996 C4S buying advice...

[Austin3000]

I am currently in the market for a 996 C4S but there seems to be large disparity in prices and I want to make sure I'm in the right ball park with my budget and what I can expect regarding condition and history.

I've always bought on condition and history and I'm always wary when there are any gaps in service history. There are currently no C4S's local to me (Leeds) and a lot of those in my price range (mid teens) seem to have gaps in their service history (2+ years and 35k in some cases) so I'm wary to travel and see them.

My expectations are less than (or not much more) than 100k miles, full service history with majority specialist and plenty of life left in clutch, brakes and tyres. Is it possible for under £15k?

Anybody else recently bought a C4S and would like to share experiences, things they noticed etc I would be grateful.

Cheers!

[Magic919]

These cars are the sought after NA 996 and continue to hold their money well. They are 10 years old and condition will vary quite a bit. Amount of care lavished on the car will vary too.

You should be able to find a tidy one with rads and bits replaced,, but expect to travel and to spend more. For a private sale you might be able to grab on for an extra couple of grand.

[L500]

Do some searching on here also - plenty of advice to be had.

General rule is, you get what you pay for. Good ones are high teens, low 20's still from Indy's or Dealers. Privately you'll save of course.

Most Indy and Dealers would give 6 months warranty also - some peace of mind for a while.

That said, just do your homework on the log book. If your budget is £15k - consider running costs also. Standard annual service should be £400-500.

[kas750]

My advice would be to get a borescope check on any car that you are seriously considering buying.
2 years ago I was looking for a C4s and checked 3 cars and all 3 had scored bores!
I was advised at the time to buy a c4s but keep a contingency of 8k for any possible engine disaster.
In the end I pooled my resources and bought a 996 turbo and the rest is history.
They are a very pretty car but in the end the worry about the engines was an over-riding factor which was justified by the engine problems that I found..Maybe I was just unlucky?

[burman]

As I have said many times before ,check condition of brakes and tyres, both expensive items and an excellent indicator of overall condition of the car.

[Shaoxter]

Austin3000 said:

My expectations are less than (or not much more) than 100k miles, full service history with majority specialist and plenty of life left in clutch, brakes and tyres. Is it possible for under £15k?

You wouldn't get a car for £15k which meets all those criteria, but find another couple of grand and you should be able to find a nice example.

Main issues are obviously IMS and bore scoring, but watch out for cracks in the exhaust and the vacuum actuators if it's a PSE, in which case you'd looking at £3-4k for a replacement! (other aftermarket options available though).

[umirza85]

Just bought a C4S 2003 in the very high teens. Got a borescope check done which came out clear (i.e a few marks but nothing out of the ordinary for a car with 70k miles I've been told). Definitely spent some time looking for it and I would say its worth taking your time to find a nice C4S, they look great. If you have any questions just pm me.

[umirza85]

If I didnt just buy my C4S this is the car I would put every effort into getting.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

Just posted up now. I've spent the last 3 months or so searching hard and this would have ticked all the boxes for me to go out take a look and put an offer down.

[Roberty]

At £15k you're going to be looking at the bottom end of the market, High milers, poor service histories, dents, dings and or potential problems.

I know as this is a little less than my original budget a year ago when I bought mine and in the last 12 months the market for this model hasn't really changed much.

Paying a bit more for a quality car makes far more sense than justifying a cheap car by trying to overlook it's deficiencies.

You can't (legally) take the miles off or rebuild a missed service history.

Fixing problems and catching up with missed maintenance will cost far more in the long run than paying the extra £4-6k for a quality car with low miles, a good service history and possibly even a warranty for 6 to 12 months piece of mind.

My recommendation would be to save a little longer and be prepared to travel far and wide for the right car.

[Austin3000]

Thanks for all the words of wisdom. It's put a bit of a dampener on my 911 dream though. Maybe I should aim a bit lower and go for a better example 3.4.

Out of curiosity, what are people's thoughts of this? Seems to have some good providence but is there something I'm missing?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Regarding the boroscope testing, is this something any specialist can do? (Autofarm? Revolution?)

Also, should the buyer or the seller be responsible for paying for the inspection?

Cheers!

[bigunit00]

Austin3000 said:

Thanks for all the words of wisdom. It's put a bit of a dampener on my 911 dream though. Maybe I should aim a bit lower and go for a better example 3.4.

Out of curiosity, what are people's thoughts of this? Seems to have some good providence but is there something I'm missing?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Regarding the boroscope testing, is this something any specialist can do? (Autofarm? Revolution?)

Also, should the buyer or the seller be responsible for paying for the inspection?

Cheers!

Did you note it's actually a silver car which has been wrapped in yellow?

[Shewie]

It might be fine but I'd say the wrap would put a lot of people off...

