993 vs 996 as a daily driver ?

[proenca]

Hi there,

long story cut short, Im on the market for a 996 but the 993 makes my heart pumps faster - better designed, more soul.

I do lean for the 996 since its a car for daily driving and the 996 is more "civilized", water cooled, more reliable and easier to find a good model than a 993.

Anyone uses a 993 triptronic as a daily driver ? I say triptronic because it would be easier to cope with the city traffic.

If anyone knows a good LHD ( essential ) 993 , let me know. And post your ideas of 996 vs 993 ! Thanks !

 

[Bertroex]

My mate Bruce has an immaculate 993 in the special wishes colour Cobalt Blau in LHD. 1994 pre varioram model, classic grey leather, jsut under 130.000 kms (thats 81,500 miles in old money) and never pinched a penny on maintenance with Official Porsche centres.

Car is in Guildford, but at the moment touring in Southern Europe!


Bert

 

[968er]

Now you are opening a can of worms[]

Two different cars, but I would go with the 993.

 

[Guest]

Why not do your bit for global warming & have a noddy car for daily drives & a nice 993 for days off? [8|]

Will cost you less, be less work to keep your pride & joy looking nice & give you a great constrast when you drive it. Too much of a good thing can spoil the fun. I love my Polo - little car, zippy in small spaces & costs very little to run. Soaks up the pot holes too.

I did this 8 months ago - never looked back. New tyre for a polo = £30 new tyre for 993 = £150+, and the fuel costs...? Bring tears to your eyes if you use it as a daily driver... £5K Polo will pay for itself in 3 years (I did the sums).

If you insist, I'd go for 996. Possibly not more reliable but more user-friendly as a daily driver. []

 

[Mark Elder]

What evidence do you have that the 996 is more reliable?

As a daily driver both cars will drink a lot and I partly agree with Roddy that, if you are daily driving in town, you don't want a 911. They work fine, but what is the point? I used my 993 as a daily driver for 12 months and was very happy with it, but now I'm tending to use the GF's RAV4 more for our daily (stop-start 10 mile commute) just because the 993 deserves a better life!

Have you driven both cars yet?

When I started looking I assumed I'd be buying a 996 - fitted the budget (at the time the 996 was typically more expensive than the 993). But I drove both and it became obvious to me that, if I was moving to a 911, it had to be a 993 (or older). So I (over) spent the budget on the best 993 I could find.

Just ignored all the weather warnings and drove it up the west coast to Fort William (The snow was down to road level for a lot of the route, but the sun was out and the mountains looked amazing - fantastic drive[])

 

[burrow01]

Hi
I can imagine it depends on what your "daily drive" is
Friend of mine has a 993 that he drives 20miles each way to the station each day, along a winding A road with a dual carriageway blast at the end, and this works for him brilliantly.

If you are doing a lot of driving in town / motorway then maybe a 993 would not be as good as a 996

Also I think a lot of people buy a 993 for daily driving, and then end up getting another car as well to keep the 993 "special" []

Pete

 

[FLAT-SIXY]

The 993 will be just as reliable as a 996. As long as you can put up with the classic switch gear and quirky ergonomics,(Which do become part of the 993's charm) then the 993 may be the car for you. Its a great non depreciator too and will probably hold its money better. Im not biased am I?[]

 

[sue11sam]

agree fully with Roddy , get a roller skate for around town , and treat yourself to a special 993 , deffo lefthooker (drives nicer) manual C2 . But if you must do it in town with a 911 , go for the 996 , especially if the wife/ Gf wants to drive/curb it , oops sorry girls , but the 993 is a bit more quirky than the 996 which is easier to drive

 

[zrcg1]

I use my 993 (tiptronic) for a weekly commute of 360 miles (180 each way to the customer site and back Friday and Sunday), then from there, 4 miles each day Monday to Friday in traffic. I also use it for ocassional site visits to other customers which can be anything from 150-250 miles from base. The weekly commute consists of around 50 miles of A roads and dual carrigeways, the remaining 130 on congested motorways.

In the period of 4 years of ownership, i've suffered floods on the M5/M50 (10 hour trip which should have taken 3.5 hours) and the snow last February on the A449 which caused gridlock (9 hour trip, again should have been 3.5-4 hours). I can honestly say the boredom and monotony of doing this week in and week out would have driven me insane if it were not for the car. It can be entertaining when you need it to be on the A roads, and just as easily be a mile cruncher on the M'ways.

Its true they can be a bit tiring around town though ......

141K and counting .....

 

[Porker993]

That's true, 993s may be a case of "overkill" around our gridlocked roads, but they are always fun ! Even when sitting in a queue you can turn up the stereo, open the sunroof, blip the throttle, and enjoy the stares of pedestrians.

I've done the daily commute in mine for five years now. It's been totally 100% reliable from day one, and great fun to drive.

I currently have a choice of three other cars, but somehow I always take the Porsche ...

 

[sanjay]

I spent nine months driving from Islington (London) to Southend 5 days a week in my 1995 993 C4 Cab, about 120 miles a day on mixture of heavy traffic (london plus speed bumps) and A13 fast 2/3 lanes, in all types of weather from sun with roof down to snow !?!!

Was fun, although those speedbumps arnt designed for the front spoiler

There is nothing better than dropping a couple of gears and blasting past a couple of GTi's.

 

[Mike M]

Never understood what "easier to drive" means. 996 & 993 both have a steering wheel, peddals and 4 tyres. Apart fom the 993 clutch may be heavier, who cares, it only appears heavy compared to a modern car, drive it for two days and it becomes the normal. As for cost of running again wheres the vast diffrence that makes every one think the 996 is cheaper and more reliable. Buy the right car in either and you can have many trouble free miles driving. Servicing costs and parts seem to be competative on the 993 as there are plenty of specialists about where as if its a young 996 it may still be in warrenty where OPC may be preferred which is not as cost effective a route.
At the end of the day they're both Porsche's so get the one you'd prefer to look at, to sit in and drive, with the colour and specification you want. Only you can choose, either way you cant really go wrong in my opinion.