993 4s at 4star classics, hampshire
Discussion
Gents, a bit of help and advise in this case would be much appreciated. I stumbled across the advert from 4star classics, hampshire for a neat looking 993 4S. Being about 700km away from them I´d like to avoid a disappointment by travelling there and not seing what I´ve been expecting.
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...
Has anyone on here had experience, good or bad, with 4stars or even better: has anyone on PH seen this car in flesh?
Thanks for your help, chaps.
Marius
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...
Has anyone on here had experience, good or bad, with 4stars or even better: has anyone on PH seen this car in flesh?
Thanks for your help, chaps.
Marius
Not bought a car from them, but have been down there to see another car. It's a nice little setup, the cars are in a large barn but as you can see they get all of the cars thoroughly detailed and take professional photos in a studio to make the best impression possible.
Of course, 'clean' doesn't mean great condition, but generally the cars are always good examples (and hence top money!) so you'd expect them to be good. They manage at least one customer's large collection hence why they often have low mileage cars.
Overall nothing bad to say about them, but like i say, no matter how well looked after it looks, i would never neglect a mechanical check over.
My two penneth on the 993 is that that Turbos should have Turbo bodykits, and non Turbos shouldn't.
Of course, 'clean' doesn't mean great condition, but generally the cars are always good examples (and hence top money!) so you'd expect them to be good. They manage at least one customer's large collection hence why they often have low mileage cars.
Overall nothing bad to say about them, but like i say, no matter how well looked after it looks, i would never neglect a mechanical check over.
My two penneth on the 993 is that that Turbos should have Turbo bodykits, and non Turbos shouldn't.
Not saying my experience is typical but this is my take on 4star having actually bought a car from them last year (Golf G60):
Nice enough guys to deal with & as said above, the cars are all in a big modern barn with a painted concrete floor - this helps if you want to look under the cars. The cars that leak oil tend to have drip trays from what I could see so that's a point to watch out for. The cars are quite well presented & there's no pressure selling at all; I was left alone with the keys to go over the car & start it etc. for a good 20 minutes. Detailed questions tend to get an "um, err, I'll have to go & check" type response & I got the impression that they simply have too much stock to know much detail off the top of their heads. The cars have been given a coat of some sort of silicon-based wax with fillers so look carefully for obvious paint nasties as this stuff is applied to cover them up. Pointing out the obvious paint issues got an "oh, I'd not seen that" response - Stevie Wonder could have felt the poor paint on the roof!
The G60 was originally up for silly money & didn't sell. They then dropped it to merely top money & although it was a nice original(ish) example, it did have some issues which after some negotiating (it was being sold on behalf of a collector & had been there for over a year!) resulted in a decent %age being knocked off. It had a new MOT applied by 4star and was almost immediately taken to a specialist after I bought it for a thorough going over which revealed a bent steering arm which it should have failed the MOT for. There was other evidence of bodging but who knows who was responsible & when it occurred. All that said, overall the car is a good 'un and you can't really expect perfection in a 23 year old car that's as rare as hen's teeth anyway. I'm happy
I think they price high & expect to be negotiated down to some extent. They also trade under a number of other names on the internet - not sure if this extends to their actual company names too.
Nice enough guys to deal with & as said above, the cars are all in a big modern barn with a painted concrete floor - this helps if you want to look under the cars. The cars that leak oil tend to have drip trays from what I could see so that's a point to watch out for. The cars are quite well presented & there's no pressure selling at all; I was left alone with the keys to go over the car & start it etc. for a good 20 minutes. Detailed questions tend to get an "um, err, I'll have to go & check" type response & I got the impression that they simply have too much stock to know much detail off the top of their heads. The cars have been given a coat of some sort of silicon-based wax with fillers so look carefully for obvious paint nasties as this stuff is applied to cover them up. Pointing out the obvious paint issues got an "oh, I'd not seen that" response - Stevie Wonder could have felt the poor paint on the roof!
The G60 was originally up for silly money & didn't sell. They then dropped it to merely top money & although it was a nice original(ish) example, it did have some issues which after some negotiating (it was being sold on behalf of a collector & had been there for over a year!) resulted in a decent %age being knocked off. It had a new MOT applied by 4star and was almost immediately taken to a specialist after I bought it for a thorough going over which revealed a bent steering arm which it should have failed the MOT for. There was other evidence of bodging but who knows who was responsible & when it occurred. All that said, overall the car is a good 'un and you can't really expect perfection in a 23 year old car that's as rare as hen's teeth anyway. I'm happy
I think they price high & expect to be negotiated down to some extent. They also trade under a number of other names on the internet - not sure if this extends to their actual company names too.
I've been using 4 star for a couple of years and seen lots of their stock. Set up by two guys James and Lucas who ran 4 star and 4 star trade for 4 years. About 4 months ago they separated and james took the 4 star name and carried on selling classic rare motors while Lucas wanted to focus on more modern high performance cars and set up image automotive holdings.
They are both good guys, look for rare, interesting and low mileage cars. They attempt to fix any issues they can find, and spend a lot of money preparing the cars. They both have there own mechanic who has been looking after my cars as he is excellent, and they both employee there own Detailer. Most detailing will try to be corrective of all swirl marks. Last time I was in they where detailing a Jenson with less than 10k that they had spent three days polishing as it came in heavily swirled. Looks ace now.
I have no association with them, but would highly recomend both. It won't be a wasted trip.
They are both good guys, look for rare, interesting and low mileage cars. They attempt to fix any issues they can find, and spend a lot of money preparing the cars. They both have there own mechanic who has been looking after my cars as he is excellent, and they both employee there own Detailer. Most detailing will try to be corrective of all swirl marks. Last time I was in they where detailing a Jenson with less than 10k that they had spent three days polishing as it came in heavily swirled. Looks ace now.
I have no association with them, but would highly recomend both. It won't be a wasted trip.
Would also recommend getting one of the Porsche specialists to look over the car like Peter Morgan: http://porscheinspections.com/porsche_inspections....
As you are spending a decent amount of money on a car it is definitely worth it. Peter knows the Porsche market very, very well. He will be able to give you a good idea of what the car is actually worth based upon the condition which may be useful for negotiations.
George
As you are spending a decent amount of money on a car it is definitely worth it. Peter knows the Porsche market very, very well. He will be able to give you a good idea of what the car is actually worth based upon the condition which may be useful for negotiations.
George
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