Buying Porsche 997 advice

[gollum2018]

Hi it's been a very long time since I have owned a Porsche my last was a 924 new lol.
Any how I want one now children married and just me a d the good lady.
The car will be a Friday to Sunday car.

I have found a 996 with only 54k on a 2005 plate. Seller ( dealer not porsche but reputable) has stated to me the car has had Borescope done and was clear. New updated IMS by Porsche main dealer with results and receipts to prove.. Also car was purchased by a doctor in 2010 as approved used and has only done average of 3k a year. I have looked at its mot history and has only ever had one fail for a faulty tyre and never had a advisory.
Car is a 3.8 C2s manual with 355bhp in silver with black leather and looks in amazing condition. It has full Porshe main dealer history.

The advice wanted is even though borescope done and clear does that mean it should be ok in future ? If not is there anything that can be done to prevent it in future.

Also a car that's never had a advisory has been meticulously look after or its saving it all up for me.

The price is a bit under 23k.

Any thoughts on whether this car worth the price and anything else I need to check on.
Any advice apreciated
Thanks

[peterg1955]

If it is a 2005 3.8 C2S then it's not a 996.....

Sounds like a Gen1 997 to me

[Mariosbt]

From what I can gather the very early 996 cars had better engines. Ideally a 997.2 would be better, or for £23K an 06/07 997.1 with the bores checked and with regular oil changes , warmed up properly etc. during your ownership. 996 were never the most popular 911 so £23K seems a bit expensive IMO. Good luck with whatever you choose & keep us posted.

[gollum2018]

Sorry typo it is 997 gen 1

[gollum2018]

This is car

[p4cks]

Honestly avoid a 996.1, 996.2 and the 997.1 like the plague (fking awful things) and just get whichever 997.2 your budget allows

[Mariosbt]

gollum2018 said:

This is car

That is an early 997.1 unless it’s had a re-built engine by Hartech I wouldn’t touch it.! Sorry.

[G-996]

I own a 996 Gen 2, and IMHO that sounds like a good price for that car. You would struggle to find a decent 997.1 cheaper than that. I dare say you might find one around the £20k mark if you tried hard enough, but it would probably swallow £5k or more in “catch up” maintenance pretty quickly.

[Scrump]

gollum2018 said:

Sorry typo it is 997 gen 1

Thread title updated.

[deebs]

p4cks said:

Honestly avoid a 996.1, 996.2 and the 997.1 like the plague (fking awful things) and just get whichever 997.2 your budget allows

Why the 996.1?

[p4cks]

deebs said:

p4cks said:

Honestly avoid a 996.1, 996.2 and the 997.1 like the plague (fking awful things) and just get whichever 997.2 your budget allows

Why the 996.1?

IMS bearing issues.

[Marley71]

I bought mine (997.1) at 54k and shortly after, rear suspension bushes and coffin arms needed replaced. Also alternator wire loom went too.. Porsche said this is well known to happen..

Apart from that it's been fantastic. I think that's a really good price. Bore scoring thing is dependant on who you wish to listen too.

[530dTPhil]

I recently bought a very clean two owner 2010 Carrera 3.6 PDK with 42,000 miles as a private sale.
A crash course in 996 and 997 buying guides and looking at some really nice 997.1 cars made my mind up that I wouldn't want to take the risk of bore scoring.
There were plenty of 2008 on cars with trade sellers but the number of previous owners put me off even looking at some of the cars.
The car that I bought had a full Porsche service history, twenty two months of a Porsche warranty and a recent invoice for £4700 for a service, gearbox and brake fluid change, plug and belt change, 111 point inspection for the renewal of the warranty, the cost of the warranty plus two new rear tyres and a battery.
I paid low 30s for the car and am delighted with the deal. It's just had a full valet and ceramic coating. A full set of wheel bolts and four new wheel centre caps are the only other expense so far.
Once I knew what to look out for and avoid, it was a case of being patient until the right car for me came along.|

Edited by 530dTPhil on Thursday 20th February 19:34

[gollum2018]

Marley71 said:

I bought mine (997.1) at 54k and shortly after, rear suspension bushes and coffin arms needed replaced. Also alternator wire loom went too.. Porsche said this is well known to happen..

Apart from that it's been fantastic. I think that's a really good price. Bore scoring thing is dependant on who you wish to listen too.

It came up clear from a bore scope test and it has had a updated IMS fitted via porsche dealer with invoices to prove. I would imagine that it has been pampered as not one not advisory since new and one owner for last 10 years who PX it for a classic car.

[gollum2018]

My other idea is to get this Boxter 3.2s for 4k and rag it around for a bit. I have viewed this and it is in immaculate condition with new updated roof with glass rear screen and it unmarked inside and out. All mot advisorys on this were done before next mot aswell so well carefored motor.

[gollum2018]

[Andyoz]

530dTPhil said:

I recently bought a very clean two owner 2010 Carrera 3.6 PDK with 42,000 miles as a private sale.
A crash course in 996 and 997 buying guides and looking at some really nice 997.1 cars made my mind up that I wouldn't want to take the risk of bore scoring.
There were plenty of 2008 on cars with trade sellers but the number of previous owners put me off even looking at some of the cars.
The car that I bought had a full Porsche service history, twenty two months of a Porsche warranty and a recent invoice for £4700 for a service, gearbox and brake fluid change, plug and belt change, 111 point inspection for the renewal of the warranty, the cost of the warranty plus two new rear tyres and a battery.
I paid low 30s for the car and am delighted with the deal. It's just had a full valet and ceramic coating. A full set of wheel bolts and four new wheel centre caps are the only other expense so far.
Once I knew what to look out for and avoid, it was a case of being patient until the right car for me came along.

You did well there. The 3.6 is meant to be great.

A manual would have fetched noticeably more.

Edited by Andyoz on Thursday 20th February 21:27

[brownspeed]

not all 997.1's bore score and need a Hartech rebuild*,
plenty of reading and friendly advice to be found here http://911uk.com/viewforum.php?f=7
also read https://www.hartech.org/images/downloads/Hartech%2...

• ok; mine did on the previous owner but there are plenty out there that haven't.

[Andyoz]

gollum2018 said:

Love that...just buy it!

[Magnum 475]

gollum2018 said:

Marley71 said:

I bought mine (997.1) at 54k and shortly after, rear suspension bushes and coffin arms needed replaced. Also alternator wire loom went too.. Porsche said this is well known to happen..

Apart from that it's been fantastic. I think that's a really good price. Bore scoring thing is dependant on who you wish to listen too.

It came up clear from a bore scope test and it has had a updated IMS fitted via porsche dealer with invoices to prove. I would imagine that it has been pampered as not one not advisory since new and one owner for last 10 years who PX it for a classic car.

Hmmm. I smell a rat here.

The M97 engine that would be fitted to this car has the later, 'large' IMS bearing. You can't just replace this bearing the way you can with the earlier 'small' bearing in the 996.2. To replace the IMS in an M97 engine requires the engine to be fully opened up, rather than just removing the flywheel and swapping the bearing out. There are some '05 cars with the 'small' bearing - 3.2 Boxsters. I've never heard of the small bearing being fitted to a 3.8 997 though.