Dafreak

Price being equal and cars being equal, would I be better off buying a lower mileage 993 (56,000 miles) or a higher mileage that recently has a top down rebuild (83,000 miles)?

Thanks!

LexVan

Depending on who did the rebuild, I'd take that one.

Essentially both those examples are the "same" regards to mileage.

Ish993

beyond the engine you still have every other system on the car to be concerned with
plus higher mileage always equates to lower resale

I say lower mileage every day of the week............ I'd look for 30-35k miles

earossi

It depends on how much you drive the car. If you are going to put very little mileage on the car, I would suggest the lower mileage car. However, if you will put miles on the car (say 10k per year), then in a very short time, your car will no longer be low mileage. And, if you do drive the car, you can expect to need a head refresh within the next 30k miles. I haven't priced one out, but it will not be cheap......guessing in the $3000 to $5000 range (conservatively).

If you are buying the car to drive it, then I would opt for the car that had a recent head refresh. That should give you about 75k to 80k miles before the motor needs major work. But, as pointed out before, it depends on who did the head refresh on the car? Also, at the mileage the heads were refreshed, I would guess that the owner replaced the clutch while the power train was out of the car.

On the higher mileage car, records are your friend. If the owner doesn't keep records, that should tell you how well the car has been maintained.

kjr914

I'll go out on the limb and say go with Rebuild. Because I did exactly that. Because one of the main causes of the rebuild is oil usage and/or SAI code due to soft valve guides from the factory, that plagues all of the 993 (AFAIK). A rebuild should address this issue. And given the sizable ~8k cost, which is never fully reflected in a car with a rebuild, you are getting a rebuild at a bargain.

Not really much difference between 56 and 83k miles, really...just a couple of good years of driving. And the cars age brings with it issues that aren't mileage dependent. Yes, there are cars that go the distance without the rebuild, too...YMMV

The reality....buy the best all around condition car and the best value.

Terry Adams

What kjr914 said.

I rebuilt my 993 at 120K for the same reasons and sold it with 161K, running fine. Passed CA smog flying colors.

pp000830

What was the previous owner doing with the vehicle that caused the need for a rebuild? This would be a concern for me. As far as other stuff that could have been serviced on the high milage car that you therefore will not need to visit very soon see the attached list of items.