Rat3d M

I flew into Houston, TX earlier this week to pick up my 2007 911 Turbo, purchased from 360 Exotics in Austin. If you followed my other thread, you know that my buying experience was nothing less than a nightmare, but I am happy to report now that I have taken delivery of the car that it is more than I had hoped for. I am back home in Germany now, and the car was dropped off yesterday before I flew out at the port in Houston for shipping, and will hopefully be back in my hands by late March/early April.

I wanted to share the few pictures I was able to take of the car when I picked it up. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with it. I wanted to take some videos as well, but sort of ran out of time before we had to part ways for a couple months. I will also share a little review of 360 Exotics and my experience there so that potential clients of theirs can be aware of my situation. I won't go into too much depth because it is all covered in my other thread (located here: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-turb...his-point.html).

Without further delay, here are the pics:




















Now for my little review of 360 Exotics (this review is for 360 alone, and does not speak for Boost Logic who is their business partner on the same lot. The owner of Boost Logic who actually owned this car at one point I have been told is a very straight forward guy and easy to work with and talk to, but I unfortunately didn't get to meet him). Like I said, I won't go into detail on my experience. If you are that interested, click the link above. It's all there (most of it anyways, except my in person experiences which were equally as revolting). I do want to say however that this place has some beautiful cars for sale. GTR's, Ferrari's, a few 911's, they even had a 2011 Gallardo Superleggera. It's very clear they only deal with high end performance cars. I don't think they had many cars in their inventory below $50k. That being said, the way James in particular handles business puts them in the same realm as your typical run of the mill used car lot in my opinion. I have no question in my mind that their cars are solid. They would have to be being that they only deal in high end exotics and sports cars.

Chris (the owner) seems to be a very stand up guy, and I don't honestly think that he would intentionally screw anyone over. I actually wish I got to speak with him a little more in depth. He seemed like a very cool dude, and despite our rocky business relationship with this car I think I could sit down with him and have a beer and we would get along just fine. I honestly wish I could've apologized to him for the way I have acted in the negotiation process, because I know I wasn't exactly the easiest customer to work with, which is likely why I was treated the way I was.

James on the other hand was one of the most difficult individuals I have ever worked with. I have bought and sold probably 18 vehicles in the 14 years I've been driving, and this was without a doubt the worst experience I've had, and it's 100% because James was very difficult to work with. I have almost no complaints about 360 Exotics or anyone there that I dealt with (Chris or Mario) but I guess James and I just didn't get along for some reason, and that made it a very stressful buying process over the last month.

James strikes me as two things: the type of guy that will tell you what he thinks you want to hear to get the deal done, and someone that has no issues bending the truth, being misleading, or flat out lying in some cases to cover his ***. I can't speak only negatively about the guy though. I will say this: I was in his office for no less than 7 hours Wednesday trying to get this deal done. The lender that I had went with before flying in was making the process VERY difficult to get closed, but that's a whole other story for a different rant. James did everything he could while I was there, and bent over backwards to try to get this deal closed. I can't honestly say that it was to help me out as much as it was just to get the car sold and get the deal closed, but he certainly didn't need to spend hours on the phone trying to help me out, so I do appreciate him for that. At the end of the day though, over the last 4 weeks, I was lied to about the title being in the dealer's hands and the car being on consignment, I was flat out told that I could get service records for the car (though I still don't have anything), I caught James in a lie when he told me that he had no idea I was financing the car and he thought I was paying cash (at which point I pointed out an email where I asked him for wire transfer information so my lender could transfer the payment and he quickly changed the subject and got in a pissy mood with me when I called him out on it). James is a very confrontational person, and at one point we actually got into a pretty heated pissing match where he raised his voice, rolled his eyes at me and essentially told me I was SOL where my security deposit was concerned and I could take him to small claims court if I wanted it back.

If you want to do business with these guys, try to deal with Chris directly, and don't do anything over email or the phone. Go there with cash or a bank check in hand ready to buy the car, do your own research and inspections on the car if you like, and don't rely on James for anything besides signing over the title because he was in no way accommodating to me in my situation when I would ask for things like pictures of the car that weren't shown in the listing, clear concise information about the title and ownership of the car, service records/history and the way the buying process would work.

I'm glad this experience is over. I honestly don't think I would go through with this again if I knew what it would entail, but the car is worth it. I only got to spend 20 hours with it before dropping it off for shipping, but it was the best 300 miles I've had in a car.

Now a couple questions I have about the car:

1. I know the car has the GT2 spoiler..is there a way to tell by looking at the pictures who makes it? I know Agency Power makes one (IIRC), but I was wondering who specifically manufactured the one that's on my car?

2. Besides the obvious (spoiler and lowering springs and exhaust) what other less noticeable (to the new 911 owner or unsuspecting individual) aftermarket items are on the car? I think that the side markers might be aftermarket? What about the front turn signals? Anything else?

Thanks in advance for any answers to the questions. I can't want to get the car home and enjoy it on the Autobahn!

cakM3

I find it strange that 360exotics.com still has your car listed for sale on their web site as of today....

http://www.360exotics.com/ads/2007-p...-austin-texas/

Rat3d M

I find it strange that James told me on Wednesday that the ads were taken down as soon as I paid my deposit (which was a bold faced lie) and that it wasn't on the website anymore I got nothing. I'm just glad the car is in my position and this headache is over.

cakM3

If I were you I would plan to do a full service on this car...who knows what else may be lurking maintenance wise... I wouldn't trust anything they have said to you... good luck.

