911 for £25K - am I mad?

[anonymous-user]

Had a disappointing experience with Boxster S ownership about 10 years ago, but the Porsche fire has never been completely extinguished.

That said I really don't know a lot about them.

If I wanted a weekend fun car in the form of a 911 or whatever model numbers are that shape (996? 997?) as I call them all 911s probably incorrectly could I get something nice for £25K and would £2.5K a year be enough for maintenance bearing in mind it will do around 5K miles a year.

Sorry it's such a vague question, but I know every little about the nuances of these really.

[Chlorothalonil]

Not mad, no. But you could Google it, this sort of question comes up regularly.

[mollytherocker]

cb1965 said:

Had a disappointing experience with Boxster S ownership about 10 years ago, but the Porsche fire has never been completely extinguished.

That said I really don't know a lot about them.

If I wanted a weekend fun car in the form of a 911 or whatever model numbers are that shape as I call them all 911s probably incorrectly could I get something nice for £25K and would £2.5K a year be enough for maintenance bearing in mind it will do around 5K miles a year.

Sorry it's such a vague question, but I know every little about the nuances of these really.

How old a car are do you want? Air cooled or water? Coupe, targa, cab? 2wd, 4wd? Gearbox?

[anonymous-user]

mollytherocker said:

How old a car are do you want? Air cooled or water? Coupe, targa, cab? 2wd, 4wd? Gearbox?

Well preferably 15 yo maximum. Coupe rather than targa/cab.

2wd/4wd - is one much better than the other. I kind of think 2wd is the Porsche 'way'.

Manual/auto - again which works best? Manual would be more what I would expect a Porsche to be, but I could be talking nonsense.

[mollytherocker]

cb1965 said:

mollytherocker said:

How old a car are do you want? Air cooled or water? Coupe, targa, cab? 2wd, 4wd? Gearbox?

Well preferably 15 yo maximum. Coupe rather than targa/cab.

2wd/4wd - is one much better than the other. I kind of think 2wd is the Porsche 'way'.

Manual/auto - again which works best? Manual would be more what I would expect a Porsche to be, but I could be talking nonsense.

Early 997 Carrera or Carrera S with a Hartech engine. You can choose all of the other options at your leisure.

[Mrkevuk]

For £25000 I would go for a Gen 2 Cayman or Boxster.

[Adam B]

mollytherocker said:

Early 997 Carrera or Carrera S with a Hartech engine. You can choose all of the other options at your leisure.

this, manual coupe, avoid tip, , dark metallic or bright yellow/red/white, lovely looking car with much improved interior

[g7jhp]

I'd go for a nice manual 996.2 C2 coupe for circa £15k and keep some cash in the bank!

[Billy_Whizzzz]

I had exactly the same question recently and although I far prefer the 997 shape I want to wait a Gen 2 car that at the moment start at about £38k and I didn't want to sell my Z4M so got an immaculate 996 instead

[Andrew911]

Hi, no not really mad

Someone suggested a Gen 2 Caymen. Not a bad idea - engine is likely to be much more reliable than a 996 or Gen 1 997. But if you want to itch the 911 itch then your options are a very nice 996 C4S or a Gen 1 997. But in either case if it were me I would book it into Hartech & have some engine preventative measures done or better still buy one that has had a Hartech engine rebuild.

[fastgerman]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Yep, I actually agree with you.

In addition, these cars are now getting to 10 years old - evidence of engine work is a bonus or cars kept within OPC network. Due to apparent data protection issues, Porsche won't pass on service/warranty information carried out during the time you have not owned the car so make sure the previous owner has this. I have a warranty work print out on mine covering gearbox, suspension, RMS/IMS, roof, heat shields, coil packs etc etc.

Also +1 for a 997 C2S :-)

[fastgerman]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

True, never advertise a car with too much info.

Mine isn't for sale so I like the fact that half of the car is new/fixed recently :-).

[fastgerman]

Cheapest OPC 997 is £34k

911 Virgin, RPM Technic, JZM, Cridfords have good reputations so worth checking their stock

[AA999]

Andrew911 said:

Hi, no not really mad
..... . But in either case if it were me I would book it into Hartech & have some engine preventative measures done or better still buy one that has had a Hartech engine rebuild.

