ironmandmc

I just purchased my first Porsche. Exactly 10 years ago I purchased my current car, a 1994 Camry coupe V6SE. My Camry has 95K miles and is in excellent shape, no need to replace it. Big trunk, bike rack on top. But about 6 months ago I wrote a note to myself to start researching for a second fun car to have as a daily driver. I’ve been a Road & Track subscriber for years and keep somewhat abreast of the new cars coming to market. I’m 41 years old and decided my budget allowed for a max of $50K for a car. My initial thinking was toward a new or used Boxster.

About a month ago Road & Track arrived with the new corvette on the cover. It really caught my attention. I liked the fact that the car was scaled back in size. But still I’m not the V8 muscle car kind of guy. Nonetheless, I said it was time to get serious. I looked at the Infiniti G35 sport coupe (back seat useless, too much like my current car) and RX8 (nice but no wow factor). As I live in northern Virginia and have to endure major road congestion, I was leaning heavily toward an automatic, but was open to the option of a manual. The RX8 auto has less than 200 hp so that wasn’t interesting.

I spent countless hours on the internet researching all the on-line sites. I started working with a young salesman at the local Porsche dealer and he got me interested in a 2001 Boxster S. But I had a hard time justifying buying such an expensive car with a plastic rear window. I wanted a 2003 or 2004. I was getting nowhere with the young salesman so I talked to the head of used sales and he reassigned me a more senior salesman. I drove several Boxsters, including a lapis blue 2003 tip. Nice but no heated seats or xenon’s or PSM. I couldn’t find just the right car so I was very close to ordering a 2004 w/ all the options I wanted. Then I drove a 1996 996 cabriolet manual. WOW! Very sweet, much improvement over the Boxsters. But it was a manual, and a little out of my price range. The search continued.

Then I found just the right car, about 25 miles away at a dealer. A 2000 996 C2 silver/black w/ tip, PSM, heated seats, comfort seats, hifi, sunroof, cruise. 7 months of factory warranty left, 40K miles, less than my $50K limit. So I put a deposit down immediately. I've had it for a week, and as long as it passes a PPI it’s mine permanently. Should be no issues since it’s under warranty and we’ll just get anything wrong with it fixed.

So I’ve now joined PCA and signed up for a High Performance Driving Clinic at Summit Point in April. A close friend is an instructor. Next on my to do list is to upgrade the sound system with a decent radio and a digital music server. And maybe retrofit w/ litronics. I’m one happy camper and have enjoyed reading all the threads on this forum. That's my story.

parkman

congrats on your purchase. are you in the nova area? who's your friend at summit point? i go out there every once in a while.

Wachuko

Welcome to the family and the thrill of Porsche ownership. Glad to see you are out to a great start with a High Performance Driving Clinic at Summit Point.

Before the clinic you might want to go over the car and check pads, bleed the brake fluid, etc...

Enjoy your new baby!!!

ironmandmc

Yes I live in Reston and work in Tysons Corner. My friend who's an instuctor is Carl Beisel. He's got a 1988 944 Turbo S highly modified. He gave the C2 and good workout and gave it the approval.

Scouser

Hang on a minute! You drove a "1996" 996. Wow that's even older than the one I just posted (1997) on renntech. Is this a missprint or was it really a 1996 996?

See this thread: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=1275

SorTurbo

seems like your friend could have had something to do with you starting to look into Porsche's. Congrats on the purchase and show us some pics!!!

ironmandmc

oops, i meant 1999.

Wachuko

I notice that as well... must have been a typo...

Scouser

Just checking. Dr. Ing F. Porsche has always been full of surprises

jbdmd

ironmandmc

congratz, welcome and if you ever want to stretch the porkers legs out take 95 south to the 10west straight out to sunny az and we will hammer through some pristine country

nova996

Congrats! I'm signed up for the that same HPDC in April. See you there!

walks357

Congrats. I've had my first Porsche for just about a month now....I hate getting out the driver's seat!

OH997

Congratulations. One piece of advice. Maybe you should see if you can get a porsche Certified extended warranty on the car before you complete the purchase. THe cost is $1,595 and will extend the warranty 2 years to a total of 100,000 miles. Just some additional piece of mind.

Enjoy the car.

ironmandmc

Bobw, I did purchase a third party extended warranty. I found the process of comparing warranties to be quite a complex process though. I went w/ a 4 year one through Millennium.

ironmandmc

Ok here are some photos!