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After 30+ years of lusting, I am officially a member of the 911 club!
Following the maxim "Buy as new a model as you can afford", I went with a 2013 991.1 Carrera S with <20k miles. Two owners, no accidents. Paid cash and skipped financing. The most recent owner is a wonderful dude who clearly cared for and loved this car.
My questions for the community:
- [GENERAL] When buying a used 911, is there anything you do immediately upon purchase? Take it in for a full inspection?
- [OBSERVATION] Whenever I drive the car, I can smell the engine once I step out. It doesn't smell like burnt rubber or anything, and perhaps this is totally normal for a 911(or any car with the engine in the rear) and I'm just not used to smelling an engine. Totally normal?
- [REPAIR] The body has two or three small exterior flaws: pain chip, scratch on passenger mirror. Is it best to just take this to a Porsche dealer for repairs? Or should I just find a body shop with good reviews that deals with nicer vehicles.
- [MODS] The emblem doesn't say "CARRERA", just "911S". I'd like to add "CARRERA" to the rear. Also, I'd like to wrap it British racing green. Anyone with experience making either of these mods? Any guidance?
Thanks in advance. Excited to be officially part of the club!
Congratulations and welcome to the club, she's beautiful! I adore my 991.1 which I also purchased slightly used 7 years ago and there hasn't been a car produced since that interests me enough to trade it for.
- [GENERAL] When buying a used 911, is there anything you do immediately upon purchase? Take it in for a full inspection? YES, I'd recommend a qualified and experienced indy shop or the dealer if need be. Request a complete post purchaseinspection to set a baseline and ensure that everything is in good order and up to date maintenance wise. There are several things that may require attention based on age alone.
- [OBSERVATION] Whenever I drive the car, I can smell the engine once I step out. It doesn't smell like burnt rubber or anything, and perhaps this is totally normal for a 911(or any car with the engine in the rear) and I'm just not used to smelling an engine. Totally normal? YES
- [REPAIR] The body has two or three small exterior flaws: pain chip, scratch on passenger mirror. Is it best to just take this to a Porsche dealer for repairs? Or should I just find a body shop with good reviews that deals with nicer vehicles. I'd recommend developing a relationship with the top rated body shop irrespective of Porsche's involvement, although many are "Porsche approved" for whatever that is worth! Remember that a small flaw is often better to live with than a repainted or refinished panel. It's only factory original once and the same goes for the paint work.
- [MODS] The emblem doesn't say "CARRERA", just "911S". I'd like to add "CARRERA" to the rear. Also, I'd like to wrap it British racing green. Anyone with experience making either of these mods? Any guidance? The rear script is a relatively easy change for a qualified body shop. I'm not a fan of the wraps personally but perhaps others could offer guidance there.
Regarding the smell, there is distinct 911 Porsche smell that is potpourri of the various gassing of the materials that get warm back there.
As for minor scratches and pointless dent repair, the little stuff can be handled by a good detail shop. Bigger things should be handled by a Porsche Certified Collision Center. Dealers aren’t necessarily affiliated with one.
Regarding your 911S badge, if that’s how it was ordered originally, I’d keep it. If a prior owner removed the Carrera badge, by all means, put it back. 👍
As long as you don’t expect it to look as good as paint, color change wraps can be fun, but the job done right will cost you real money (depends where you live). $8-10k would be expected, but even more for a better shop. Just a heads up.
I keep saying it -- the 911 is a smelly, uncomfortable car.
AutoAmateur on youtube wrapped his 991.1 at some point. Can't remember if he did it or if he had it done. It's not a cheap thing to have done, and it's an absolute nightmare of a job if you're not experienced with vinyl work.
The logo stuff has a special jig dealers use to center it correctly -- search around on the forums, people have posted the measurements for this so you can have things correctly placed. Switching to OEM alternatively coloured logos (like gloss black, the way god intended), logo deletes, etc. are the types of threads you want to look for.
I would recommend taking the car into your local indy in general. Having someone else check alignment, for leaks, maintenance items, ect. is always something I do right away after buying a car regardless of what the seller dealer (even CPO) says. It just gives piece of mind when pushing the new toy around knowing it's ready to take on anything without something surprising you later on.
My last 911 was "fully serviced" which it did have new oil and filters ..but it was missing half the rear bumper screws, completely missing a wheel's lug bolt, alignment was off, and so on.
To answer some of your other questions--
The smell is actually pretty normal from I see here, although I never really noticed it.
If you're planning on wrapping it, then the blemishes and emblems aren't anything to worry about (emblems get removed and reapplied anyway), and the paint imperfections are away from sight (unless there is a dig/dent). You will always get more chips and scratches over time, so why not enjoy it and wait until you really need to address it.
Per the original spec sheet, the "911S" was what was ordered from the factory. Not a big deal, though it does feel a little bare without the "Carrera". I'll put this on the "nice-to-have" list for now. I'll put the wrap on this list as well.
I found a thread where other members discussed best places for an inspection in the LA area, here: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...angeles-2.html . Really don't want to drive all the way down to Torrance, but the Callas team seems to earn high marks. This isn't something worth skimping out on.
The minor scratches and paint chips I think I'll leave alone until I get something on there I can't live with, then fix them all at once. If I do decide to get it wrapped, this would probably be the time to do it, to preserve the pristine paint job.
Regarding the smell -- just me being a noob. I'll stop getting out of the car and smelling the engine every time I drive from now on. Lol.
Welcome to the family and congrats on the purchase!
For a private party purchase, I would get an inspection just for the peace of mind. If you find something that needs fixing, it is money well spent. If you find nothing, then you will sleep better, and it is money well spent. With just 20k miles in ~10-years of vehicle life, I would also recommend fresh fluids all around - mileage based changes may not have been enough if that is what the prior owner did (and that's what most people do).
The burning rubber smell is normal and part of the car's charm. It reminds me of motorsport, and I call it 'eau de Porsche'. I think it is mostly due to microcrumbs of rubber from the rear tires landing on the nearby hot engine and exhaust components and vaporizing.
My local dealer just sends repairs to a local high-end shop. Perhaps find out who they use and go there directly?
The badging preference is personal. I'm thinking of changing mine from '911 Carrera S' to just '911' for a cleaner look. Make the car yours - that's another part of the fun of 911 ownership.
The badging preference is personal. I'm thinking of changing mine from '911 Carrera S' to just '911' for a cleaner look. Make the car yours - that's another part of the fun of 911 ownership.
Mine just says Porsche, but considering getting the "911 Carrera 4S" back on there in black. Like you said, It's no Ferrari, we like to make our cars our own.
Looks good @RP4S911 . Given your other mods it works well with just "Porsche", but I am sure it'll look good with "911 Carrera 4S" on there as well.
Mine just looks a tad empty, to my eye, but I still love it.
Car looks great! I removed the badging and had mine wrapped and then added the sports design front bumper, mirrors, and ducktail. If you wrap the car, make sure you double wrap the front end. Color + clear. Wrapping is crazy expensive here in the bay area. I'd recommend spending on wheels, suspension beforehand.
Looks good @RP4S911 . Given your other mods it works well with just "Porsche", but I am sure it'll look good with "911 Carrera 4S" on there as well.
Mine just looks a tad empty, to my eye, but I still love it.
I agree with you! In your body color the full emblem on the rear would look better IMO and more refined. Most people don't like modified emblems because it looks like they've been changed for negative/accident reasons. That looks modified to me for some reason.
Last edited by RP4S911; 01-11-2023 at 02:54 PM.
Reason: add photo
01-11-2023, 12:48 PM
New (to me) 991.1 -- what's next?