Weren't the engine issues of the 996 and 997 over-hyped to a degree?
Not in as much as that there isn't/wasn't an issue, just that the frequency and the probability of the issue(s) occurring were, through possible chinese wispers, over played?

I read many posts about the 996/997 gen 1's as if the engine issues are a certainty of occurring. Is that now the case as the milage on these motors increases over recent years?

[fastgerman]

AA999 said:

Andrew911 said:

Hi, no not really mad
..... . But in either case if it were me I would book it into Hartech & have some engine preventative measures done or better still buy one that has had a Hartech engine rebuild.

Weren't the engine issues of the 996 and 997 over-hyped to a degree?
Not in as much as that there isn't/wasn't an issue, just that the frequency and the probability of the issue(s) occurring were, through possible chinese wispers, over played?

I read many posts about the 996/997 gen 1's as if the engine issues are a certainty of occurring. Is that now the case as the milage on these motors increases over recent years?

Peter Morgan Inspection

http://www.porscheinspections.com/qanda.php#Cylind... bore scoring

Q: Should I worry about bore scoring on a 997?

A: The reality of this problem is quite different than some (with vested interest in the repairs) would have you believe. There have been a small number of failures, but these appear to have been confined to the larger engined or powerkit models

[JasonRIx]

mollytherocker said:

Early 997 Carrera or Carrera S with a Hartech engine. You can choose all of the other options at your leisure.

It seems from quite a few threads recently that there are a number of people on the lookout for cars with Hartech rebuilt engines. I'd better whisper that in case CMoose hears.

[JasonRIx]

In answer to the original question, I would say that you can almost get a decent 911 for that price but frankly I would go for a good 997.1 S and for that I'd say you need to be in the high twenties.

I can't help feeling that a 3.6 doesn't give quite enough power and with a 3.8 you would really need a good specimen; Nikasil-lined cylinders, bigger IMS bearing and a new clutch thrown in at time of rebuild for good measure. At least yearly oil changes and general signs of love.

For those you are heading higher than your budget for now. If you can then wait and save a bit more, if you can't then buy a gen2 Cayman S because they are brilliant.

You can't really lose.

[johnmaddox]

I fully understand the necessity for due diligence when buying and getting the bores checked for scoring, but what do you do then. All the prone engines started life ok and then some had problems. What safeguard does having the bores checked give you - they could become scored before the next service. I have a 2007 Cayman S that is ok at 38000 miles and all I can do to reduce or delay the onset of problems is to change the oil and filter every 5000 miles and ensure it is carefully warmed up before giving it the beans. If it has problems then so be it. I am determined not to let it spoil my enjoyment of a really great sports car.

[mollytherocker]

johnmaddox said:

I fully understand the necessity for due diligence when buying and getting the bores checked for scoring, but what do you do then. All the prone engines started life ok and then some had problems. What safeguard does having the bores checked give you - they could become scored before the next service. I have a 2007 Cayman S that is ok at 38000 miles and all I can do to reduce or delay the onset of problems is to change the oil and filter every 5000 miles and ensure it is carefully warmed up before giving it the beans. If it has problems then so be it. I am determined not to let it spoil my enjoyment of a really great sports car.

Changing the oil more regularly is always a good idea, but it makes no difference to bore scoring. This is caused by local hot spots in the engine. The best way to offset this is a low temp thermostat and an extra radiator.

Well worth doing.

[Andrew911]

AA999 said:

Weren't the engine issues of the 996 and 997 over-hyped to a degree?
Not in as much as that there isn't/wasn't an issue, just that the frequency and the probability of the issue(s) occurring were, through possible chinese wispers, over played?

I read many posts about the 996/997 gen 1's as if the engine issues are a certainty of occurring. Is that now the case as the milage on these motors increases over recent years?

Yes & No. You only tend to hear about the engine failures on forums like PH etc. It is a real issue though. I'am pals with a very well respected indy who said about gen 1 997s - you just pray for the owners. They have quite a few come in with engine issues not just the odd one. The Gen 2 997 is a DFI engine & completely different, it has more oil cooling pumps & several mods - Hartech web site is a mine of info on these engines. It's a bit like Russian roulette with these models & almost all warranties won't cover full engine failure & replacement. If someone was adamant about getting a NA 996 or Gen 1 997 - wheel it to hartech & get some of the preventative measures done.