944 Turbo S

STORY

The 944 took the 924's clever transaxle bones and made them properly Porsche. Introduced in 1982, it swapped the borrowed Audi four for an all-new, all-alloy 2.5-litre engine, effectively half of the 928's V8, and clothed it in muscular, flared bodywork that gave it real presence.

It was the car that silenced the doubters. Superbly balanced, beautifully built and genuinely fast, especially in Turbo and later 3.0-litre S2 form, the 944 became Porsche's best-seller of the 1980s and a fixture on enthusiasts' walls.

More than any other model, the 944 proved a front-engined, four-cylinder Porsche could be a serious sports car rather than a compromise, and it remains one of the finest-handling cars the company has ever made.