Nearly every early 944 has “The 944 Shudder.” When lifting off the throttle from any position, the revs drop below idle, and then the engine recovers.
So what’s that got to do with the surprising, unsettling, completely unprecedented mass deception event that is dieselgate? More than you might think.
July 16 featured the front engine water cooled Porsches – 924, 944, 924S and 968. Owners and enthusiasts gathered at the Ace Cafe with their cars and filled the lot!
In the specifications page for the 944, the car was priced as tested at $21,000, comparable to the Corvette. Options included leather sport seats and a digital AM/FM Cassette radio. The engine showed 143 HP and 137 torques at 3,000 rpm – and the article mentions that with peak torque so low, you don’t have to push it to the redline.
For the 944, there were actually two engine designs on the table – a 3.5L V6, which was essentially a 928 engine with two cylinders missing, or an inline four cylinder, half of a 928 engine.
Acknowledging that the 924 doesn’t get a lot of love from the Porsche purists, he also mentions that the early cars were not “especially powerful.”