Discussion
My son and myself are buying a 993 between us for use as a fun car...although I probably won't get to use it much! We're on a low budget (£23,000 max) and the car has to be a tiptronic as I'm disabled. I wanted a convertible for those rare sunny days but my son prefers the Carrera so we're compromising on a Targa, both of best worlds hopefully. I haven't seen a Targa within our budget although I've seen two at dealers at £25,000 and £26,950. Two questions, would we be wiser going for a Carrera because of our budget, and would Porsche specialists normally lower their asking price (cash sale, no p.ex)? We can't increase our budget, so any advice would be gratefully received. Also, with regards to colours, are any particular colours harder to sell than others. Our first choice would be silver with a grey, black or red interior. Not too keen on the blue or cashmere interior.
Thanks, Clive.
Thanks, Clive.
Edited by designergraphics on Friday 23 June 00:22
Edited by designergraphics on Friday 30th June 23:38
Los Angeles said:
A Targa is a great choice. 
I looked at over fifty, I think, in my search, and some were as low as your budget, basic spec, highish mileage, that sort of thing. I alighted on a Tiptronic by sheer accident and have never looked back; a sports car with a wide breadth of talents. I can help you find one by widening the net to include private owners thinking of selling, here and in Europe, all RHD cars.
I looked at over fifty, I think, in my search, and some were as low as your budget, basic spec, highish mileage, that sort of thing. I alighted on a Tiptronic by sheer accident and have never looked back; a sports car with a wide breadth of talents. I can help you find one by widening the net to include private owners thinking of selling, here and in Europe, all RHD cars.
You looked at 50 cars before buying !!! You would be hard pushed to find a dozen 993 Targa Tips for sale at same time in uk
Hi Clive,
Have you thought about getting a LHD 993 or a 964? Another thing to note is that these cars cost a fair amount to run. You need to keep them in good shape to enjoy them. I recently spend 1k on a new cluth for my 964.
Also these beasts drink petrol like it's going out of fashion, remember they are 3.6 engines.
Good luck in your search.
Cheers
Sunil
Have you thought about getting a LHD 993 or a 964? Another thing to note is that these cars cost a fair amount to run. You need to keep them in good shape to enjoy them. I recently spend 1k on a new cluth for my 964.
Also these beasts drink petrol like it's going out of fashion, remember they are 3.6 engines.
Good luck in your search.
Cheers
Sunil
I'd say you're in luck, since the vast majority of 993 targas seems to also be tiptronic, so you should have a good choices of cars. The downside is your budget, if you are after rhd tip targa for £23k you may have to wait a while.
Having said that, if a car is up at £24k there's no harm in going and looking at it and you can always pitch in at £23k, if it's a private seller and they have been advertising for a while they are likely to accept if you turn up with the cash and wave it at them
Check autotrader, ebay, PH classifieds, 911uk, and the usual dealer sites like 911 virgin, RSJ, Northways, Cridfords, etc.
Remember that ebay is an excellent advertising medium, and it could start negotiations on a car...
You should maybe contact this guy and find out how much he sold for:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PORSCHE-911-CAR
Good luck!
Having said that, if a car is up at £24k there's no harm in going and looking at it and you can always pitch in at £23k, if it's a private seller and they have been advertising for a while they are likely to accept if you turn up with the cash and wave it at them
Check autotrader, ebay, PH classifieds, 911uk, and the usual dealer sites like 911 virgin, RSJ, Northways, Cridfords, etc.
Remember that ebay is an excellent advertising medium, and it could start negotiations on a car...
You should maybe contact this guy and find out how much he sold for:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PORSCHE-911-CAR
Good luck!
Thanks to all those who have replied. To answer questions, running costs will be no problem, don't fancy a lhd, will post a wanted ad as suggested. Have been contacted by someone offering a very nice Targa with low mileage but only partial service history, so unsure about that in case I have a problem trying to sell it later. Anyway, my son's off on holiday for two weeks so I'll have a chance to take stock and see if anyone replies to the wanted ad.
Thanks again, Clive
Thanks again, Clive
UPDATE!
Seen this advertised at Northway Porsche. More than I wanted to pay but as it has a full service history I thought it might be worth viewing. Any comments on the mileage? I know most people say 'buy on condition', but is 95,000 miles too much? Also, I know nothing about the company so should I get an independent inspection? Anyone had dealings with them? There's a beautiful looking silver Targa for sale on PH Classifieds (private sale), but at 30K I'm afraid it's well over my budget. The car at Northway Porsche is 25K and details are below:
Description:
Zenith blue metallic with marble grey leather interior. 96,000 miles with full service history inc prev mots and invoices etc.Tiptronic s transmission,Air con,3rd brake light rear spoiler,s/s exhaust tips,silver dials,Alpine mp3 stereo,s/s entry guards,obc,recent brakes and tyres.
