Coleman

hmm- you're right! Man, I have been really misled by this whole "sports-car" phenomenon. Performance, speed, raw visceral power, the flat-6 symphony, the oil & leather smell; it's all been clouding my ability to be comfortable in a Benz touring saloon. Without your informative post, I'd have continued down this dark path to club racing and Zaino, possibly to to my own demise. If you had only posted sooner, I could have saved all that money I dumped into modding my tranny; Now I'll just sink back into these overstuffed seats and let cruise-control do it's job, while outside passes by silently-.. Thanks for steering me on the right path!

Coleman

mike cap

Larry,

Sounds like you bought someone's beat POS to begin with and then were so uninformed about the car that the shop and dealer both boned you. As P.T. Barnum said, "there's a sucker born ever minute."

Enjoy your Benz.

Ciao,

Mark in Baltimore

Sorry to hear it, Larry. Not wanting to deal with the CEL is the main reason I chose a '95. These cars do require some maintenance although replacing the clutch twice is not typical at all. Sounds like you should have had a chat with either your mechanic or your dealer.

Feehliks

I think it is necligient to buy a 993 (or 996...) without getting an idea of the real maintenance costs, you might have to face. Still, I am convinced that the 993 is of extraordinary quality and also the maintenence is reasonable for a serious, pure-bred sportscar.

This is the reason why PPIs play such an important role. Nevertheless, it could hit anyone, even the most cautionious buyer.

If the workshops made a fool of you or not, cannot be found out in this forum. Some parts of your description are contradictory, though.

A Mercedes-Benz won't have any problems usually, also the SL55, which is a great buy, but very different to a new or old Porsche. However, it is not always troublefree, and this applies especially to the new elctronic brakes in the SL and E. Still, 500 hp in such a - almost mass production - car was something unthinkable a decade ago and only available in Lamborghinis, etc. I remember many car magazines dedicating an extra essay to the extraordinary circumstances when testing a Diablo. Such as broken drive shafts or even just the case, that the car was delivered on a suspicious trailer right from the factory. Also, remember the maintenance required for a 959 and I seriously doubt this car would get away from a SL55 easily.

Best regrads,

Felix

Blueman33

I'm getting rid of my Porsche too. I had a clutch hose go out. My cell phone company paid for the tow, the hose cost $250 to replace! I think it's rediculouse that a 100k mile car has a hose wear out! Well, maybe I'll give her another chance.

Honestly, if it were me, i'd go for a BMW. My brother has one, it's reliable and great customer service! and fun too!

PorscheDavid

Yeah, if I let myself get hosed by an independent and then again by a dealer over a car that I may not have checked all that carefully to start with over issues that I never really researched all that much myself to find credible solutions to...yeah, I'd dump the car too so I wouldn't have it in my garage to remind me of my bad choices.

dr kenneth e garchow

regarding your 993. i may be interested in the car to purchase, sounds like you have done a lot of work to it.

please email me regarding the car

p_carfan

Don't let the door hit you in the A$$ on the way out !!!!

Sorry, just sounded like the right thing to say .


To all my 993 friends .

Dane k.

Hey...Larry....Do the MB people have this much fun on a web site...Do they even have a Web Site????Come back in a year ,and tell us how the BENZ is treating you.....

JW in Texas

Boy, that $ 4k is going to pale in comparison to the beating your going to take in depreciation on that SL over the next few years. Good Luck!

PS: I've got a MB too. Porsche built it for them

Eyal 951

CEL? did you check the O2 censor? A/F ratio? minor things like that???
~Eyal

D.G..

I hate to turn this into an MB trashing thread, well, no I don't!

We sold my wife's 2002 MB S430 at a huge loss last year. I couldn't stand the instruments/controls. The dash layout and instrument cluster (menu driven) were the worst ergonomic experience I have had in any automobile. The computer that runs things in that car must run at a whopping 100Hz!!! The electronics are 10 years behind the NISSAN that replaced it!!!

The owner of the dealership that sold it to us (Simonson in Santa Monica) is a friend from high school. He warned us that we should NOT hold on to it after the bumper to bumper warranty ran out!

williet1342

You guys are cracking me up. All I can say is don't go away mad... just buy the another 993 and tell your spouse to get over it. Sell her car too and buy her a new VW beetle bug. If she bitches about it trade the new 993 on a 993TT. Yeh that'll fix her. Teach her to mess with you eh?

Got to go now my wife is yelling for another beer.... last time she got mad she gained eighty pounds and threatened to make me get a job.

Shhhhhh she's listening! ...............Yes Honey I'll be right there. Dear you said "Busche" in the can and some Copenhagen right? Coming dear.....

RRLOwen

So.....Larry, just how sour are those grapes?

I had a look at an SL55 the other day. It's a beautiful car. Real fancy motorized hardtop. 0-60 in <5 sec. Quicker than my car, for sure.

Only one problem - not a keeper like the 993 and, looks a lot like several other coupes around.

Good luck with it. If it were me, I wouldn't keep it past the warranty.

Steve 96C4S

My buddy bought a teal green MB S55 6 months ago and LOVES his luxocruiser. It is faster than my 993 with 496 supercharged HP and smokes most cars on the road (except an SL600, which outruns almost every car in it's path! 0-60 3.6 secs.)

Different strokes. I can see how your 993 would have frustrated you, though. I have the CEL issue but instead of taking care of it with lots of $$$'s, I just put a piece of tape over it and the problem was solved. Didn't cost me a dime. You see, I am positively motivated to keep my car a really long time, because it's worth any aggravation it causes me. I don't care if it breaks down, like it did 1 month ago, stranding me 100 miles from home on the way to the Hershey Swap meet with 2 other Porsche fanatics squeezed into my little car with me. I just have it towed after each occurence, have it fixed, and drive the hell out of it till it breaks down again. It doesn't bug me too much, because I dreamed about owning this car for so many years. I'm living that dream, and with it comes a certain level of repair and frustration.

What me worry?



Enjoy your SL55... what color did you get? I love that pic of Michael Jordan leaving Washington DC for good in his.... It played big in the Washington Post and many people still have that pic of him in that black SL55 on their desk or bulletin board at work.


Are you still out there?
Steve