gnat

Text says grey leather, but that's black in the pics. And if the seats are leather (standard option was not leather, though you see very few of those), then that is the only leather in the car. That car looks like it was as close to a stripper as possible new.

The deal with the lack of leather is that it's cars like this that give the 996 a bad name over their interior. It will feel really cheap and of poor quality. They didn't show any of the common areas, but it's also really common for the plastic on the center console and the horseshoe to get scratched up really badly.

Finding a car with more leather in it (ideally a full leather car) will be worth the effort in the end.

gnat

This is like the one in jatee's neck of the woods. If it checks out (and it will have at least $5k of random things) then this is a steal of a price. At least the FL car is over 100k to help justify the price, but this one hasn't hit the magic number yet.

It looks nice in the pics, but my money is on there being something that justifies the price being 4-5k low.

MikeinBloomfield

Accidents and odometer seem to check out on carfax and another free Vin check site. I will pay for a report if I am interested. I sent the dealer an email asking for documentation and whether they are open to a thorough inspection. Thanks!

MadIrish

Mike:

Check your PM's in a minute...I'll send the Autofax on both over to you. I find Autofax to be much more accurate in terms of registration/title events. Carfax undercounts the number of owners frequently.

MikeinBloomfield

Got it MadIrish, much obliged!

MikeinBloomfield

At the risk of dominating the thread, I just asked the seller of this one the usual questions, as well as for more pics.

https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/cto/6062984951.html

808Bill

But? 185000K miles is high, what else needs attention. There are much better bargains out there. I just talked to a dealer that took a 996 in trade. Few days later the engine failed due to IMSB...

roguiethegiant

Based on this forum, I'm of the belief every used 911 needs motor mounts....

VivG

Not mine!

808Bill

And then some...15-17 year old cars will need all rubber and plastic bits replaced.

Woodman71

Whoa, I better get on that, then.

jaetee

Bummer this one got sold out from under you... the low miles, 6/98 build date, Arena Red and upgraded sport seats really made that a fantastic deal. IMSB not really expected to be an issue in such an early 996. Even with $5k of work needed (which is a reasonable assumption at this point) the buyer scored themselves an awesome deal.

Drew M

I've read that super low mileage 996s can be troublesome. Can someone enlighten me as to why? I found one at the very top of my budget with 25k on the clock.

gnat

Drew, for years there has appeared to be a correlation between low milage and problems. The IMSB failure, for example, has plagued more garage queens than DDs.

There are two underlying principles to this. The first is that fluids are not regularly circulated which allows things to dry out and age prematurely. The second is that such cars are less likely to get properly driven (fully warmed up, good revs throughout the range, etc..) which can have negative impacts to wear patterns.

That's not to say low milage is bad, but it's far from "well preserved" idea that most people have.

Drew M

Ok that makes sense, thanks. Of course the IMS would be done immediately if it weren't done already. Last thing I want is to chase abnormal engine issues caused by lack of use rather than issues consistent with regular use.