Ed Hughes

I'm looking at an '89 Carrera with 172K miles. It is a one owner car, and the owner has used a Porsche servicer for all maintenance, and appears to have all service records. It is a well cared-for car! It has a couple of things that concern me, such as the fact the clutch has never been replaced. It may have been driven too easy?

At any rate, being new to Porsches, is this mileage excessive? I'm guessing I'll be able to land the car for about $18,000.

Magown

Ed, I consider the 89 Carrera to be as good as it gets as far as Classic 911 Carrera's go. I recently owned one with 90k miles on the clock. The car felt like new. I've logged many miles in many 3.0, 3.2, and 3.3 911's and 930's low and high miles. I've never experienced another one that was as tight as the 89 with 90k miles. I bet this one you're looking at still feels great. 172k miles are a ton. 200K is easily possible on the bottom end of an 3.0 SC. I haven't heard of to many 3.2's with more then 150k. Has this car ever had the top end rebuilt? or for that matter the whole engine rebuilt? It's hard to believe that it could have the original clutch, it must have been babied. I have seen two 944 Turbos with 130k miles on the original clutches. My advice is to decide how long you want to own this car. If you plan to drive it till the doors fall off then it may be a good buy, if you are going to upgrade to a 964 or 993 with in the next year then sit tight or buy a more resalable car.

Bill Gregory

7K-9K per year is considered normal for a Porsche.

Ed Hughes

Stephen:

The engine has never been opened up. It really is hard to believe about the clutch, I can only go by the owner's statements there. I'll definitely do a PPI, if I decide to go forward. I'm only buying a Porsche for weekends as a 3rd car, and plan on keeping it for some time.

richard glickel

Ed,

If you're planning on buying a keeper, '87 - '89 Carrera is a great car. But, I'd look for a low mileage car. You'll pay more for the car ($25k - $28k), but a lot less for big ticket items in maintenance over the next six years for sure.

richard
'87 Carrera-3.6L

ked

I don't disagree w/ Richard, however, allow a different perspective from an '87 owner (92K)... particularly if you have tight budget constraints.

If the car checks out via PPI on the critical issues (mechanical, body, interior, service & usage history, etc.), and you indeed are looking at it as an occasional use 3rd car, then it may be a good alternative. But I would want to work the deal hard to go as low as possible - and I would want to be closer to $15K than $20K.

It is conceivable the clutch is original, a skilled & careful driver can be easy on the clutch when shifting yet not lug the engine once in gear. It is critical to spend some time reviewing the complete service record history very closely, from new to present, to clearly understand where the car is in its "duty cycle", what has been replaced / upgraded, what is coming up.

Steve 96C4S

I agree with the above poster. 172,000 miles? I wouldn't pay more than $14000 simply based on the mileage alone. Even if the car totally checked out with your PPI, you can find cars 87's with 90-100k mi for around $16k-19k. That high a miles 911 deserves that low a price - $13,500-14,000 IMHO.

You might end up with a great car for little money. I bought a 95 740i BMW w/61,000mi for $32k about 4.5 years ago which was very high miles, but it looked great and ran great. I wouldn't want to sell it today with 103k miles on it as it wouldn't fetch much based on the high miles, but it still runs and looks like new and has been well maintained.

Good luck,
Steve

Speedraser

Ed,

It is very possible (though rare) that the clutch is original; I am the original owner of my '83 Saab Turbo, with 263,000 miles so far on the original clutch. It has not been babied, just driven smoothly.

I met a guy several years ago with an '85 3.2 Carrera that had 261,000 miles, without any engine work. More recently, I spoke with the owner of an '84 3.2 who had just done the top-end at 330,000 miles.

A well-cared for high mileage car can be far better than a not-as-well cared for low mileage car. Care is needed when evaluating it, but it could turn out to be a great car.
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