Hi all! Another newbie from Merseyside, looking for advice?

[simonkay1]

From my experience of having driven both 3.4 & 3.6 cars in both manual and Tip is that they are BOTH excellent cars.

I get really p*ssed off with the so called purists who tend to put down the Tip's in favour of manuals. If the truth be really known, they want to hype the value of their cars, and what gives them the right to be correct in their views. Both give a very good driving experience and it is really down to individual preferences. I found that just as much fun can be had driving a Tip in 'Manual' mode with the steering wheel buttons and not have the fuss of using a clutch, safer too as both hands remain on the wheel.

Having said that and being brought up on manuals, they are a great drive too, as I said, go with what you enjoy. Additionally, if you are going for a non Turbo / GT3 etc then there is a minimal amount of difference in performance between them all.

From the data on the PA legal case regarding IMS, the earlier cars didnt suffer as badly as the later cars because they had the dual row bearing, the later cars had a single row bearing. Having said that, if you look at the data, it is a very small proportion of cars that actually suffered engine failure because of the IMS. I think both cars suffered from bore scoring, but my local specialist said it was more common with the 3.6's.

Most cars these days have had the IMS done anyway, so without adding more fuel to that argument, I would suggest you do your due diligence like you would with any other investment.

Whatever you decide on, 3.4 or 3.6, Manual or Tip, you will be buying a great car that is a joy to drive and own and as others have said, there are some really helpful people on here who will give you advice when it goes wrong.

Good Luck in your search

 

[coullstar]

Guards red 3.4 C4 for sale local to me that was owned by JS1500 on ebay. I can get him to tell you about the car. He reckons the guy would take in the 11's for it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porsche-911-996-Carrera4-/124474487488?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

 

[arry]

I'd say take your time and pick well. Your budget is healthy enough to bag a decent car and - as mentioned above - taking on a good looking, but ultimately poorly maintained car, can cost you more than you'd think. Yeah sure, if you're happy twiddling spanners you'll save a few quid but it's still the cost of parts, the time, the effort, the skinned knuckles etc. Getting a bit of a dog of a car might well just ruin your experience.

On 'ordinary' cars I'd say don't sweat the write off status but on a 911 that'll stick around like a bad case of the clap - you might not think you'll ever sell it, but you just might. Especially if you get the bug and decide a turbo 996 is the way to go, or feel that you need to scratch the air cooled itch. We've also seen some cars that were repaired have some pretty bad rust issues in the years post accident, where the quality of the repair has let the car down. Not saying never, but if you do then make sure it's priced accordingly and has lots of history / paperwork / pictures with details of the repair and the repairer.

From a practical point of view - the 996 is a great car, you've only got a short commute, you'll love using it on a Sunday drive (lots of bikers are 911 owners for good reason) and when maintained they're pretty reliable. They also hold their value well - I'd say having had mine 6 years I'd sell it (but I never will sell it ) for ~£750 more than I paid for it, and it has cost me ~£3k overall in that time. So, £400 a year ish to drive a 911? Not bad eh?

Few things to be especially aware of that can very quickly cost you thick end of a couple of grand to put right:
1) Any blowing from either the exhaust manifolds (they rot badly and always need studs drilling out) or the rear silencer boxes - they tend to split on the seams
2) Brakes - especially rears which fur up on the inner face with little use, which can be ~£500 a set
3) Coil packs - most of them are long in the tooth now so if it's still got near 20 year old coil packs on it, you'll need ~£250 to replace them on top of your next major service bill

Then there's the usual things that are easily missed - 911's tend to be low annual mileage cars and tyres can get old before they get worn. Check the date stamps to make sure it's not running on near decade old rubber. If it is, then there's another ~£500 gone straight off the bat. Coffin arm suspension creaks are another sign of impending big bills. The suspension is fairly complex in its design and has a fair few arms / joints. If you're looking for a suspension refresh you're thick end of a grand just for the shocks and springs, let alone the arms and the bushes and the labour to chop it all off - especially the rear which as with the manifolds, see a fair bit of corrosion generally.

They're good cars but they're 20 year old cars and will have their foibles.

All the best.

 

[simonas]

Hi Ian

I'm a merseyside ( Bromborough) Red (Man Utd ) fan myself who made the same move in July this year. They are great cars and you wont regret it although looking in the history of mine the bills can stack up pretty quickly so I would try and buy well. That being said you shouldn't lose cash on it so unlike a newer car your investment should be pretty safe.

I have a manual Carrera 2 1998 car and its ace to drive and youre welcome to have a look if youre near by

 

[UncleP]

Buying a 996 can be a bit bewildering. Its not unusual to see 2 silver manual coupe's of the same age and mileage, one priced at £10k and the other north of £16k. It might seem like the later is a dreamer but maintenance really makes all the difference with these cars.

There are some common big jobs that crop up with time that can set you back a fair amount of money even if you do the work yourself. If you can find a car at the top of your budget that has evidence of such jobs being done then snap it up regardless of colour or manual/auto.

Only buy at the bottom if you really aren't that fussy or you have a pot put aside and fancy a rolling restorations project. Plenty of folk have done this and a car being cheap and a bit scruffy doesn't mean its about to die.

