Sleepy Eyes: 1985 Porsche 944
It might seem odd to suggest a Porsche as a first car for a young driver, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that this next car could be a great first car for a teen. Let’s get past the concerns about speed, because with 160 horsepower (when new…) this thing is going to be slower than a late model V6 Camry. Porsche quality means that when things break, they will be expensive, but well engineered and interesting to fix. Except the odometer gear, why in Stuttgart would you make that thing out of biodegradable plastic? So, I recon that when grandma donates her used/abused Hyundai to the kid as a first car, you should sell it immediately and buy a 944. Find this 1984 Porsche 944 offered for $4500 in Los Angeles, CA via craigslist.
From the seller:
1985 Porsche 944
condition: good
cylinders: 4 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 100000
odometer broken
paint color: brown
size: compact
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: hatchback
1985 Porsche 944, good condition, manual, approx 100k miles, runs good, no body damage, new master cylinder, new tires and other upgrades, clean title, recently smogged, current tags. No backseat. $4500 or best offer. Serious buyers only. Email or text.
See a better way to drive something brown? tips@dailytursimo.com
My son’s first car was in fact a 1985.5 944 in this exact shade of brown (which is apparently rather rare — this ad is the only other one I’ve ever seen). It was an amazing car to drive and treated us well for the 12 months my son owned it. Ultimately he felt like he was caretaking an irreplaceable classic and the fear of wrecking the car caused him to sell. As a dad, it drove me crazy to not know where my teenage son was on a Friday night driving a car with no airbags (in the land of 10,000 lifted trucks).