high mileage

peterarcher · Oct 21, 2005

As I rapidly approach 90,000 miles, (it seems like yesterday when I bought the car with 20,000 on it,) I am starting to wonder just how far I can go before I am faced with some serious expense. I have to say that the car drives faultlessly and shows no sign of being tired.
I could do with some info from high mileage 993 owners. I wonder who has the highest mileage? I have heard that these cars will go to 160,000ish before they need a transplant. Any info from the high mileage club will be gratefully received.
Many thanks
Peter [

]

oliverjamesthomas · Oct 21, 2005

160,000ish????? Not even on the starting blocks!!!!! [

]

I'm currently at 180,432 miles. The car was featured in 911 & Porsche World alongside a 175,000 miler, both of which are looked after by Strasse in Leeds. Mine is a C2S (Varioram) and the other is a C2 (Non-varioram).

The car has an impeccable service history comprising both OPC and more recently indie' stamps. It had a clutch at 178,000 miles and as far as I can tell, it has had one prior to that also. The running gear was changed to an RS setup at 163,000 miles and I've had a new air conditioning condenser fitted. The bodywork has a few stone chips, mainly on the nose, but the interior is still fantastic, with only a couple of scuffs on the leading edge of the driver's seat. As for the business end, apart from routine servicing the engine and transaxle haven't been touched.

As for how it goes, well put simply I'd defy anyone to guess the mileage if they drove it. Some have commented it drives like a 60,000 miler and I manage to keep anyone honest with similar 'out of the box power'. The proof really came when I had it aligned at 9M (and what a job they did!!!!). They plonked it on the rollers and it made 269.2BHP (corrected), which I didn't think was too bad for the mileage! I was then told it could possibly increase a little if I took the by-pass pipes off and put the cats back on!!! The only problem was I saw some of the work they do on the uprate front - a severe case if itchy feet and upset bank manager, me thinks![

]

Regards

Guest · Oct 22, 2005

Hi,

Im just in the process of buying my first 993 and it has 120K already on it! drives great looks great what more can I say other than ..............no worries and I look forward to putting another 120k on it![

]

Pete
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993 C2 - 1994

chrisr · Oct 22, 2005

Hi, Im due to pick my C2 up on Tuesday , this car has 90k on the clock and I hope to put another 30 -50 k on the clock without any serious problems[

] , IMO these cars are like my current 944 ( 140k ) built properly and will mainly keep going if maintained correctly... watch the engine fall out the back at 91k [

]

Chris

John Maddox · Oct 22, 2005

Bought mine with 150k on it. No problems with it so far apart from A/C - fixed under warranty.
Personally I wouldn't buy privately at this mileage.

Guest · Oct 22, 2005

no i agree mine is coming form Paul Stephens with a warranty included would only buy private at these (120K upwards) miles if the price was really good.

Pete[

]

peterarcher · Oct 24, 2005

Thanks everyone. I guess you have all confirmed what I suspected, but its nice to hear from people who are actually driving high mileage 993's. I am now looking forward to the next 90,000 miles. I suppose I might have a job or two that will need attention at that point.
Thanks again
Peter [

]

Robertb · Oct 25, 2005

I think it depends so much on maintenance, driving style, usage- my 2002 BMW 330Ci has 73k miles on it, mostly from my 180 mile round trip commute. It has needed no work apart from routine servicing, and still drives like new. I would anticipate it could do at least 140k miles without any probs except maybe a clutch, shocks, bushes etc.

I am always careful to keep the oil topped up, serviced on time, and carefully warmed whilst driving gently on start up.

I've driven lower mileage cars which needed lots of work.

I've just had my 993's entire front end resprayed as the stone chips made it look a bit tatty- cost me £1500 inc getting some dents knocked out, stone guard replaced, mirrors and door handle repainted and it looks like new! A similar operation would keep a high mileage car looking fresh.

petercook · Oct 31, 2005

How long's a piece of string - some cars will go on forever but the 993 does suffer with 'soft' valve guides that begin to show themselves with higher oil useage (and loss of power but this is less noticeable for normal driving) - this has been known at comparatively low mileages and requires a top-end rebuild (£'000s). Every 993 will be different; just because some guys have gone long distances doesn't mean they all will.

PJC

sawood12 · Nov 5, 2005

Oliver - I've recently been reading the article on your Porsche - what a cracker. I'm starting to research 993's and with my buget I will probably target a high miler to ensure I get the model I want. My research so far tells me that milage is of no concern so long as you can satisfy yourself that the car has been impeccably serviced and not mis-treated and reading your article has confirmed that research for me. In fact as far as I can see there are advantages to getting a car that has some miles on it as like my 944 these cars seem to work best when used regularly. I'm now looking forward to starting the search!