 

[jonttt]

Bloody hell, there are more Manchester Utd fans on merseyside than Manchester :grin:

Its a real shame we are not able to have our monthly meets in Wilmslow at the moment as it would be a great chance for you to see a mixture of cars......you may even be able to convince Alex to finally sell his as well

Enjoy the search, make sure its part of the fun........and believe me you will have more fun with a sub £20k Porsche than 99% of owners who have much more expensive metal :wink:

When you do get one look out for the Manchester meets........the infamous Utd fan who attends that needs as much support as he can get, I don't actually go to talk cars but more to wind him up about football :floor:

 

[simonas]

Bloody hell, there are more Manchester Utd fans on merseyside than Manchester :grin:

Its a real shame we are not able to have our monthly meets in Wilmslow at the moment as it would be a great chance for you to see a mixture of cars......you may even be able to convince Alex to finally sell his as well

Enjoy the search, make sure its part of the fun........and believe me you will have more fun with a sub £20k Porsche than 99% of owners who have much more expensive metal :wink:

When you do get one look out for the Manchester meets........the infamous Utd fan who attends that needs as much support as he can get, I don't actually go to talk cars but more to wind him up about football :floor:

were you on A55 in North wales Monday in a dark 997? one went past me and waved with a number plate like your user name

 

[FZP]

Deals have been struck at the Bulls Head before. Alex needs to start looking for 997.2 ragtops.
:grin:

 

[Gt3Owl]

Some interesting articles 🤔, I'm on my 4th 996, both the 3.4/3.6 cars are fantastic, as for tip/manual that's a personal choice, the manual cars tend to be more expensive.
I currently have a 996.2 manual with the GT3 kit, I find the 3.6 has that little more poke than the 3.4 and I use mine as a second car so prefer the Manual.

I've spent 15k this year on mine (new engine) and replaced everything apart from the alternator 🤦"â™‚️

My advice is dig deep buy one with documents for rebuild etc or buy a broken one and have it done yourself 👍

Mines a keeper now only 1500 miles on the clock ⏰

 

[IamRyanMan]

Hey guys! So sorry it's taken me till now to reply, had some family drama that's taken a while to sort out. I'm sorry I haven't responded to each of you individually yet, you've all been so friendly and helpful thanks!

I'll be honest, there's so much out there and so many things to know/check that it's almost paralysing, but I'm thinking if either of these cars are still available going for one of these two?

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Porsc...694-4699-a283-7b774b562e73#vi__app-cvip-panel

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264879919640#vi__app-cvip-panel

Someone told me the top one is overpriced about about £2k, but others on here have said because of all the work done it may be a really good bargain?

The other one seems like it may be good too (and is cheaper, if it's still available!) but which of the two would you guys go for (I'm not exactly rolling in it right now unfortunately, so the cheaper one would be preferred... the top one would be a bit of a stretch, but I could try and make it work if it's really good value!)

Thanks again everyone!

 

[T8]

If your budget is that tight I'd remind you of my earlier comment:

Sadly, buying a car such as this is only the start so you may want to look at cars below £12k and keep some ££s back for getting your pride and joy fully sorted. Very few people sell cars not needing something doing to them and even then something will crop up and keeping a 911 on the road isn't cheap - even if you can do a lot of spannering yourself.

 

[Griffter]

Both are showing as no longer available. For what it's worth the top one rang more alarms bells than 999 for me. Almost everything about that advert says misdescribed disappointment to me. The second one might have been alright.
You do realise they were both previously declared Insurance write offs?

As T8 suggests, I'd be looking for something cheap and honest for less than your full budget. Any 911 at those prices is going to need money spending on it, whatever the advert says.

 

[IamRyanMan]

Both are showing as no longer available. For what it's worth the top one rang more alarms bells than 999 for me. Almost everything about that advert says misdescribed disappointment to me. The second one might have been alright.
You do realise they were both previously declared Insurance write offs?

As T8 suggests, I'd be looking for something cheap and honest for less than your full budget. Any 911 at those prices is going to need money spending on it, whatever the advert says.

Hi, you and @T8 bring up some great points again thanks!

And I'm sorry, it's my own fault I did think I'd mentioned earlier in the thread but I'm fine getting Insurance write-offs if it does bring the price lower and the work is non-noticeable now.

Apparently both cars are still available, they just haven't been relisted just yet. I just wasn't sure as both cars have had people in this thread say look really good and others have said to steer well clear, so when even 911 enthusiasts like yourselves have different opinions it all gets a bit overwhelming.

I'll see if I can get a car for £12k or less and then like T8 says spend the extra to bring it up to scratch, I just didn't want to buy one at that price and suddenly find I'd need to do another £8k of work to it when I could get one for £14k that has no issues at all. I'm guessing I'll just have to keep looking.

The whole tiers/lockdown situation isn't helping either, as if there's something I've seen that's in tier 3 or 4 I don't think there'd be any way I could look at it anyway.

 

[tob_today]

I'll see if I can get a car for £12k or less and then like T8 says spend the extra to bring it up to scratch, I just didn't want to buy one at that price and suddenly find I'd need to do another £8k of work to it when I could get one for £14k that has no issues at all.

All cars of this age will have "issues". It just depends where you draw the line, what you want to do with the car, and your attitude to risk. I would also consider ease-of-resale. These cars are never going to make any money, and can easily eat lots of it. Good luck with your search & hope you find what you're looking for :thumb: