This 944 Turbo should seem familiar to long-time Flatsixes readers. Though it recently came into Ethan Tuft’s care, for the last year it has lived with Bradley Brownell. This white 1987 944 Turbo is nicknamed Corporal Kaos, which makes for one of the most amusing vanity plates I’ve ever seen, and has hilariously high miles. Though it currently shows somewhere North of 350k, the odometer has been stuck at that figure since the late 1990s. The true total is likely stratospheric. But how does Corporal Kaos drive?
Despite the mileage, the car sounds unusually tight. Perhaps my own experience is creeping in here, as cracked and cratered Northeastern roads seem to expose every single creak and rattle in every car I drive. Where miles of Albany County potholes can make my 98k mile car sound like a collander of loose change, the audio from this 400k+ car isn’t showing anything untoward. The exhaust is also exceptionally subdued, and the cabin sounds surprisingly pleasant. Again, my long tube headers and single Magnaflow are definitely coloring my perceptions here. Not to mention turbochargers act as something of a pre-muffler.
Notably this is not a wildly modified 944, and according to Ethan the experience is defined by a broad powerband from the large 2.5 liter turbo four. While you’ll never mistake a 944 Turbo for a modern turbocharged car, the large relatively large displacement goes a long way towards preventing the peaky and laggy behavior exhibited by many of its contemporaries. Though you can hear occasional whistles from the wastegate, everything seems quite buttoned down and well sorted right up to the moment it doesn’t.
Ethan’s fun in this video is curtailed by an issue with the cooling system, which caused it to leak profusely and overheat. Hopefully the issue can be resolved swiftly, and Ethan can get back in the ring with Corporal Chaos.