best value atmo - '02 996 or '94 993? - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

£22k on an ultra low mileage 996 to then use a daily?? Madness IMHO. Buy a sorted one with 60/70k miles for £12,000 surely? Oh, you're not in the UK..... Edited by river_rat on Thursday 13th February 17:21

Hi I've been considering a 996 for a while and intend to buy one shortly, having narrowed it down to a couple of good ones. However...a really nice 993 just appeared on the radar at a price I can just about stretch to afford, and now I'm torn between the ease of use of a 996 and the real-deal sense of the 993. Looking to get what in all essence will be a daily driver - I have a daily 10 mile run to work, with twice weekly 30-100 mile jaunts to clients. Approximately 10.000 miles a year. I'm not in the UK so prices levels are not what you guys are used to, but please chip in with your thoughts advice on the choice I now have. 1994 993 Carrera 2, 100.000 miles. Fully serviced, immaculate condition overall, only seen summer use the past 9 years. Private seller asking £28.000 2002 996 Carrera 2, 80.000 miles, for sale through Porsche dealer, asking £22.000 There are a few 1998 996s available from private sellers for around £15.000 as well, but nothing specific I've narrowed down yet. I've read all the 993 vs 996 stuff, this is more a question of which can be considered the better value at the moment. 1994 993 for 26-28K, or 2002 996 for 20-22K - what would you go for? Cheers. Edited by uglysailor on Thursday 13th February 17:39

Ooops... decimal problems - corrected above. Should be 100k & 80k miles.

you probably know the answers ... In terms of car you get for the money - 996 In terms of future value - 993 for everyday use - 996 to feel in a porsche the way they used to make them - 993 bills - running costs probably higher for 993 Price differential looks about right, but holy smoke £22k for an 80k mile 996? where do you live????????? You could almost halve that in the UK. Are you in Europe? if you are happy with RHD, come buy one here and take back. even LHD ones come up for about same price as RHD ones You mention daily driver, for me that would lead you to the 996.

Try both and see what you think. 993 can easily be a daily but IMO these cars are to be savoured for high days and weekend blasts.

Have you driven both, they are very different! You are asking which is best value. It depends what you value!

Yes, have driven both and agree they're different. I do like the 993, something about it gets me where it counts, and I like the old-school interior etc. I can however see the greater practicality of the more modern 996 as a daily driver. I think James got it right above, and I think it sounds like the 993 is the better value of the two cars I mentioned, but that I should really be looking for a cheaper 996. As I said, the 993 is a bit of a stretch on the current budget, but then again if I do really want one now is probably the time to do it, I'm probably not going to find one for the same money in 2 or 3 years... Confused? You bet...

suggestion - go for the 993 for weekends and nice days to commute. Also buy a cheap old peugeot diesel for crap days and boring long drives.

I'd choose the 996 for your intended daily usage, but I'd probably pay a bit more for a C4S. They look a bit more special and the 4 wheel drive is useful in bad weather (depending on your location of course)

I would get the best 996 you can for your money and enjoy driving it every day. I run an early 3.4 as a dally drive for a few years and the costs were minimum compared to running a weekend toy 964. Whatever you decide, get it inspected first.

Based on current market conditions the 996 will depreciate significantly over say 3 years whereas the 993 is unlikely to suffer much depn. even I suspect if you add 10k miles per year. In the long term this saving is likely to more than offset the maybe higher maintenance cost of the 993 mentioned by another poster above.

To put the 'high maintenance costs' of the 993 into perspective, it's only work that's needed doing once (properly) on nearly 20-year-old cars with one or two issues that have to be sorted out. Averaged out over a 5-year (say) period of gradual restoration it's not cheap, but when done I really don't see a 993 costing that much p.a. just to keep going. You can still drive a car with a bit of windscreen rust or put up with cranky a/c and a heavy clutch. Factor in zero depreciation and it's a good buy. They are not tear-your-head-off fast but more than quick enough for the road.

uglysailor said: ...I do like the 993, something about it gets me where it counts... As I said, the 993 is a bit of a stretch on the current budget, but then again if I do really want one now is probably the time to do it, I'm probably not going to find one for the same money in 2 or 3 years... Own question answered. You prefer the 993, and the 'value' of it is (and always will be) higher than a 996. It's already broached the psychological 100k, so drive it and enjoy it.

James44 said: suggestion - go for the 993 for weekends and nice days to commute. Also buy a cheap old peugeot diesel for crap days and boring long drives. Or a 993 for weekends and nice days, and a 996 for crap days and long drives :-)

28K for a 100K mile non vario 993... Holy-moly best go and rethink my pricing. Clearly the only way is UP!

Nurburgsingh said: 28K for a 100K mile non vario 993... Holy-moly best go and rethink my pricing. Clearly the only way is UP! It's actually much closer to £25K with the current exchange rates. Looking around the rest of Europe (France Germany Italy Spain) that seems to be a pretty good price I think, wouldn't you agree? Will spend the weekend hum'ing and hah'ing - 996 modernism and low purchase price, or the 993 mojo and an extra £8k on the loan. The 993 in question is in fantastic condition with only 3 owners since new. Knowing me, I think I'm gonna buy it :-)

Wise move ! 993 all the way uglysailor said: It's actually much closer to £25K with the current exchange rates. Looking around the rest of Europe (France Germany Italy Spain) that seems to be a pretty good price I think, wouldn't you agree? Will spend the weekend hum'ing and hah'ing - 996 modernism and low purchase price, or the 993 mojo and an extra £8k on the loan. The 993 in question is in fantastic condition with only 3 owners since new. Knowing me, I think I'm gonna buy it :-)

996 tt is the alternative to a 993 Personally I wouldn't buy a non turbo 996 other than gt3 which wouldn't be as good a daily driver as a tt.

Just found out the £25k is a Tiptronic, not what I was looking for really... However, it looks like it will hard to fins anything manual in as good shape at that price level I reckon, or should I be looking to talk the price down further? If so how much? Planning to go and drive it on Tuesday.

uglysailor said: Just found out the £25k is a Tiptronic, not what I was looking for really... However, it looks like it will hard to fins anything manual in as good shape at that price level I reckon, or should I be looking to talk the price down further? If so how much? Planning to go and drive it on Tuesday. If you want a manual, a tip will not do. At any price. Many people like tips, and there is a decent market for them. If you like tips, go for it. But if you want a manual, don't compromise. There are other details you can compromise on.

Thanks. Never driven one so I don't know anything about them really, can see the advantages in traffic etc, and when cruising you're not shifting so tip/manual doesn't matter...I'm neither a boy racer nor a track star, so I'll give it a go and see what I think. Interested to hear if anyone thinks the Tips should command a lower price and are generally less sought after than the manuals or vice versa. I don't want to pay over the odds for a Tip, and be stuck with something that's hard to move on if I decide to sell down the line.

uglysailor said: Thanks. Never driven one so I don't know anything about them really, can see the advantages in traffic etc, and when cruising you're not shifting so tip/manual doesn't matter...I'm neither a boy racer nor a track star, so I'll give it a go and see what I think. Interested to hear if anyone thinks the Tips should command a lower price and are generally less sought after than the manuals or vice versa. I don't want to pay over the odds for a Tip, and be stuck with something that's hard to move on if I decide to sell down the line. Ok, that makes things more clear. I think you will probably like the tip.

Thanks again should I be paying a lot less for a Tip than for a manual?

uglysailor said: Thanks again should I be paying a lot less for a Tip than for a manual? Here in the UK, I'd say manual 993s and 996s are worth slightly more than their tip equivalents (say 10%). I believe on 996T's the premium is higher for manuals. Looking at 997s, there doesn't seem to be a price difference. I heard, and having just bought one I would say this wouldn't I, that early manual 997Ts are just starting to hold value better than tip equivalents. Of course PDK attracts a premium, but possibly too new to know long term trend. It seems the manual in the 991 is universally disliked, so PDK may always be preferred over manual for those era cars.

Ok, drove the 993 Tip today and it was in fantastic shape, went like a banshee, a little oil leakage like most of them, but it's not the one for me. I'm after a daily driver (year round), and a nice 993 like that is worth a better life. So I'm back looking for a 996, and not discounting a Tip depending on what turns up. Have lined up a £15K 1998 manual with 100K miles on it, and two 2002 Tips, both with 50K miles. One is £20K (private), the other £22K (dealer). Gut feeling is that the cheaper car should do the trick. I really don't need to spend an extra £5k for a 2002 tiptronic, do I? Thanks for listening...

