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997 4 GTS Help with Purchase

AMS911

Well-known member
Joined
28 Jan 2019
Messages
80
Hi All,

Im new to the forum and haven't yet finalised purchase of the car. It will be my first Porsche and having driven both the 991.1 Carrera S and the 997.2. I'm actually leaning towards the 997.2 as I feel its simply a more special platform.

I come from a background of BMW M cars so fancy a change and just wanted your opinion as I'm being offered a car which I feel would be perfect for me after looking at certain options that I'd like on the car the GTS ticks pretty much all of the options.

Now to the car... its Basalt Black, PDK, 30K miles, it has the full leather dash, sports Chrono, sports exhaust, and is in fairly good condition with 5 owners. I'm being offered it for £65,000. What id like to know is if this is a reasonable price. They are fairly rare to come by especially with it being the 4 GTS.

Also I have been advised that its possible to have the car actually drive in 2wd if you use the handbrake and have it up 1 click, has anyone heard of this being the case before? This information was actually from a reputable Porsche mechanic who explained that if the handbrake is 1 click up only the rear axle is engaged and not the front.

Please do let me know your thoughts as any information would be helpful. Thanks
 
:welcome: to 911uk

There's a lot of love for the 997 GTS on here with it being generally recognised as the 'sweetspot' car of the watercooled era.

2wd/4wd is a matter of preference.

The market for all 911s is very flat at the moment so guesstimating values is difficult.

There was a lengthy discussion about it very recently:

Click Here --> http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=131960&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=997+gts

Regarding the handbrake click thing I'd heard something of this before but feel sure that if it is possible it's something that should only be done for a specific reason and not used as feature for a everyday driving.
 
AMS911 said:
Now to the car... its Basalt Black, PDK, 30K miles, it has the full leather dash, sports Chrono, sports exhaust, and is in fairly good condition with 5 owners. I'm being offered it for £65,000. What id like to know is if this is a reasonable price. They are fairly rare to come by especially with it being the 4 GTS.

You don't mention the service history. This is THE key consideration, closely followed by current condition. 'Fairly good' is not desirable in 911 world and will affect value considerably.

Also, what warranty would come with the car. :?:
 
T8 said:
AMS911 said:
Now to the car... its Basalt Black, PDK, 30K miles, it has the full leather dash, sports Chrono, sports exhaust, and is in fairly good condition with 5 owners. I'm being offered it for £65,000. What id like to know is if this is a reasonable price. They are fairly rare to come by especially with it being the 4 GTS.

You don't mention the service history. This is THE key consideration, closely followed by current condition. 'Fairly good' is not desirable in 911 world and will affect value considerably.

Also, what warranty would come with the car. :?:


I agree as 65k on a car in 'fairly good' condition is not a good start.
65k at 30k miles I would expect it to be in exceptional condition.
Warranty yes a must spending that sort of money.
 
Great choice of car. Just curious as to the 2WD/AWD portion of your question. Externally, other than badging and the red stripe at the rear, the cars are both wide bodied. So it comes down to what you prefer, wide bum with no red srtipw and RWD or wide bum WITH red stripe and AWD.
Pricewise these cars are spec sensitive, to delve deeper into it, I think it would be helpful to understand with a full spec sheet.
On face value, I at 66k there is some room to move as the usual suspects have had some of their cars for a while now. Service history would need to be all OPC for me at that end of the game too.
Unless it's an OPC car, I'd still go for a PPI as a point of negotiation with what they find during the inspection. At that price point isle want the car to be showroom fresh, even though it's a 6+ year old car. It concerns me that your description isn't immaculate.
Enjoy the search as you only get to do it for then first time once.
 
It's a little up on owners (this bothers some people more than others, shamefully me included) but many people say that with more owners it's been more frequently pampered with fresh enthusiasm and love with each new owner...

For context there are currently only 2 997 4GTS's on the Porsche Approved website and one is a Cab. The Coupe is a 2011, Basalt Black, PDK with 32.5k and.... 5 owners..... Hang on a minute - am I putting 2 and 2 and making 4 here....?

Anyway, it's £67,333 and looks to have a good spec with Sports Chrono Plus, Dynamic Lights (mine has this and it's great), Bose, Heated Seats, Red belts etc. All of these would put it in the desirable spec category in my book. (If it is the same car and you can get it for £65k then be quick as they'll have likely offered other interested parties the same deal.)

