Launched in 1982 as a purely Porsche project following the joint Volkswagen-Porsche parentage of the 924, the wide quartered 944 not only inherited its basic shape and styling from the older car, but also much of its interior trim. Anybody stepping into the new Porsche’s cabin space, for example, would have noted the decidedly dated presence of the 924’s ‘square’ dashboard and dials. Porsche would get around to updating the 944’s cockpit and exterior styling for the launch of the 944 Turbo in 1985, when forced induction was joined by a redesigned front end and a beautifully presented ‘oval’ dash. Drivers of naturally aspirated 944s would have to wait a further four years for these age-defying features to be rolled out across the range, at which point, engines free of forced induction were boosted to three-litres of displacement. The rollout of bigger swept capacity heralded a new model designation. Enter the 944 S2, considered by many to be the sweet spot of the entire 944 line-up.
At first glance, this new breed of 944 looked exactly like the Turbo. Power wasn’t far off, either. Where the Turbo kicked out close to 220bhp (an
