Buying a 996TT - where to start...?
Discussion
Right
Got an itch, need to scratch. Have spent the last 3 months reading everything on 996 turbos, am ready to plunge... I 'think' what I want is a black or lapis late model (20k interval) car with grey or black interior, all the usual refinements and a Tiptronic box and 30k - 50k miles (ish)....???
Budget is variable, but I want to make sure I buy right and buy well. The car will easily cover 10k per year and I am happy to drop money on a quality inspection. It seems JZ in London are the place, but might shout for ideas if the car I drop for is elsewhere...
So. A couple of Q's;
1. Where to start (I look everywhere at all the ads, but how do I start discerning what a straight ad is from a BS posting)?
2. Are the cars really as clocked and abused for the majority part as some would have us believe?
3. Who are the best used Porsche dealers to buy from (the sort that would rather die than sell something that might not be 100%)?
4. where to get it serviced (indy) near burton-on-Trent (home) or birmingham (work)?
5. What £ should I put aside 'just in case' on buying one?
6. Anything else relevant
Am open to any help, advice, car offers etc (thanks in advance). Feel free to post links to ones you think are sorted cars
Will post my journey as I go
Midds
Got an itch, need to scratch. Have spent the last 3 months reading everything on 996 turbos, am ready to plunge... I 'think' what I want is a black or lapis late model (20k interval) car with grey or black interior, all the usual refinements and a Tiptronic box and 30k - 50k miles (ish)....???
Budget is variable, but I want to make sure I buy right and buy well. The car will easily cover 10k per year and I am happy to drop money on a quality inspection. It seems JZ in London are the place, but might shout for ideas if the car I drop for is elsewhere...
So. A couple of Q's;
1. Where to start (I look everywhere at all the ads, but how do I start discerning what a straight ad is from a BS posting)?
2. Are the cars really as clocked and abused for the majority part as some would have us believe?
3. Who are the best used Porsche dealers to buy from (the sort that would rather die than sell something that might not be 100%)?
4. where to get it serviced (indy) near burton-on-Trent (home) or birmingham (work)?
5. What £ should I put aside 'just in case' on buying one?
6. Anything else relevant
Am open to any help, advice, car offers etc (thanks in advance). Feel free to post links to ones you think are sorted cars
Will post my journey as I go
Midds
Hi Midds,
First you will hear, buy on condition ! This literally means buy a well sorted, well maintained and providence that can be verified. You've already covered most of the bases on the notes you posted but here are some pointers, also do a search as there was a long thread on buying 996 turbo that is very informative.
Black with Black Leather is best combo imho, easier to shift as well when the time comes. You don't mention budget so making the assumption your looking to spend between £30k to £35k, this should get you into something that for the money should be fairly mint. For the refinements here is a wee list :
(1) Try to source an X50 or better yet a TurboS
(2) Tiptronic, personally I prefer tip, others will tell you manual all the way.
(3) PPI - make sure you research who will do the inspection as you indicate it may be sourced round the country there are good inspectors and bad. The good ones are - Peter Morgan, Mike @ Sport and Classic, the Hartech boys, Stuart Paterson @ SP Autobahn, others will be along to recommend others.
(4) For dealers - look at Specialist Cars of Malton, 911Virgin, JZM, RSJ, Paragon are some of the better sources of well sorted cars
(5) Service History, Condition - check this out as much as you can when shortlisting cars to consider. A PPI, HPI check should be what you do before you buy and will sort out any spottable issues if your worried about hidden history / costs.
(6) Budget for replacement treads once a year on 10k p.a. (depending on use offcourse you may get much more) - £1200, then add in consumables, service intervals on late model 996 turbos are 24months but you may have the odd gremlin needing done - you can either do this by having a warranty or keeping the cash on hand.
(7) Make sure the following has been done on the cars (again assuming a 2004/5) :
Rads - weak spot so check if they have been done
48k (or 4 year major service) has been done
Heatshields - the retaining studs can give up so check these are sound (PPI should pick this up)
Check the wear on items : Brake pads, Discs etc
Also have a read of http://www.evo.co.uk/buying/buyingguide/235618/por...
and http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
It all depends on cars on sale - search PH, AT, 911uk etc - call up a few of the aforementioned dealers and explain what your looking for. Go drive one. You'll love it.
