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Lightningman
Original Poster
1,079 posts
51 months
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Does anyone know anything good, bad or indifferent about the ex-press 996 Mk2 GT3 Paul Stephens are selling?
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HokumPokum
725 posts
74 months
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i saw that car. am indifferent. thought the 996 mk1 is more special but the mk2 looked to be in better condition. It is a couple of years younger. PS are great to deal with
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Raitzi
591 posts
81 months
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Likely been driven a bit harder and might have better ecu to make it seem faster.(companies can cheat a little and give press cars some extra horses)
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Beaky59
82 posts
35 months
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Believe you can get a read out from the ECU to see how many times it has been red lined, etc etc.
A press car may having been hammered by the many jouralists that test drove them as part of their write ups, unlessthis one was purely a display show piece
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Lightningman
Original Poster
1,079 posts
51 months
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The Press Car part is a given - and yes, it will have been driven hard; hopefully by people who know what they are doing. In my opinion, this is no worse than buying any used car: there is nothing to stop every previous owner from driving it in exactly the same manner as a journalist could.  The real issue, and it is with all GT3s, is whether anyone knows of any damage. The great aspect of forums is that there is a lot of combined knowledge and if a GT3 has been pranged, usually someone will know about it.  In the case of a GT3, no news is often good news - there isn't enough of them to make it easy to cover up accident damage (or incidents).
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MrFreight
106 posts
18 months
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Hi
If it helps I purchased the Ex Porsche GB 968 CS Press Car(The Speed Yellow one featured in most Magazine articles of the day driven by Herbert/Frankel etc etc)some 12 years ago (Since sold) I was the 3rd owner and it was looked after for me by STRASSE in Leeds - It was one of the best in the UK at the time (Wish I still had it!) so Ex Press Cars to my mind are A-OK!(Sold for a very nice profit might I add)
On another subject but to allied to it - I almost bought an Ex Silverstone 997 GT3 RS (I knew someone high up @ Porsche GB who could get me a nice deal) and they absolutely go though those cars with a fine toothcomb prior to retailing them - yes there may be Rev Range issues but as has been said before the Rev limiter does tend to do it's job you know!
All the best
MF
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andye30m3
2,584 posts
123 months
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MrFreight said: but as has been said before the Rev limiter does tend to do it's job you know! It doesn't when coming down the gears.
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Martian O
2,117 posts
31 months
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I know a guy who is a photographer for car magazines, and the stories he's told about the abuse these cars receive is shocking. Warranty or not, I wouldn't touch one.
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MadMark911
1,357 posts
18 months
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Martian O said: I know a guy who is a photographer for car magazines, and the stories he's told about the abuse these cars receive is shocking. Warranty or not, I wouldn't touch one. ^ Like wot he said!
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Lightningman
Original Poster
1,079 posts
51 months
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I've been out on a few photo shoots and can't say I've seen the same. As I said above, anyone who thinks they can judge the way a car has been treated by talking to the current owner is kidding themselves. There are plenty of 'my car is mint' owners who have driven their cars without mechanical sympathy.
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MadMark911
1,357 posts
18 months
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Lightningman said: There are plenty of 'my car is mint' owners who have driven their cars without mechanical sympathy. Absolutely - but few of them will have spent quite so much time doing "performance testing" against the clock! Autocar alone spends a whole day doing the figures (0-60, 0-100, 70-0, 60-0, plus in gear, runs around wet and dry tracks etc), so I can only imagine what it's like when multiple magazines have the same car over the course of a month ..... John Barker of Evo has written at length of hammering cars and destroying clutches in a single day of performance testing! The thing is that if you want it - none of our comments will make any difference!
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Lightningman
Original Poster
1,079 posts
51 months
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MadMark911 said: The thing is that if you want it - none of our comments will make any difference!  ...there, in a nut shell, a man who understands man logic. Although, hand on heart, I can honestly say this isn't top of my list for cars to look at. If it does get to the top 2, I simply don't want a wasted trip. There are others on the market, there are others to look at. However, as per my original comment, the press car doesn't bother me (after circa 8-years, any issues will have had to have been dealt with); however, the damaged by later owners on track does; and, that is the crux of my original question. Collectively, I wondered if anyone had heard any 'stories' about it. I'm guessing not because normally the duds get flagged up quite quickly.
