how bad are they really? If you had a choice between a black on black pre99 996 with the aero package, memory seats, 18 rims, 13000 miles, no full leather, white gauges, no lito lights, no rear wiper, 6 speed, or a blue with tan, every option, carbin fiber package,later 996 with 33,000 miles,but with 17's and a 6 speed. both are same price. You can tell the differnce by the turn signels in the back right?

 

From my experience, I cannot badmouth early build 996's. I had a 9/98 build '99 cab that I took delivery on in Oct.'98. It was a daily driver (in NYC) that had 55k mi. when I traded it in for an '02. I never had any trouble with it apart from the minor known warranty issues such as the airbag and check engine warning lights going on. I had the regular scheduled maintenance and didn;t even have to add oil between changes until 41k mi. If you do get the '99, make sure the one recall was performed for corrosion on the engine lid.

 

if it was not done would i be able to tell? this car seems to have been sitting for a while.

 

If your local dealer is good (and nice)... you should be able to go in and give them the VIN and they can look it up on the Porsche national system. They can then tell you what has (and what has not) been done.
...also might be good to promise them some business

 

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a pre-99 bld 996-darn I have one. Other then noted TSB's it's been running fine. Options I would look for are full leather/litronic lites/3 spoke steering wheel/ 18's. If you have those basic options then that would be a good start from there. regards. Mike

 

In addition to having the dealer run the VIN# to check on warranty work, ask for the "in service date"....will tell you if there is any warranty remaining.....