horst

I have a 964, and am quite happy with it. I feel fairly knowlegable, but had to learn my lessons the hard way sometimes. I will attempt to avoid mistakes by picking your brains.

My wife's Saab is getting long in the tooth, and I have toyed with the idea of getting her a 993. I WILL someday have one of the last air-cooled models. I mentioned this to the fellow I buy my Porsches from, so today he called to say that he has the following car coming in sometime this week:

1995 fly yellow (?or speed yellow), supple leather, CD, New tires (?what kind) on 17 " Cups. 24K miles, "never been painted on" "like new". This fellow is fairly honest, based on past experience. He wants about $44K USD.
I am fairly ignorant re the 993 series. About all I know is that the 95s had some wiring harness problems- seems that this car would have had that sorted out by now; and, changing oil is a bitch. You can see I have a lot to learn. For starters:

1. What are the relative merits / demerits of the years of the 993?

2. Is this asking price in the ballpark?

TIA

STLPCA

horst
There are many threads in the archives covering this subject, here's a link to a '95 v. '96+ discussion.

And, here's a MY '95 discussion.

A search for (match all search terms) "95 varioram" should get you a number of hits.

You'll see there's no consensus. All 993s are great cars, but personally I find Varioram to be a big enough improvement in mid-range drivability that I didn't consider a '95. However, I am very happy my early '96 has the "old" style twin trumpet horns.

os993

Any 993 will make you very happy, if you pre-inspect it and everything comes out well. In defense of '95's, they are not some problem-plagued, "wiring'harness" failing year-model. Yes, it doesn't have varioram, but life can go on without it. The OBD system is less complex on 95's which can be a bonus for irregular "check engine" issues.

More importantly, find the colors you like, both interior and exterior, and find the cleanest car you can. Based on this, it really doesn't matter which year 993 you get (as long as it's a 993, who really cares ).

Just some friendly info. I'm concerned that people reading this board must assume that '95's are awful and '96's and above are great, based on previous threads. Not true! My 95 993 coupe is approaching 90k miles and runs strong day-in and day-out (daily driver) as well as being an outstanding track weapon. No wiring harness problems, no clutch problems, etc...

So, chose the car that fits your needs, and as long as it passes a thorough PPI, go for any 993 you can find

E. J. - 993 Alumni

I agree completely and I did have the wiring harness problem. If you really think about it, there were about 5000 993s made in 95 and my info has 12 with bad harnesses and 2 with possibly bad harnesses. Sure there are others out there, but it is to be expected that on an enthuasist board such as this one, problems like this would seem more prevelant. Sure people are replacing clutches at 30k miles, but how many? Mine has 102k miles on it and it sees the track a lot. Maybe that is why it hasn't failed - because its not a 1k a year garage queen and gets driven the way the engineers designed her to run.

E. J.

STLPCA

horst
Sorry, forgot to address your pricing question. IF this is THE car you really want (color, mileage, options, etc.), is very clean, good history & documentation, & nothing serious in PPI, the price is not outrageous from a dealer.

That said, IMO, $44K is high for: a '95 optioned as you stated, in yellow (decreased marketability - although very cool color), in a smallish midwestern city, in the midst of a recession that's beaten up the P car market, & especially during the winter. Your source either overpaid or is trying to use you to cover his dwindling margin during hard times. I'd think $38k-$40k is more reasonable, all things considered.