Looking for a Porsche

Have you seen the movie "waiting to exhale"? There's a scene in it where the wife takes all her husband's stuff and his fancy car into the front yard, pours a bottle of alcohol on it, and throws in a match. Bonfire in the front yard. She walks calmly into the house and closes the door behind her. Wonder if Ferrari ****, er, uh, collectibles burn red, too?

Hi! How are ya'? Nice to see ya'.

 

Like I said, I can't afford to.

 

87-89 Carreras are great cars. Easy to work on yourself, nearly bulletproof, great gas mileage for a sports car (I get about 24mpg in combined driving). You just have to make sure to get a pre-purchase inspection to rule out the premature valve guide wear issue with this model. My wife's '87 Carrera coupe has 112K miles and still looks beautiful. When I bought it a year ago at $17K, I knew it'll need a top end rebuild because it burns a quart of oil every 600 miles. I'm looking at a $4K rebuild afterwards she'll be good to go for another 100K miles. Porsches are built to last so excessive oil consumption that occurs after 100K miles is considered a premature wear issue.

I also have a '79 911SC Targa that IS bulletproof. It has 135K miles and runs like new! The only problem with it is that it doesn't have A/C and even in SF, it gets hot in the summer. I'll be selling it later this year for a 2003 Boxster S but I know I'll miss that car the most.

 

The later production 1992 and 1993 964s are great cars and are undervalued. They had all the issues worked out by then. I would buy one of these 964s over a tired 993. Nice thing about the 993 is that it has the new rear suspension and dosen't require the valve adjustment every 15K miles. I'm partial to the 95 as it dosen't have the OBD-2 emmission system

Having said that, the 87-89 Carreras are great cars. A clean low mileage 89 can be in the high $20K range. Excellence mag had an article on these cars and in a nutshell, Porsche used the best technology at the time and the cars were better finished since they were still being basically handbuilt at that time.

I have an 82SC. Installed the carrera chain tensioner, popoff valve and headstuds. This maybe their most reliable engine.....

 

Just remember that once you get into the C2/C4 and newer model cars, the cost of repairs goes up significantly. The '87 and '88 Carrera's with the G50 tranny are probably the best for the money. Not to say that the newer ones aren't great cars, it's just that the maintenance costs go up a lot.

Scott

 

I wouldn't live in too much fear of the RMS issue. Usually it manifests itself as an oil leak, and not a catastrophic one. I have never heard of an RMS ever leaving anyone stranded, or being the cause of an actual breakdown.

Also, I have heard plenty of stories of people out of warranty that still got their RMS fixed or the engine even replaced, free of charge. Your mileage may vary on that a little, depending on dealer, etc. I did hear one guy got a new engine, but they charged him installation labor.

If you don't mind buying used, that free fall of Boxster values means a clean, low mileage Box S can be had for huge discounts off sticker. Depreciation, in this instance, is your best friend. There are still plenty of low mileage babied Boxsters coming on the market.

After the Miata, I am sure it will feel heavy, but anything would. It will still dance almost as well, and give you a good bit more power. And you obviously don't mind the ridiculous attitudes of the more elitist/he-man sports car crowd if you drove a Miata, so the fact a Boxster doesn't rate as a huge "macho" car shouldn't bother you.

I love my Boxster S and would definitely give it a "2 Thumbs Way Up" rating.

I haven't read this entire thread, but if you are considering a Boxster, I assume someone has already told you about www.ppbb.com? Great board, great people, and everything you could want to know about the 986 / 987.

Good luck!

 

There is no such thing as a '98 C2, all '98 2wd coupes are C2S's.

Although I love the G50 Carrera's, for a daily driver in Houston (where I lived for a short time), I would consider a 993. Last of the hand built 911's, and the A/C is MUCH better than previous years, even with the Griffith kit. Also has power steering, which the Carrera does not.

I very nearly bought a silver 48K mile '89 with the Griffith kit a few years ago, it was sitting in my driveway and the checkbook was in my hand, but the A/C and heating system finally weighed against it. I ended up getting a '96 C4S and never looked back. Overall performance and ease of use are much better for daily driving, but still a classic look and feel. Hydraulic lifters ease maintenance. It'll be a couch compared to your SM.

All 911 engines from '84 to '98 may suffer from weak valve guides. This in turn causes the secondary air injection ports to clog. This in no way impacts performance or driveability, but will trigger the check engine light in OBD2 '96-'98 cars. The % of cars with this potential problem is small but measurable. There are '84-'98 cars out there with 300K+ miles with no valve work and others with new guides at 30K miles.

RMS issues come up now and then, but are really only a serious consideration on 996 series cars. Unlike earlier cars the 996 is built to a price point. The engine in particular is much cheaper. Wet sump vs. dry sump, and $12K factory cost vs. $30K for 993 engine.

Any 993 with more than ~30K miles WILL need new shocks, so factor that into costs when shopping. PSS-9's are a highly recommended upgrade.


Good luck,
--Pete
http://gallery.rennlist.com/gallery/PeterS

 

I suppose I added to your fears about the rear-main seal for the Boxster. To be fair, the car WAS a 97 the first model year. It only had 8K miles though.

Also- the top was a constant pain in the butt. Always breaking and bending the control arms... ugh.

Good luck Dale!

Nick

 

Dale..... im going to hold onto my Boxster. No real great reason to sell it, cannot think of any other car in the same price range that is remotely as competent and it is after all paid for and lots of fun to drive.

Mine would not work well for you anyhow. It has the Digital Premium Sound package that puts all sorts of stereo controls below the CD holder thingy. So, you would have a very hard time removing the CD holder and DPS controls in order to create room for you knee. You need a car without DPS so you can yank the center section out easily.

Anyhow.... you shouldnt have any trouble finding a good one if thats what you want. The market is swamped with them!

Before I bought my Boxster, I too was petrified of the RMS issues and such. I did lots of research on this. I also have a client who is a senior tech rep with PCNA here in Atlanta and he is TOTALLY familiar with all Boxster issues since he works with the dealers on all issues.

He says the RMS issue was bad on the early '97 to '99 cars. He also says that some of the S models had issues with RMS leaks, but 90% of those the leak is due not to a faulty seal but a crankshaft that is out of true. Its rare, but engine replacement is the fix. That said... if the car suffers this it will have long since shown up by the time the car has 10k miles or more on it AND its VERY rare.

Also, the S model had changes to the top and interior that eliminated all the early car issues.

Basically, the S is a much more refined and reliable car. For the difference in price between a 2000 model S and a great '98 or '99 model regular Boxster (perhaps $6K - $8k max) I just cannot see not getting the S. The brakes are better, lots more power, 6 speed.....




Terry

 

Short answer is yes, the steering is a bit more numb. It's almost impossible to beat the telepathic steering feel of a non-boosted 911.

However, a 993 feels telepathic compared to most anything else on the road, so it's relative.

As far as handling goes, it's no contest. The 993 suspension is an order of magnitude better than the previous cars. A common mod for pre-'90 911 race cars is to implant a 993 rear suspension subframe.

You really need to test drive the cars. You can definitely tell they share DNA, but the overall feel is very different. Pending a solid PPI, you can't go wrong either way.

--Pete

 

Dale,

Among those choices, go with the 993. The 993 suspension system really is light years ahead of he earlier cars. The power steering is also VERY good. Its not as sharp and intuitive as the non-boosted steering in my '69 911S track car but for a daily drive modern machine is about as good as its going to ever get.

The 993 brakes are also a quantum leap.

The '95 993 is OBD I, wont have the check engine light issues that can cause computer emissions test failures on the OBD II cars.

They look great in black as well! My younger brother drives a black one and loves it.

Terry