A few bits have been moving in the last couple of weeks or so and with the spec above and the Porsche warranty I think that's not a bad buy and will go soon too.

Obviously condition and history should be scrutinised closely and due to its age it should have had its six year service including PDK service.

They are awesome and I love mine (goes round Brands Hatch pretty well too). Good luck and welcome to the forum!
 
Plastic dash.
 
AMS911 said:
Hi All,

Im new to the forum and haven't yet finalised purchase of the car. It will be my first Porsche and having driven both the 991.1 Carrera S and the 997.2. I'm actually leaning towards the 997.2 as I feel its simply a more special platform.

I come from a background of BMW M cars so fancy a change and just wanted your opinion as I'm being offered a car which I feel would be perfect for me after looking at certain options that I'd like on the car the GTS ticks pretty much all of the options.

Now to the car... its Basalt Black, PDK, 30K miles, it has the full leather dash, sports Chrono, sports exhaust, and is in fairly good condition with 5 owners. I'm being offered it for £65,000. What id like to know is if this is a reasonable price. They are fairly rare to come by especially with it being the 4 GTS.

Also I have been advised that its possible to have the car actually drive in 2wd if you use the handbrake and have it up 1 click, has anyone heard of this being the case before? This information was actually from a reputable Porsche mechanic who explained that if the handbrake is 1 click up only the rear axle is engaged and not the front.

Please do let me know your thoughts as any information would be helpful. Thanks

Interesting you preferred the GTS 997 over a 991 S, the 997 wins in looks and steering feel, the 991 wins everywhere else by an absolute mile. Just make sure you're really sure before parting with the coin :?:

The 991 currently represents the bargain of the 911 world, with some big depreciation recently. Id doubt that the 997 GTS represents any good value for money over the 997S in real terms, and 65K is too much for a reasonable condition car!

Understand on the special platform, I agree, a 991S can be a bit boring, I went the special route on the 991 with basically a GTS spec for S money, there are a few about, glad I did as I was bord with the 997 range, in reality the more modern cars a way better drivers car and sound amazing

Im just off to buy a tin hat
:bandit:
 
pzero said:
T8 said:
Regarding the handbrake click thing I'd heard something of this before but feel sure that if it is possible it's something that should only be done for a specific reason and not used as feature for a everyday driving.

See --> http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?p=426190

I'd forgotten about that. Last time round, I even managed to find a video where the feature was described. The name will come to me in a moment (a well known US motoring journalist). I did go and try it in an empty car park, but a hot day in Dubai is a bad time to test the limits of rear grip... it just grips (maybe I wasn't brutal enough).

What I do know is that you don't need to pull any handbrake to get a 4S to spin on it's own axis in the snow. It goes round very easily and just shoots up four fountains of snow. :grin:
 
Thank you all for the replies appreciated very much !!

My apologies for not being more precise with the details...

So the car was as Squelch identified at OPC Chester and I have placed a holding deposit...

The car is in fact in excellent condition, except for the driver seat (a few light scratches in the headrest, due to the previous owner wearing a cap I assume) and the steering wheel which had seen some sweaty palms. Going off the rest of the interior it was mint, including the door cars, centre arm, gear lever, rear seats and the headlining which are usually tell tale signs of mileage.

Spec wise I believe the car to be heavily spec'd as it comes with Sports Chrono Plus, Dynamic Lights, Bose, Heated Seats, Guards Red Belts, Full Leather Dash, Sunroof, Sports steering wheel with the paddle shift and also the Porsche VTS system. I believe the only option really missing is the Dynamic suspension with the 20mm drop and LSD (not sure if this could be optioned on the 4GTS?)

The exterior of the car is immaculate in Basalt Black as I believe the previous owner has had the car wrapped in full PPF from front to back. So there are no scuffs or stone chips in the paint work.

Porsche Chester agreed to replace the steering wheel with a brand new unit and also fix the driver seat (which I have received pictures of and now also looks immaculate). They also included a private reg as part of the deal. All in all I'd say the car is excellent.

In terms of the 997 GTS vs the newer 991, I had driven a 991 previously which was an S and came with plenty of options and a sticker price of 98K. Imho I didn't like the drive and it just didn't feel special. I have yet to actually drive the 4GTS and the deal is subject to test drive, but on first impressions I feel it is more special and I actually prefer the interior.
 

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