Any advice gratefully received. Total Porsche novice here, itching to get into ownership but afraid of buying the wrong car
Thanks, Clive
Seen this advertised at Northway Porsche. More than I wanted to pay but as it has a full service history I thought it might be worth viewing. Any comments on the mileage? I know most people say 'buy on condition', but is 95,000 miles too much? Also, I know nothing about the company so should I get an independent inspection? Anyone had dealings with them? There's a beautiful looking silver Targa for sale on PH Classifieds (private sale), but at 30K I'm afraid it's well over my budget. The car at Northway Porsche is 25K and details are below:
Description:
Zenith blue metallic with marble grey leather interior. 96,000 miles with full service history inc prev mots and invoices etc.Tiptronic s transmission,Air con,3rd brake light rear spoiler,s/s exhaust tips,silver dials,Alpine mp3 stereo,s/s entry guards,obc,recent brakes and tyres.
Any advice gratefully received. Total Porsche novice here, itching to get into ownership but afraid of buying the wrong car
Thanks, Clive
Edited by designergraphics on Wednesday 28th June 00:11
Car looks very nice - i have used Northways for all four of my 993s and they have always been excellent. One of my 993s was inspected there for it's subsequent purchaser and they were thorough, so i would find out if it's their car or if they are selling on behalf of someone else, if the latter get an inspection done (about £100).
Ray Northway is not a salesman, him and his gang are spanner men, very good ones at that.
If this car is the sort of thing you're looking for then i'd certainly suggest a trip to see it. My '96 has 95k miles on it and feels a little too tight, it still isn't quite run in yet! Guess that's the result of spending 5 years idling in London traffic...
Ray Northway is not a salesman, him and his gang are spanner men, very good ones at that.
If this car is the sort of thing you're looking for then i'd certainly suggest a trip to see it. My '96 has 95k miles on it and feels a little too tight, it still isn't quite run in yet! Guess that's the result of spending 5 years idling in London traffic...
verysideways said:
Car looks very nice - i have used Northways for all four of my 993s and they have always been excellent. One of my 993s was inspected there for it's subsequent purchaser and they were thorough, so i would find out if it's their car or if they are selling on behalf of someone else, if the latter get an inspection done (about £100).
Ray Northway is not a salesman, him and his gang are spanner men, very good ones at that.
If this car is the sort of thing you're looking for then i'd certainly suggest a trip to see it. My '96 has 95k miles on it and feels a little too tight, it still isn't quite run in yet! Guess that's the result of spending 5 years idling in London traffic...
Ray Northway is not a salesman, him and his gang are spanner men, very good ones at that.
If this car is the sort of thing you're looking for then i'd certainly suggest a trip to see it. My '96 has 95k miles on it and feels a little too tight, it still isn't quite run in yet! Guess that's the result of spending 5 years idling in London traffic...
Thanks verysideways, I'll give him a ring. Never thought a dealer might be selling on behalf of a customer...maybe some room for negotiation there! I'm finding the thought of high mileage hard to deal with when I look at the prices asked, but I guess I'll have to get used to it on our budget. We probably won't be doing more than 5,000 miles/year in it between us...unless we find we like it so much we'll be fighting for the keys, lol.
Wouldn't worry about the mileage - all the 993's i've looked at with over 150k miles on them, only one has had a top end rebuild (and that was at 100k, which was alarming!).
As long as they are serviced properly (i.e. indie, not OPC these days, and every 12k miles at least) and not caned from cold then this sort of mileage shouldn't be a problem.
As the 993 gets older it is starting to show a couple of weaknesses, mainly steering rack leaks and of course the old door check straps that everyone knows about. Abused cars can get a bit difficult to get into 2nd gear, especially when changing down. The only place you may see any rust at all is on the trailing edge of the front wheelarches (which usually means track use) or around the front or rear windscreens (rare, but not serious anyway). Anything else could indicate prior damage.
Lots of people are finding that Mobil 1 0w-30 is too thin as the cars get older and so switch to a 10w-40 or similar (myself included). Seem to run very well on this stuff, but then i guess with 12 litres of it you'd expect that!
Anyway, good luck, and if you do buy the car drop me a line and i'll meet up with you when you collect and take a picture for PH
As long as they are serviced properly (i.e. indie, not OPC these days, and every 12k miles at least) and not caned from cold then this sort of mileage shouldn't be a problem.
As the 993 gets older it is starting to show a couple of weaknesses, mainly steering rack leaks and of course the old door check straps that everyone knows about. Abused cars can get a bit difficult to get into 2nd gear, especially when changing down. The only place you may see any rust at all is on the trailing edge of the front wheelarches (which usually means track use) or around the front or rear windscreens (rare, but not serious anyway). Anything else could indicate prior damage.
Lots of people are finding that Mobil 1 0w-30 is too thin as the cars get older and so switch to a 10w-40 or similar (myself included). Seem to run very well on this stuff, but then i guess with 12 litres of it you'd expect that!
