amphius

I'm thinking of getting a 993, but they are now all quite high mileage. Under 40,000 seems pretty rare. Do these cars tend to be reliable even at higher mileages? What tends to go wrong with them, as I don't want a car that is forever with the mechanic? Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks
Anthony

amphius

I've seen an ad for ....."a 1994 PORSCHE 911 2dr Carrera Cabriolet, 42,000 miles, 993 Carrera Cabriolet manual, Midnight Blue, Savannah Leather, only 42,000 miles full service history including receipts, cruise control, cd player. Beautiful car with very low miles. Any inspection welcome."

Although the mileage is low(ish) the car is at the beginning of the 993 production run and is therefore older. Would a 1997/98 car be a significantly better buy, even with higher miles?

amphius

I have also been told about a 1998 wide body 4S which has 100k miles but has full service history. Silver with red seats! any comments?

Jay H

Anthony,

You may wish to post on the 993 board for more specific insight on the 993 model you are looking at.

However, the early 993 models you might be considering (MY 1994 in Europe and MY 1995 in the US) are robust models. The 1995 and 1996 models do have a wiring harness issue that needs to be addressed, but Porsche has warrantied that problem even on cars out of warranty. I would assume the 1994 Rest Of World 993's would have this wiring harness issue as well.

The later 993 models (1996, 97 and 98 at least here in the US) can have Check Engine Light issues. Some research/reading on the 993 board will help identify this problem and it's cures. The 993 needs to be heated up and run hard once in awhile and it's been written that 993's that have been babied or stuck in traffic their entire lives are more susceptible to this problem. This problem also may be more prone to US cars were we don't have the ability to wring them out as much as we would like to do.

The 3.6 liter motors used in the 964 and 993 models can have top end wear issues where valve guides can prematurely wear out. Though, on a street driven car in a cooler climate that was maintained well, this may not be too much of an issue regardless of miles. The newer high performance 911 models such as the GT3 still use a version of the 964 block. That shows you how much faith Porsche has in their original design of the 3.6 motor.

If you want complete reliability, an older Porsche is probably not the best choice. You then need to either buy a new one under warranty or look at cars from Honda/Toyota, etc. All of these 911s are aging and all can have issues. Again, 911's are very well built, but no model is completely problem free.

Low mileage is not a guarantee either for a trouble free car. The worst thing to do to a car is to let it sit for extended periods of time. Also, you tend to pay a premium for a low mileage car. If you start driving it a lot, your premium goes away quickly. If I wanted a car to drive, I'd rather have a well maintained, regularly driven 993 with 80,000 miles on it than a garage queen, never driven, ignored 993 with 17,000 miles on it.

The earliest 993 is 11-12 years old now (depending on country) and the newest 993 is 8 years old. You have to buy these cars on current condition. This 100,000 '98 might be in better shape than the 40k 1994. I think I'd still lean towards the 40k car that is older, but again, condition is everything.

Ultra low mileage cars are best left to the collector market and the concours people.

What is your intended use for a 911? Everyday car? Sunny weekend days? Track? Show only?

Hope this helps a little,

Jay
90 964
84 3.2

amphius

Thanks Jay, that's really helpful. I want to use the car for everyday and would be using it daily, but I also want to keep it good, and even improve it. I realise that even Porsche's have a limited lifespan, but with some TLC, I'm sure they last well and are much more fun than a Toyoto! If you think of anything else, please do let me know....
Anthony

ventoGT

Anthony, the 1995 US cars also didn't have the somewhat problematic OBDII emissions issues. A lot of the 1996 and newer cars ended up with some SAI port clogging requiring a top end rebuild on some cars--do a search and cross post on the 993 board and you will find a lot of information on the market as well as differences between the cars.

Mileage is much less important than condition with these cars. They are extremely robust, and I have seen many 70-90K mile cars in better shape than some 30K mile cars. Good luck--the 993 is an excellent car.

Peter Zimmermann

Anthony: I dedicate 9 pages of my book (my avatar) to the 993. You might find the info helpful and easy to refer to.
Pete

Pedro356C

Don't go 911 without Peter's book!!!! The best advice you could get...

The 993 is a great car...not as much fun as a 356....but a great car...go for it...don't forget the Pre purchase inspection with leakdown test...

Good luck...

autobonrun

Actually they are all great cars. I haven't found them to be be a huge maintenance load. Just have a complete PPI done by a competent shop. Don't try to skimp on this step. Low mileage cars are not really that rare, you will just pay a premium for them. The best advice I got was not to pay the premium for low mileage cars but instead focus on ones with good maintenance records and lots of desireable options. I went for one in the upper 40's in mileage. Spend time searching for and understanding all the available options such as Motor Sound, sport seats, M030 suspension, Light Weight Flywheel (LWF), RS Clutch, RS gears, Litronics lighting, etc. Then you will know what you want.

Actually there are some differences between the 95 through 98 years. They all are susceptible to the SAI pluggage of the ports. Pluggage of the ports causes the CEL light to come on in the 96-98 models so you won't pass emissions. The same pluggage can occur on the 95 model but it has OBD 1 rather than OBD 2. The OBD 2 cars trip the CEL light. If you don't live in a state that does emissions testing, the light really doesn't matter unless you go to sell the car. It's more expensive to change the chip in the 96 model year. I knew this up front but ended up with a 96 anyway. 96-98 also have the Varioram with 282 HP versus 270.

Some of the cars have also had issues with rust at the corner of the front windshield but most that had this problem had it diagnosed and fixed under warranty. The window seals also creak more on 993's than the earlier cars. Not sure why.

All in all it's a great car. Once you know what features you want you just need to decide whether you want a coupe, targa, cabriolet, narrow body Carrera (not really that narrow), C2S, or C4S. All in all, a fun search. Good hunting. I'd start with Peter's book.

But here's a couple good links.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showt...ive+AND+buyers

http://home.comcast.net/~jsnyder99/9..._guide_All.pdf

And my 96 C4S with my favorite view from the rear.

DesignerGenes

I have been regularly perusing (searching with automated agents) the Ebay 993 offerings for years now. I have owned a 1996 C2 for three years; it is about to turn 31,000 miles and I've had it since just after it turned 11,000. I find 993s virtually everyday on Ebay with fewer than 40,000 miles. Some of them, particularly the turbos, have as little as 7,000 miles on them (and that's perhaps too FEW miles for all that time). These cars are not hard to find with low to ultra-low mileage today. Of course, a car on Ebay needs to be researched carefully; but then, what $40,000 to $120,000 purchase doesn't? By the way, I have had zero (0) [looking around for wood to knock on] problems with my Carrera. Once I thought I had one, but it turned out I was wrong. Happy hunting!
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