18th Dec 2008, 21:38

Any old car can have lots of issues resulting from abuse by a previous owner, and I'd say the 993 turbo would get more abuse than most. City cars are always a worse buy in terms of wear as well. Rule is always pay a couple of hundred quid for a specialist check. Not some motoring organisation, they won't have a clue; contact your national Porsche soc - PCA in the US - and find out who they recommend for each particular series. Do this even if buying from a dealership. All 911s are good apart from the 996 series which is really just a BMW. Also, the Porsche guy you go to get work done makes a huge difference - lots of chancers out there, again, join PCA and speak to people and find out who they recommend. That way, you're less likely to end up bitter and disillusioned and jumping to wild conclusions about cars from any country or continent ... I've had European and Japanese cars, they all broke down at some point and I liked them all ... if reliability is your God, don't bother with a high revving sports car - an engine can be sporty or reliable, but not both. Get a high torque unstressed motor with a slush box and cruise around. No shame in that if that's what you want.

12th Aug 2009, 16:29

'Clutch, clutch, compressor'...? What does that mean?

In terms of this website which asks for specifics, that synopsis of problems means exactly nothing.

Clutch life is highly dependent on user behavior, and someone who cannot even elaborate on problems with his own car, but instead spends half of his words singing the praises of a different car is not credible.