The Porsche 993: The end of an air-ah

streetdrift.net Classic Car Review:

The Porsche 911 has been around for over 40 years now, 44 to be precise. And from its basic shape, it hasn't really changed all that much. It has gone through many styling updates and mechanical changes, but every enthusiast, who's been interested in sports cars for at least 10 years, remembers the outcry that went through the Porsche 911 community when a model change in 1997/1998 was due.

A major change

With the arrival of the 996, the successor of the 993, not only did the changes of the exterior and interior design turn out more drastically than the Eleven-fans were used to, but there was also one major change underneath the rear hood, which many hard-core 911 enthusiasts considered to be an abomination and blasphemy at the same time: The switch from air-cooled to water-cooled engines - a step that became necessary at the time, as stricter emission requirements made it increasingly difficult for Porsche to retain their air-cooling concept.

Regardless of that, for the 911 purists this constituted a true heresy against something that was thought to be an essential characteristic of the Porsche 911. A water-cooled engine in a 911? "Why not just put a water-cooled Volkswagen/Audi 4-cylinder motor in it as they did with the 924?", many outraged 911 fans exclaimed with sarcasm.

Many saw the end of Porsche come, as the era of the 924/944/968-transaxle models and the V8 powered 928 in the 80's and late 90's was already one of the most difficult times - financially - that the company had gone through (with the 911/964 being the sole reason Porsche didn't go bankrupt).

Despised by the purists... But commercially a success

We all know the end of the story, or better said, how the story continued: The 996, despite some initial quality problems in the early model years, turned out to be a great success for Porsche and its CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, continued by the 996's successor, the 997, which - to the delight of many 993 fans - adopted one significant design feature of the 993, namely the design of the headlights, which many critics of the 996 had at the top of their flop list, back in 1997, along with the water-cooling.

The 993 - Already a classic

Yet, for many 911 fans, the 993 remains the last "true Eleven". An attempt to search for a good copy of a standard 993 will illustrate the fact that this model already is a much sought after collector's item. In Europe, a 1995-1997 Porsche 993 Carrera S with 286 hp in pristine condition will sell for approximately 20-30% more than a 1997-1998 Porsche 996 Carrera 2 with 300 hp. Special and rare models, such as the 993 Carrera RS or 993 GT2 will go for even more. A 1998 low-mileage 993 GT2 straight out of a collector's garage could sell for as much as five times the price of a 2000 996 Turbo in good condition.

The 993 models

The Porsche 993 was launched in 1993. The initial model line up included the Carrera (coupe) and a convertible with the 3.6L flat six cylinder engine, producing 272 hp (later 286 hp), both available as C2 (RWD) or C4 (AWD) variants. Later variants included a Targa version, the Turbo (with 408 hp, Turbo S with 450 hp), the RS (with 300 hp) and the GT2 (430 hp, last model year 450 hp), and a variety of other special models built in very small numbers.

The 3.6L air-cooled engine - codenamed M64/05(06) - with 272 hp, originally derived from the 964 motor, was equipped with VarioRam in 1996 and henceforth produced 286 hp (M64/21(22)).

The 993 RS featured a 3.8L version of this engine, putting out 300 hp.

Resources

A good resource to look up performance figures for all the different 993 models and variants are the charts on the Wikipedia entry for the Porsche 993.

[Review written by Ben Chams / www.streetdrift.net]



[Image credits: Yellow 993 RS by Mike Roberts / Bordeaux-red 993 Targa by MB-one]