Anyway, good luck, and if you do buy the car drop me a line and i'll meet up with you when you collect and take a picture for PH
I'd recommend Northways. Bought my last 2 993's from Ray. As v.sideways mentions they're mechanics (v.good ones) not salesmen. So you could spend a bit of time trying to get their attention on the forecourt rather have someone pounce on you trying to flog you something. In my experience, once you've bought it, Ray'll also look after it well and not hit you for unecessary work. A mate of mine recently was told by an OPC whilst having his 996 serviced that the pads and discs needed replacing, took it to Northways to find 4000+ miles in the pads and plenty of life in the disks.
Unless you're really restrained you'll have trouble sticking to 5000 mls p.a between your son and yourself. You'll be fighting over the keys more like
As for rust I've recently noticed the area just round the front wipers my 96 C2S has just started showing slight bubbling and I'm currently waiting on OPC Reading on whether they'll do this under the 10year bodywork warranty. Other things to check is the condition of the shocks and that the sliding roof works perfectly. Zenith Blue is a imo a good colour (would say that, colour of my current car). I think the Targa's look great esp. with the split rim style alloys.
I'd get yourself down there for a test drive!
P.S. There's a good short summary of the 993 targa features on this site I found (no affiliation I should add...) www.performance2and4.co.uk/993_2_n.htm
Unless you're really restrained you'll have trouble sticking to 5000 mls p.a between your son and yourself. You'll be fighting over the keys more like
As for rust I've recently noticed the area just round the front wipers my 96 C2S has just started showing slight bubbling and I'm currently waiting on OPC Reading on whether they'll do this under the 10year bodywork warranty. Other things to check is the condition of the shocks and that the sliding roof works perfectly. Zenith Blue is a imo a good colour (would say that, colour of my current car). I think the Targa's look great esp. with the split rim style alloys.
I'd get yourself down there for a test drive!
P.S. There's a good short summary of the 993 targa features on this site I found (no affiliation I should add...) www.performance2and4.co.uk/993_2_n.htm
Los Angeles said:
POORCARDEALER said:
You looked at 50 cars before buying !!! You would be hard pushed to find a dozen 993 Targa Tips for sale at same time in uk
I didn't suggest all the 993s I saw were Tiptronic. On the other side of the coin; some dealers were extremely misleading in their descriptions and for that are worth avoiding.
Edited by Los Angeles on Friday 23 June 09:31
what's more of a shock......... a manual 911 in california !
Thanks verysideways & PTE933 for your comments, especially the assurance about high mileage and things to look out for. I've had details on the blue Targa at Northway Porsche and also spoke to 911virgin who have a silver Targa (my favoured colour) for sale. Unfortunately that one has a blue interior, which is the one colour interior I didn't want. The car at Northway Porsche has a blue dash so it seems I can't get away from the colour! I'm still not ruling out the private sale Targa I was offered, but the lack of service history still bothers me and for 2K more it seems I can get a full specialist service history. Anyway, I'm hoping to view two this weekend and will take things from there. We viewed one car at a dealer near our home, and although it was a two owner car with 64,000 on the clock there were signs of rust repair on the top of the rear wing where it meets the roof, the rear bumper was badly scratched and someone had used a buffer and gone through the clear coat on the front wing. Too much paint needed so we walked away from that one...a very hard thing to do! I'll let you know if we purchase one up your way verysideways, it would be good to meet.
BOUGHT ONE
Bought a 993 Targa today, will be picking it up on 15th July when my son gets back. Bought it from 911virgin and really impressed with both the car and the service. No pressure, all the time we wanted, and most helpful and polite. Even took the spare wheel out to see if I could fit a wheelchair in the boot...which I can Can't wait to pick it up, hope the weather holds! After all I said about not wanting a blue interior....we've got a blue interior 
Thanks to everyone who offered advice, much appreciated, Clive
Bought a 993 Targa today, will be picking it up on 15th July when my son gets back. Bought it from 911virgin and really impressed with both the car and the service. No pressure, all the time we wanted, and most helpful and polite. Even took the spare wheel out to see if I could fit a wheelchair in the boot...which I can
Can't wait to pick it up, hope the weather holds! After all I said about not wanting a blue interior....we've got a blue interior Thanks to everyone who offered advice, much appreciated, Clive
Congratulations, Clive! I'm sure you'll love it - I'm still enjoying every opportunity to drive mine after 30 months of ownership. As I don't do trackdays (getting a bit long in the tooth for that!) and I'm therefore constrained by public roads, I find that my Tiptronic Targa has all the performance I can usefully handle, together with the comfort and open-air qualities that make it a delight to be in whatever the weather. I ran a 928 S4 for seven years and loved it, but this Targa tops even that starship for looks and fun. Enjoy!
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