C4 & C4S Buyer Beware

[miffymania]

I purchaced my first 911 in Novemeber 02, a 993 C4S with 25k miles from an OPD in Guilford. I have covered around 1500miles since. This year I decided to upgrade it slightly. A new sports exhaust system with 100cell cats, a mild tweak of the engine & some fully adjustable Suspension. I chose Tech 9 based in hale as they use Techart products which are TUV approved & as a proffesional race team they know a thing or two about getting the most from 911's.

During the upgrade process a number of issues came to light. The 4 wheel drive system was infact not working correctly infact it transpires that thedrive shaft from back to front is broken, the Diff plates on the rear diff were completely worn & to top it all my rear wheels had at some stage recieved enough force to buckle them out of true & are unbalanceable. The fact that I had not noticed any of this is testomony to the incredible dynamics of the car. The original suspension being slightly softer than the new had smoothed out the vibration coming from the rear wheels & the fact that I am a new porsche driver has probably saved me from overcooking it throuhg the twisty bits with out the 4 wheel drive there to save me.

You might assume, as I did that all of these things are checked on the 74 point check that OPD carry out on their cars before selling them. This is not the case infact I have been informed that they dont check anything to do with the 4 wheel dive system routinely on 993's & they would not pick up problams with wheels unless they had to take them off to replace tyres etc.

The moral of the story is trust no one! make sure if you are contemplating purchacing one of these fabulous cars that you get them to check the 4 wheel drive system out & balance the wheels.

As you might expect I am in "discussion" with my supplying dealer to rectify these problems. Iwill let you know how I get on.


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[JamesM]

Ouch! Let us know how you get on and good luck!

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[Sarbs]

Once they rectify matters write to as many publications as possible stating the seriousness of the matter, thats shi7e, you could have been killed driving the car through corners thinking you had the added security of a 4wd system to help you out! Never liked that place, went to look at a gt3 a few years back and the salesman seemed to think he owned porsche instead of actually selling them.

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[noony]

My Dad is interested in buying a 996 C4 from there.....I hope the management or whatever has changed as they have a very nice one.

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[miffymania]

Sarbs thanks for your comments, I intend to do just that, although I think its more a problem of how porsche do their pre delivery inspections that is at fault. So far my supplying dealer is playing ball, but we shall see when it comes to crunch time!

Noony, I understand that the 996 C4 has a much more sophisticated system & if there is a fault it is sensed electronically. I hope it wont put your old man off buying a car. I just wanted to make the point that you shouldn't always accept what your told just becuse these guys are the "experts".


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[noony]

Oh ok. Hes changed his mind again anyway.....looking at a very nice silver c4 at solihull.

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[mogsyman]

Noony

If the C4S your Dad was going to buy was blue with a grey interior then I borrowed it a month or so ago for a weekend. I can confirm that it goes like stink and of course I only gave it some large when it was warm!.


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[noony]

Thanks, but it was a zenith blue(his budget doesnt stretch to a c4s)with black c4 with aerokit and gt3 wheels. As the one at solihull was sold this morning he is waiting for this one to come out of the bodyshop(all cars sold through the official porsche dealerships get all the cosmetic bits they need doing done, so it is worth at least some of the premium), then he'll go take a look, maybe buy it. But i never know with him, up till yesterday he had deposit down on a c4 cab, was organizing the PPI then said ''No, I dont want a cab''. Jeez, make up your mind you old fool.........

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[noony]

Oh wait sorry it does have grey leather, so if you were talking about a c4 rather than a c4s then my dad may buy the car you drove.

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[mogsyman]

Cab or Coupe - difficult decision. Up until 5 weeks ago I had a deposit on a new C4S, but couldn't bring myself to loose the rag top, so overnight I changed to a Cab which was spec'd, ordered and is being delivered within the next couple of weeks. I will miss the thought of the J-Lo look C4S but what the hec......


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[noony]

Hes never even tried a cab, but plumped for a coupe.

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[mogsyman]

To a dipstick driver like me they both drive the same. I don't think whilst driving to the shops or work I'll notice the difference.


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[miffymania]

Hi just an update on my situation. The car was taken to my local OPD for assesment. They confirmed that the torque tube was broken & infact that the viscous coupler in the rear diff had infact exploded. They are trying to persuade me that the pre purchace checks that are done on cars through all OPD's would have picked this up. However they also told me that I would have heard a considerable noise when this happened. So in my mind since I heard nothing & havent yet driven my car hard dont believe them. The two bits of good news are that my rear wheels are actually not buckled & the damaged 4 wheel drive system is being covered under warranty. All of this as I am sure you will appreciate i am very happy with. But I am still left with a nasty taste in my mouth by the whole experience.

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[James Ball]

What a pain. Not want you want or expect when buying a new (to you) Porsche. At least it is covered on the warantee. I can imagine this has really taken the shine of the buying experience. You will have to mentally "start again" when you get the car back form being fixed.

Lets hope the whole story ends well.

James


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[Robert Ward]

I must say I would stay clear of any sports car with a 4 wheel drive system as they will at some point go wrong and handling must be affected. I think it would be dangerous to rely on a 4wd system in wet bends at speed if its not working and you dont know its not.

rw


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