911 carrera im looking at...
07-30-2016, 01:35 PM
#1
911 carrera im looking at...
hi,
am a well experienced engineer/ import car mechanic now retired. did a lot of Porsche work in the 70's and 80's but never owned one. have had an offer to buy a 1999 Carrera cabriolet at a price I think is cheap but not sure as I have no experience with this car.
first... car is not in the US and neither am I. I am retired to the carribean and the car is here. it was imported from Italy by the original owner when he retired here. the car presents as beautifully kept. both interior and exterior are 9.5 out of 10 . car has 160,000 kms on it ( 96,000 miles). have not driven it but I have seen it driving around until the owner parked it some months ago. when I looked at it today it started ( barely ) on a nearly dead battery and sounded crisp but won't idle at all. all the mechanicals look clean and dry. no leaks or any evidence of amateur maintainance. all the instruments work . interesting to me is that it has a 5 speed and I thought they were all 6 speed... if you looked at the car but didn't see the odometer you would think the car has 40,000 miles on it. so assuming the worst... lets say it needs a battery and that there is some sort of electrical drain that's causing it . lets say it needs a clutch and brake pads and a major general service... the tires are good at about 1/2 depth. the exhaust sounded a bit loud to me but it ran out of battery before I could restart it to check anything. ... he wants 10 grand but I am positive I could buy it for 9k ... its not exactly suited for the island but its a neat car and I wouldn't mind owning it. are there any major things that these cars " do" that I need to look at first and , what do you think this car is really worth ?
thx
steve
am a well experienced engineer/ import car mechanic now retired. did a lot of Porsche work in the 70's and 80's but never owned one. have had an offer to buy a 1999 Carrera cabriolet at a price I think is cheap but not sure as I have no experience with this car.
first... car is not in the US and neither am I. I am retired to the carribean and the car is here. it was imported from Italy by the original owner when he retired here. the car presents as beautifully kept. both interior and exterior are 9.5 out of 10 . car has 160,000 kms on it ( 96,000 miles). have not driven it but I have seen it driving around until the owner parked it some months ago. when I looked at it today it started ( barely ) on a nearly dead battery and sounded crisp but won't idle at all. all the mechanicals look clean and dry. no leaks or any evidence of amateur maintainance. all the instruments work . interesting to me is that it has a 5 speed and I thought they were all 6 speed... if you looked at the car but didn't see the odometer you would think the car has 40,000 miles on it. so assuming the worst... lets say it needs a battery and that there is some sort of electrical drain that's causing it . lets say it needs a clutch and brake pads and a major general service... the tires are good at about 1/2 depth. the exhaust sounded a bit loud to me but it ran out of battery before I could restart it to check anything. ... he wants 10 grand but I am positive I could buy it for 9k ... its not exactly suited for the island but its a neat car and I wouldn't mind owning it. are there any major things that these cars " do" that I need to look at first and , what do you think this car is really worth ?
thx
steve
07-30-2016, 09:06 PM
#2
You're looking at a car that is out of the scope of this board. This board concentrates on 911s up to ...and including 89. The model you are seeking info on is called a 996 and you'll find boards focused on that model. I have driven those cars and within the 911 universe offer a lot awful lot of bang for the buck. It puzzles me however that all manual 911s post 94 came with six speed. Beware however that pretty much universally they are considered the least desirable of all the variants. There are a few problems associated with that model and the model that followed it....look up IMS Porsche 996. For the price you can get these cars for, there are a number of solutions that offer peace of mind at a cost that isn't too bad. Cheers and good luck.
07-31-2016, 02:44 AM
#3
You're looking at a car that is out of the scope of this board. This board concentrates on 911s up to ...and including 89. The model you are seeking info on is called a 996 and you'll find boards focused on that model. I have driven those cars and within the 911 universe offer a lot awful lot of bang for the buck. It puzzles me however that all manual 911s post 94 came with six speed. Beware however that pretty much universally they are considered the least desirable of all the variants. There are a few problems associated with that model and the model that followed it....look up IMS Porsche 996. For the price you can get these cars for, there are a number of solutions that offer peace of mind at a cost that isn't too bad. Cheers and good luck.
understood and thx.
