Porsche advice

[harry]

Thinking of buying a 911 996 what is the best to go for manual or automatic?
Any more buying advice greatly appreciated.

[ybrig1]

Hi there

Avoid the 3.4 like the plague. Many had engine Problems. The 3.6 should have a full Service history. Clutches will Need changing at 120K km. Brakes are easy to Change. Had a C4S and found Suspension too hard for daily Driver. Get a warranty!

Great cars to own.

Just swapped mine after 3 years for a 997.2.

Hope this is of some help

Neil

[kas750]

These are great cars,but not without their problems.

Google "996 engine" and you will be swamped by results about engine failures!

Its a minefield to be honest and its something that I researched in depth when I was looking. I eventually bought a 996 Turbo which has the Mezger engine which is based on the GT1 le mans winner and is pretty much bulletproof and is totally different to the M96 engine which is fitted to the vanilla 996 models.

Having done all my research and looking back now if I had not bought a turbo my advice would be to buy a manual late 3.4 Carrera 2 with about 70,000 miles and evidence of recent spend on radiators,coffin arms clutch etc.
The bigger the engine the more liable they are to bore scoring which wasn't solved until the Gen 2 997 of 2008 model year.

Do you research fully because if you buy a wrong'un it will hurt you real bad!

[RUDDY]

A friend of mine has just bought an early 3.4 996, he's not overly concerned about mechanical woes.

It's interesting that many of the Porsche monthly mags that derided the 996 engines have done a full 180 and are now saying it's time to buy as values are so low.

The bore scoring, intermediate shaft bearing and rms problems are well documented, but there's thousands of cars running about with high mileage that have never had an issue, then again there's low mileage 997's looking for new engines.

I think the problems with the later cars is partly responsible for the demand for the earlier air cooled 911's and the hike in prices.

It is possible to get a bore scope inspection carried out but also you need to have the ECU interogated to see if the car has been over revved, this is the criteria some specialist dealers have before they will even accept a 996 or early 997 as a px

It could come down to price, a sub £10k 996 is a hell of a lot of car for the money, ample spares at competitive prices, a bouyant club scene, many reputable specialists......and a few dodgy ones.

Colour and spec plays a big part in Porsche pricing, the market is also sensitive to lack of recent history and service books etc

Expect them to have had a few owners and a few private reg changes as they tend to change hands often early on as the original rich owners always wanted the latest model.

There's only so many checks you can do however and if you really fancy one you have to dip your toe in the water, I would suggest driving a few from a reputable marque specialist or if your budget runs to it buy a Turbo as Adrian has said.

[harry]

Thanks for the quick replies, going to start looking seriously in the next few weeks. Looking to spend between 10 and 15k.
Cheers

[kas750]

Whatever you buy make sure you hold back a 3k contingency..that will make the difference between loving and hating your car when something goes wrong..