I've been hard at work over the last year. Or better said: my mechanics have.
I've been looking for a 996 and had three cars inspected. I had to walk away from each one.
I won't go into the issues with them specifically, but they ranged from a general lack of maintenance and loads of things that didn't work, pushing the agreed price of a car up by several thousand pounds, to an oil leak that could have possibly led to an engine strip and rebuild.
One was a targa and two were Carrera 4S.
And those were just the ones I had inspected. There were several others I looked at that didn't make the cut.
I'll admit that I might not have looked at every single car that would have fit the bill since sometimes it's hard to find the time to coordinate with owners, meet up, drive cars, do inspections, etc.
And maybe I'm picky, too. But shouldn't you be allowed to be picky if you're spending 20,000 pounds on a car you intend to keep until it doesn't want to drive anymore?
Long story short: does anyone here have a good car, or know of someone who has a good one for sale?
I'd like a manual C4S with less than around 80k miles. My absolute maximum is £21k. I'd also consider a C2/4 or targa (if the roof still works) for less than that figure.
Yes, I know the C4S is the more desirable 996. And I know that lower mileage ones are on the market starting around £25k or more.
So in the spirit of 'you get what you pay for' I had a look at the more expensive ones to prove to myself that my budget shouldn't actually be able to stretch to a 4S.
I assumed they'd be miles better than the cheaper ones. They weren't.
I had the feeling several grand of '4S tax' was tacked onto cars that didn't have much in terms of mechanical substance underneath.
In various discussions with specialists and people on here, I figure that 20k is top money for a 996 and bottom end for a 997. The market may well be converging or leapfrogging though. And I've also heard that the market for 996 is levelling off and actually dropping a bit at the moment.
So surely it shouldn't be that hard to get a good 996 for that?
Or should I give up and get a Cayman or an E92 M3?
I've been looking for a 996 and had three cars inspected. I had to walk away from each one.
I won't go into the issues with them specifically, but they ranged from a general lack of maintenance and loads of things that didn't work, pushing the agreed price of a car up by several thousand pounds, to an oil leak that could have possibly led to an engine strip and rebuild.
One was a targa and two were Carrera 4S.
And those were just the ones I had inspected. There were several others I looked at that didn't make the cut.
I'll admit that I might not have looked at every single car that would have fit the bill since sometimes it's hard to find the time to coordinate with owners, meet up, drive cars, do inspections, etc.
And maybe I'm picky, too. But shouldn't you be allowed to be picky if you're spending 20,000 pounds on a car you intend to keep until it doesn't want to drive anymore?
Long story short: does anyone here have a good car, or know of someone who has a good one for sale?
I'd like a manual C4S with less than around 80k miles. My absolute maximum is £21k. I'd also consider a C2/4 or targa (if the roof still works) for less than that figure.
Yes, I know the C4S is the more desirable 996. And I know that lower mileage ones are on the market starting around £25k or more.
So in the spirit of 'you get what you pay for' I had a look at the more expensive ones to prove to myself that my budget shouldn't actually be able to stretch to a 4S.
I assumed they'd be miles better than the cheaper ones. They weren't.
I had the feeling several grand of '4S tax' was tacked onto cars that didn't have much in terms of mechanical substance underneath.
In various discussions with specialists and people on here, I figure that 20k is top money for a 996 and bottom end for a 997. The market may well be converging or leapfrogging though. And I've also heard that the market for 996 is levelling off and actually dropping a bit at the moment.
So surely it shouldn't be that hard to get a good 996 for that?
Or should I give up and get a Cayman or an E92 M3?