07-31-2016, 08:04 AM
#4
Instructor
Post your question over here: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum-60/
I've owned a couple of 996's and have a pretty good perspective. Some concerns: When you retired as a mechanic have you kept all of your tools and/or is there a qualified/competent Indy Porsche repair shop where you're located? From personal experience, dropping the tranny to do a clutch will be much more than you can possibly imagine for the inexperienced/ill-equipped.
Assuming that the owner had good service in Italy before moving to the Caribbean, has that level of service continued (and for how long) in your current location?
When these cars need work beyond oil changes and brake pads, you don't want to be paying someone who hasn't a clue what they're doing to go to school on your car.
When you say it's "....not exactly suited for the island,.....", that suggests to me that you ought to walk away (unless you intend to just park it in front of your house so folks can admire it).
I've owned a couple of 996's and have a pretty good perspective. Some concerns: When you retired as a mechanic have you kept all of your tools and/or is there a qualified/competent Indy Porsche repair shop where you're located? From personal experience, dropping the tranny to do a clutch will be much more than you can possibly imagine for the inexperienced/ill-equipped.
Assuming that the owner had good service in Italy before moving to the Caribbean, has that level of service continued (and for how long) in your current location?
When these cars need work beyond oil changes and brake pads, you don't want to be paying someone who hasn't a clue what they're doing to go to school on your car.
When you say it's "....not exactly suited for the island,.....", that suggests to me that you ought to walk away (unless you intend to just park it in front of your house so folks can admire it).
07-31-2016, 08:20 AM
#5
Post your question over here: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum-60/
I've owned a couple of 996's and have a pretty good perspective. Some concerns: When you retired as a mechanic have you kept all of your tools and/or is there a qualified/competent Indy Porsche repair shop where you're located? From personal experience, dropping the tranny to do a clutch will be much more than you can possibly imagine for the inexperienced/ill-equipped.
Assuming that the owner had good service in Italy before moving to the Caribbean, has that level of service continued (and for how long) in your current location?
When these cars need work beyond oil changes and brake pads, you don't want to be paying someone who hasn't a clue what they're doing to go to school on your car.
When you say it's "....not exactly suited for the island,.....", that suggests to me that you ought to walk away (unless you intend to just park it in front of your house so folks can admire it).
I've owned a couple of 996's and have a pretty good perspective. Some concerns: When you retired as a mechanic have you kept all of your tools and/or is there a qualified/competent Indy Porsche repair shop where you're located? From personal experience, dropping the tranny to do a clutch will be much more than you can possibly imagine for the inexperienced/ill-equipped.
Assuming that the owner had good service in Italy before moving to the Caribbean, has that level of service continued (and for how long) in your current location?
When these cars need work beyond oil changes and brake pads, you don't want to be paying someone who hasn't a clue what they're doing to go to school on your car.
When you say it's "....not exactly suited for the island,.....", that suggests to me that you ought to walk away (unless you intend to just park it in front of your house so folks can admire it).
I brought all my stuff with me and have a full workshop here for doing my own stuff. they have just opened an audi dealership here but I know a lot of the guys working there and wouldn't let most cut my grass... so the answer is that , if I bought it, I would do all the work myself and , while I have not worked on any of the water cooled cars, with my back round and experience that side of it doesn't concern me. I can learn what I need to learn for sure. te rest of your points are spot on and I am trying really hard not to be stupid about this. I have a land rover defender now and an old alfa and a murano for my girlfriend but I miss having a nice car and boy is this car nice. if I was in the states I would buy it in a heart beat but the roads here are average at best and the average speed is about 40 mph on your best day... if he wanted 15 or 20 k for it I would never even considered it but 9 or 10 sounded really cheap... but now I have been reading extensively about the 996 motors of that era and their inherent problems and so on and so on. I'm trying to use some semblance of intelligent judgment but when I sit in it and look at it, it gets harder and harder... the guy that owns it is Italian and his English is mostly ok and in the brief phone conversation we had , he said the " clutch" was fixed under warrantee when the car was " near new" ... im not sure what he means by that except maybe it was the rear seal deal or something... so having said all that , I am still well and truly undecided.