Talk to me about 996 convertibles?

[Legacywr]

I have a female friend who is looking to buy a 996 Cab. She is only looking at the lower end of the market, and, it must be black!

What she issues should she be looking for? And, does anybody know of any for sale?

Thanks

[medieval]

I bought one recently and love it - they seem quite robust if you ignore the bore scoring, IMS, RMS issues et al

Check the hood operation and ensure it engages and secures properly and the rear quarter windows close fully and check for damp under the rear seat squabs as they often leak through blocked drain points and split drain tubes in the side panels

Hard top is a bit of a faff but make sure all of the fixings are there including those tools etc behind the rear seat bulkhead panel

Regards

Edited by medieval on Friday 16th May 17:12

[mikeyr]

Hard tops were standard so the car should have one to go with it - bear in mind it is a two man job to put on/take off and it will take up space in the house for 9 months of the year!

She should deffo try to get the wind deflector - only works with back seats down but substantially reduces wind buffeting esp once you get near NSL speeds.

Earlier 996s need to be parked up for roof to work, none of that fancy 25mph roof changes.

Rear screens are plastic and will look crazed if mine is anything to go by.

Front drain holes rather than rear have been my recent bugbear but now they are clear again it is pretty watertight!

[youngsyr]

Probably worth a professional inspection ("PPI")on any potential purchase - the cars can be picked up relatively cheaply, but there are a couple of very particular issues that happen to a small minority of these cars that can cost £thousands to fix (RMS/IMS).

At the very least the inspection should give you enough ammunition to knock down the price even on a "perfect" car sufficiently to cover the price of the inspection, so it really doesn't cost you anything, but should give peace of mind.

You can find people who will do a "PPI" here, as well as a lot of other advice:

http://911uk.com/viewforum.php?f=3

This book is a good guide to learning the basics:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Porsche-911-996-Including-...

Not sure what's going on with the price on Amazon, they can be had on eBay for normal money.

The windblocker mentioned above is nice to have, but I'm not sure how often I'll bother with mine. I drove at 90 mph without it (private road, obviously) today and you get the wind through your hair, but that's what driving a convertible is about!

Ditto the hard top - the soft top does a great job of cutting out noise even at motorway speeds, so I'd class it as a nice to have, but not a deal breaker (ensure you get a discount if it's not available though!).

I'd check the air con works well too - mine seems to blow cool rather than cold, which I suspect is an expensive fix (I understand the condensers can be damaged by stones coming in through the bumper vents?).

Another nice to have is a stereo upgrade option - on the pre facelift (<2002) cars at least, the basic stereo is pretty poor, the Hi Fi (six speaker) or Bose (7 speaker) is better and allows more options for just swapping out the speakers for a better sound.

iPod/MP3 integration on the 996 is a bit of a pain to do properly and many only have cassette players in the head unit, so I'd recommend one of these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/IOMAX-Cassette-Adapter-iPo...

The sound is better than you'd think.

Plastic rear screens in the soft typically haze, but apparently this can often be polished out with normal car polish and a bit of elbow grease (haven't tried mine yet).

I'd also stick my head under the rear bumper and check out the condition of the exhaust silencers - they have a tendency to rust along the bottom seam and delaminate, this can lead to blowing and an MOT failure requiring replacement at a couple hundred quid minimum per side (great excuse for an exhaust upgrade though!).

Re the colour, has your friend owned black cars before? They look fantastic when clean, but only stay clean for about 30 minutes after each wash - they show up even minimal dirt easily. I'd stay away from black unless the car is going to be used minimally and garaged or she owns a local car wash!

[benedwards64]

My OH drives one of these at the moment. It's a 2003 facelift C2 with the slushtronic box - so exactly the opposite of the spec I'd want (hardtop/manual!) but it's a cracking car. She bought it three years ago from Northway Porsche at 69k, and it has just passed the 100k mark. Aside from a couple of minor gearbox leaks and a broken coil spring it has been absolutely brilliant, with an annual service/MOT back at Northway.

We had to sell the hard-top as we have nowhere to keep it, but the standard roof seems to be holding up perfectly well (ours has the glass rear window) although I do make an effort to keep it clean and protected. Never had a problem with leaking, either, but it can get a but squeaky. I treat the rubber every so often which makes it go away for a few months, but it's only a ten-minute job.

[Johnny G Pipe]

youngsyr said:

This book is a good guide to learning the basics:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Porsche-911-996-Including-...

Should be more than just the basics for 130?