I'm just about to put my 2003 C4S up for sale which seems to fit most of your criteria. The car is in the West Midlands, so not local to you but feel free to PM me if you want details.

Paul

[Austin3000]

bigunit00 said:

Did you note it's actually a silver car which has been wrapped in yellow?

Yeah, I got that but can see past it as it's removable.

Is it hiding some dodgy paint work or had it been protecting it for years?

[Roberty]

Austin3000 said:

Thanks for all the words of wisdom. It's put a bit of a dampener on my 911 dream though. Maybe I should aim a bit lower and go for a better example 3.4.

Out of curiosity, what are people's thoughts of this? Seems to have some good providence but is there something I'm missing?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Regarding the boroscope testing, is this something any specialist can do? (Autofarm? Revolution?)

Also, should the buyer or the seller be responsible for paying for the inspection?

Cheers!

A £15k 996 3.4 May yet still go down in value, a Good C4S should retain it's value and given time it may even rise.

Keep looking at private sales, save or think about a little additional finance if a C4S is the goal.

This one you have linked to may be great, you'll have to take the plunge and go and look but for me two things would bother me straight away.

One is that it is a wrap, I'd want to see the condition of the original paintwork. A wrap is cheaper than a re spray so could be hiding something, it might not, it might be fine but I wouldn't be taking their word for it.

The other is the price, why is it so cheap? Sure it's got a few miles on it but given the advertised service history then it should be for sale for nearer £16k than £14k.

Other minor points are: Non-original wheel colour and will they look right when the car is silver again? Do they still have the original wheel centres! As they are expensive to replace. Exhaust tips seem to be hanging low, they are removable with some adjustment but look rather low to me. Rear badges? Front lip spoiler is from a Turbo not a C4S. Minor points as I say and it depends whether you are looking for originality or not?

Got to be worth a call though given your budget?

Do get it professionally inspected if you consider taking the plunge (it's at your cost I'm afraid) and do be aware that even a good one can throw up some huge bills from time to time.

Best of luck.

[Dave Thornton]

Austin3000 said:

Thanks for all the words of wisdom. It's put a bit of a dampener on my 911 dream though. Maybe I should aim a bit lower and go for a better example 3.4.

Out of curiosity, what are people's thoughts of this? Seems to have some good providence but is there something I'm missing?

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

Regarding the boroscope testing, is this something any specialist can do? (Autofarm? Revolution?)

Also, should the buyer or the seller be responsible for paying for the inspection?

Cheers!

Worth checking when the pictures were taken - certainly not in the last 3 months. The drivers seat looks extremely good for 94k.

[dank]

agree with other replies, that yellow C4S does look initially good, then delving deeper plenty of questions raised and it does seem a bit on the cheap side, but it maybe all spot on!?

I was in same situation as you over 2 years ago, prices for the C4S were higher then, i was looking at 22/24k cars, prices seem to have dropped quite a bit now, anyway i ended up buying a 996 Turbo which was a lot more than my original budget. If you can't squeeze the budget to move to a Turbo, definitely look at top end C4S priced cars and ideally from an Indie dealer, the worries about bore scoring etc really put me off sinking all that cash into something that could go bang...ruining the dream of owning a 911 at last! You will definitely need a safety fund too, for rads, tyres, etc etc, much better to go into ownership with eyes wide open and understand buying a cheap C4S with no back up fund could potentially be a huge disaster!

[Pugley]

If you want to really scare yourself - just search Ebay for 996's under £10K and see how many pop up with some form of engine repair needed?

And I thought the Rover K series engine was bad!

Lights blue touch paper ...............................

[monthefish]

Pugley said:

If you want to really scare yourself - just search Ebay for 996's under £10K and see how many pop up with some form of engine repair needed?

And I thought the Rover K series engine was bad!

Good scaremongering.

Out of interest, I did what you suggested and had a look.
There's one.


Nice try.

[Gmund]

burman said:

As I have said many times before ,check condition of brakes and tyres, both expensive items and an excellent indicator of overall condition of the car.

So, so true.

[Gmund]

OP, if you've never owned a Porsche before, and you're looking to buy one to tick the '911' box, you need to do some research. If you've saved £15K to buy a C4S (which is bottom of the barrel for one of these) and you have no contingency, I say be very careful. If your 'new' C4S wants a few everyday items such as tyres, discs, pads and a service, you're looking at a bill that could buy you a nice car! If the infamous M96 wants for any of the components for which its reputation is well discussed on here, you're potentially looking at a bill that could buy you half of your C4S again! For all I know you could be a millionaire looking for a 'cheap' run around for the South of France. However, if £15K is all you've got, knowledge is what you need. After all that prudence, I would like to add that for me and for many of the people on here, they're quite simply the finest motorcars of all time. Good luck.