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Tag: 1998

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1998 Porsche 911 Carrera S

1998 Porsche 911 Carrera S

Published April 8, 2018 by Rob

The 993 C2S always has been one of the best looking 911s on the market. Maybe even the best. Combining the wonderful curves of the 993 itself with the wider rear of the 993TT made for a perfect marriage for those seeking a beautifully refined 911, but without the additional costs of the Turbo (nor all-wheel drive). That it also offered improved suspension, also borrowed from the Turbo, made it even better. (While this one does have the red calipers that would tend to designate the Turbo’s brakes, the C2S didn’t come with those. For the Turbo brakes you’ll need to find a C4S.)

While looking at this one I started to ask myself whether the proportions are off. It looked too squat and I began thinking it needed the rear spoiler from the Turbo to provide balance. Perhaps it’s just an effect of the angles and lighting of the photography, or maybe because it’s black, which doesn’t really show the curves as much as brighter colors. On the rare occasions I see one in the flesh I do find the 993TT to be a gorgeous car that snaps my head around in a way no modern 911 Turbo ever could. The C2S reminds me a lot more of those modern Turbos.

The picture I chose to lead with is the one I think looks the best. Perhaps it’s telling that the presence or lack of the spoiler isn’t readily apparent from that angle. It’s still a beautiful car, possessing all of the attributes that make a 911 so captivating; I’m starting to wonder if it could be better. Maybe it’s not perfect after all.

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1998 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG Estate

1998 Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG Estate

Published February 2, 2018 by Andrew

The majority of the wagons were feature around here are of the Audi variety. For good reason, of course. They look good, they are all-wheel-drive, come in manual transmission and usually they have the potential to be pretty quick. But every once in awhile I pull out a Mercedes-Benz wagon that can run with the four rings. Usually it’s an E55 or E63 AMG Estate that not only looks great, but hauls ass and literally everything else. Although this time around, I have something much more rare and it’s actually on North American soil ready to be snagged up by our Canadian friends.

The W202 C43 AMG Estate is a rare bird. Only 717 of these were built between 1998-2000 and thanks to the rust monster that the W202 usually succumbs to, that number is decreasing faster than you think. Nearly a year ago, I actually checked one of these out in right-hand drive spec that was pretty tidy and what I thought was a reasonable price. But this German-import has it’s flaws and the starting price (with reserve) is pretty reasonable. So is this the one to get?

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1998 BMW 540i Sport

1998 BMW 540i Sport

Published November 21, 2017 by Carter

Following on the lineup of 540is I’ve featured recently, I ran across this early production 540i Sport package car. It’s interesting for a few reasons. First, I’ve always really liked the clean look of the early sport package cars with either the turbine Style 32 wheels or the multi-piece BBS Style 19s as shown on this example. Something really worked for me about this wheel on this body style. An early 540i Sport, it’s missing some of the later additions I covered last time around, but still carries the aforementioned 17″ wheels and M-Sport suspension. However, this car is a bit different than the usual one that you’ll come across.

Having covered only 65,500 miles in its life, the seller claims the car was special ordered for European delivery. It also doesn’t have the standard sport seats that would have accompanied the sport package. It was ordered in fetching Canyon Red Metallic (343), too. And, of course, it’s got the all-important 6-speed manual transmission. Here, the pre-facelift orange directionals and less fussy taillight design work in harmony with the lack of body kit and beautiful exterior hue. Is it a winning combination?

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How Low Will It Go?: 1998 Porsche 911 Carrera 2S Andial 3.8

How Low Will It Go?: 1998 Porsche 911 Carrera 2S Andial 3.8

Published November 17, 2017 by Carter

Edit 11/17/2017: After three years with a over $230,000 asking price with the same seller, ask on this neat Andial-modified Carrera S has finally dropped to $149,993. Of note is that in over three years, the picture, description and mileage have never changed. A neat car, but buyers should do some heavy investigation before the deposit. Is this car a sign that the air-cooling market has also struck the 993, or is this just an aberration?

The 993 is, without a doubt, one of the more desirable 911s in the range of cars that span several generations. Enthusiasts agree, having quickly pushed prices up on these models over prior generations like the Carrera 3.2 and 964. In fact, it doesn’t ever seem like prices on these cars came down much – as soon as the 996 arrived, faithful flocked towards the older models, snapping them up. Especially sought are the Carrera 4S and Turbo models – but there are some really rare gems hidden that pop up from time to time. Obviously, the ultra-rare Turbo S, Carrera RS and GT2 models are a great example – quite rare indeed. I’ve also previously written up an even more rare Andial Twin-Plug Twin-Turbo, one of the reported 19 assembled by the noted factory approved race tuner. Today’s car, like that car, mixes some of the styles of the rare cars that we didn’t get or didn’t see many of. The base is the already semi-rare Carrera 2S; like the 4S, the body shell was shared with the Turbo, but unlike the all-wheel drive variant, the Turbo’s upgraded brakes didn’t carry over. To solve that, the owner of this car turned to Andial – with a host of exterior upgrades to make it look like a Turbo S and a host of RS-spec 3.8 upgrades to make it go well, this is one tidy package – and exceedingly rare:

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2.Slow Double Take: 1996 Volkswagen Jetta and 1998 Volkswagen GTI

2.Slow Double Take: 1996 Volkswagen Jetta and 1998 Volkswagen GTI

Published November 9, 2017 by Carter

I was thinking about how to relate my feelings about the first few generations of water-cooled small VWs, and I came up with the analogy of the BBC Doctor Who! reboot in the 2000s. The first generation was Christopher Eccleston; edgy, completely different from the prior generations with a fresh face, impossible not to view with a smile but also something you didn’t completely trust. The second generation? David Tennant took ‘The Doctor’ to new levels of popularity; more refined, more fun and with an infectious smile, he was quirky but somehow much easier to live with than Eccleston had been. He also developed a rabid fan base that consider him the best (this author included) even if he had some faults.

Then came Matt Smith. There’s certainly a fanbase who appreciates Smith’s rounder, softer and…well, weird portrayal of the Doctor. I’m not a fan personally, and often find myself pleading with other Who watchers to go back farther because the earlier variations were much, much better. Yet floppy and oddly proportioned, Smith was nonetheless very popular and took the show to a wider audience. See the Mk.3 VW.

Not really the best at anything aside from being pretty expensive relative to its contemporaries, the 2.0 inline-4 ABA-equipped VW’s nonetheless outsold the prior versions. The were poorly built and even more poorly owned; this was clearly a move towards disposable automobiles for the company, and it worked. I never really got the appeal of the third generation until I somewhat reluctantly owned one. And you know what? It wasn’t as good-looking as my ’86 Golf was to me, but in every aspect it was better. It was more reliable (amazingly), got better mileage, had a nicer interior, was faster and had both heated seats AND air con. And both worked! Plus it had fog lights and more stuff fit inside. In short, it was just better at being a car.

While I still don’t lust after Mk.3 VWs, I can appreciate them much more when I see them today. They’re affordable and fun transport that’s quite efficient. In 1993 they felt huge compared to their predecessors. But today? They’re downright tiny. And though this duo has high mileage, they don’t often come to market looking anything like these two anymore:

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