Buying first Porsche - 996

[prigg]

I've been a closet Porsche enthusiast for a long time and am finally in a position to buy. Looking at a Manual 2004 996 C4S, black on black. Beautiful car but I secretly want a manual 993 4S black on black, but I think they are as rare as rocking horse......

So I am basically settling for a 996. (life is really bad when you have to do that).

I am using it as a daily driver so the 996 is more suited (I think).

3 questions:

Should I wait for the perfect car?

What would you pay for the above car with average klms and very good condition? Price range?

Is there any chance that the catastrophic engine failures experienced by 996's and early 997's will one day make people look back on them and think "I wouldn't buy one of those"?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

[Chris-p]

I am a fan of the 996 c4s as well, very nice car. I have been watching them for a bit over 12 months and they have dropped considerably in price during that time. I am curious about the effect of the engine failure issue too! I have actually been reading some of the horror stories recently. Be terrible to have such a thing happen. If you have one you are considering make sure you get it checked out thoroughly.

Interested to hear what others have to say.

Cheers

Chris

[AndyS]

Hi prigg

Not a bad problem to have with the choice of potential vehicles. As a 996 owner i will try not to be biased. I have had close contact with both 993 C4S and 996 C4S. Two friends own them (Red 993 and Silver 996 in case anyone is wondering)You are right about the 993. Very few made and now hard to find. They are very different cars. 993 has more 'old world' porsche feel and is a modern classic in my opinion and 996 feels much more like modern car without the quirks of the air cooled era. I think the 996 will be far easier to live with as a daily driver and will be a bit quicker.

As for engine failures, I did a bit of research before buying mine. Best stats I could get are that about 1 in 10 996 engines grenaded early for a couple of different reasons. My machinic said the majority of these were on the race track. This now tends to now be factored into a purchase price anyway as 996 and early 997's are fairly good buying. My long term view is that it will become less of an issue rather than a bigger one. The reason for this is the biggest risk for a purchaser is when you are paying top dollar for a relatively new car and this might happen. As cars age there can be no premature engine failures because the engines are no longer new. Someone is either buying a car with 150K on the clock that has not been rebuilt (then this is a potential issue for any car) or the engine has had a rebuild and the issues sorted. Mechanic said the vast majority of engine issues he saw were fairly early in their life / and or tracked (but not all.... disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer).

Anyway, I have had an excellent run with mine. Not tracked but driven with a bit of spirit. As I did, do wait for a good one, expect perfect service history. All scheduled work done, services and oil changes done both if Km's due or approx annually if car not driven much.

Best of luck

Andy S

[prigg]

Thanks for a great response Andy. Makes me feel better about the purchase.

I made the decision yesterday after more research and bought the 996 C4S. Gorgeous black on black manual. Love the red strip on the rear.

Can't wait to pick it up.

Cheers. Paul.

[Chris-p]

Congratulations Paul. look forward to seeing some pictures. When do you pick it up?

Andys comments were really insightful and I have to defer to him on the subject as i am only a humble 993 owner

Have fun with it and look forward to hearing how it is all going.

Cheers

Chris