msark

I own a 2001 and my cousin wants a 964 Cabriolet…. He found this on eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...TQ:MOTORS:1123

The seller is re-listing and has said the reserve is almost the buy it now... Any thoughts??

Laker

Random thoughts in no particular order.

1) It does not have the distributor vent mod. Dealer should have caught this. ($50)
1a) As a good measure the distributor belt should be replaced. ($200 to send it off and have it done)
2) It most likely has the original DMF which will need to replaced at some point with a Luk. (~$3500)
My wrench, said he has seen them go from anywhere from 35K - 75K miles.
3) The sway bar drop links (2) also have a boot that cracks easily. I bought a 91 Cab C4 (33k miles) with them cracked unknown to me because you won't see the cracked boots on a lift looking up from the bottom, you will only see the cracked boots looking down with the wheel removed ($130 each x 2 + labor)
4) This car did not have a head gasket installed by the factory and may begin to weep if run at high temperatures.

The low mileage factor definitely is worth several G's but this means that stuff may start to leak if it gets driven more frequently by your cousin. a low mileage example like this may only pop up once a year. Much more common to find cabs with low mileage than coupes.

just my .02 good luck

Richard Curtis

Price seems high for a 1990 model despite the extremely low mileage as noted. Sometimes more bad things can happen to a car not driven regularly. Lots of potential for dried out seals, etc. Ask me how I know. Beautiful paint, interior, tires, etc. I wonder why the owner hasn't replaced the CV boots (just one pair of boots on one axle cost me $260 last year... you can double that for all four boots. And then pray that the CV joints aren't toast; then you're talking really, really big bucks). Good bargaining tool; $520 is not insignificant. I'd definitely talk with the mechanic and ask to see the results of the PPO (leakdown, etc.). Good luck with the purchase.

Makmov

Looks like a nice car.

Really, I believe age has more to do with it than miles. It's probably no better or worse mechanically than a well taken care of car with 128k on it. However, sometime when the sit around and you start driving they will develop problems car that is driven regularly just wont or don't have.

Cosmetically it's probably better than a car with 128k, but that is about as far as I would take that.

I wonder if it's been cut for head gaskets? Probably still has a DMF, which is probably an early one before Porsche switched to Luk and just be prepared for whatever starts leaking, stops working whatever it maybe from sitting around so much, I wouldn't be surprised if the motor mounts are bad for example.

Personally, I wouldn't pay 28k for a Cab even with 22k miles, but that is me. I could have had a really nice Cab really really cheap but passed on it.

If he likes the car buy it, it is probably a nice car. I would have someone that knows about these cars do a PPI on it, and make sure it's really what is stated and what future problems with car that are down the road like replacing a DMF.

Bearclaw

I'm wary of EBay anymore - it's the refuge for the scary, the suspect and the hideous. But this looks like the real deal, probably is. I'd tell him to pay for a PPI of his own if he's serious, at a different shop. The Bay Area has plenty of indy's. I doubt that it will sell at that price, the owner may take a couple auctions to get that through the ol' noggin. Then he may be willing to talk price. Mid-$20's seems within reason.

Apparently he needed a lot of reminders of the model number

Laker

No go.... only made it to $22.6K then he re-listed and took it off a day later

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=200562538717

altarchsa

+1, Especially for a Cab.

Laker

yeah, I paid too much ($24.5K for a '91 C4 cab with 33k miles) but I slept better at night because the car was local, and very tangible. Peace of mind has to be worth something.

Bearclaw

I don't think that price is out of line at all, for a nice car with such low miles, assuming no issues.

Laker

Thanks Barry, with your input, I'll sleep even better. No issues means less than 15 IMHO. When you get these low mileage cars. Most if not all of the Tech Bulletins haven't been applied. I had to add the distributor vent kit, + a new belt to be safe, updated A/C and oil cooler ballast resistors (spent an hour just last night on the A/C one), New vented brake fluid cap. The fluids (gear oil, steering fluid, brake fluid in the locks etc) tend to look like 20 year old coffee, plus they usually don't have the simplest of mods (i.e. strut tower brace), so you are paying full retail. I am waiting for the DMF to go as well.

All: I have learned a ton from this board, and hope to be able to contribute. Thanks with all sincerity.

Moffman

I keep hearing about this what exactly is this?

Laker

http://www.porsche964.co.uk/technica...r_vent_kit.htm

Moffman

1994 prevails again.

altarchsa

It wa determined that premature failure of the toothed rubber drive belt that operates the secondary dist was caused by gasses that built up in the dist case. Solution was to connect a small ventilation tube, similar to the one used to prevent condensation in the rear lights/reflector, to the duct beteen the rear blower and the engine shroud. A kit is available at nominal cost and is installed by drilling a hole in the duct, installing the provided connectors in the hole and on the side of the dist case and connecting them with the plastic tube.

Bearclaw

To me, "no issues" means no "biggies"... like needing a top end job, or a bad trans. gear, or A/C corroded and shot, or,or,... Stuff like that. I fully expect to have to perform a routine major service on anything used that I buy, just for peace of mind, no matter what the PO told me he did. Updates, fluids & wear items (tires, brake pads) certainly fall into that category.

I personally like low-mile cars and don't automatically expect them to be neglected. Some people get the idea of time-based rather than mile-based maintenance. However, I certainly agree that those cars can have their own unique issues. Depends a lot on the owner.

I bought mine in 2005 with 57K on it. Not really low, but not high. That works out to 4K/yr. In actuality, the service records reflected that the last owner had driven it only ~2000mi./yr. for the previous 10 yrs. But she had all the scheduled maint. done at the dealer based on time, rather than miles, and it was obviously that anything they recommended, she did... aka "open wallet"
A bigger issue for me has been the fact that, even though she only drove a couple grand a year, she drove in salt. Anything threaded on the undercarriage has a problem - some a little, some a lot, grrrrr...