Cars - Porsche 993

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	Cars - Porsche 993

The Porsche Type 993, or simply 993 ("nine-nine-three" or "nine-ninety-three") was the version of Porsche's "911" model produced from late 1993 through early 1998, replacing the 964. It's discontinuation marked the end of air cooled Porsches, giving it a special place in the hearts and minds of enthusiasts. As done before, Porsche made several variants of the 911 available to satisfy any peculiar demand of sports car drivers: the Carrera being a reliable, fast and safe sports car for daily use, the Carrera Cabriolet (convertible) and Targa for sporty cruising, the Turbo being a tremendously fast car, and the non-compromise race-oriented Carrera RS and GT2.

Overview

Design

The 993 model was the first truly major redesign of the original 911 shape; although it resembled earlier 911s, it was much rounder and sleeker than before. Harm Lagaay, Porsche's senior designer at the time, began designing the car in 1989, less than a year after the debut of the 964 generation. Elements from the 959 such as the rounder, "softer" rear end and sloping headlamps are clearly visible in the design.

The basic idea behind the design of the 993 was to integrate all body parts into one homogeneous shape always respecting the classic form of the 911. New sloping headlights, raised rear lights, wider front and rear wheelarches, and new front and rear bumper moldings marked the most drastic changes made over the previous 964. The front hood retained its shape, but was raised a few mm in order to integrate the front bumpers into a homogeneous form. The windscreen, doors and roof remained basically unchanged from the previous model. The interior was left mostly unchanged bar a few details, and still featured the classic style five instrument gauge cluster introduced in 1963. Neither the introduction of the G-model in 1973 nor the introduction of the 964 in 1988 altered the 911´s shape to the extent the 993 did.

Technical improvements

One of the most noteworthy changes in the 993 over all preceding 911s is the implementation of an all-alloy multi-arm rear suspension attached to an all-alloy subframe. Its design was derived from the project 989, a four door sedan which never went into production, and was later continued in the 993's successor, type 996. It required the mentioned widening of the rear wheel arches, which itself lended to the 993's newfound stability. This suspension improved the 993s cornering abilities, making it more direct and more stable and helping to reduce the infamous tendency to oversteer if throttle was lifted during hard cornering found in earlier 911s. It even attributed to reduced interior noise.

The 993 was the first generation of 911s to have a standard 6-speed manual transmission — previous cars, except for the exotic Porsche 959, had 4- or 5-speed gearboxes. As the 993 was capable of speeds exceeding 270 km/h, a sixth gear became necessary in order to cover this speed range. In virtually every situation, it was possible to keep the engine in its best torque range above 4500 rpm. The Carrera / Carrera S / Cabriolet and Targa models (2WD) were further available with a "Tiptronic" 4-speed automatic transmission, first introduced in the 964. Beginning with model year 1995, Porsche offered the advanced Tiptronic S with additional steering wheel mounted controls and refined software for smoother, quicker shifts. Since the 993's introduction the tiptronic is capable of recognizing climbs and descents.

Further, the 993s optional all wheel drive system was refined over that of the 964. Porsche departed from the 964´s setup consisting of three differentials and revised the system based on the layout from their 959 supercar, replacing the center differential with a viscous coupling unit. In conjunction with the 993s redesigned and recalibrated suspension, this system vastly improved handling characteristics and still retained the stability offered by AWD without having to suffer any compromises in understeer. Its simpler layout even reduced the system's weight. The advantages of this concept were reason enough for Porsche to retain it in all succeeding 911s with AWD.

Other improvements include a new dual-flow exhaust, larger brakes with drilled discs, a revised power steering, etc.

993 Variants

Carrera Coupe / Cabriolet

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