Looking for a 996 Turbo for about 20k, not much about! help

[eskillington]

JapanRed said:

I'm also in the market for a 996 manual Turbo. Been and looked at a few but the search continues. I think you are on a false economy buying a high mileage tiptronic for £20k. My budget is £30k but want manual and low miles as I think these are the ones that will appreciate. I'm struggling even at £30k to be honest!!! I suspect high milers (over £100k) and tiptronics won't appreciate by much.

Just out of interest. Anyone any thoughts on how high these might go? I'd be looking to keep mine 5-10years.

I'm not buying it as an investment as such, i like them and also want something that isn't depreciating, if in a years time i got my money back for it i'd be happy. trying to predict 5 to 10 year cycles in such a market is next to impossible I would think. was speaking to some dealers about SOR of my 911SC and they can't even predict the next few months bar the fact things are still going up. buying high end of the market also has drawback that you are shelling out a huge amount in dealers profit (debate above aside that the dealer may have to invest money in privately bought cars etc) and you won't get the money back privately when you sell. cos a car is worth 30k now at a dealer and worth 40k at a dealer in 5 years doesn't mean you will get a 10k profit.

one dealer told me he could sell my 911SC for 30 to 35k and I'd walk away with 27 to 30. one dealer told me i could sell my car privately for 25 (which would make me think he sees it as a 30k car from them if its worth 25 privately) but to him if he bought it outright he'd value it at 5 to 15 depending! the argurment that work needs to be allowed for and all that is valid but I'm thinking margins overall are prob very over inflated.

[eskillington]

RallyeJon said:

I went to see this car over xmas (long drive), was very nice (although needed a service, some paint work and the rear spoiler rams were leaking with dash lights on) but was unable to get an inspection arranged as the owner wanted a quick sale (even though they said they were happy for this to happen on the initial phone call). They sold it the next morning.

Edited by RallyeJon on Friday 9th January 09:04

have you found a car since? i take it you're in similar budget frame as I then? hmmm competition!

[RallyeJon]

eskillington said:

have you found a car since? i take it you're in similar budget frame as I then? hmmm competition!

I've been looking for quite a while, still not found one, quite a few dogs out there at the lower end of the price band. I think there are more than just the two of us looking ;P

[eskillington]

RallyeJon said:

I've been looking for quite a while, still not found one, quite a few dogs out there at the lower end of the price band. I think there are more than just the two of us looking ;P

cheers, best of luck in the hunt then, hopefully we both get lucky and no dogs bought

[Gramrugby]

Sterling Performance have one at the moment which appears to be good.
http://www.sterlingperformance.co.uk/used-cars/por...

Edited by Gramrugby on Friday 9th January 12:10

[hygt2]

JapanRed said:

I think you are on a false economy buying a high mileage tiptronic for £20k. My budget is £30k but want manual and low miles as I think these are the ones that will appreciate ... I'd be looking to keep mine 5-10years.

I think you cannot broadly claim lower mileage will appreciate.

Say you do average 7.5k a year. If you keep 5 to 10 years, you will add 37.5k to 75k of miles to the car. If one car starts with 50k miles and another with 100k, both at 10 years old, by the time car is 15- to 20-year old the mileage would become 87.5k-125k to 137.5k-175k so high mileage regardless. Also, when a car is 20 years old, whether the car has done 100k or 150k or even 200k is less relevant than the maintenance and overall condition. Unless it is a 20 year old car with 30k on the clock, it is not going to appreciate highly (see examples of the top-end 930, 964 and 993 at JZM, they all had tiny mileage, with cars averaging under 1k p.a.).

If you do 10k a year like I do (1-2 road trips a year, each c. 3.5k miles), I believe it is false economy in paying more for a low mileage over a good condition car. However, my 996 Turbo is my winter hack / daily driver so I don't want to spend too much on it - it will be tucked under cover in late spring when the roads are dry and warm before coming out of hibernation in late autumn again.

Obviously if you drive very little miles a year (say 1-2k p.a.), then it is worth buying a 996 Turbo with under 40k on the clock.

[DasChin]

The ship has sailed amigo if you want a good one for £20k even with higher mileage and right colour, toy bits etc.

That one at sterling seems a nice car and is unmolested. That is what I would be buying ...a non chipped one. Just personal pref really.

996 turbos hit their bottom 18 months ago and have moved a fair bit since then.
If you are not worried about investment and you just want to use it then buy the cat d. You can get then checked out and re classified if repairs done right.

Edited by DasChin on Saturday 10th January 07:23

[hygt2]

I'd also suggest putting the words out on Internet Porsche forums - when I was searching mine, half a dozen people pm'd me that they thought about selling. They are all private sale rather than dealer obviously so would be priced near to £20k but all seems to be in decent condition being looked after by well known specialists.

In the end I chose mine because of the totally unmarked interior over slightly more chippy bumper. It'll be my daily winter hack in London so I'm not too critical with stone chips on bumper so long as the panels are straight and saw no paint in the past and no rust. However, the interior condition is better than some of the 50k examples with no ceases in the leather seats and the steering still has all the leather pattern as on a new wheel. Under Porsche warranty for the first 10 years then well known specialist. Average annual maintenance spend was on average £3k which sounds about right with all the well know items replaced. Mind you it still had over £2k of work at inspection which the seller agreed to deduct from the purchase price so I think I have the maintenance paid for in year 2014/15 before I need to fork out anymore servicing and preventative maintenance.

To be honest, if the exterior is as good as the interior and mechanical condition, my car would be £25k+ at a specialist rather than under £20k privately all sorted. So you have to be realistic with what you can get with £20k.

