Porsche 911UK Forum

Welcome to the @Porsche911UK website. Register a free account today to become a member! Sign up is quick and easy, then you can view, participate in topics and posts across the site that covers all things Porsche.

Already registered and looking to recovery your account, select 'login in' and then the 'forget your password' option.

1st 911 - 964 or Not??

Trevor Moss

New member
Joined
24 Mar 2005
Messages
3
Hi All,

Just a quick intro to you all. I am a spirited driver and this will be my first Porsche. I have previously been a fan of the Japanese products starting out with a Prelude VTEC followed by a Honda S2000 which I loved dearly (though I did have a couple of unexpected visits to the ditch during the wet :oops: ).

I then had a child and now we have a Bora V64Motion which the wife has now comandeered so it is time to car hunt again. I have always loved the look and appeal of Porsche cars and it looks like I might now be able to stretch to one.

It will be my daily drive so comfort and reliability are important as well as driveability. To this end after having read a number of posts here and some magazines too, I was thinking of a 964 Carrera 4. £15K is what I was looking to spend, though I met stretch if the finance deal is good.

As I am driving the car regularly and will clock somewhere between 15-20K miles/year I was considering getting a well maintained high miler as if I get a mint low mileage example I will just devalue it too much by clocking up the miles.

One I had spotted was this one;

http://www.911uk.com/car.asp?stockid=1680

Has anyone got any thoughts? Are my ideas absurd and if so what recomendation would you make?

Thanks to all in advance and i look forward to one day soon becoming one of you lucky few.


Migration info. Legacy thread was 26535
 
hell & welcome less said about the wando the better...!

964 is a great car (closely related to the legandary 964RS!) they all are, depends on what you can afford and your budget.. always allow 10% from your 1st year budget for any extra mantenance..

options.. LHD or RHD... colour.. spec.. c2 or c4

but most important for a car & mileage.. condition condition condition

car with half the miles could be neglected ! if the condition is right then the mileage is 2nd.....

get a porsche specialist ppi done for that final piece of mine

even though I have a 993 I sometimes do wonder if I should have got a 964 ! in years to come I still might do !




Migration info. Legacy thread was 26537
 
What are the main differences between the 964 & 993? According to the GT Porsche mag it says the main bits are some more power and better brakes, is there anything else?

I am afraid I don't think i could handle having a LHD especially as it is an everyday drive. Have you any comments on how you cope with yours?

Colour? Anything but white.

C4 preferably as I now have a definite aversion to ditches now!


Migration info. Legacy thread was 26539
 
964 to 993 in reality there is a lot.... prob' why the 964 market is about the same as the market of the 911 3.2 model before it but a £10k leap up to 993 !

biggest plus is the lowered servicing costs on the 993 but don't let that put you off a 964.. regular maintenance of any 911 pays for itself over time...

the car you have spotted looks like a good 'em, but only an inspection will reveal all... bt any car with so man miles that has been looked after would have had all those early 964 problems put straight long ago.. which is why the 964 is one of the performace bargains of the future.. aftre all 964RS prices are still on the rise

LHD you either love it or not... although there is less of a difference in the 964 market verses the 993 market and price is the main factor

buy one of the Peter Morgan guides as a starter and there are a few other 964 guides around on links from this site.. somewhere !

can't think of independents up your end apart from Strasse in Leeds, but there are cars everywhere !


Migration info. Legacy thread was 26540
 
The 964 is a great car, and with present market value, it can be a real bargain. It is significantly different from a 993 in that the whole rear suspension is different, (multi-link with kinematic toe in for 993), the 964 uses mechanical valves instead of the hydrollic ones in 993 (one of the reasons for cheaper services in 993).

But for normal road (or even occ track use for drivers with insensitive butt like mine) you can't really make much of a difference in terms of outright perfermance. Obviously the 993 will be slightly better and faster and more refined, but then it's a newer car.

The interiors are almost identical, front suspensions are pretty much the same, brake discs in 993 are bigger and are cross drilled. Head lights are fast release pull out units where you can change from UK to Europe settling by just flicking a lever. I'm sure there are many other subtle differences, after all Porsche did say it's 80% new! (Don't they say that with every generation of 911? wonder why not 90% or 70%?!)

