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Hi, I’m set on getting a Spyder (4.0) and my requirements are MT, LWB, with spyder classic red interior. There are only a few on the market. While I’d prefer CPO it’s proving hard to find and some of the prices are crazy. I found a carrera white ‘21 with 8k miles, non CPO, warranty up in November. The issue with it is the CarFax. It had two clean owners until 8/2023 and then seems to have bounced around dealers in multiple states accumulating ~500 miles during that time. The current dealer doesn’t know the history more than they bought at auction. So I’m stuck and need your wisdom. 1) could the CarFax be off 2) I would do an independent PPI and there is warranty for a few months so should I be worried?
The car is in Atlanta area, so if anyone in the area has free time and could check it out (I’m in Boston) that would be a bonus.
Couldn't see that link; it throws an error, as an FYI. But you have to assume it was driven in an aggressive manner by multiple people, even if it wasn't for 500 miles. And the problem with a manual is you cannot check clutch abuse, including clutch wear. You can only check over-revs, but that's it. So I gave up on the idea of buying a used CPO, and just ordered a new one. I could only find a base Style Edition at MSRP, so that's what I ordered. But feel better about that, than a questionable GTS 4.0. Finally, if I was you, I'd absolutely not buy anything other than a CPO. Too much money at stake, from an unknown car, to be without warranty, but to each his own. Did you look at CPOs at the Porsche website? There are A LOT, although with less than 5K miles, 6MT, and red interior, I only saw 2 out of 6 (see link below). But if you want to raise the mileage, there would probably be more. And if you're patient, you should find one eventually. Best of luck.
If the PPI checks out with a clean DME report, I wouldn’t worry about it. You are looking for a very rare spec of a relatively low production car, so you either need to be a little forgiving on a less-than-pristine carfax (which are known to not always be 100% accurate) or realize it might take you well over a year to find a better car.
In a falling price market, cars are bouncing around a bit - dealers buy, hold for a bit, then get rid of it. I would not worry too much about a car that has swapped hands between dealers in the last 6 months. And if you google the VIN, you might see some of the prices asked by previous dealers.
Couldn't see that link; it throws an error, as an FYI. But you have to assume it was driven in an aggressive manner by multiple people, even if it wasn't for 500 miles. And the problem with a manual is you cannot check clutch abuse, including clutch wear. You can only check over-revs, but that's it. So I gave up on the idea of buying a used CPO, and just ordered a new one. I could only find a base Style Edition at MSRP, so that's what I ordered. But feel better about that, than a questionable GTS 4.0. Finally, if I was you, I'd absolutely not buy anything other than a CPO. Too much money at stake, from an unknown car, to be without warranty, but to each his own. Did you look at CPOs at the Porsche website? There are A LOT, although with less than 5K miles, 6MT, and red interior, I only saw 2 out of 6 (see link below). But if you want to raise the mileage, there would probably be more. And if you're patient, you should find one eventually. Best of luck.
Personally, I share the opposite sentiments of this. These cars are overbuilt and can handle hard driving. CPO is overrated; if you want a warranty, get a fidelity warranty or something. Get a PPI, check for overrevs, test drive it, and then decide. If you don't want to go to Atlanta for the test drive, just make sure you find a reputable shop for the PPI and that should be plenty.
In the unlikely event the clutch has some prematrure wear, it's only been 8k miles. Odds are it's probably fine. Absolute worst case scenario it's an additional ~3-4k on the price tag. But a test drive will rule out any clutch slippage or anything like that.
Personally, I share the opposite sentiments of this. These cars are overbuilt and can handle hard driving. CPO is overrated; if you want a warranty, get a fidelity warranty or something. Get a PPI, check for overrevs, test drive it, and then decide. If you don't want to go to Atlanta for the test drive, just make sure you find a reputable shop for the PPI and that should be plenty.
In the unlikely event the clutch has some prematrure wear, it's only been 8k miles. Odds are it's probably fine. Absolute worst case scenario it's an additional ~3-4k on the price tag. But a test drive will rule out any clutch slippage or anything like that.
This. I bought a 2023 non CPO car but went the private seller route. You can always pay for additional warranty or pay to CPO the car later.
