Am I crazy to think I can find a nice 1988-1989 G50 Carrera Coupe w/ 40K-60K for...

[mmm]

...daily driver use?

I don't know if this is an impossible dream from a marketplace/available cars perspective, but I am thinking that I would really like a nice, well kept, well maintained, well equipped, all original car with low miles in excellent condition for use as a low mileage daily driver (5K-8K per year). And I'd of course be wanting a car that hasn't seen a lot of harsh winter use or road salt. My ideal is to find an original owner with a well kept weekend/fair weather car for sale.

How likely am I to be able to find such a car for sale? Is this an "impossible dream"? Am I being too idealistic? Would I ever really be able to find such a car for sale? And would it really be "fair" to use such a car as a daily driver rather than for show or as a garage queen?

How much would such a car tend to go for? $30K-$35K?

Perhaps I would have better luck upping my budget and looking for a newer 1993-1994 964 C2 or a 1997-1998 993?

[trader220]

You can find em if you're patient and do your research. Obviously there are not a ton of them around but they’re there, and for less then 30 to 35k. In that range you’re open to all sorts of 911’s, 964’s, 993’s and some turbos.

The very low mileage is not as important then finding a truly well maintained car and having it checked carefully.

[mmm]

Can one really find decent (late) 993's for $35K?

What would one expect to pay for a 1988-1989 G50 Carrera 3.2 Coupe like I've described? More like $25K-$30K for a nice low miles example?

[trader220]

Depends what you mean by "decent". You're not getting a pristine car at that price. You can however get a nice driver thats been well cared for.

[mmm]

...but all the nicer 993's I've seen for sale have seemed like they're more expensive than $35K...

What would you consider the difference between "pristine" and "decent", and what would a "pristine" 993 C2 tend to go for? What about a "pristine" 993 C4S?

What's the best way to assess pricing, I have a subscription to Excellence already... My price points/estimates are kind of based on their "excellent" condition pricing with appropriate allowances +10% for low mileage.

[speeder]

You need to research the market and the cars a little more, (which you are doing I can see), and then figure out which car you want and how much to spend.

Pre-'89 Carreras w/ under 100k miles, (sometimes way under), pop up constantly on ebay and other auto sales web sites, and the prices are in the low $20s for good cars. $30k, or slightly more, buys a brand new/never driven 3.2 Carrera when they come up for sale occasionally.

[ken_xman]

My $.02.
I love my 47k 87 targa garage queen. For $35,000 it would be sold today.

[mmm]

My preference would be either:

1988-1989 Carrera 3.2 G50 Coupe, or
1997-1998 993 C2, C2S, or C4S Coupe, or maybe
1993-1994 964 C2 Coupe,
or perhaps even a more "spendy"/recent 996 3.6L C2 or C4S, maybe Porsche Certified Pre Owned....

I'm less sure about a 964 because they just don't seem to be as "popular" and I'm not sure how if they'll hold their value as well as the early Carrera 3.2s or the later 993s.

A 930 would be cool too, but I'm just not sure that the price preminum for a turbo is worth it to me relative to a base Carrera, and I'm not sure I would want to deal with the more expensive maintenance and potential additional (turbo failure) hassles that can come with a turbo car. How reliable are Porsche's turbos anyway?

Wonder how much I'll have to travel to find the car I want, once I decide what that may be....

[trader220]

You wont find even a decent 993 C4s in that range. Last year at the dealers auction we bought a 96 993 c4s with 39.5k miles on it that was very clean but not pristine for 39k. That’s at auction not open to the public. In my book "pristine" means there is no work at all to be done and it’s clean as a whistle. "Decent" to me means it’s mechanically sound but there are bits and pieces that need attending to. It may have some scuffs here and there but mechanically its solid. You can drive it reliably right away and tend to the other items as you see fit.

[mmm]

...or as close to it as I can reasonably find I think. Fixing all the little stuff get's expensive if you let it get away from you, and I like to keep my cars nice.

My price range isn't really fixed yet. Also under consideration would be a nice used 996 3.6L C2 or C4S. I really need to decide how much I want to spend and what I want, and then focus on finding the best car I can for my budget.

In time.... in time... it's all a process.....

[trader220]

My 2 cents is that I love my 101k miles 87 targa but for 24k it would be sold in a second. I am one of those who like the 964's. To me it’s got the classic look with the more modern feel. I love the 92 to 94 and I have owned a bunch including some of the oddball models. I am back and forth these days about buying another RS America. I just can’t seem to justify the premium over a regular C2 of that year. Very often desire wins out over practicality in my book, that’s how I ended up with the 94 speedster.

[ken_xman]

I believe you should be able to find a 95-98 coupe low miles, great shape for about $32-37k. Softer car as a daily driver.
Keep checking autotrader for something close to you. Also find the closest porsche club and ask around. Great cars, just pay for a pre purchase inspection.

[adamred]

Keep in mind with the 964 you'll be doing or paying for valve adjustments every 15K. With the 993 you won't....

I was really thinking about moving to a 964 but decided to save my $ for a future 993 purchase...

BTW I bought my SC with only 55K on the clock and is basically a 3 season daily driver and 2 years ago this car was $15K

Adam

[Rick Lee]

A buddy of mine just picked up a very clean and tastefully-modded '95 C2 with 45k miles for $26k. For $35k you can most certainly find a clean 993, probably a V-ram one to boot. No question about it. Figure out what you want, because $35k will get you just about anything lower than a 993 C2S or C4S.

[einreb]

last year when looking for my car, i drove a nice '87 with 42k on the clock. the guy was asking $23.5

it was a nice car, but a little out of my price range at the time. i think he sold it for close to that.

[Por_sha911]

You may want to consider an `87 as well. Virtually identical to the 88-89 G50's. I found mine last fall with 34k miles on it and I spent much less than what you are willing to spend. (Click link below)

[Jgordon]

I bought a pristine 89 3.2 coupe with 43K miles on it for $27K in late 2001. Prices have declined somewhat since then, but I still get offers at or above my buying price. I would suspect that in the coming years, the G50 coupes will be at or near 30K (for good examples). End of the line and all. Hopefully, I'll get a 993 daily driver and retire the 89 to garage queen status. then again, if I had another one, I'd probably just split the driving between them. mmm.....two......

[competentone]

Originally posted by ken_xman
I believe you should be able to find a 95-98 coupe low miles, great shape for about $32-37k. Softer car as a daily driver.
Keep checking autotrader for something close to you. Also find the closest porsche club and ask around. Great cars, just pay for a pre purchase inspection.

If I were in the market, I'd be checking this one in the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier:

http://classifieds.charleston.net/classifieds-bin/classifieds?property=CHARLESTON+SC&tp=CHARLESTON+SC&tl=13&classification=transportation&display=results&keyword_query=Porsche+911&SEARCH_LOGIC=AND&date=today&CATEGORY_NUMBER=&feature_make=&feature_model=&feature_start_year=1995&feature_end_year=1995&adpricemin=+&adpricemax=+&orderby=category%2Cprice%3Aa&temp_type=detail&maxrec=20

[on-ramp]

http://www.sloancars.com/inventory.htm

this guy is way over-priced but some of the cars you're looking for are here.

in my opinion, for 30-35K, buy yourself a nice 87-89 930 and have a ball!

[rzepko6194]

I paid in the low $30K range for a 16K mile 87' Targa late last year. An excellent 40 to 60K mile car would probably run in the mid 20K range. Check out www.aicauto.com. and www.holtmotorsports.com.

Good Luck!