Hey guys,

First post here... been reading a lot the last few weeks. I looked at a 09 C2S today and car was in really good condition, with the exception of scratched turbo wheels and the coolant fluid level was under the minimum level after a 20 minute test drive.

The car has just over 20K miles on it. The owner says he bought the car from a friend because he liked it, but rarely drives it. Should I be worried about the low miles and the fact that the coolant level was so low? He agreed to let me have a PPI performed. I just saw the post about PDK failures, anyone have any thoughts on what I could do to protect myself? Should I try to find an aftermarket extended warranty? I will be looking for a Porsche dealer to bring it to soon in the Los Angeles area to perform the PPI.

Here are the options:
Leather
Pwr comfort seats
PDK
Heated seats
Bluetooth
Sport Chrono
Navi
Bose
XM Radio
Universal audio interface

He is asking $59K and told me he just turned down a $54K offer recently. I told him I was going to offer him $50-$53K and to let me know what he feels is a fair price.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks and hope to join the 997 club soon!

 

Yes to the PPI. Price is up to you and available cars on the market but 59k is 991 territory. The coolant could be low because there is a leak or he hasnt been monitoring it due to lack of attention. Curb rash can be easily fixed. If you plan on keeping it, IIRC its still within the time frame to be CPO'd if you can get a dealer to do it.

 

Just bought a non-CPO 09 S myself with 23k miles for $56,900 full leather package, SPASM, sport chrono and a manual. Clean PPI and cosmetically as close to a 10 as can be for a 7 year old car. Just to give you something to go by.

 

Inspect a must, get dealer to look up all service history, do a carfax check.
When you figure the price , this car doesnt have alot of options. Im sure you could find one with alot more for the same price, try looking around

 

About the low coolant, I had a similar issue on my 997.2. There was a vertical pipe that was rubbing against the rear metal bumper that developed a small hole. The mechanic that fixed it thinks it wasn't pushed in all the way during assembly.

It started as low coolant, i just added more. Then I started to see some pink liquid under the car when it would sit overnight.

It's not a big deal, just something to be aware of, it was maybe $3-400 mostly labor to replace. I think the pipe was $100 or so. I have 30k miles now, so this occured maybe when I had 20-25k miles.

 

20k on my 09S and all is well. As long as the service has been maintained and the PPI comes back clean, should be good!

I'd shop your 59K budget before pulling the trigger on this, unless you HAVE to have this one. Some REALLY nice P-cars for sale in that range with more options.

Best of luck!
KS

 

$59 is high for such a car. He already said he won't take a $54.

Unless the color combo is exactly what you want and is rare (I am talking about racing green, speed yellow etc, not black, silver etc). I would just move on. ~$51K is more inline with what I saw 3 months ago.

To put thing in perspective, an extra $3-$4k (to $54-$55K) is not that much more money but that's a different between 5 extra years of warranty from a third party or a CPO vehicle.

 

$59K is at the top end for what owners are asking for these cars, but that doesn't mean that's what they are selling them for. It's your job to convince him otherwise, it's called "negotiating", some people are better than others at it.

Low coolant is due to a minor leak somewhere. You need to find out where it is and figure out how much it will cost to repair. Not the end of the world, nor a deal breaker.

 

Could you guys recommend a good shop in SoCal near El Monte for a PPI to be done? None of the Porsche dealers are doing PPI anymore.

Also, do you guys recommend another form of extended warranty or "insurance"?

Thanks

 

I found a race shop to do my PPI by googling the city name, 911, and PPI. It led me to rennlist and to a well respected Porsche shop in the area of the purchase.

As far as that car goes.. as others have stated. That price is high. Unless you gotta have that particular one.. The 50-53k you mentioned seems further inline.

It may not be a popular opinion, but I would be wary of an 09 car with only 20k miles. These cars tend to do better (anecdotally) when driven.

 

I cant believe a porsche dealer wont take money to do a cpo inspection

 

I have an '09 with PDK and sport chrono (base, non S). First, to echo what others have said, yes, the price is high. Unless this is THE car for you (all the right options, color and everything you want), don't overpay just because of the low miles. He thinks his car commands a premium because of the low mileage, but if he truly wants to sell it, he'll take closer to $53K-$54K. Maybe he just doesn't really want to sell?

As for the low coolant, I had the same thing happen to me within the first 2 weeks of buying my car. Turns out it was the coolant cap. The gasket that forms the seal started to fail, so after spirited drives where the temps would get higher, the coolant was bubbling out from the cap. It was a $20 fix... ordered a new cap online, replaced it, no problems thereafter.

As for the PDK... the fact that your transmission COULD fail and that if it does it is a $15K+ repair bill is always going to be there. It is frustrating that the entire darn transmission isn't serviceable. That said, chances are very high it won't fail. If you're extremely concerned about it though, buy an aftermarket warranty. Your car is due for its 6 year PDK fluid change, so if the previous owner hasn't had it done, I would negotiate that into the price of the car.

 

I've found over the last few months shopping for used 911s from private owners in the LA area to not be so awesome. High asking prices for mediocre condition and taking offense to offers that are reasonable. I'd suggest expanding your search nationally for potentially better car for the $$. For reference, I just bought a 2010 C4S cabrio nicely optioned ($122K sticker), fully serviced CPO from a Porsche dealer in KY with 9800 miles for $65.9K- and that was their original asking price- I could have haggled but I was too worn down from looking so long

 

For comparison purposes: This April I bought an 09 S, 23K miles, CPO from a dealer in San Antonio, TX (great buying experience) Basalt black on black, alcantara seats, sport chrono, turbo II wheels, BOSE High End System, Sunroof, manual tranny, nav, blue tooth etc, for 58K.

 

Let him sell it for $54k.

Be patient, he is. Walk away for a day. Make your offer again.

$59k is too much.

How are the tires? $1200 for new ones. Coolant leak, let him fix it, then get back to you.

Fall in love with the deal, as others have said, $1-2k isn't a big deal if you have to have THAT car.

He is asking top dollar.