Remember those sub £10k 996s from a few years ago?
Discussion
Well I bought one, in June 2013 actually. Here is my experience so far in case anyone else is curious about the cars or tempted to buy one.
It is an MY99 with a build date of November 1998 so is exactly 20 years old this month, and I have owned it for over a quarter of its life.
This was the tantalising advert:
Spotted it on eBay, no bids, listed as "grey" but i knew from the photos it was was not simply "grey" as listed on the V5. Terrible advert but that is where the deals are to be done. He who dares Rodney etc. So I took a train up to Fife to see it. I love getting trains long distance to see cars, I can work on the train and its a fun day out. Usually sellers will meet you at a nearby train station, but Its very awkward asking for a taxi number when you don't buy their car.....
This was the 4th 996 sub £10k I had seen, all were described as good cars, but none were. This one was rare in that everything worked - air con, clutch, windows, window drop on door open, sunroof the lot, the car had no gremlin electrical faults. However something was knocking like a trooper on rough surfaces and the front end alignment was out of whack- I figured suspension on a 14 year old car would need attention anyway and is fairly easy to do - I could see no damage or anything untoward.
On the whole it was the best sub £10k car I saw and the rare colour was the icing on the cake. The seller had run 19" 997 wheels, swapped to 17" C4 wheels for the sale, thats fine - big wheels ruin the ride as I found on previous test drives.
We shook on it and I drove it home, listening to the seller's CDs (one of the pleasures of buying privately is the random music you acquire).
I was like a kid in a sweet shop, I had a 911! Me? a 911?! What has gone on in the world that means a 911 -the worlds best all round performance car - is affordable by me?!
Well I would soon find out the true cost over the next 5 years.
It is an MY99 with a build date of November 1998 so is exactly 20 years old this month, and I have owned it for over a quarter of its life.
This was the tantalising advert:
Spotted it on eBay, no bids, listed as "grey" but i knew from the photos it was was not simply "grey" as listed on the V5. Terrible advert but that is where the deals are to be done. He who dares Rodney etc. So I took a train up to Fife to see it. I love getting trains long distance to see cars, I can work on the train and its a fun day out. Usually sellers will meet you at a nearby train station, but Its very awkward asking for a taxi number when you don't buy their car.....
This was the 4th 996 sub £10k I had seen, all were described as good cars, but none were. This one was rare in that everything worked - air con, clutch, windows, window drop on door open, sunroof the lot, the car had no gremlin electrical faults. However something was knocking like a trooper on rough surfaces and the front end alignment was out of whack- I figured suspension on a 14 year old car would need attention anyway and is fairly easy to do - I could see no damage or anything untoward.
On the whole it was the best sub £10k car I saw and the rare colour was the icing on the cake. The seller had run 19" 997 wheels, swapped to 17" C4 wheels for the sale, thats fine - big wheels ruin the ride as I found on previous test drives.
We shook on it and I drove it home, listening to the seller's CDs (one of the pleasures of buying privately is the random music you acquire).
I was like a kid in a sweet shop, I had a 911! Me? a 911?! What has gone on in the world that means a 911 -the worlds best all round performance car - is affordable by me?!
Well I would soon find out the true cost over the next 5 years.
Edited by was8v on Wednesday 7th November 09:29
Thanks for the interest!
Well when I got it home I took stock of what I'd bought.
Its actually Vesuvio Grey Metallic 40X, a fairly rare special order colour on the 996. Also being an MY'99 it has a cable throttle and no PASM to get in the way of me wrapping it round a tree.
As I would later find out, these early 3.4 had the strongest IMS bearings meaning very few failures.
They also have a more robust ferrous coating on the pistons which does not disintegrate unlike the 3.6, meaning the bores have a much better chance of getting to old age.
I knew none of this before buying, I just bought at the bottom of the market from a bad advert.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the engine, stonking drive home. There was the aforementioned knock from the front right, and the tracking was off meaning the wheel was not dead ahead. The tyres were ten years old relics and there was a dubious laser jammer fitted (which I think I had "on" on the drive home not knowing what the switch was for.....).
The car not only had a "full service history" but the kind of history Porsche buyers dream of. The car was supplied to the channel islands, and then moved to London and then Scotland. The book was stamped with a "who's who" of OPCs and thousands spent at specialists including Jaz and SP Autobahn. Old receipts were not present, but later supplied by a serendipitous encounter with a previous owner, he told me the car had won a TIPEC concourse a few years earlier looking like this - shortly after having some bodywork repaired after a bit of an accident:
I have this condition inherited from my dad that means I can't bring myself to pay someone else to do something that I could do myself, even if it takes me ten times longer. So I have done all my own spannering.
Dad also taught me the value of compound interest and an early retirement, so I'm also tight and don't like spending money. So I've not done anything really unnecessary, and searched out the best value OE manufacturer replacement parts.
Now I reckon cars are engineered to last 15 years. So buying a 14 year old car I knew I'd be constantly replacing parts - I'd had Golf GTIs etc of similar vintage and didn't expect a Porsche to be any different. But, this age is usually the bottom of the depreciation curve so for someone with skills to maintain a car it makes some kind of sense (tell that to my wife).
Here is how it looks at the moment:
I've kept a spreadsheet of every expense which I will go through year by year in the next posts.
I've had it for 5 years and about 30k miles.
Well when I got it home I took stock of what I'd bought.
Its actually Vesuvio Grey Metallic 40X, a fairly rare special order colour on the 996. Also being an MY'99 it has a cable throttle and no PASM to get in the way of me wrapping it round a tree.
As I would later find out, these early 3.4 had the strongest IMS bearings meaning very few failures.
They also have a more robust ferrous coating on the pistons which does not disintegrate unlike the 3.6, meaning the bores have a much better chance of getting to old age.
I knew none of this before buying, I just bought at the bottom of the market from a bad advert.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the engine, stonking drive home. There was the aforementioned knock from the front right, and the tracking was off meaning the wheel was not dead ahead. The tyres were ten years old relics and there was a dubious laser jammer fitted (which I think I had "on" on the drive home not knowing what the switch was for.....).
The car not only had a "full service history" but the kind of history Porsche buyers dream of. The car was supplied to the channel islands, and then moved to London and then Scotland. The book was stamped with a "who's who" of OPCs and thousands spent at specialists including Jaz and SP Autobahn. Old receipts were not present, but later supplied by a serendipitous encounter with a previous owner, he told me the car had won a TIPEC concourse a few years earlier looking like this - shortly after having some bodywork repaired after a bit of an accident:
I have this condition inherited from my dad that means I can't bring myself to pay someone else to do something that I could do myself, even if it takes me ten times longer. So I have done all my own spannering.
Dad also taught me the value of compound interest and an early retirement, so I'm also tight and don't like spending money. So I've not done anything really unnecessary, and searched out the best value OE manufacturer replacement parts.
Now I reckon cars are engineered to last 15 years. So buying a 14 year old car I knew I'd be constantly replacing parts - I'd had Golf GTIs etc of similar vintage and didn't expect a Porsche to be any different. But, this age is usually the bottom of the depreciation curve so for someone with skills to maintain a car it makes some kind of sense (tell that to my wife).
Here is how it looks at the moment:
I've kept a spreadsheet of every expense which I will go through year by year in the next posts.
I've had it for 5 years and about 30k miles.
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 10:15
Edited by was8v on Tuesday 6th November 10:17
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