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Guyr
1,887 posts
151 months
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A friend of mine owned an ex-PorscheUK 997 GT3 and he had no problems at all during ownership. Of course they're driven hard, but they're also maintained extremely well.
It's not as if owners don't abuse their cars, on the road or on track, there are plenty of privately owned cars that I know that have been treated far worse that I'd never touch and they've ended up being sold on an OPC forecourt, all shiny and clean with no hint of their true history.
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cmoose
18,586 posts
98 months
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Lightningman said: The Press Car part is a given - and yes, it will have been driven hard; hopefully by people who know what they are doing. In my opinion, this is no worse than buying any used car: there is nothing to stop every previous owner from driving it in exactly the same manner as a journalist could. Actually, I'd say there's a big difference. It takes a certain amount of restraint, for instance, not to rag a car mercilessly from cold. When it's your own car, the incentive is clear. When it's a press car, there's very very little incentive. I would characterise the difference thus: Any given second hand car might have been ragged repeatedly from cold and generally brutalised. A press car will have been ragged repeatedly from cold and generally brutalised. At least with a normal used car there's a chance it's been treated with care.
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cragswinter
6,300 posts
65 months
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MadMark911 said: John Barker of Evo has written at length of hammering cars and destroying clutches in a single day of performance testing! So as long as it isn't on the same old knackered clutch, it's been relplaced & it's ok. Wouldn't bother me much tbh, I'd rather buy into the fact it comes from a respected dealer who'll stand by the car should something go wrong. Is it spewing out blue smoke? Does the gear change crunch at every opportunity? Is the ecu riddled with over revs? Do the brakes wobble like an old record left on the parcel shelf? Does the suspension make more clonks & noises than grandads old knackered sofa. If no to the above I wouldn't be too worried at all & no amount of hoonage by barker & harris et al will make any difference by now, who knows, another previous owner might have been some daft hairdresser who drove the car down a staircase at spa francorchamps
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khushy
3,383 posts
88 months
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Press cars are treated like rentals = thrashedtodeathfromcoldands  t = leave well alone!
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willmac
693 posts
33 months
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I think its been for sale for a while now, so I'm guessing there is a reason for that. Namely the majority of comments on here probably regarding how the car would / could have been treated being a press car.
It could well be decent, however you have to think of re-sale I would say. And with the sort of opinions cast here, I reckon you would struggle to move it on for the same reasons. Just my opinion of course.
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Lightningman
Original Poster
1,079 posts
51 months
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willmac said: It could well be decent, however you have to think of re-sale I would say. And with the sort of opinions cast here, I reckon you would struggle to move it on for the same reasons. Just my opinion of course. I'd suggest that your comment clearly supports the theory that perception is reality. Furthermore, if anything would dissuade me or others from ownership, it is recognising this 'truth' over and above any other merit of the vehicle in question. At some point in time the fact it was a press car will be irrelevant (if a buyer came across the 2.7 RS press car, this would surely be a bonus, not a negative!); however, I'd suggest that time is yet to come and probably a fair few years away.
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willmac
693 posts
33 months
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Lightningman said: willmac said: It could well be decent, however you have to think of re-sale I would say. And with the sort of opinions cast here, I reckon you would struggle to move it on for the same reasons. Just my opinion of course. I'd suggest that your comment clearly supports the theory that perception is reality. Furthermore, if anything would dissuade me or others from ownership, it is recognising this 'truth' over and above any other merit of the vehicle in question. At some point in time the fact it was a press car will be irrelevant (if a buyer came across the 2.7 RS press car, this would surely be a bonus, not a negative!); however, I'd suggest that time is yet to come and probably a fair few years away. I'm guessing from the "furthermore" comment especially, I'm getting a dressing down on that one then ! 
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Lightningman
Original Poster
1,079 posts
51 months
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willmac said: I'm guessing from the "furthermore" comment especially, I'm getting a dressing down on that one then ! Not at all. I believe you are correct; however, my point is that we both equally know that the reality may be somewhat different to our perception.
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