Another newbie (996 - eventually)

[masopa]

Hi folks,

Have been lurking for a bit trying to make my way through the huge amount of info and opinion on here. All good stuff...

Current plan is to get myself a little 911 to use as a fun car at weekends. Currently thinking a 996 C4 Tip (I'm not the best driver in the world and could probably do with any driver aids going). Coupe for sure: Scotland has some cracking days, but they're sadly in the minority...

I realise to the purists the choice of car is probably close to sacrilege, but I'd rather get something I will feel comfortable in rather than opting for seat-of-your-pants, back-end-in-trouble motoring that will inevitably end up costing me.

Now I'm waiting for the right motor to come up. I also need to wait for bonus/payrise/promotion (any combination would be good) to partially fund this dream as well.

Budget isn't huge (dependent on the size of the aforementioned, to some extent) but am hoping that £25-30k should secure me a reasonable pre-facelift coupe. If a 3.6 is doable within that budget I'd look at it, but wouldn't want to sacrifice my minimum spec if all else is equal.

Spec: PSE, Sports suspension, 18", all the usual requirements. I guess Satnav is a very nice to have for resale purposes ,as well.

Not as fussed with colour - black would be lovely, silver/grey good too. Some of the cheaper cars seem to be in pretty ghastly colours (IMHO, of course).

I'll be making sure any non-dealer car passes the 111-pt test and will definitely be purchasing the warranty until it expires (probably get a Hartech one after that, I guess).

Can't think of anything else - wish me luck! I reckon it'll take me a few months to find something. Especially since I'll be fighting the wife off (she wants a new house or something boring, instead)...

Migration info. Legacy thread was 62255

 

[alan sweeney]

Hi Masopa,

Good luck with your search. I spent 12 months looking for my dream. I enjoyed the chase, experienced many cars and travelled many a mile with disappointment but experience in the end was gained.

Some pinters:

1. Private sale route........ Check alloys and see if they have been curbed, examine the paint work for chips indicates fast driving and can be an indicator if it has been hammered. Look at body panels and see if any respray work. Always see if you can test drive it. Check for all paperwork and V5 Document. I spent sometime with a chap and after 2 hours of discussion he could not produce the V5 and there was no MOT after test driving it. Always get the 111 point check done. If under 9 years get the extended warranty, although subject to debate here.

2. OPC.............. More expensive but in my experience I have been satisfied with the present service. My C4S had several thousand pounds worth of work done on it prior to my pick up. I am not talking any serious damage but splitter respary, one alloy refurbed etc, it was interesting to see the amount they spent on sprucing it up. Also with any addtional works a demo car is provided, had a Cayman S to play with a few weeks ago and if you take into consideration a daily hire rate it does add up.

3. Independent. Looked at several but sales staff were not educated in the spec of the vehicales which lost my confidence.

4. Specialist Centre. These guys know their stuff and it would have been a route I probably was going to go down had I not found my dram at my loal OPC. Probably more competitive than the OPC and good after sales and warranty options with the finance to match.

Also get the best spec you can get as:

PCM, Bi-xenon, Bose cannot be retro fitted

Once again good luck

Alan.




Migration info. Legacy thread was 62291

 

[masopa]

Cheers for the helpful advice Alan. Good point on the private sale checks. A previous car of mine was an M3, also private purchase and I didn't really do the necessary checks. Didn't really end up too much out of pocket, but turned out one of the rear wheels was actually a front wheel! Had an AA vehicle check but it (clearly) wasn't worth the paper it was written on for anything other than a Mundaneo.

I think you're comment about enjoying the searching is (hopefully) going to be true. Whilst I'm still probably a way from taking any for a test drive, I know I'm going to enjoy that!

I suspect I'm going to have to travel pretty far and wide if I want to keep my options open. Still, I tend to be down in London once a week or so. Are prices for cars in the SE generally slightly higher??

Cheers again for all the info - much appreciated.

Migration info. Legacy thread was 62298

 

[Tiptronic]

Hi Masopa,

Welcome to the forum, you should get loads of good advice from the boys here.

We are a good bunch however we fall out from time to time, good natured always :wink:

Your budget should get you a decent car, I will keep a look out for you.

Regards


Migration info. Legacy thread was 62301

 

[Parts]

I have been really pleased with my tip, and generally they are a little bit cheaper then manuals (which is odd because they are an expensive option!). The PSE is a great option, but PCM is probably more important (as it is harder to retrofit).

I would personally not go for sports suspension as it wouldn't be great for my everyday driving on country roads, but for a track it would be great!

And Good luck - there are lots of good cars out there.


Migration info. Legacy thread was 62325

 

[Shed17]

Do not agree that stone chips equates to fast driving. These cars pick up stone chips even if they just go back and forth to the supermarket!

Migration info. Legacy thread was 62449

 

[Tiptronic]

Tell you what Will,

Good sign of fast driving is a pitted windscreen,

I have seen high milage cars with good windscreens, where as most of my cars look like they have lived in a hail storm constantly


Migration info. Legacy thread was 62459

 

[masopa]

Cheers guys - will have to take a list of things to check with me. Biggest problem is I'm no car expert (in terms of mechanical things). I'm ok on DIY/general handiwork (somehow managed to fit a new head unit + speakers to my M3 as well as plumb in a dedicated power supply without frying anything) but have never really read up on car mechanics.

Autotrader is absolutely FULL of 996s! Most seem to be C2s but should be able to find a few decent ones that I can use (at this stage) to benchmark prices.

From reading through older posts, it sounds like 996 prices are coming down reasonably quickly - good for me!

Cheers folks.

Migration info. Legacy thread was 62474

 

[masopa]

Owwwa!

Just ploughed my way through the "Problems" forum. Ouch. Some pretty sorry tales there. Fingers crossed I don't come unstuck (still firmly in the 911-to-be camp).

So, the question is: do I go for the OPC warranty or get a decent third party one like Hartech (covers all labour including annual servicing). Or maybe since I'll be getting an older one, I just get the OPC for a year or so until it expires then switch to 3rd P?

Sounds like the OPC check is a bunch of w@nk as well. Is it worth having an indy look at it as well as an OPC?

As I said, still dead keen just good to go in with my eyes open!

Migration info. Legacy thread was 62603