Also it has the spec. I want (facelift Silver with black interior, CD changer, park assist, more hard wearing ruffled leather, aluminium dials, cluster surround, aluminium strips between airbag and glovebox, gearstick gaiter, metal gearstick and handbrake, silver dashboard around vents and PCM).

One word of advise, make sure you have a CD changer because the PCM head unit has to have the Sat Nav CD in so if you do not have a CD changer, you cannot listen to a CD while using a Sat Nav or have a map showing.

[Johnny G Pipe]

hygt2 said:

However, my 996 Turbo is my winter hack / daily driver so I don't want to spend too much on it - it will be tucked under cover in late spring when the roads are dry and warm before coming out of hibernation in late autumn again.

Funny, that's what mine is for too. The aircooleds come out when the salt goes away. I suspect we might look back and cringe when the '200mph supercar' was used as the winter beater LOL.

[RallyeJon]

hygt2 said:

Mind you it still had over £2k of work at inspection which the seller agreed to deduct from the purchase price so I think I have the maintenance paid for in year 2014/15 before I need to fork out anymore servicing and preventative maintenance.

How did you manage to get the lady to agree to an inspection? I travelled nearly 3 hours to view and she Said she wanted a straight sale.

:s

[Slobberchops]

VonSenger said:

Its a small world!, I assumed 996tt's were two a penny, after looking at autotrader, I stumbled across my old car which I traded in 4 years ago!!

Is it still for sale?:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

I took all the mods off but left it mapped and the hoses on, hence why I know its mine. Its also got the larger calipers on the front which I had fitted. Theres a long post on my history if you need to know more about the car.

If its still for sale, well worth seeing, i spent a fortune on it and the dealer must of done all the work i described above to sell it on.

Also, I have checked AutotradeMail this afternoon, only 2S, 4S and 997tt's im afraid. But Ill keep looking for you.

In my garage now.

[Johnny G Pipe]

Big bouncing billy bargain that, slobber chops. Good call.

[Slobberchops]

Johnny G Pipe said:

Big bouncing billy bargain that, slobber chops. Good call.

Ta, it seems straight enough. We agreed a fair price for it too"

Just trying to replace the rear brakes today, with the help of Escort3500, and got the discs on ok but the pads for the Turbo don't fit. The ones I have bought have some silver cylindrical things sticking out but the ones on the car have holes in, which locate on pegs on the caliper. Just wondering if the rear calipers are off something else (realise the fronts are GT3).

Does anyone know, or can help? Thanks.

[Slobberchops]

Could do with knowing the disc diameter and thickness on the rear, and the pads used, if the previous owner is still reading this thread?

Cheers.

[stevebu916]

Suspect the answers you're looking for could be in here......
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Eeyore9]

If your stil looking for a good turbo you might be well advised to look further afield than uk especially if you don't mind left hand drive, there's still a few around 20,000 to 22,000 across Europe and when you take exchange rates into consideration they actually come down to 20,000ish for a25,000 euro car, factor in import and you should be bang on your budget! Just google 996 turbo for sale and a list of uk sites & European will come up

[hygt2]

Johnny G Pipe said:

Funny, that's what mine is for too. The aircooleds come out when the salt goes away. I suspect we might look back and cringe when the '200mph supercar' was used as the winter beater LOL.

Cars are supposed to be used. Investments are supposed to be tucked away and looked after by custodians. My 996 Turbo is my car, not my investment, so why would I cringe? LOL

[hygt2]

RallyeJon said:

hygt2 said:

Mind you it still had over £2k of work at inspection which the seller agreed to deduct from the purchase price so I think I have the maintenance paid for in year 2014/15 before I need to fork out anymore servicing and preventative maintenance.

How did you manage to get the lady to agree to an inspection? I travelled nearly 3 hours to view and she Said she wanted a straight sale.

:s

Are we talking about different cars? The seller I bought mine from is not a female. I made a genuine offer, proactively initiated that I would arrange and pay for the inspection at the seller's convenience, be reasonable and didn't hang up on knocking off small items like one broken remote key, Sat Nav disc not working, hole in floor mat, etc. Just focus on the big picture and stay professional and reasonable.

If the seller refuses an inspection, I would just walk away. The probability of remedy work needed and associated costs are just too high for me to risk not doing an inspection by someone reputable, like Nine Excellence. Speaking to Ken at Nine Excellence, he has inspected 996 Turbo where it needs close to £10k of remedy work and that's not that uncommon.

My philosophy is "There will always be another on sale some time in the future. Be patient."

[VonSenger]

Slobberchops said:

VonSenger said:

Its a small world!, I assumed 996tt's were two a penny, after looking at autotrader, I stumbled across my old car which I traded in 4 years ago!!

Is it still for sale?:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014...

I took all the mods off but left it mapped and the hoses on, hence why I know its mine. Its also got the larger calipers on the front which I had fitted. Theres a long post on my history if you need to know more about the car.

If its still for sale, well worth seeing, i spent a fortune on it and the dealer must of done all the work i described above to sell it on.

Also, I have checked AutotradeMail this afternoon, only 2S, 4S and 997tt's im afraid. But Ill keep looking for you.

In my garage now.

Oh thats fantastic. Let me know if you need any info on the car. Is it still in good condition? Its the only car I wish Id never sold.

In terms of rear brakes, they were left standard. I only changed the fronts for 997TT/GT3 calipers/discs.

Edited by VonSenger on Monday 12th January 11:25

[DasChin]

hygt2 said:

Cars are supposed to be used. Investments are supposed to be tucked away and looked after by custodians. My 996 Turbo is my car, not my investment, so why would I cringe? LOL

don't forget you need to add VAT to the Euro price when you bring it in so it bumps up the asking price.

mate went through this when looking for a Euor GT but some good bargains out there with the euro at 1.28 to the £.