$re = '/.car\s{0,5}\(([^]]+)\)/';
$str = 'Only one car(52;model-14557) had a good engine(workable condition), others engine were damaged beyond repair
Other car(21, model-155) looked in good condition but car ( 36, model-8878) looked to be in terrible condition.';
preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($matches);
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php