Tippy

These would be my choices:

Air-cooled - 993 C4S
Water-cooled - 996 TT

soverystout

Lowering your budget is good and bad. It's good because it will help you prepare for some maintence items that may be needed.

It's bad because it takes you out of 997 territory (997 are the 2005 and newer models).

IMO, a base 997 911 coupe with a CPO is your best bet. Turbos are more expensive to maintain. CPO cars don't need any maintenence at the time of purchase or immediately after. other cars might.

Do you have any headlight opinions? This isn't a punchline. The 996 had 2 "generations", the Mark 1 (1999 to 2001) cars have a different front headlight look than the Mark 2 (2002 to 2004) models. The Mark 2 had the 996 turbo headlights as standard. The 997 goes back to a headlight design of the traditional 911.

You need to look at all 3.

I live in the area (northern Delware) and Porsche of the Mainline and Don Rosen Porsche are the big dealers in the area.

Winner Porsche in Newark, DE is right down the street from my house. They have a few really nice 2004 996 911 on the lot at absolutely ridiculous prices. Well north of your budget with no CPO.

If you want a great sales guy, Randall Boyer at Porsche of the Main Line is very professional and knowledgeable. Never bought a car from there but I spoke with him many times.

Macster

You can't assume a CPO car requires no maintenance/scheduled services. My 03 Turbo received new tires (due to age) but did not receive a much needed alignment.

Also, the brake fluid was due to be changed and the oil/filter was due. I had called around and from various dealers in the area learned what services the car had had and when so I was not unaware of these necessary services when I went to buy the car.

Remember: CPO means "certified *probably* ok".

Sincerely,

Macster.

chsu74

Holt Motorsport has an excellent collection of aircooled cars for sale and he is very knowledgable. Granted he is not cheap but worth your while for doing homework.

http://www.holtmotorsports.com/

soverystout

+1

Another link of interest to you:

http://www.excellence-mag.com/resour...ide/1041874889

Lifetimedream

One more general question. Up until now, I was planning to buy without looking at loans. Can anyone provide some guidance on:

How old of a Porsche will banks offer normal loans on?

How old of a Porsche will a Porsche dealer finance?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks!

cannon1000

All the advice is so good, this should be sticky.

I have owned my 996TT for about 2 months. The car is great, but I have had some minor cosmetic problems (easy to fix). But if I was more patient I certainly could have waited for a garage queen. This one seemed to have been loved and driven by at least one of it's prior owners.

soverystout

It depends. Most P-car dealers won't keep cars older than 7 years on their lots do to the fact that consumers can't get financing.

There are some great alternatives. Penfed.com (Pentagon Federal credit union) offers 60 month loans at 2.9% for cars up to 10 years old.

You don't have to be a member of the military to join (You may have to pay some membership fee).

They have some of the best rates out there.

It's always best to have multiple financing options before you even go to the dealer.

Offering to pay "in cash" isn't the most lucrative deal for the dealer. If they can get you to finance through "their" bank, they get a cut of the interest.

nick49

I've owned 5 Porsches and will give you my take.

Drive or ride in a coupe and a cab for at least 15 minutes. Now, your next decision will be what color of top do you want? And the hardtop is nice but generally is just a storage PITA.

Yes it's a buyers market

KBB prices are greatly inflated and used by dealers to justify high prices. KBB should be totally be dismissed. Industry wide NADA is generally considered much more accurate. Just be aware trade in prices in NADA are generally at least 20-35% higher than any dealer will actually pay for a trade even if near mint. Dealers like to be able to sell at "Trade in" prices and make a good profit.

A great resource is 996 Essential Companion, by Adrian Streather. It has everything you want to know about them, also about 6 pics of my last 996:-)

A CPOed car from a P-dealer may be your best buy, but with a very thourogh PPI on a nice car may work as well. It may be in your best interest to purchase a mechanical warranty if you don't work on your own cars.

Good Luck

rpm's S2

-Is it a buyers market now for 911's? Wasn't sure if sales of used Porsche's were hit as bad by the economy

Somewhat, though the pool of available cars has shrunken some. Many of the smoking good deals are gone. Still, a good time to be in the market.

-Are the market values for 911's quoted on Edmunds and KBB pretty accurate? Using this to judge what models I should focus on.

No. They seem to run somewhat high compared to actual selling prices. That said, these are not cars that lend themselves to exacting values beyond a range of a couple of thousand dollars. Condition, color, miles and options can make a tremendous difference in a way they do not with a used Camry. That said, those values are not a bad starting point for comparison and are as valid as any others short of actual selling prices.

Ultimately the last thousand or so of price just comes down to what you are willing to spend and what the owner is willing to accept. It is not based on some known value.