stubenhocker

I am looking at several 993's to purchase.

The one I select will be driven regularly, at least 3 times a week. Extreme low mileage models concern me somewhat in that they have basically been museum pieces for the past decade.

Does anyone here have experience with purchasing a very low mileage Pcar and then driving it regularly? Should I focus on one that's well maintained but with more miles on the odometer?

TIA

jda407

don't know if this helps you....my car has been a daily driver for years. a year ago I stopped driving it daily and it became a garage queen for 6 - 8 months. I spent more money on repairs when it was sitting than when I drove it everyday.

Raptor

Jim: Can you elaborate about the repairs while it was sitting?

DC from Cape Cod

Mine gets about 1200 miles per year and normal maintenance.

According to Alfie and its last yearly once-over at IRA Porsche it is in mint condition.

Don't be afraid of a car that has had proper service and some road time.

VNTGSPD

Loosely related -

I bought a car with 92K miles that was very well loved and returned a very good PPI. The car was driven about 2,000 miles in the 2-3 years before I bought it. Within a month and 1,000 miles of driving it daily, the car idled, ran, shifted, etc. better than when I bought it. After 8,000 miles, it is still working beautifully. These cars are ultimately machines and need to be used regularly for best performance.

Yes, fanatical maintenance can preserve a garage queen, but unless that maintenance includes replacement of hardened seals, rubber parts, etc then it is possible that these items will need attention when the miles pile on.

Also, you will pay a premium for a garage queen and then depreciate it by putting regular miles on it. I suppose if you can afford that extra depreciation and it doesn't bother you, then the potential for initial additional maintenance requirements from regular use may not bother you either.

DC from Cape Cod

I guess it all depends on how much/many trips are considered sufficient to keep everything in proper order.

Example: 6 drives a month during an 8 month season with each trip being 30 miles = 1500 miles per year.

Plenty to keep everything lubed up properly.

I suspect more stuff dries out over the winter when most of us don;t drive our cars v.s. low or higher miles during the driving season.

Agree about buying a low mileage car and then humping miles on it = expensive.

DJF1

+1. I have owned Porsche's for almost 17 years now and due to my old job they had to be sitting for 4-6 months at a time. I still have no figured out the rhetoric that say if the car has not been driven regularly you have a lot of problems. Sure a couple of seals may dry and my 993 was the first car that this happen, however what I found is important how they are stored and if they are maintained at least once a year with new oil etc regardless of miles.
I have never had any problems doing just that and If I was to buy another one I would look for a queen

blake

+2. I bought my 1994 Speedster with under 10K on the odometer in 2000, put on a quick 3K on an extended road trip within a month, and have driven it since about 1500 miles/year with 6-8 months of sitting in a garage throuhg our long, hard winters in Utah. I have had zero problems with the car. It is a tank.

I would buy a garage queen without any hesitation.

Good luck!
-B

Terry Adams

I have a friend with a '72 Ferrari and an '81 Ferrari, owned since new. Almost every Sunday he takes each one out for a warm up and then a short spirited drive. Maintains them by the calendar, not by the miles. About 1200 miles/year on each. They are garage queens, and run perfectly.

ppashley

+3. Maybe not a garage queen but I bought a 993 with 28k on the clock in Feb.
I've put 4,000 miles on since and not had any real issues.
Some folks comment around seals / gaskets drying out due to lack of use.
My feel is they're tanks. I did 2,000 miles a few weeks back over a long weekend, and the car didn't skip a beat. Was begging for more.
Good Luck!

AOW162435

Couchpotato,
I found a very clean '95 in September, 2005. The car had 34,000 on the clock. Over the next five days, I piled on 3,200 miles - driving it from Seattle to Baltimore. The car has performed flawlessly since and gets a flogging at least once a week. I have performed tons of maintenance and replaced items that simply needed refreshing, in my eyes. The car would be fine without all of these new parts, but it's become a very satisfying hobby for me. To date, I've logged more than 10,000 miles and it's even cleaner than when I picked it up.

In a few years I would like to find an immaculate, super-low miles '95 to compliment my current one. I love doing the maintenance, so garage queen status means nothing to me. These are very robust cars that reward with a high level of reliability.

Andreas