Glenn Northrop

I've been looking to purchase a clean, lower mileage 964 and would like the groups input as to "best year" if they have an opinion.

This car will be a weekend driver, most likely be driven under 5000 miles a year. My "sweet spot" so far has been a 1990--1993 C2, and I'm considering both Coupes and Targas. My budget is $20,000 to $35,000....depending on condition, options, etc. I'd prefer a low mileage vehicle that has been well maintained, upgraded from a mechanical standpoint, non-smoker, no accidents, etc.

I'd like input on "must have" options, certain years to look out for (mechanically or from a resale standpoint) and any other tips you guys have learned over the past few years of ownership.

Much appreciated in advanced.

Andy Roe

At the end of the day, you should just buy the best condition car you can afford - and that's not always the one with the lowest mileage. A few of the early cars had a problem with leaking cylinder head seals, a design fault which was fixed by Porsche for MY 1992 onwards. Not all cars were afected by this - I've got a 91 C2 with a bone dry engine.

MY90 & 91 also had the Freudenberg flywheel which had a habbit of self distructing. The later cars had an LUK flywheel which whilst can still fail, is much more reliable.

The US spec suspension was not far off the same ride height as your Cayenne, so I'd also look for one that had been lowered - having both the shocks & the springs upgraded.

I'm sure others will chime in with further suggestions!! The 964 has had some bad rep over the years, but a well looked after car is a great car to drive & own!

Good luck in your search!

Andy

JasonAndreas

If you can, buy a model year 1994. Porsche made little improvements to every part of the car over the years of production and the MY1994 has them all.

Andy Roe

I second what Jason has said, although I beleive most MY94 cars were either wide body cars or speedsters, as the 993 was on sale then too.

bhensarl

Be sure, on any 964, that the distributor vent kit has been installed. A broken distributor belt is a very bad thing. You may want to have the belt replaced when you buy the car just for piece of mind. A thorough PPI should find any serious gremlins. Good luck.
Brian

Glenn Northrop

Good advice guys....I see a couple of you have C4's.....would you say that model is worth seeking out? I've heard various nightmare stories about awd maintainence on C4's, although in our rainy Seattle climate, it is a bit attractive.

bhensarl

I personally love my C4, and it comes in real handy here in NW Florida where the rain comes hot and heavy at times. Like you, I've heard some stories about the expense of fixing a broken C4 transmission, but for my part mine's been bulletproof. Car's 15 years old and had no real work done on the tranny, except for changing the oil which I did for the first time a few months ago.
I'd say if you're not looking for a car to take strictly to the track, a C4's the way to go. With the sometimes inclement weather up there (I'm originally from just north of Seattle) a C4 would hold up well. And if you are planning to turn it into a track car... talk to Joey Bagadonuts (or danishes) here on the board. He and his C4 seem to know their way around the track.
Brian

DonW-Cape Cod

My personal favorite was my 1994 Polsr Silver Speedster. Can't have much more fun than in a 964 Speedster (except Turbos, of course!)

Bill Gregory

If you stick to a 92 or later, you get the primary changes that were made to the 964's. Well, if you get a 1993 model, you'll get R134 instead of the R12 refrigerant used in prior years, and the distributor vent kit was added too ($15 cost to buy the kit if not installed on one you look at). If you look at a pre-1993 without a vent kit on the distributor, and it's got around 50K miles, and the distributor drive belt has not been replaced, unless your mechanically-oriented, a rebuilt set of distributors from Porsche is around $600. Personally, I like the simplicity of a C2. Whatever you end up with, enjoy it! 964's in any form have alot going for them.

garrett376

C4's are just too much fun!!! You can tell I like them - I have two!!! One for the daily driving, one for the track.
Yes, they have more fun stuff to play with repair-wise, but the handling is something you've gotta' experience. Lots of fun! Especially in the rain - here in San Diego I get about 10 of those days a year - you'd love it in Seattle for sure!!!

JW Hubbers

Something else to bear in mind if you're ever going to take the car on the track: the 1992 and later C2's have bigger rear calipers than the 1990 and 1991 C2's.

AFAIK no manufacturer makes decent track-oriented pads for the '90/'91 rear calipers, so you'd be stuck with the original Porsche pads. Great for the street, but not so good for the track.

Cheers,

JW

bhensarl

JW is right, the 90 and 91 C2s came with two piston rear calipers. However, all C4s came with 4 piston calipers front and rear.
Brian

Jay H

I'll add my $.02 regarding resale value... I've toyed with selling my '90 C2 recently (though I'm not sure I can part with it just yet until I find a suitable replacement 911) and several of the high line dealers I spoke with really aren't interested in my car when they find out it still has the Freudenberg flywheel in it yet and has not had the cylinder to head update. I assume they are trying to avoid some liability down the road or assume my car will self destruct when it hits their lot...

My point is that the early cars still have their reputation (as much as I'd like to believe that this poor rep is subsiding a bit) and resale value can suffer in some people's eyes.

Jay
90 964

Johnny G Pipe

The C4 doesn't have a rep for reliability separate to the C2 AFAIK.

If I was going to buy a 964 again, I would look for one of the increasing number (in UK, anyway) that, perhaps with higher miles, have had some sort of engine rebuild, either for various oil leaks or worn valve guides. This is going to be the biggest potential expense. Often these will have had a clutch and a flywheel too.

Low mileage engines that have only shuffled around in hot traffic, or been started only to take the car out to wash it, are going to be no happier than higher milers that have done long, cool journeys.

Julian Thompson

I have a 964 RS Euro. I just love the car and would suggest that the 2 wheel drive version of the 911 is all you need. Clearly the 964 4wd is a teriffic car but my opinion (which is admittedly different than that of the other previous contributiors here) is that the extra complexity and weight is unnecessary in almost all situations that will be encountered in a cherished car this side of a rally stage.

My RS destroys a huge amount of very exotic machinery on the track and requires only a little more driver skill than the comparable 4wd 911 to pilot to a good standard.

I would urge you to bear in mind all our advice and to ultimately decide for yourself - there are enough supporters of both 2wd (me) and 4wd that clearly neither can actually be "wrong"
!

Good luck -

Julian