jittsl

I kind of like it. Has that Ariel Atom - back to basics appeal.

The Bartender

So Richie Rich says his Porsche has been sitting for about a year and a half in the garage. He's willing to take $7000 for it.

What concerns should I have with a Porsche that's been sitting in the garage for that long?

Audi Junkie

Rust on the IMS bearing from water in the oil. How high and dry is the storage? Is there still happy oil in there...?

Macster

What Audi Junkie says.

If the car has sat a year and a half with oil with miles on it, with water in it (and any oil has some after the engine is run), there has been some acid at work.

About all you can do is test ride/drive the thing and if it runs well through out the test and you and a PPI can find no reason to reject the car buy the car.

I usually advise a 15 mile test ride and then a 15 mile (same route) test drive.

In this case while I am not sure a longer route would help if you can keep the engine running an hour...

Still there's some risk but there's some no matter which pre DFI engine equipped car you buy.

First rule of buying a used car is there is always another car.

Thus you could resume your search and look for a well maintained car that has been in use constantly and that passes your check out and that of a PPI.

Sometimes we decide to buy one of these cars and once the decision is made we can fall madly in love with the 1st one we come across.

Take a cold shower and reconsider.

Or buy the car if your gut tells you to. There is some science behind going with your gut feeling.

My gut is no good so I have to rely on other methods to select which car to buy and I take a long time and find a car with what my inspections and research tells me is a good car, or at least a car with no reasons to reject.

Also, consider richie rich may not be as sloppy with money as you suspect.

I've known wealthy people and to a person they are very careful with money. They are not dishonest but they are careful with their money and when they sell, or buy, they usually believe they are getting the better of the bargain. And they usually are right.

This doesn't mean the car is bad.

What puts the check mark in my "no" box is not the bank balance of the seller but the car's history... sitting a year and a half.

Which brings me back to where I started.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Audi Junkie

When I found my car on the top of craigslist, a new listing, I slammed my list of cars shut, and declared my search over. That was after a lot of hardcore searching (staring w/TT Roadsters). The "first" cars either get away or get lost....and the result is always a better find later on.

Decide what you want first, and then go find it. Don't let the easily available vehicles reshape or determine your outcome. If you don't have the gut feeling, it's not the one. Also, consider you own skill level before getting into a projekt car. They call me Audi Junkie for a reason, envoking my skill level, but I'm learning these cars require a specific skill set.

The Bartender

Glad to say I'm a new Porsche owner. You guys were all very helpful with my research/purchase.

Macster was pretty much bang on (probably been doing this for a while). I opted not to go with Richie Rich's car. The pros were that it's a 2001, great price (got him down to $7000), and I liked the black on black color scheme. The cons were some aesthetics such as a noticeable scratch in the passenger side door, a leak under the engine, the fact that the car was sitting for 1.5 years, and the overall thought that this guy simply wasn't taking care of it because, after all, he's not even responsible enough to show up to show the car, let alone answer calls etc.

Anyways, I saw the 1999 first-hand. The body is in fantastic shape, the rims are in great shape, the tires have plenty of meat on them. The color is like a Midnight Blue and I'm not a huge fan of the yellow/beige interior, especially since that will get dirty pretty easy. It is growing on me - I love the exterior color. The big selling point on this car was that the Porsche manual has all the stamps and servicing done to 78,000 miles. It's at about 98,000 now. I felt pretty comfortable with how it appeared to have been maintained.

Macster was right about the guy selling it; he's putting in minimal effort and doing what he can to get the most out of it. Not to go into details, but he just referenced things being a "quick fix" about 40 times when we were talking about the car in general. I listened to the engine, listened to him drive it, then drove it myself. Then I took it to a trusted Porsche mechanic, had him test drive it with me and do the pre-purchase inspection.

They reported that mechanically, the car is in great shape, which is why I bought it. Can drive it right away. Back left tire will need to be replaced in the next year or so because of feathering; that's a sound issue. As for safety purposes, the tire is fine. Brakes are relatively new too.

There are some issues, however. The roof only manually comes off because it's missing a few parts (an arm on one side, new wire, possibly motor but not sure since we can't test it). I'm currently getting that priced out. The driver side seat is pretty worn - bad enough that I would consider having it replaced in the next year or so. Also is lacking the "Boxster" emblem on the trunk. The front seat doesn't move forward or backward because something has jammed in the right track. Nothing that has to be done right away, which is a plus for me.

He wanted $11,000 for it, I gave him $9,400. I used the roof as a bargaining chip. The car is there in my avatar pic.

Again, thanks for all the help from everyone.

TroyN

Congrats!

Audi Junkie

Good luck.