911 (996) Buying Advice

[996 sps]

After a bit of newbie Porsche buying advice, I will confess I am new to the idea of buying a Porsche and have always gone down the BMW M route but have my fingers burnt on to many occasions.

I was the looking at Boxsters but then my eyes glanced over the 911 (996) adverts:

If you could kindly any pointers into what to watch out on a 911 like this for example:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/4146519.htm

Are they massive faults which can be money pits? Brakes good? Etc etc.

Any advice as ever greatly appreciated.

[Diesel130]

Just make sure it's got a solid roof, 2 wheel drive and a manual gearbox

Seriously though - check out the details regarding the engine rebuild, to see what was done and what warranty there is left on it.

Usual suspects (apart from engine) are:-

Radiators rotting
Listen for any suspension rattles

Brake discs and pads are consumables, but check inside of discs for pitting - especially if it has been left a field in rural Suffolk for a while.

[SPS]

996 sps said:

After a bit of newbie Porsche buying advice, I will confess I am new to the idea of buying a Porsche and have always gone down the BMW M route but have my fingers burnt on to many occasions.

I was the looking at Boxsters but then my eyes glanced over the 911 (996) adverts:

If you could kindly any pointers into what to watch out on a 911 like this for example:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/4146519.htm

Are they massive faults which can be money pits? Brakes good? Etc etc.

Any advice as ever greatly appreciated.

IMHO the 996 Carrera 2 is a brilliant every day car and does the weekend B roads really well too. Usual consumables but try the Tiptronic, a great drive and no main seal issues as you cannot over rev them. I had mine for close on 4 years and it never missed a beat.
Depends on your budget but take a look at Tony Gilbert's web site!
SPS man as well - great bikes - I've had two of em!
Cheers
Steve

Edited by SPS on Monday 24th September 16:30

[sundayjumper]

SPS said:

...no main seal issues as you cannot over rev them.

I never realised that leaky seals were entirely down to over-revving. Thanks for that little nugget.

[Johnfrancis]

sundayjumper said:

SPS said:

...no main seal issues as you cannot over rev them.

I never realised that leaky seals were entirely down to over-revving. Thanks for that little nugget.

According to Porsche, you can over rev the tip, and I don't think that has got anything to do with the RMS.

[SPS]

Johnfrancis said:

According to Porsche, you can over rev the tip, and I don't think that has got anything to do with the RMS.

Well a friend of mine had exactly that happen and was told that it was in no small way due to the engine being over revved on a number of occassions. In another article "Porsche" stated that Tip could not be over revved! Damn lies and statistics I say!

[Terminator X]

My advice is JFDI

TX.

[996 sps]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

So are you saying from that bin the idea of a drop top and look more into the monies being spent on a Coupe?

Is it common for the drop tops having issues so to speak?

[996 sps]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Many thanks, that makes sense, any engine issues or other faults I need to be aware of?