for an early dash model

944S
as above plus about £500

944 S2
£2000 rough
£3000 less rough, more like tatty
£3,500-£4,000 nice honest cars seem to be available
£7,000 concours

Turbo
£3,000 rough
£4000 frayed around edges
£6,000 honest, well maintained car
£10-15,000 concours
Subtract 10% for 220bhp models

Anyone think I'm in the right ballpark? (why do I get the feeling I've just opened the biggest can of worms I can imagine []).

 

[zcacogp]

Peter,

I am not an expert (by any means) on prices (or any other aspect of 944's), but those feel about right to me.

The caveat I'd add is that we seem to have seen prices slide noticably over the last 9-12 months, so those figures may need regular adjustment ... (a bit like the AFR on a 951, perhaps?)


Oli.

 

[Fen]

Looks believeable to me based on when I was in touch with the market. Maybe if things have slipped they are slightly optimistic, especially around the rough end of the scale, but nobody should buy a rough one as the key is the difference between what you buy and the level down from concourse - almost invariably the cost to take a car up to that level is greater than the difference in initial purchase price.

 

[swright]

ORIGINAL: Fen

, but nobody should buy a rough one as the key is the difference between what you buy and the level down from concourse - almost invariably the cost to take a car up to that level is greater than the difference in initial purchase price.

But what if your not interested at all in having a concourse car? And your simply buying one that you can drive and enjoy doing it up as you go along to end up with a nice car that you have built to your exact specs and needs? That to me is much more satisfying than finding a mint car for 3 zillion pounds and not being able to do any work on it or drive it for fear of damage.

Its not all about concourse cars and there is a lot to be said about restoring a car to exactly how you want it and still be able to use it every day without worrying about getting a chip on the nose cone every time you take it out for a drive.

This is the real world and too much emphisis is being put on how 'mint' a car is IMHO. No offence intended at all but lots of realy good cars are being overlooked just beacuse 'the paint aint correct' or 'there's a bit of rust on the wheel arch'

Go and look at the cars, find one that your happy with bleamishes or not and then set about getting it into the condition your happy with, Who cares if you spend more than the car is worth as long as your happy with it. We aint car dealers at the end of the day, we are car enthusiasts.

Like i said, no offence intended to anyone at all i just think this constant 'only buy the best you can find' sentiment is way off the mark sometimes and you can end up with a much nicer, more useable car if you dont 'go for broke at all costs' sometimes.

Stu

 

[Fen]

ORIGINAL: swright

ORIGINAL: Fen

, but nobody should buy a rough one as the key is the difference between what you buy and the level down from concourse - almost invariably the cost to take a car up to that level is greater than the difference in initial purchase price.

But what if your not interested at all in having a concourse car? And your simply buying one that you can drive and enjoy doing it up as you go along to end up with a nice car that you have built to your exact specs and needs? That to me is much more satisfying than finding a mint car for 3 zillion pounds and not being able to do any work on it or drive it for fear of damage.

Its not all about concourse cars and there is a lot to be said about restoring a car to exactly how you want it and still be able to use it every day without worrying about getting a chip on the nose cone every time you take it out for a drive.

This is the real world and too much emphisis is being put on how 'mint' a car is IMHO. No offence intended at all but lots of realy good cars are being overlooked just beacuse 'the paint aint correct' or 'there's a bit of rust on the wheel arch'

Go and look at the cars, find one that your happy with bleamishes or not and then set about getting it into the condition your happy with, Who cares if you spend more than the car is worth as long as your happy with it. We aint car dealers at the end of the day, we are car enthusiasts.

Like i said, no offence intended to anyone at all i just think this constant 'only buy the best you can find' sentiment is way off the mark sometimes and you can end up with a much nicer, more useable car if you dont 'go for broke at all costs' sometimes.

Stu

Preaching to the converted Stu. Look again at what I said: "the level down from councourse".

