Piston compressors and methods for operating a piston compressor for a motor vehicle, in particular an air spring piston compressor of an air suspension system or compressed-air sensor cleaning system of the motor vehicle. A compressor piston is driven inside a compressor cylinder, at least indirectly, by a drive shaft of a drive motor rotatable about a rotary axis in at least one rotation direction. A control device of the drive motor reverses the rotation direction of the drive motor when the drive motor is started according to at least one definable rotation direction parameter.