I think you did well to pass on the 993 Targa, they are notorious for squeaks and rattles from the roof. The revised 996 and 997 were slightly better but still not fully resolved. When Porsche reintroduced the ‘Targa’ in the 991, the move back to the proper targa panel was a wise one; not only a better looking vehicle but also lacking the issues of the three previous versions.
I remember chatting with a manager at a Porsche AD, prior to the launch of the 991, about halo models and ones to avoid and his sage advice was: ‘I love all the 911s bar the Targa. Never buy one of those, the noises the roof will make will drive you mad. We can cure them for a bit but they always come back.’
That's interesting, as I'd been out a few times in the car and it didn't seem too bad for sqeaks and rattles with the roof open and closed. I didn't know they had a repuration for that, learn something new every day.......I never liked the original targa, from the soft window version onwards until they introduce the sliding roof in the 993 and onwards. Early Targa roof line just looked ugly, didn't flow like the coupe or the cabriolet come to that.
In fairness, I alway preferred the cabriolets, never really been into the coupes even with a sunroof............and the later targas seem to offer a decent compromise..Sometimes, I do wonder about the quality of Porsche and it's engineering, Sues got a Mercedes Coupe with a massive sliding glass roof, that slides over the top of the roof and not a bother with queaks or rattles, whatsoever, I know Mercedes has it problems but some of the Porsche engineering like the eg the head bolts on the 964, just make you wonder from time to time, is the reputation that good these days, or just better than it's rivals.eg Ferrari.. A firend had a 964 RS great driving car compared to my 930, but the engine problems spoilt the car, so much so he dropped Porshe and jumped into a bigger barrel of mire in vintage Ferrari's, now he dumped them for Bentleys, he just keeps finding new ways of spending his money on maintenance and upkeep..
