So after much to and fro, i ended up committing to buying a 997 Carerra 2S here in Europe. It is a UK spec RHD 2004 model (Oct 2004) with 61,000 miles and a rebuilt engine by Hartech and new clutch.
Back story:
Originally i was looking for a 996 C2 as they rediculously good value in the UK, was going to buy a UK car to bring over to Germany where i'm living here, with the intent to import back to Australia.
One thing led to another and a narrow body car wasn't good enough, so I started looking at 996 C4S cars. Next minute more scope creep and i found myself looking at 997 C2's and then 997 C2S's... and then i looked at Carsales in Australia and realised i could buy a 997 C2S, use it for a year of autobahn blasting in Germany, import it back to Oz, register it and still be a bucket load ahead. So that then became the plan. This car will be a keeper and given values of 997's in the UK are basically at the lowest they'll ever be, it is a good time to jump in.
Now:
So i flew to the UK, paid for the car and then began the drive back to Munich from London. It's a great drive, i went thru Belgium and stayed in Trier on Saturday night which is an amazing and historical little town in Germany near the border of Luxumbourg. Then on the Sunday it was autobahns most of the way to Munich where i got to play with an Audi R8 for part of the way which was fun
Some of the main specs on the 997 C2S are as follows:
Midnight blue paint
Grey interior
manual
wide body ("S" models have the same body as the turbo, which you want)
Pirelli tyres all round
New engine 7,000 miles ago (engine was rebuilt due to bore score and included 3 new pistons), IMS bearing and clutch were also replaced at the same time. It was a £10,000 exercise for the poor chap.
Full leather interior
This was the ad text: "This car had a full engine re-build in August 2015 by Hartech, giving any prospective owner additional peace of mind. Hartech replaced cylinders 4, 5 & 6 with new Nikasil-plated aluminium alloy cylinders, pistons, gaskets and seals, crank shaft bearings, etc. Hartech also fitted a new intermediate shaft (the post-2006, larger bearing version), and a new clutch. This car has a full service history, and is an incredible car to own and drive. 5+ owners, Next MOT due 30/06/2018, Full service history, Blue, £24,750"
The car was advertised for £24,750 GBP. I wanted a darker colour ideally or red would have been my 1st choice but being so rare the only red car was way out of my budget range and overpriced. Colour wasn't my highest priority, my biggest preference was low miles and a rebuilt engine to take care of the IMS and bore score gremlins that tend to plague early 997s and all 996s.
After negotiations we agreed on a price of £24,000 subject to inspection. The inspection included a bore scope and cost me a significant £330. It picked up some issues incl a busted A/C and heated seats control unit (£550 fix) a non N rated tyre which would have caused me issues getting TUV in Germany and N rates tyres aren't cheap (about £250 for the Pirelli i needed to match the others). There was also another £300 worth of bits and bobs and a few other minor issues i let go. The specialist who did the inspection (9Excellence) actually remarked how good and strong the engine is, they said the car is very solid and the engine very strong, just needed a few mainly cosmetic bits fixed which the seller dutifully did.
Can't believe i own a Porsche, my favourite marque of all, although it isn't a GT3 it is a very nice piece of kit and i hope to enjoy it for a long time. The fact i get to use it to it's fullest on the unlimited autobahns whilst i'm living in Germany is all the sweeter. Although i am not planning on buying 1000+ Euro's worth of winter tyres so i won't be able to drive it on the road between mid October and mid March. But my e46 M3 does have winter tyres so i think i'll cope
Here are some pics from the ad:
Here is my garage thread: http://911uk.com/garage.php?mode=view_vehicle&CID=1118
Back story:
Originally i was looking for a 996 C2 as they rediculously good value in the UK, was going to buy a UK car to bring over to Germany where i'm living here, with the intent to import back to Australia.
One thing led to another and a narrow body car wasn't good enough, so I started looking at 996 C4S cars. Next minute more scope creep and i found myself looking at 997 C2's and then 997 C2S's... and then i looked at Carsales in Australia and realised i could buy a 997 C2S, use it for a year of autobahn blasting in Germany, import it back to Oz, register it and still be a bucket load ahead. So that then became the plan. This car will be a keeper and given values of 997's in the UK are basically at the lowest they'll ever be, it is a good time to jump in.
Now:
So i flew to the UK, paid for the car and then began the drive back to Munich from London. It's a great drive, i went thru Belgium and stayed in Trier on Saturday night which is an amazing and historical little town in Germany near the border of Luxumbourg. Then on the Sunday it was autobahns most of the way to Munich where i got to play with an Audi R8 for part of the way which was fun
Some of the main specs on the 997 C2S are as follows:
Midnight blue paint
Grey interior
manual
wide body ("S" models have the same body as the turbo, which you want)
Pirelli tyres all round
New engine 7,000 miles ago (engine was rebuilt due to bore score and included 3 new pistons), IMS bearing and clutch were also replaced at the same time. It was a £10,000 exercise for the poor chap.
Full leather interior
This was the ad text: "This car had a full engine re-build in August 2015 by Hartech, giving any prospective owner additional peace of mind. Hartech replaced cylinders 4, 5 & 6 with new Nikasil-plated aluminium alloy cylinders, pistons, gaskets and seals, crank shaft bearings, etc. Hartech also fitted a new intermediate shaft (the post-2006, larger bearing version), and a new clutch. This car has a full service history, and is an incredible car to own and drive. 5+ owners, Next MOT due 30/06/2018, Full service history, Blue, £24,750"
The car was advertised for £24,750 GBP. I wanted a darker colour ideally or red would have been my 1st choice but being so rare the only red car was way out of my budget range and overpriced. Colour wasn't my highest priority, my biggest preference was low miles and a rebuilt engine to take care of the IMS and bore score gremlins that tend to plague early 997s and all 996s.
After negotiations we agreed on a price of £24,000 subject to inspection. The inspection included a bore scope and cost me a significant £330. It picked up some issues incl a busted A/C and heated seats control unit (£550 fix) a non N rated tyre which would have caused me issues getting TUV in Germany and N rates tyres aren't cheap (about £250 for the Pirelli i needed to match the others). There was also another £300 worth of bits and bobs and a few other minor issues i let go. The specialist who did the inspection (9Excellence) actually remarked how good and strong the engine is, they said the car is very solid and the engine very strong, just needed a few mainly cosmetic bits fixed which the seller dutifully did.
Can't believe i own a Porsche, my favourite marque of all, although it isn't a GT3 it is a very nice piece of kit and i hope to enjoy it for a long time. The fact i get to use it to it's fullest on the unlimited autobahns whilst i'm living in Germany is all the sweeter. Although i am not planning on buying 1000+ Euro's worth of winter tyres so i won't be able to drive it on the road between mid October and mid March. But my e46 M3 does have winter tyres so i think i'll cope
Here are some pics from the ad:
Here is my garage thread: http://911uk.com/garage.php?mode=view_vehicle&CID=1118