uglysailor said: Ok, drove the 993 Tip today and it was in fantastic shape, went like a banshee, a little oil leakage like most of them, but it's not the one for me. I'm after a daily driver (year round), and a nice 993 like that is worth a better life. So I'm back looking for a 996, and not discounting a Tip depending on what turns up. Have lined up a £15K 1998 manual with 100K miles on it, and two 2002 Tips, both with 50K miles. One is £20K (private), the other £22K (dealer). Gut feeling is that the cheaper car should do the trick. I really don't need to spend an extra £5k for a 2002 tiptronic, do I? Thanks for listening... Price difference is probably more to do with the mileage than gearbox. I'd look more into condition and maintenance than year too. Well looked after 100k mile car may be better buy than 50k cars that have usual replacement jobs coming up. as you've probably seen, rads, clutch, tyres, brakes can easily consume that £5k difference. Personally I wouldn't entertain a tip, but everyone is different.

I think if you are happy with an early 3.4 996 (some people don't like the fried egg lights) then you may as well save some money over the later facelift cars. But, as mentioned above, condition is everything with these cars as consumables are expensive. I ran a 2002 996 C2 manual for a couple of years as my daily drive and it was a good experience. Surprisingly quick compared to the equivalent 993 and still had a fair bit of character. Look out for one with the switchable sports exhaust, it sounds fantastic on loud mode and yet very civilised in standard mode.

uglysailor said: So I'm back looking for a 996, and not discounting a Tip depending on what turns up. Have lined up a £15K 1998 manual with 100K miles on it, and two 2002 Tips, both with 50K miles. One is £20K (private), the other £22K (dealer). Eh? Private 80k C2 manuals are around 10k GBP, and 50k facelift are 15-16k GBP. There's a 26k miles 03 plate for 21k GBP if you want to spend that much. If you don't go and look at the 52k miles facelift up for 13,950, you are insane.

Orangecurry said: Eh? Private 80k C2 manuals are around 10k GBP, and 50k facelift are 15-16k GBP. There's a 26k miles 03 plate for 21k GBP if you want to spend that much. If you don't go and look at the 52k miles facelift up for 13,950, you are insane. Unfortunately the steering wheels are on the wrong side for me :-) ...not in the UK. The best (haggled) prices up here for 1998s are £13K for a ropey private sale, £15K for a ropey dealer sale, asking prices are +10% on those. 2002s are annother £5-6K. Edited by uglysailor on Wednesday 19th February 10:13

Apologies - could you buy one in the UK and drive it back 'up there'?

Orangecurry said: Apologies - could you buy one in the UK and drive it back 'up there'? Thinking about it actually, it would be worth it considering the UK prices, but a bit of a bummer to have steering on wrong side, and no chance of reselling locally if and when the time comes.

If you can stretch to 28k for the right 993 my personal suggestion would be to put that into a 996 turbo. The better engine reliability of the turbo over the potential fragility of the standard 996 would put my money there. I also think the 996 tt is a very undervalued car in the greater scheme of things and even if not as loved as the GT3 it will definitely outperform the depreciation curve of the 996 in the rest of the range. Top motor to boot. Sorry for topic deviation.

....but the problem will be that 996 turbo prices 'up there' (wherever the OP is) are not going to be 28k.

Orangecurry said: ....but the problem will be that 996 turbo prices 'up there' (wherever the OP is) are not going to be 28k. Says Sweden in his profile.

I thought I'd looked - probably pressed the wrong button again. Hey OP - how about buying a LHD 993 in the UK and taking it back to Sweden? Yes there is one for sale, no idea if it is any good. Email containing a link to the seller has been sent.

anonymous said: [redacted] I agree with this but my money would be nowhere near a non GT1 engone 996.Was just giving suggestions . I have no idea regarding values in Sweden so fair comment

I'm crushed..... You meant 'a local 996 for c 20k doesn't feel like a great deal' I assume?

...curry. Sorry! and yes, "...local 996.."

Firstly, a very big thank you to everyone who's contributed here - appreciate your advice and thoughts, please keep it coming! Thanks also to Orangecrush for the email on the LHD 993, looks nice and the dealer also has some very nice looking 964s available. Did I mention that I always fancied one of them as well... :-) So - a local 996 for ca. £20k doesn't feel like a great deal, will therefore think about trying to find something in the UK. Main thing is that I'll not rush into anything, if a nice 964 or 993 turns up I'll be on it, and be forced to keep the old Volvo for the snow & ice. Edited by uglysailor on Friday 21st February 20:03