My only question is that Varioram seems to have no effect on the cars paper performance i.e. 0-60 times and top speeds. Is varioram really worth going for and paying a premium for? I would be interested in some other times to compare such as 30 to 50 and 70 to 100 if anyone has that info at hand. Also is it possible to retrofit varioram to a non-varioram car?

Cheers.

chrisr · Nov 5, 2005

Scott, you seem to be starting the process I have very recently gone through, having bought my 944 with 122k on the clock and driven it for 2 years and kept the maintenance to the highest standard the car now stands at 141k and seems as tight as when it was built, this experience of owning a moderately high mileage Porsche ensured that when looking at 993's ( having done my homework for what seems like ages ) as always condition/history where to me far more important than mileage.... Ive owned the 993 for about 2 weeks so far and like the 944 ( which I will never hear a bad word said about [8D] ) the feel of the car is similar to what Ive been accustomed to , a Porsche built to last ..

sawood12 · Nov 6, 2005

Cheers Chris. I think we have actually met at the 944 rolling road day at Weltmiester, your's was the 944 that had tar splattered up the side after hitting a newly re-surfaced section of the M6 wasn't it?

How is your new 993? i'd be interested in any comparisons with your 944 in terms of ride and handling. If the truth be told as much as i've always loved 944's, I initially bought my 944 as a stop gap to 911 (993) ownership but in the 18 months or so i've had it i've enjoyed it so much I'm a bit reluctant to take the next step, but I can't resist the lure of the 993! I've already come to terms with the fact that although it is faster the 993 might not feel as exhilarating as my 944 turbo in out and out raw pace due to the turbo, which is fine by me because the turbo boost can be a bit too much to handle in certain situations where more precision is required, but i'm really worried that the 993 might feel a bit 'backward' (sorry can't think of another word) in the handling front. I've not driven one yet but even when I do I don't really think it is appropriate behaviour to drive a car as hard as you can on a test drive!!

Ideally i'd like to keep both but the wife insists that if I have a Porsche I must also have a 2nd sensible car, hence the buget constraint.

chrisr · Nov 6, 2005

Hi Scott, yep we met at Dyno Day and yes that was the 944 with tar splattered all the way up one side and what a royal pain that was to get rid of when it had dried, I got into 944 ownership as a way into Porsche and £ for £ we all know that they are a hard Porsche to beat IMO and if you think on that basis then you will stay with the 944..

In terms of handling , today being the first day that it was dry ive been able to give the 993 a bit ( within speed limits of course [

] ) and the handling is sublime and the noise of the aircooled between 4-7 revs when it changes noise about 3 times is simply amazing , its the first time Ive gone beyond 4,000 revs and Im blown away by just how good in standard form the car is..I thought long and hard about parting with the 944 ( still not even brought myself to advertise it yet ! ) and about £20k for a car less than 2 years newer but I have no doubts at all that the 993 is everything I thought it was. The set up is superb, handling a notch up from the 944 and that says something, built from granite and the looks are dateless IMO... some describe the 993 as the best 911 ever I may be biased but no other car in the range as a base model would I swap the car for 997 included.

Cheers
Chris

oliverjamesthomas · Nov 6, 2005

Scott

Good point on the paper times and to mirror what Maurice has already said, a Varioram retro-fit would be financial suicide. More importantly though, it is definitely not the way to go if more torque or power is your aim. Varioram is actually rather restrictive in terms of response and will be disappearing from my car as soon as the budget allows; (I'm hatching a plan after finding out a few things - pity the bank manager doesn't like it[

]). I have driven both Varioram and non Varioram and for every day use, in my opinion there is little difference.

The key thing, as already identified, is to find a car that has been looked after. Service history and a wad of receipts are always nice and providing you have these, high mileage isn't a problem. The thing people forget is that to get high mileage on a car, there is invariably a fair amount of motorway work involved. This is probably less stressful than a sunday morning blast in the country that a lot of the 911 demographic tend to have, because mainly you are cruising at legal(ish!!!) speeds and therefore aren't stressing the engine and transaxle. Your point about use is also very valid and I think when the factory engineered the car, they built it to last. In my book, so long as you keep on top of the oil, go easy until the car is warmed up and drive the thing plenty, you won't go far wrong.

Regards