Agro1

...on this car:

http://www.truspeedmotorcars.com/inv...e_stock_no=309

The guys at TruSpeed seem to be very honest and helpful. No pushy sales tactics, let the cars speak for themselves. It's a one owner car that they got from the local Ferrari dealer on a trade in. The car seems to have been very well cared for, interior in perfect condition and exterior is above par. They did however, upon receiving the car, have the front and rear bumpers resprayed. I've got a pretty good eye for any paint irregularities, and this looked flawless.

The car felt perfect on the test drive, no problems there, until - the CEL came on.
I hadn't been driving it too hard and it only saw redline once, so I'm a bit worried this may be an indicator of problems to come...
Also, the car has no books or records, not even the manual. They say that they DO exist, and either the PO or Ferarri dealer has them, but they will find them and make them available to me. Now, this on paper may sound fishy, and I have been in similar situations where I immediatly walked away - but I did not get that feeling this time. They seemed very honest and I feel they will do their best to find all the paperwork and manual.

The car is going to Newport Beach Porsche for a PPI Tues and if that goes well I was planing on buying it. Just wanted to get some opinions from you guys first...

Oh yeah, the guy I'm dealing with said whatever problems come up in the PPI, they will pay to have them fixed...and the guy I spoke to at the dealership spoke very highly of the cars and owners of TruSpeed.

Whadda ya guys think ?

ca993twin

I spoke with those guys when I was looking for my car. They seemed very honest, but I never got a chance to do business with them. Your car looks great. I hope this works out for you.

kdurg

Agro1...

Very nice clean car there !!! It appears to have no MODS ?? A perfect opportunity to mold it as you see fit !!!

Good Luck with the PPI....if Truspeed does what they say they're going to do....I don't think you can lose here.

Exactly what you wanted 'eh....narrow body and the ability to steer with that right foot of yours !!! Kickin'.....

Agro1

Thanks Steve, 'preciate it...

Keith - Yup, no mods. Besides a bad *** stereo and the front strut brace (see trunk photo). It's got the Turbo twist 18"s which I really like, however, the big rubber makes it pretty hard to break the backend loose unless you give it tons of steering input and stomp on it. But at high speeds I'm sure you can caress it around a bit w/your right foot

With the newly painted front bumper, Invincishield would be the first mod, followed by some M030's to get rid of that SUV ride height, then possibly the RS kit from Gert and a lightweight flywheel...The suspension did feel really good though.

Does the CEL not bother you guys at all ?? I'm hoping that it's jsut an O2 sensor or something minor...One other thing, beside the Porsche 800 number and giving the VIN to a local dealer, is there any other way to find what matinence has been done ??

kdurg

Can't really comment on the CEL until any codes come back...then you'll have something to talk/think about.

I'd make sure to get a gander on the fault code(s) printout...JUST IN CASE they reset it and not give you full disclosure as to reasons for the light up !!
Although, this outfit does not seem likely to engage in such a practice.....

chris walrod

Consider yourself lucky the CEL came on before you bought the car... It seems many here have bought cars and the opposite happened..

I spoke with the guy from Truespeed, forgot him name, but it was a few years ago. sounded like an honest guy. His pricing was on the high side, but he said he only deals with high quality cars..

Good luck!!

Agro1

Yeah, they seem to be on the level...I plan on getting a OBD-II reader as well.

OldGuy

Argo Nice car. But make sure they fix it. Since youre in our
state, hold them to getting it fixed for you including the smog.
People on Rennlist have lost all their hair trying to fix
this one. Dont worry too much but make THEM take care
of it. Make your offer contingent on them getting the codes
cleared and the source of the problem fixed so you can
have a smooth transition into your new car. Or think about
moving on to another one. Good Luck

H. Miller

Agro,
Great color combo, very nice.
I bought a 993 a couple of years ago and they said they would make the records available but after the transaction was done - no records. I would suggest a price adjustment if records are not provided.

Chuck W.

Prior to buying my 97 cab last year I took the VIN number to the local Porsche dealer and asked if he could tell me anything about the car. He ran the number through the computer and told me where the car had been serviced. I called that dealer and the service manager told me all of the services the car had preformed on it.

Speedraser

Looks very nice. As already mentioned, a Porsche dealer should be able to tell you about servicing done at a Porsche dealer. Obviously, if it had service elsewhere, that's another story. When I bought my car, the dealer (the same Porsche dealer that sold it new) was able to provide me with their records from the first owner, and the second owner told me the name of the independent shop he used. I spoke to them and they provided all the remaining records.

The biggest question mark is certainly the CEL. If it's the air-passage carbon deposit thing, it's expensive. Of course, if the dealer pays to have it fixed, you get to start from scratch.

It's hard to tell from pictures, but it looks VERY clean -- worth the effort to follow through and see if the question marks are resolved. Best of luck.

Steve 96C4S

The CEL isn't a problem if it's merely the secondary air injection thing... You could use my 5 cent fix on it and you'll be good to go!


Check out the archives if you're not sure how to cut the piece of tape or exactly how to apply it to your gauge. Just be careful you don't cut yourself when you're cutting the gaffer's tape. )

Love the color of that car you picked - Polar with Black - best combo out there. Ok - I'm just a little biased.


Keep us informed!

Steve

Agro1

I really appreciate all the feedback and suggestions guys, thanks very much. Like any large purchase, there are varying degrees of emotion attached. Being that I eat sleep and breathe cars, it's easy to get carried away and make bad decisions without making sure everything checks out. I plan on taking everything into account on this one and making sure I don't end up regretting anything.
So thanks for the reality check guys...

When I spoke to the service manager at the dealership, he said he had seen lots of TruSpeed's cars for PPI's. All have checked out fine except one, and they refused to sell it to the buyer; instead they sold it at auction. Seems to be a pretty honest operation.

Regarding the service history - apparently the car was originally purchased at Steve Taub Porsche which is no longer in business (apparently they treated people horribly and Porsche NA dropped them). So, that leaves calling them for past maintenance history pretty hard. Would Steve Taub Porsche have transferred all their books and records on maintenance history to Porsche NA or another local dealership like Beverly Hills ?? Any suggestions there guys ?

Special thanks to Todd. He checked out a car at PAR for me that looked good, until the Rennlist magnifying glass was brought to bear Thanks Todd !

ksjcorpus

everything is relative to a price. if you're paying 40k you're paying too much and if you're paying 30k you're getting a deal. anywhere in between i would be absolutely sure the cel issue is a discreet, defined problem.

max911

Steve Taub must have kept my number on file from the time I went there for a repair.
I received a phone call from the dealership a few months back saying that they were back in the Porsche service business, and I should feel free to bring my car back for any further service/ repairs.

I told them that once was enough.

So, it is definitely worth a call to see if the records are still on file.

max