Rat3d M

Thanks for the advice. I emailed Chris (the owner of 360 and close friend of the seller of the car) if he can get me the service records from the owner and something from Boost Logic showing the clutch work and other items they claim were done. If I can't procure this, it sucks, but I think I am going to have to do just what you said. Not what i want to deal with, but good for peace of mind.

snaphappy

I really appreciate your openness. I want to say a lot of things. But really I'll jusy say two things. Why do car dealerships still act kike this? Ugh. And congrats on the car. Seriously. It's gorgeous. You've got really fun days ahead of you!!!!

saabin

Front side markers are just the clear ones.. available from Porsche so not aftermarket.. I did the same mod on my car..

Cant help with the spoiler, is it supposed to have a fan under the decklid? I'd be concerned with no fan back there like the stock spolier does.

Looks good, the seats seem to have a fair amount of wear but I suppose thats par for 49K miles..

vbb

Congrats on the purchase! Let me ask you something that may be covered in your other thread (I haven't been following it)... if your home is Germany, why did you deal with a dealership in Austin, TX and fight them (James) so hard for that particular vehicle? From what I can see, it appears to be a fairly standard optioned mid-mileage Silver 997.1TT. Nothing that is TOO hard to find. I know these cars aren't exactly everywhere, but surely there are several other dealerships, and several on the East Coast of the US, where you could have found a similar car and color. It seems that you went way out of your way to get this particular vehicle and put up with a lot of unnecessary headache from a salesman who was a jerk.

I got my 997.1TT about 500mi away from where I live and I thought that was a long way. I couldn't imagine coming from Western Europe to the middle of the USA for a car unless it was truly a one-of-a-kind type of collector.

Just curious.

That said, I am jealous that you will at least get to drive your car on roads where you can really stretch its legs, unlike here in the US.

nzskater

That decklid/spoiler may be after market (wing blades look too pronounced/large), but regardless of it being OEM or not, it is definitely not designed for a Turbo or GT2. The GT2 decklid has intakes on the side. This looks like a Carerra Aero decklid.

The air vents have been roughly cut away to try and line up to the Turbo air box, and its missing the ducting, and the fan mounting point is in the wrong location and there's no fan.

I'd highly recommend replacing this with one that is going to give you proper cooling and airflow.

saabin

^ Looking at it again Id say you are right.. this does look like a 997 non-turbo decklid.. and without the rubber ducting it will be sucking in some of the hot air from the engine compartment.

Steve 96C4S

Glad you finally got it. Many of us had had to go through piles of bullsh*t in the past to get a car but your story takes the cake. In any case, who cares now, right? You got the car - f them! Now, you must be into mods or you wouldn't have gone for this specific car.

If it was me, I'd get rid of most of the visual mods that are on it and put it back to stock (decklid/spoiler, rear lights tinted dark). I much prefer the stock look but that's just me. Congrats. You won the battle here.

Yogi911

Looks like the door sills are carbon fiber. Not sure if that was an option or if it is aftermarket. I know my sills dont have weave/pattern like that.

Rat3d M

Wow, I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out

Honestly, I sold my M3 with the intentions of saving for a couple years and buying a Gallardo, but I didn't even get the M3 out of the garage before I started realizing that I won't be able to spend the next couple years without a performance car. I then started looking on Ebay and Autotrader to consider my options, and came across this particular car close to a price that I could live with. So I sent the dealer a lowball offer, and he came back with a counter basically in the middle. I started reading about the 911 Turbos of this gen, and even looked for other examples to consider my other options. I eventually fell in love with the car (bad idea, I know) and with only one other 997.1TT for sale in the US that was with in my budget and optioned how I wanted (though 100% stock) I decided to go with this car because of the mods which appealed to me. Without the mods, they were basically the same car for the same price. After giving a nonrefundable deposit, I was sort of stuck committing and I just road it out through the very end.

Well the good news is I was given the OEM spoiler with the car, though it was wrapped up and Im not sure if everything was there. I could at the very least pull the fan off of it and put it on this decklid if it will fit? The spoiler seemed very large, but I'm not sure it was big enough to include the deck lid portion, so something tells me it may have some pieces missing but I guess I will find out when the car gets to Germany. If I decided to keep this spoiler (I like it, and it was a huge selling point of the car) if I was able to mount a fan in the deck lid would there be an issue running this spoiler? I know the ducting is missing, but besides maybe a few degrees higher IAT's, would I have any major issues?

This is exactly why I stuck with it. I knew in the end of the process I would have a car that I was happy with for a price I could live with for years to come, and the dealership would be nothing more than a bad memory. I only hope that it was as advertised and there are no hidden issues or surprises in the coming months, but I honestly don't think so. Chris (the owner) emailed me back thanking me for my business and said he would work on getting me my documents for service records this coming week. If I can just get something showing all the work they claim was done (clutch, spark plugs, coils, water pump, oil, brakes, etc.) then I will take their word for it. I did look at the rotors when I got the car, and they look brand new. No lip on them whatsoever.

Rat3d M

Good eye. I forgot about the door sills. I knew they were cf but wasn't sure if they were stock or not, but I'm guessing not. I know the weave is coming up in some areas, so I may try to either epoxy them for a smooth shiny finish, or just replace them altogether.

nzskater

There's likely a slight increase in downforce on the rear but not the front, but you'll not notice unless you're doing high speeds.

High intake temps are going to sap you of power a little. The lack of ducting speaks to a bit of laziness of the person modding it - it wouldn't have been too hard to cut it in a way that focused airflow a little better and supported the OEM ducts.

The fan mounting point isn't centred as per the OEM lid. You might find it clips the Y pipe when you close it. Also need to be sure the wiring is still in place.

In terms of what you have wrapped up - the OEM spoiler without the decklid would be a unusable, so I'd assume they sent the whole unit.