Just like any other cars, 964 had a few "issues", just make sure they had been addressed. Again as said before, PPI by someone who knows about 964 is vital.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I use my LHD everyday and apart from a few minor inconveniences it's a better car mechanically and ergonomically (a RHD is a conversion after all....don't flame me yet... :wink: ). I think it's the stigma attached to LHD (ie it's cheaper) that stops a lot of people going for LHD, try it, you might love it, you might hate it. And now I'm ready for the stones coming this way! :(


Migration info. Legacy thread was 26566
 
When I started looking for a Porsche, most dealers warned me off the 964 and they aren't the most popular of the 911 because of their looks and history of engine problems. It wasn't the car I wanted anyway but that's another story.

As Sundeep says, any with an average mileage will probably have had the engine sorted out long ago. They also come with power-steering, abs and, I think, drivers air bag on later models.

The 964 was the model that benefited from the 959 development work with 4 wd (C4) and the start of sophisticated electronics. As such, I am coming to the view that this model could be looked on as something of a bargain compared with the way some variant prices are going for 993's.

Even decent 3.2's might ask somethin like £15K but I'm sure you could get a decent 964 on your budget. with your projected mileage, it may be worth buying through an independent specialist if they will give you a decent warranty for the first year of your ownership.

911 World had a write-up on a 964 C4 a couple of issues back but that was asking £20K from Strasse.

The other option would be a 968 Sport.




Migration info. Legacy thread was 26586
 
There was a high mileage (136K) 993 C4 for £23K which I liked lots (too much money though).

I was going to place a wanted add on the board to see what cropped up. I might go to LHD Porsche just to have a blast in a LHD and see if I like it though I am still extremely sceptical.

To be perfectly honest my first biggest ongoing battle is getting the wife to love them as much as me.

I will keep you all posted on my progress and in the meantime any more comments from people on the merits of the 964 would be appreciated, especially from those who have had both a 964 and any other Porsche model to help give me a direct comparison.


Migration info. Legacy thread was 26590
 
RE LHD

I drive mine every day as a commute to work on B + A roads plus Motorway. I honestly dont notice any difference from if I was in a RHD (which I tend to drive at weekends with the family). Even my wife who normally drives a rhd 4x4 Auto has started to drive the 911 and says she has adapted.

Dont rule it out for me it meant the difference from a 964 to a 993 and in reality probably the difference from 911 or a Jap car ( RX 8 Nissan 350). I know which one I prefer....

Migration info. Legacy thread was 26599
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be perfectly honest my first biggest ongoing battle is getting the wife to love them as much as me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You don't have to worry about that Mate - I am sure your wife will love a 993 more than she loves you! :wink:

Good luck in your search!

LJ


Migration info. Legacy thread was 26629
 
Trevor,

Having bought a LHD 964 last year as a daily driver i can highly recommend it. I looked long and hard for a good example and there are certainly some dogs out there. I'll be totally honest and say that had i had more cash i'd have bought a 993, esp the 'S' variants as they are in my opinion the best looking Porsche ever. However, in my opinion there is no way in the world that you can justify a 10k price hike between a good late 964 and a good early base level 993. My 964 is a LHD black on black coupe (no problem in the UK, better specced, better pedal positioning and extremely well maintained by the German owner). Granted the 993 has slightly better suspension (but my car is lowered with sports suspension anyway) and one or two basic improvements, but internally they look virtually identical and if you service at reputable specialist then the costs of maintenance narrow significantly.

You will as others say need to keep probably 1K for unseen expenses (even after a PPI, which is essential) but this could also be said of the 993. If you accept LHD you should be able to get into a well maintained car, with under 100k miles with most importantly for the newbie a later model year. My car is MY92 and has no oil leaks, dist belt or other of the overhyped problems of SOME of the earleir models. I very much doubt that 14-15k will get you into a comparable RHD car. I probably paid over the odds for my car a year ago but it was a great daily drive for the first year (12-15k miles) and now is my weekend car with a diesel for the daily hack to Slough and back. As you can see from my post i am very happy with my choice, although i've spent some money on it it makes me smile every time i drive it and its not even the summer yet.



Cheers

Giles.


Migration info. Legacy thread was 26632
 
964 is a great car, 993 is even better. As mentioned before, in real world conditions, there isn't much diff between the models.I found the interior of 993 a big step up from 964, & there's a bit more power. But for £15 k the 964 represents a lot of car for the money.

Migration info. Legacy thread was 26633
 

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
124,350
Messages
1,439,423
Members
48,707
Latest member
race911turbo
Back
Top