akim47

hey all, i have a friend buying an out of state 996 C4S... i am not sure what year the car is... does anyone know if all C4S cars are 50 state emmissions certified?

My friend said previous owner said it was not CA certified, and that's why he gets better gas mileage... or something like that... (is that bs?) if it is the case that it is not a 50 state car, will there be any issues in getting the car registered in CA? I was reading up on the CA Dmv online site, but couldnt find anything that specifically addressed the issue.

Thanks,
aK

Alfie

I'm reasonably certain all 996 C4S cars are 50 state cars

Macster

DMV requires proper stickers -- look under engine compartment lid or around engine compartment for EPA stickers and compliance info.

Also, car will have to pass an emissions inspection and test. Any non-CARB (CA Air Resources Board -- CA's EPA...) certified hardware (and almost all aftermarket hardware is *NOT* CARB certified) and car will not pass. If it doesn't pass emissions it can't be registered. If the car is not registered it can't be insured for driving.

Thus the car will have to be brought into compliance. This can be expensive depending upon why car is not in compliance. If aftermarket exhaust fitted, if stock exhaust has had the "cats gutted", etc, this can get real expensive.

Before I bought the car out of state I'd insist the car be inspected and if not stock get an estimate to make it so. Then I'd insist some kind of emissions test be done. Trouble is the area in which the car is located may not have any emissions testing requirements and even the Porsche dealer may not have the ability to check the car's emissions to see if it will meet CA's requirements.

A bit tricky and risky to buy an out state car for import into CA.

I've brought a couple of cars purchased out of state -- in the state in which I lived at the time -- into CA with no problems but cars were mine from new and were well-taken care of and were factory stock. (One car though was a diesel and thus was pretty easy to bring in. The other, my Boxster had around 80K miles on it but still passed emissions with flying colors and continues to do so even at the last emissions test with over 200K miles on it.)

Sincerely,

Macster.

PJorgen

In 2006 I bought an '02 C4S that was originally sold in Virginia. No problem passing California inspection. It is my understanding that recent all P-cars are 50 state legal when stock. However, if the car has been modified, no telling what's up.

That being said, the inspection was very cursory and was done in the parking lot of the local DMV. The guy who did it was obviously NOT a mechanic and really had no idea what he was looking at/for. He checked for the proper stickers as mentioned above, but (and this is no lie) didn't know where the engine was. He asked me to open the hood so he could "inspect the intake" and walked around to the front of the car. Was quite surprised when I opened the rear.

That's just my experience and your mileage may vary.

Macster

Yes, DMV inspection a joke. But next time car comes up for inspection -- IIRC 2 years after the initial registration at DMV -- car must be taken to an independent shop that will be more thorough. Their license to remain in business depends upon it.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Eharrison

I bought an 09 Audi A4 last Feb. from Utah and had to take it to get smogged even though it was 50 state legal. No big deal, I had to go to a DMV cert station because all the regular smog stations didn't have the equipment to take care of a 09!!!