Good hunting
First you will hear, buy on condition ! This literally means buy a well sorted, well maintained and providence that can be verified. You've already covered most of the bases on the notes you posted but here are some pointers, also do a search as there was a long thread on buying 996 turbo that is very informative.
Black with Black Leather is best combo imho, easier to shift as well when the time comes. You don't mention budget so making the assumption your looking to spend between £30k to £35k, this should get you into something that for the money should be fairly mint. For the refinements here is a wee list :
(1) Try to source an X50 or better yet a TurboS
(2) Tiptronic, personally I prefer tip, others will tell you manual all the way.
(3) PPI - make sure you research who will do the inspection as you indicate it may be sourced round the country there are good inspectors and bad. The good ones are - Peter Morgan, Mike @ Sport and Classic, the Hartech boys, Stuart Paterson @ SP Autobahn, others will be along to recommend others.
(4) For dealers - look at Specialist Cars of Malton, 911Virgin, JZM, RSJ, Paragon are some of the better sources of well sorted cars
(5) Service History, Condition - check this out as much as you can when shortlisting cars to consider. A PPI, HPI check should be what you do before you buy and will sort out any spottable issues if your worried about hidden history / costs.
(6) Budget for replacement treads once a year on 10k p.a. (depending on use offcourse you may get much more) - £1200, then add in consumables, service intervals on late model 996 turbos are 24months but you may have the odd gremlin needing done - you can either do this by having a warranty or keeping the cash on hand.
(7) Make sure the following has been done on the cars (again assuming a 2004/5) :
Rads - weak spot so check if they have been done
48k (or 4 year major service) has been done
Heatshields - the retaining studs can give up so check these are sound (PPI should pick this up)
Check the wear on items : Brake pads, Discs etc
Also have a read of http://www.evo.co.uk/buying/buyingguide/235618/por...
and http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
It all depends on cars on sale - search PH, AT, 911uk etc - call up a few of the aforementioned dealers and explain what your looking for. Go drive one. You'll love it.
Good hunting
Don't know, what's the consensus on Jimmy P's question - don't assume 10k will be the max in one year (I put 18k on a Westfield megabusa in 13 months, 14k on a 550 Maranello in 12 months and other fast cars have had similar)
My thoughts on 20k were to have an annual whether it has done 10k or 15k in the year???
My thoughts on 20k were to have an annual whether it has done 10k or 15k in the year???
Oh my that tan interior on the RSJ car ....
Which reminds me - seats... these can be down to taste / preference but the sports seats are pretty decent and I found are better support than the comfort seats, but will depend on your build, some find the sports seats irritating - you can tell the difference simply by Sports Seats = Winged shoulder bolsters, Comfort Seats = No wings. Important to check out your own preference there given mileage your talking of doing,
Also avoid ruffled leather... why oh why this exists is beyond many
This car doesn't meet your requirements for a late year car or mileage but it would be the one I buy. The seller is a well known chap on various forums and has looked after this car impeccably.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3279381.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3279381.htm
Midds said:
Looks amazing, will be difficult to sell with 100k+ on it in a couple of years tho...
Not necessarily if priced accordingly. It's not exactly expensive at today's asking price so could be a low overall cost option for you. Factor in losing a grand or so for every 10K miles added plus usual age related depreciation (pretty low at this age) and you'd probably get conservatively £15K ish back in 3 years time if kept clean. Hard to imagine them dropping much lower than that to be honest with good provenance. uktrailmonster said:
Midds said:
Looks amazing, will be difficult to sell with 100k+ on it in a couple of years tho...
Not necessarily if priced accordingly. It's not exactly expensive at today's asking price so could be a low overall cost option for you. Factor in losing a grand or so for every 10K miles added plus usual age related depreciation (pretty low at this age) and you'd probably get conservatively £15K ish back in 3 years time if kept clean. Hard to imagine them dropping much lower than that to be honest with good provenance. 
Agreed. Unless its a dog, £15k would be a conservative figure.
I bought low mileage two years ago (1 owner, 21k miles) and paid a premium for it. Since it's my daily car - and I like driving it - I've more than doubled the mileage in that time (it's now at 44k miles). I'm not sure it was very sensible buying low mileage when I'm clocking the mileage up anyway - give it another two years and I'm likely to be between 65 / 70k miles. Plan to keep it a long time though.
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