I wouldn't worry about CPO, cars are solid. However, auto auctions are something I do get concerned with. This is not a personal attack on anyone that has an auction car. But I had a previous Audi that was an auction car that had really poor quality paint, lots of touch ups, wheel issues, etc. Car was great for eight years and 100k miles for me, but it's very obvious that the reason it went to auction is the Audi dealer didn't want to spend the money to recondition it even though it was a two year old S4 at the time. I also have friends that have purchased auction cars and typically they're not the prime examples. A prime example, if priced appropriately is going to be easy to sell. Also, to your point, bouncing around to that many dealer is a bit concerning.
Personally, I'd try and find a different example, but if you can have someone inspect this one in person, the mechanicals wouldn't concern me much.
You can always pay for additional warranty, or pay to CPO the car later.
As an FYI, you CANNOT do that. At least not anymore. A dealer can only CPO a vehicle when they own it (to sell it). I know because I asked when shopping for the '22 Macan GTS I recently bought. When dealer said no, I only looked at CPOs. And yes, I also found out CPO is overrated, when found one was certified with a bad transmission (which was replaced, but not disclosed), and another with a Carfax accident labeled 'severe' (also not disclosed). And my GTS has the tires almost gone, and dealer said they were 50%, so not replaced. So only shopped for CPOs (and 1 owner) for the extra warranty, which ended up being a little over 4 years, so better than a new one. I'd have definitely considered a private one, but there were ZERO. But this was for a company car. For my personal sports car, I'm unfortunately way too '****' to consider a used car, especially if anything looks 'fishy', meaning car could have been abused by multiple people. So decided to buy a 'lesser' new one. But buying used is definitely the smarter financial decision.
Not sure about being worried--any MT Porsche will have the wild card of not knowing the clutch's condition and yeah, it will have been driven probably hard. Porsche clutches are not bullet proof, over engineered.
I'd want a PPI by either a Porsche dealer or a good indy who can hook it up to a PIWIS and tell you about any over revs, presuming your walk around inspection comes out good.
Looks like it has a bad tire, that should have been replaced, from the pictures I saw at the VW dealer website. I'd want two new tires, preferably all 4 but I'm a stickler for that from my track days. If one end has new rubber and the other has 8,000 miles, it is going to affect handling. Many drivers cannot tell, but I can (as well as others with well calibrated driver's butts who drive them hard). Also make sure it has both keys and the owner's manual. A missing spare key is not the end of the world but only a Porsche dealer can do a key fob replacement coding. Don't know what key fobs and programing goes for these days, but it's not inexpensive.
Also could be the pictures but the interior doesn't pop like it should. My 2022 BGTS 4.0 has bordeax red and black interior, and when I looked at its pictures before buying it CPO from a Porsche dealer in August, they looked better than the pictures the VW dealer posted.
Here is a picture of mine, in my driveway the day after it came off the transport.
Thank you all for the comments. I called the prior dealers that did service on the car and ended up finding out that a Porsche dealer had done a CPO inspection on the car earlier in the year, found that it had an over-rev and needed cylinder repairs. They decided not to do the repairs and sent the car back to auction and it has bounced around since. So I'm bummed it didn't work out as I loved the spec, but dodged a bullet.
Thank you all for the comments. I called the prior dealers that did service on the car and ended up finding out that a Porsche dealer had done a CPO inspection on the car earlier in the year, found that it had an over-rev and needed cylinder repairs. They decided not to do the repairs and sent the car back to auction and it has bounced around since. So I'm bummed it didn't work out as I loved the spec, but dodged a bullet.
Good sleuthing. This is something else I've done with prior cars, and I've found that most Porsche dealers are happy to give you the car's history if it has been serviced there.
I can tell you dealers can see the service history NATIONWIDE. I confirmed it with my '22 CPO Macan GTS. My local dealer showed me all the services done (by 3 different dealers). But the selling dealer sent me the full service history printed, like I requested, and it matched with what the local dealer showed me. I also asked for full maintenance history when shopping for the Macan CPO, and all of them gave the history, except 2. And those 2 were the ones who replaced a transmission, and repaired damage labeled as 'severe' (on Carfax). And yes, they CPOd those cars, and that's when I lost a lot of faith on CPO. Dealers CPO anything, it seems. But guess better than nothing, as you also get 2 years of warranty.
07-11-2024, 09:22 PM
Need advice on 718 Spyder
