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Tyson Schmidt Tyson Schmidt is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Burbank, CA
Posts: 4,580
That's a very good year of 964, and very low mileage. I'd put it at 26K just judging by your description, but that varies greatly after actually seeing it.

The 964 is a much more liveable day to day car than the Carrera, and is a fantastic GT car. There are a host of improvements made to these cars over the Carrera that make them an absolute bargain, given their relatively low selling prices right now. People like to bag on them unfairly. Most of them have never driven one at all, or if they did, it was a short test drive from a dealer lot.
I drive every type of 911 at my job, and have a very good idea of how the broad spectrum of cars drive. A very large sampling draws a better conclusion. One thing that is absolutely true, is that every Porsche i've driven has it's own character, even identical models. Some are slower, some are faster, some handle better, etc.
I've driven Carreras that were slower than 2.2t 911's. Some absolutely rip. IMO the '87-'89 911's in stock form are rather heavy feeling and numb. They are the heaviest of all pre-964 911's, and not much lighter than 964's. That said, they are also therefore the most refined of the pre-964's.

Most people's problem with 964's is in the looks department. Everyone seems to love the 993, yet hate the 964 even though they are very similar cars. Looks makes up 99% of that. If it were because the 964 was too refined, then they should hate the 993 even more, since it is quite a bit more refined than the 964 with it's rear subframe design and improved rear suspension. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

Also, the 964 took quite a hit in the reliability department with the oil leaks associated with the early cars lack of headgaskets, and subsequent leakage at the cylinders. Then the distributor drive belt breakage, and of course the dual mass flywheel. All of which were fixed by '92 and all of which were grossly over sensationalized. But, everyone had a lot of fun bashing these cars nonetheless.
The result is that you can pick up a reliable supercar for the price of a new Mustang. If it were my money, I'd buy the nice, low mileage 964, but it all depends on the other factors as to which will make you happy. Performance is a no-brainer. The numbers don't lie, and a 964 will beat an '87-'89 Carrera in every category except resale, due to the above mentioned. It is a car that I've really taken a liking to. I prefer the early lightweight cars to the later cars, but to me, if you're going heavy and modern, why not get the one with better technology. Just my humble opinion.
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'69 911E coupe' RSR clone-in-progress (retired 911-Spec racer)
'72 911T Targa MFI 2.4E spec(Formerly "Scruffy")
2004 GT3
Old 06-14-2003, 09:25 PM
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