Dredging Up The Past

In the heyday of the 944, the contenders were mainly the lower-priced Japanese competitors in the form of the Mitsubishi Starion, the Nissan 300ZX and the Mazda RX7. I never drove a Starion, truly disliked the feel of the Nissan and found only the Mazda somewhat appealing. I believe my sister had an RX7 for awhile, come to think of it. All of the Japanese cars, to my eye, suffered from the pagoda-styling that had characterized Japanese auto products for many years, and was only beginning to subside. Anyway, here is a circa 1986 Motor Week shootout between the 944 Turbo and its Japanese competitors.