Buying a 997

[hurricaneone]

Hi guys - great forum

I am close to joining the 911 club ands am looking at a 997 C2 3.8

The car has had a recent service which concluded the following need doing;
1. replace front and rear tyres - on 19s (assuming c.£800 here
2. Rear brake discs need replacing
3. Tandom pump corroded (whatever that means?)
4. front coolant pipes corroded and need replacing

Any idea how much this little lot would cost?
Have people used RAC checks to get comfort before buying a 911? Would people recommend this or any other type of check before buying (in addition to HPI)?

Thanks all in advance...

[BlackGT3]

With regard to a Pre-purchase inspection, don't bother with the RAC.

Either use an OPC or recognised Porsche specialist. Where is the car located? I am sure someone will be able to recommend a specialist in the area.

[hurricaneone]

Thanks for your response - the car is located in central London (Chelsea)

[anonymous-user]

Tandem pump common problem - casing corrodes. Spray new one with ACF-50 and should last many years.

Looking at a bill of £2000 plus for all that I suspect.

[Andrew911]

Are you buying private, through an indie or average joe garage. I would defo recommend buying through a Porsche indie such as dovehouse, RSJ, JZM etc or OPC if your pockets are deeper. OPC will give you a two year warranty & good indie's will give you a very decent warranty. I have bought through both & wouldn't bother wIth PPI. I would not buy from a non-specialist.

But to answer your question about PPI - OPC, indies & Peter Morgan www.porscheinspections.com are your best bet.

Good luck!

[hurricaneone]

Thanks for replies,

Was hoping the list could be crossed off for around £1k. £2k is starting to look challenging given the car has not had a thorough pre-purchase check yet...
I am buying private and only really looking to spend c.£20-22k which means spending c.£400 on the pre-purchase check will probably not make economic sense.

[J-P]

hurricaneone said:

Thanks for replies,

Was hoping the list could be crossed off for around £1k. £2k is starting to look challenging given the car has not had a thorough pre-purchase check yet...
I am buying private and only really looking to spend c.£20-22k which means spending c.£400 on the pre-purchase check will probably not make economic sense.

It does make economic sense if it finds that there's £5k or £10k worth of work to do on the car. These cars can be very expensive to fix if there are issues.

[alfa phil]

A nice 997C2S with nothing needing doing for around £20,000 , you might be lucky

[Steve Baker]

hurricaneone said:

Thanks for replies,

Was hoping the list could be crossed off for around £1k. £2k is starting to look challenging given the car has not had a thorough pre-purchase check yet...
I am buying private and only really looking to spend c.£20-22k which means spending c.£400 on the pre-purchase check will probably not make economic sense.

111 point check at official Porsche centre is approx £120, will give all the info you need pre-purchase.

[Fl0pp3r]

Not sure the OPC 111 point check includes a borascope' of the cylinders, and if this is a gen1 car i'd want one. If you are buying privately GET IT PROFESSIONALLY INSPECTED. Seriously. :-)

[mollytherocker]

hurricaneone said:

Thanks for replies,

Was hoping the list could be crossed off for around £1k. £2k is starting to look challenging given the car has not had a thorough pre-purchase check yet...
I am buying private and only really looking to spend c.£20-22k which means spending c.£400 on the pre-purchase check will probably not make economic sense.

I am afraid that your numbers are not practical. Fanciful even.

If a 2k spend is challenging to you on a 22k 997, you are buying the wrong car.

[Technomad]

drmark said:

Tandem pump common problem - casing corrodes. Spray new one with ACF-50 and should last many years.

Looking at a bill of £2000 plus for all that I suspect.

+1 - had my 997.2 serviced and renewal check done by OPC under warranty before renewal, then immediately took it along to a good indie specialist. Who spotted the corroded tandem pump in seconds, which the OPC had completely missed. Two days left on warranty, had it replaced by OPC then refused to renew the warranty - the money is going into a maintenance fund for the car to be looked after by said specialist.

[Technomad]

Steve Baker said:

111 point check at official Porsche centre is approx £120, will give all the info you need pre-purchase.

See my comment about the OPC check missing obvious stuff…

[MrC986]

My BIL had a nice C4S 997 that developed a ticking noise after 32k miles and which had been very sensibly all its life. The bill to fix the problem would have been a good few £ks conservatively. As has been said, £400 is worth the cost and you need to just negotiate a little harder to cover the cost if your heart is set on the car, but then with a 911 of the value you are after you should be buying with your head anyway IMO.

[hurricaneone]

mollytherocker said:

I am afraid that your numbers are not practical. Fanciful even.

If a 2k spend is challenging to you on a 22k 997, you are buying the wrong car.

Ok, point taken. This is my first Porsche - first performance car for that matter, so may have to turn up realism dial a notch...

[bigunit00]

hurricaneone said:

Ok, point taken. This is my first Porsche - first performance car for that matter, so may have to turn up realism dial a notch...

Given its your first 911 it might be prudent to check out something like this from 911 virgin who from all accounts thoroughly inspect all cars before taking them into stock and then stand behind them with a good warranty. You might pay a bit more but the peace of mind will be worth it.

http://www.911virgin.com/porscheforsale/959/997C2S...

[anonymous-user]

Technomad said:

+1 - had my 997.2 serviced and renewal check done by OPC under warranty before renewal, then immediately took it along to a good indie specialist. Who spotted the corroded tandem pump in seconds, which the OPC had completely missed. Two days left on warranty, had it replaced by OPC then refused to renew the warranty - the money is going into a maintenance fund for the car to be looked after by said specialist.

Same here.

[Get2Jaime]

mollytherocker said:

I am afraid that your numbers are not practical. Fanciful even.

If a 2k spend is challenging to you on a 22k 997, you are buying the wrong car.

Very valid comment, suggest if you're worried about this budget level then you may struggle.

For what its worth, you've under estimated the tyre cost slightly - 4 x Michelin Pilot Super Sports will cost you £1k, therefore your estimation of £800 is low (ish).

[hygt2]

hurricaneone said:

£2k is starting to look challenging given the car has not had a thorough pre-purchase check yet...
I am buying private and only really looking to spend c.£20-22k which means spending c.£400 on the pre-purchase check will probably not make economic sense.

Your budget will put you into a 997.1 - i.e. the most high risk engine in a modern 911.

When I bought my car last year, I paid for the inspection and offset all the costs of repair picked up by the inspection against the very lightly negotiated advertised price. It needed £2,500 of work.

Thereafter in your ownership, you have to budget for a long term average (c.5 years) of £2,000 to £2,500 each year on servicing and repairs. Obviously some year maybe £800, some year maybe £4,000 but they all will even out to the long term average.

In addition, you'll need a rainy day fund of £8-10k if your engine score a bore or two or drop an IMS and need an engine rebuild.

Even if you are on Porsche warranty ( my car was under warranty for all 10 years since new ), the cost of servicing and warranty costs will still average to £2-2.5k a year anyway.

However, look at this another way, it is no more expensive to service and repair than my W220 Mercedes S-Class which is worth substantially less at £5,000 vs. my £25k 996 Turbo.

[anonymous-user]

Get2Jaime said:

Very valid comment, suggest if you're worried about this budget level then you may struggle.

For what its worth, you've under estimated the tyre cost slightly - 4 x Michelin Pilot Super Sports will cost you £1k, therefore your estimation of £800 is low (ish).

£880 all in for me (and that is big 305s on the back)