I have absolutely no interest in a concourse car for exactly the reasons you state, but equally I have no interest in pouring money into a grotty old shed that is covered in blisters, with loads of bits that don't work, smells of mould, dumps me at the side of the road or stuck at home/work unable to get where I want to be and has me papping myself every time it's up for MoT, not to mention it's embarrassing to be seen in an old "poor man's Porsche" (not my view, but that held by many) that is in shoddy condition.

You actually confirm my point exactly - that if you buy a car you need to do up as you go along you are trying to end up with a nice one - my point being that that's the target and from a financial perspective you are always better off paying up front for an already nice car than doing one up as even if you do all the spannering yourself the parts prices are what will kill you.

Some people have concourse cars and while that's fine if it's what lights their fire I do tend to think they are missing the point somewhat. Most of us on here want to have a tidy, reliable and pleasurable to drive 944, and that I contend is, in everyone's book, the one level down from concourse where the car is nice, but you don't get suicidal if it gets a tar spot or a stone chip and you don't have to get the cotton buds out every time it's been out of the garage.

 

[appletonn]

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson

Ok, how does this sound for a bit of fun. Based on nothing more than pure guess work and a certain degree of ignorance here's how I would classify the various values at the moment.

Oval dash 944
£800 needs work
£1,500 nice average car
£2,500 rust free, well sorted mechanicals For any truly 'rust free' cars, I think £3k is closer to it?
£4,000 Concours Do they exist?!
Subtract 20% for an early dash model

944S
as above plus about £500

944 S2
£2000 rough
£3000 less rough, more like tatty
£3,500-£4,000 nice honest cars seem to be available More like £5k at the top end, looking at the recent adverts, allowing for some reduction on asking prices
£7,000 concours

Turbo
£3,000 rough
£4000 frayed around edges Agreed
£6,000 honest, well maintained car More like £8k at the top end, looking at the last 2 months worth of adverts, but allowing for negotiated reductions on asking prices.
£10-15,000 concours Agreed but not seen many around.... Whatever the right buyer will pay?
Subtract 10% for 220bhp models

Anyone think I'm in the right ballpark? (why do I get the feeling I've just opened the biggest can of worms I can imagine []).

Just added my thoughts above...

I think the small crumb of comfort for us all is that there will be less and less nice, honest well maintained cars left and the rough cars will become less economically viable to 'restore' so the prices will probably polarise even more over the next couple of years.

I took mine into Unit 11 for its annual service today and it was worth every penny just to not be driving an anonymous Eurobox like everyone else. A few hits of boost and a handful of circumnavigated roundabouts and I was grinning broadly as I pulled up at the unit.....[]

To misquote the advert, "sense of well being....priceless"

 

[edh]

I've noticed some higher prices for turbos in the ads recently. Maybe the 250T is pulling away from the rest of the range? - even though the S2 is the better car []
I wonder how many good condition, but still unmodified turbos are left out there?

 

[MarkK]

I reckon there is still quite a few,saw a lovely j reg turbo the other week(A1 south if i remember) totally standard to look at,older driver that you could imagine having had it from new,they are out there and you do see them on piston heads etc.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I reckon you're about spot on, Peter.

I'd say that "concourse" doesn't necessarily mean "show winner". It could also be a car with all the major faults fixed properly, really good bodywork, mechanicals all sorted, good interior etc. A near-perfect car isn't always concourse, in that it might be on the wrong wheels, have modifications, the odd engine bay sticker slightly out of perfect alignment.....[]

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty

the odd engine bay sticker slightly out of perfect alignment.....[]

MarkK has a spirit level and knows the part numbers for all the engine bay stickers

 

[trev260764]

Thanks for keeping me in the loop guys. The KA is sold so I now have a bit of a deposit... As posted earlier - I struggle to understand putting the same funds into a Lux, than a 'better' and up to four year newer S or even an S2. And I do understand why you were pointing me towards the Lux - and I had got me head round the idea. But the cost of a decent one...

'944Turbo (Tony)' posted saying that not to worry about the 16V bits (cam/belts etc) if they are new. How old / new would you recomend. Are they 'new' after 10K miles? How often should they be changed? How much? So many questions eh?

Remember. I am now in the market!!