TT Surgeon

No such thing as a cheap Porsche, either pay up front or later.
Color, specs on 997?

champignon

I have no experience with the 996 TT nor the 997, but I do have a lot of experience with older cars, mostly BMWs. For the record, I am flying out to buy a 996 TT three days from now; it has around 75K miles and has been well-maintained.

I own more cars than any sane person would own and I don't put more than about 2K to 2500 miles on any of them, per year.

Once you get an older car sorted out, and if you still like it and enjoy driving it, why on earth would you sell it for some unknown similar car about which you have no first hand information? Every time you take on a new, older car, there is immediate enjoyment followed by a series of hassles fixing stuff you would probably never have allowed to get to the point the car is in. Once sorted out, however, an older car, well-maintained, can be very reliable.

I would keep what you have, if it were me.

mffarrell

Well said! +1

centexsi

I'd probably go for the 997, if its been well taken care of with documentation the miles don't mean a whole lot.

Do you have a link or pics of the 997?

Taylorcar

Still struggling with this... I appreciate everyone's input.

While this is true Champignon, I do know the shop where he has had the car serviced since it had 900 miles on it. Yesterday I spent some time with the mechanic who has been working on the car for the past few years and he said the owner never spared a dollar in doing preventative maintenance. That gives me some comfort, but as you and many others have said, it's still a high mileage used car and you just don't know what you get.

There's no link as the car isn't broadly for sale yet. Here's the one picture I have - I saw the car in person yesterday. The car is Atlas Grey with Terracotta/Black combo interior. Manual transmission, PCCBs. Additional minor mods to the car beyond what was in my original post are Audison (with Bit One) Audio system, Escort 9500ci Radar-Laser system, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S Summer Tires, Spring 2017 (19” polished HRE C21 rims) – titanium lug nuts, Almost completely covered with Xpel Ultimate protective film – Xpel always treated twice each year along with (Refine) professional deluxe detailing (interior and exterior very clean)

champignon

Not germane to the particular car being discussed, but I throw this experience out for consideration by anyone reading this thread.

Several years ago I had a 1999 BMW Z3 Coupe (Clownshoe car, but not the "M" version) with around 70K miles, that had been through about 8 owners, most of whom had done something good for the car such as fixing broken things. There were some rock chips and the central locking system did not work. I got the central locking system fixed for around $800 (was multifactorial including having had all the door lock actuators and some hardware removed previously) and put in a new stereo. The car ran brilliantly. I then saw a listing for what purported to be a PERFECT 2001 with half the mileage, a car that had spent its whole life in a garage. The seller waxed eloquently in his listing about how the car was waxed weekly, zymoled regularly, everything kept in tip top shape, etc. I spoke to the guy on the phone for hours, and decided to buy the car and have it shipped. I sold the 1999.

What I received when the car carrier arrived was a rusted out hulk. My mechanic put it up on a lift and the first thing he said was, "get rid of this car, NOW, don't put 5 cents into it." There was evidence of flood damage, although not reported on Carfax or Autocheck.

The seller would not take the car back, so I sued him. In the end he paid me about half of what I had spent on the car, and in the end I was out $20,000, including the attorney's fees.

I wish I had just kept the 1999, which other than a few minor cosmetic flaws, was a perfect example of what it was, a well-driven, almost 20 year old car.

Taylorcar

Ouch. That's a terrible experience. My father has had similar (though not quite as bad) experiences buying cars sight unseen.

mark_schnell

Which brings up a good point... get a PPI!!!

centexsi

Curious, how much does he want for a 125k mile 997tt?

champignon

I have bought 3 cars that had PPIs first, and the track record is decidedly mixed. One got a clean bill of health for a PPI that I attended, then cost me $5000 in repairs over the first year (and only around 3000 miles). Another was a low mileage, 2 year old, Carmax car still in warranty, that I had PPI'd during the 5 day return period and it was and remains, fine. Another was a Porsche I bought a couple of months ago that had a PPI 2 days before, and threw a CEL on my way out of town, which thankfully I was able to return.

I guess 1 out of 3 is not bad :-)

Nzo

Looks nice, if you want it and you're comfortable with its condition why not get it? You only live once!

"02996ttx50

a proper inspection if *properly* carried out will tell you volumes about the car.

bearing in mind the 997.1 tt has the vaunted "last 'o the mezger's" motors as everyone here knows, and as such, can easily be expected to hit several hundred thousand mostly trouble free miles, and still hit top speed at will.

if it were any other car, i'd be concerned. but not this "trade". it's all about the condition of the car and there's not much that can really be *hidden* from a current 996 turbo owner that knows his sh*t.

i say ( again ) if the car checks out? and its a ( mostly ) sideways $ trade? the 997tt has a built trans, better parts/mods, is a newer model iteration, and..

ok, i'll stop.

champignon

This is terrific advice, if carried out and if in fact it is possible to carry it out; it will work well for a big city car enthusiast, who likely lives not far from other big cities, each of which have lots of Porsches for sale. It won't work at all well for a buyer who is forced to buy out of area, because cars like this don't exist in the sales listings near where he or she lives.

Now why is this? Let me tell you why.

The majority of used Porsches for sale are either uninteresting cars, or those listed at inflated asking prices, which will sit on the market for potentially very long times, with sellers who will not negotiate to a reasonable asking price, until perhaps forced to do so by personal circumstance. Let's dispense with these cars because after the initial contact the seller indicates he expects to get more than the buyer is willing to pay, then that's the end of the transaction, at least for now.

Those cars that are desirable and are being sold by sellers asking reasonable prices go quickly, very quickly. The out of town buyer is in many ways a PITA for the seller; he has to hold the car for the buyer, who might have to get a plane ticket to come look at the car days later, he may have to work with a car transporter, etc. The local buyer can just drive over that day or the next day and probably already knows who can be trusted to do a good inspection and who cannot. The out of town buyer has no such advantages.

OK, so the out of town buyer can do some research and try to find out who is good for doing inspections in that distant town, he can try to get the seller to take the car over there, or he can try to fly in quickly and do that himself. While the buyer is trying to arrange all these things at great distance, the car gets sold to someone else.

What I can tell you from my own personal experience the last couple of months is, you will lose a very large percentage of these potentially reasonable deals trying to get all of this stuff to happen at long distance, and then some local buyer with cash will swoop in and you will lose your deal.

Perfection is unfortunately the enemy of the good.

So I guess if you want to limit deals to ones where the cars are overpriced, the car is not desirable to most buyers for some other reason, or you just happen to get extraordinarily lucky with a patient seller who will let you take the time needed to get all of these things done in the best possible way, then yes, this would be optimal. But it is not reality for anyone having to travel a significant distance to buy a good car, at a good price.

"02996ttx50

No, you're absolutely right about big city options
VS small town mechanics that might not know their way around Porsche turbos.

All else being equal, I say that the 997.1 turbo is pound for pound "possibly/probably" the "better" and more desirable car. At least it would be for my personal uses for the car. Notice I did not say "997.2 turbo"

Still, modded turbos with much of the daily "streetability" modded out of them are not for everyone.

Cheers.

champignon

Without a doubt, a newer car that still has the mechanical and technical aspects that one is seeking, will be more desirable. One also has to deal with cost, since newer will undoubtedly cost more than older, all other things being equal. And everyone is going to approach a car they might buy differently than most everyone else.

That is why there is a used market for Aveos and Camrys :-)