Realistic guidance request

[Jumpy Guy]

Apologies in advance for another "Should I or Shouldnt I?" post

Looking to replace a dull Audi with something more interesting, and always wanted some form of 911.

Stuff to consider-
-I have circa 15K to spend
-Daily 18 mile commute, country lanes
-15K miles a year
-Pay for my own fuel
-Ocassional 400 mile trips to Scotland and back

First baby on the way later this year, so will need to be able to fit a seat etc.

Is this realistic? I'm kinda doing this before kids get bigger etc etc

Do I have enough to spend to get something that is reliable enough to last a couple of years with this kind of use? I currently spend about £750 a year maintaining my present car...

Any recommendations??

[slippydiff]

Welcome JumpyGuy, 15K is "decent 964 territory", but your £750 PA to cover servicing isn't realistic I'm afraid.

Have a read through this www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=330464&r=4406731&hm=28440#4406731 and rethink what you want to spend on the car perhaps ?

Even if you do find the perfect car with all its faults addressed, you need to keep a bigger sum set aside for unwanted surprises IMO.

Good Luck

Slippy

[Jumpy Guy]

Thanks for the link; it seems to cover most of my questions..
so, if i put away £1500 PA, and do most of the work myself, it looks like i could be ok.
mpg seems to be between 20-30, depending of weight of foot, which is fair enough..
Which model/spec is best for my 15K?? (or is that another world of debate?)

Anyone got any experience with baby seats and the like? New baby en route....

[slippydiff]

Jumpy Guy said:

Which model/spec is best for my 15K?? (or is that another world of debate?)

Indeed it is
But if you find the right car that ticks all the boxes, don't worry if it's a C2 or a C4 (unless you're planning lots of trackday action in which case I'd tend to go for a C2)

Whatever you do, make sure you pay for a proper and full pre-purchase inspection before making an offer on any car that you intend purchasing

[wildoliver]

And if your doing the work yourself then your £750 will go a long way towards if not in excess of the servicing costs.

[henry-f]

You`re caught between 2 camps, an earlier 3.2 Carrera or a later (1989) "964" model C2 or C4. The 3.2 Carrera is a very agricultural car to drive. For some this is it`s eternal appeal, to others it`s just too raw and dated.

The 964 model C2 / C4 was the first of the modern driving 911`s an as such is an easier car to live with day to day. It`s still a very old car now and there are definately more bad examples around than good so you need to concentrate on buying a good car rather than go out there with a wish list of colour, spec etc. to that end treat the C2 and 4 wheel drive C4 as exactly the same car and buy which ever is the better individual car.

Henry

[ED965]

3.2 carrera probably just nudges 964 IMHO.
Had both variants albeit Turbo's (930/965)
Again its all down to the individual, both good cars, both same money.
964 a little bit more modern but by todays standard still a dinasaur.
You would need to have a bigger slush fund for servicing the later 964 model though.
Hope this helps
Good look fella

[tertius]

Re. the baby seats question I have two Porsche Prince baby seats in the back of my 993 and both my boys (2 and nearly 4yo now) fit in comfortably.

I believe the interior of a 964 is dimensionally identical to a 993 so space should be the same.

However, a newborn won't go in a Prince as its for 9 months and older (12 months really in my view) - you need a rear facing seat for a newborn and I think that will be a lot more difficult to find - my youngest was 9 months or thereabouts when I got muine so never had to solve that particular problem.

You can get a rear facing seat in the front pasenger seat (not sure if a 964 has a passenger airbag I suspect not), however, your wife will then be relegated to the back and I can be fairly confident she won't like it.

[Jumpy Guy]

Thanks for all of this... much appreciated.

good point on the child seats; not sure that relegating the Dorris to the back seat would be appreciated!
Last question (honest)

i live in Marlow, Bucks, can ayone recommend a good independent for sales or servicing?

[a993lad]

For servicing you're well placed to visit JZ Machtech.

I've used them twice and found them first class.

They're at Kings Langley, and they can provide courtesy cars or drop you at the local mainline station.

Edited by a993lad on Thursday 4th January 09:48