Porsche 993 Carrera

A new six-speed gearbox offered a greater range of ratios and the all new multi-link rear suspension offered greater control of the rear-engined mass. The front suspension remained much as the 964.

Beyond the base Carrera 2, model variations included the 993 Carrera 4, widebody Carrera 4S, Cabriolet, Targa, 993 Turbo and 993 GT2 and RS.

In total, Porsche built 68,839 examples of the 993 and while many would probably consider the 993 as being significantly more successful in terms of sales, over the 964, the reality is that just slightly more than 5000 sales separate the two in favour of the 993. Oh, and one final fun-fact: The last 993 off the production line in 1998, was a Speedster and was snapped up by Jerry Seinfeld.

Description

Making a welcome return visit to us, this 993 Carrera 2 is a car that we’ve sold before. Indeed it’s a firm favourite, not least because its a great steer, which we will come to.

Finished in Aventura Green, it was first registered in August 1994 at Official Porsche Centre, Belfast, then soon after making the trip across the Irish Channel to Essex, where it has resided ever since. It has covered 99,000-miles, with a fully stamped service book since then with a mix of Porsche centre and Porsche specialist attention and a thick wad of invoices,  which is always nice to see, notably with  Autostrasse, Francis Tuthill and of course, Paul Stephens.

Being a 1994 model 993 Carrera 2, we are talking 272bhp, although leafing through the paperwork,  we can’t help but notice invoices in the file from Carnewal for an upgraded exhaust, legendary mapper Wayne Scofield of Chip Wizards and a healthy rolling road print out of just over 300BHP from Ninemeister, which might explain why it feels so strong!

But we are getting ahead of ourselves a tad. For 911/993 purists, this 993 Carrera 2 really pushes our collective buttons. For a start its on 16s, which again speaks directly to our purist streak. Notice the ride height? Yes, but it’s not purely for aesthetics. The chassis has been set up and corner weighted, by the suspension gurus at Center Gravity, with re-valved Bilstein B8 dampers, MO33 springs and bespoke geometry.

Geo is one thing, but it’s easy to go too stiff for road use. Not with this 993. It’s firm but absolutely fair in dealing with typical ‘Brit tarmac, with a fantastically pointy front end and steering that chatters away through a dished and very tactile Momo wheel. It’s a hackneyed term, but ‘go kart’ really sums it up and the engine’s razor like response, allied to a slick-shifting six-speed gearbox, just adds to the mix.

Condition? Pretty good actually, with recent paintwork, it’s very tidy externally,  whilst the interior has a more `lived in feel` the marble grey  leather in particular has plenty of patina. So its not perfect, but it is a car that you don’t need to be precious about, although you could improve it further if you wish.

On The Road

Well, this kind of sums it up. The sandwich run to nearby Halstead is a mix of twisty turns and fast straights and with a toy shop of Porsches at our disposal, needing regular exercise and road test evaluation. Recently, this 993 Carrera 2 has been the go to wheels of choice, because it turns even a drive to shops into an occasion.

In Summary

This is one of the best driving 993s we have had in a long while, no doubt aided by the extra grunt from the rump and tactile steering response through the smaller 16″ wheels.  Not totally stock, but all the better for it, although to restore to original factory settings would destroy it’s on the road vibrancy. Keep as is, we say, but perhaps implement a programme of light further enhancements along the way as required.