crazyoldman

Hello all!

I have been lurking here for the last couple of weeks gathering information on the purchase of my first Porsche. I have found a great deal of information posted by countless knowledgeable and intelligent people and am very pleased to find such a group.
I am a sports/muscle car fan and have owned several examples over the years. I am currently on my 4th Vette (2002) and find that it is time for a change. The car is strictly for pleasure and only comes out in sunny weather and that is what I intend to do with a Porsche. I originally wanted a 930 because the performance is similar to the Vette. However, my recently gained knowledge about 930's and the fact that I'm an older guy that doesn’t find the urge to break traffic laws as much as I used to indicates I would probably be better off with a 1990-1994 964. (My budget also says the same. ) I can always modify it latter
Any advice that can be provided would be appreciated. My first question at this point is; Why do the little small used car dealers seem to have most of the "low mileage" cars? Is that a common thing or just that it is easy to turn the mileage back on these cars?

jdogporsche

Well, sadly I have nothing to contribute to you in the form of answers, but I will send out a hearty WELCOME! As you stated, there are many folks here that know what they are talking about and fortunately they like to share the wealth of knowledge. I am sure someone will be able to provide some answers for whatever questions you might have.

A question I have for you is, have you ever driven a 911 before or a car that is similar to one? Just curious :-) Anyway, good luck to you and welcome again.

Scott H

If it's going to be a sunny day car you might also want to try out some 3.2 Carreras. Not that the 964 is bad, it's just that it feels different from the 3.2 Carreras. My personal opinion is that if you want a daily driver, go with the 964, if you want a fun weekend car the 3.2 Carrera is really hard to beat. Once again, that's just my opinion, but you should definitely try out as many cars as possible to see which one feels best to you.

It is super easy to turn back the miles on these cars, but I doubt the small car lots do that often, if at all. In these days with Carfax it's pretty stupid to try rolling back the odometer. However, the major problem with small car lots is that they often times don't have the history of the car, and there's a greater possibility that the car has been wrecked at one point in its life. There are exceptions to this, but I'm always quite dubious of those on the corner cheap car dealers; to be safe you want to look at specialty high end dealers or private sellers. The service history on these cars can be worth their weight in gold, and you'll pay a premium for cars that have the history (which is generally cheaper in the long run, since you're less likely to run into any "surprises"). Regardless of where you purchase your car you need to get a Per-Purchase Inspection (PPI) done. Let me say that again, get a PPI done, they'll be able to tell you if you're about to buy a lemon or a gem.

Good luck on your search, you're going to love whatever you buy

KC911

First of all, welcome! If you haven't found Pelicanparts.com yet, it's a great BBS too (particularly for the air cooled cars). Unless you want to pay a premium to one of the few REPUTABLE dealers that specialize in 911s and keeps great low mileage cars on hand, I wouldn't go near a dealer if it were me. Spend some time on these boards, take a few test drives from the different years to confirm what you really want (i.e. pre-89 vs. 964 if you're in that price range), buy one from an owner, and get a PPI. Good luck with your quest...many of us spent 6 months or more searching for the 'right car'...

Keith
'88 CE coupe

ps: edited: Scott beat me to the punch !

m491driver

I had to pause a moment and count my previous corvettes which stands at 6 and I too needed a change that brought me over to the 911 group. I've owned a '75 914 2.0L, an '85 3.2, '86 3.2, and an '87 3.2 since getting hooked on the 911s. All were great cars for me and had their own handling characteristics which were enjoyable. Easiest of the group to drive is the '87 Carrera with the G-50 transmission. It reminds me a little of the 'vette but still has a bit of a raw feeling. My '85 and '86 with the 915 transmission have more of a race car feel (but I've never really driven a race car so what do I know) and require a little more effort and thought to drive them. I've never driven a 964 so I can't comment on them. The only mods I've done to my cars are performance chips and sport exhausts. This has really improved the sound and performance at a very low cost. Drive as many different models as you have time and access to and you will be in for a real treat.
Jim

GothingNC

Dealer are good to test drive a few different cars.
I took few Porsche's out for a few hours from a dealership and got a pretty good feel on how different models handle and drive. One place I drove and mid-year, two SC's, A nice Carrera and a rough one and a 964. DId not buy any of trhem since they were all priced $15,000 to $24,000 with over a 100,000 miles on them and one of the Carreras had 250,000 miles (new motor but body & suspension in poor condition)

The nice thing about NC is that the buyer does not have to pay sales tax on the purchase price when he registers the car. Juts a tax on the DMV book value which is usually much lower.

I probably saved about $400 in taxes by purchasing the car from a private party plus any addtional commission/consignment mark-up.

Just take your time and shop around.

It appears to be a buyers market now.

imcarthur

Welcome to the 'dark' side crazy.

Drive as many as you can. Buy Pete's Book - The Used 911 Story. Everything a PO or dealer tells you is crap. Skip Victory in Houston or go in with eyes wide open. Get a PPI before you hand over any cash. The prices will be higher in the spring & early summer.

It IS worth it.

Ian

theiceman

+
+

That is so true ,..

unless of course it is one of us selling you our car , then it is the gospel truth ..

imcarthur

Oh yeah . . . a REALLY important thing:

You will want to buy the first one you drive (especially if it's a 84-89 Carrera).

Don't.

Ian

crazyoldman

All
Thanks so much for your collective words of wisdom. I think I'm going to have a problem trying out several different cars. The dealers around here (upstate NY) do not keep anything on their lots older than what can be Porsche "certifiyed".(>1997). I noticed on ebay several different dealers that seem to always have cars. I know that Victory is not trusted but does anyone have info on the others?

GothingNC

Here is a link of a few Porsche sites

http://www.rallystuff.com/pcar_sources.html

This place is located in NY

http://www.parcars.com/parall.htm

KC911

I can't recall the name, but I seem to recall a 'dealer' (I think he was in PA), that has always received excellent reviews on these boards. He 'cherry picks' the best of the older 911s and you're almost certainly going to get a 'good one' although you're probably going to pay a $4-5K premium over buying from an owner. IMO, you should be able to ascertain fairly quickly what you're interested in (say a G50 vs. a 964), with just a few test drives in your area. In my case, I knew I wanted an '87-'89, so I spent 6 months searching online, these boards, etc. (ignoring dealers), for a low mileage garage queen. I finally located one 500 miles away and after talking extensively with the owner, I had a pretty good comfort level, so I made an offer contingent upon me examining the car. I didn't have a PPI done (a BIG roll of the dice...you should), but flew up, checked her out, and then drove her home with the biggest grin imaginable. Good luck in your search, and take your time...that in itself was a great learning experience. When you locate a car, you might want to have someone that's familiar with 911s to check it out first (I've done that before for someone over on Pelican, and usually someone will graciously offer to do it) before you waste $ for a PPI or going to see it first hand (MANY 911s are misrepresented, and pictures sometimes don't suffice). Jeremy D has posted a thread before with tons of links to online sources for 911s...you might want to locate that thread if you want to go that route. Good luck!

Keith
'88 CE coupe

edited: ps: I looked for Jeremy's (g-50cab) thread, and didn't see it...maybe he'll chime in.

imcarthur

From that linked list, I have heard positives about AIC, Holt (not cheap), Sloan (near perfect cars & price reflects this) & Exclusive Motors - Charlotte (Pelican & good guy). Get a PPI regardless.

Ian