Discussion
It's been 15 years since my last Porsche so after owning various performance vehicles in between I thought it was time to return to the fold. For anyone interested this is the story so far.
Having spent the last few months looking for a pristine FPSH low mileage 996 C4S with an IMS upgrade budget in reserve I finally chickened out and decided to take a punt on the lowest priced 996 Turbo I could find- £22,975. My decision to do this was heaviliy influenced by the research I had done online about these two very different vehicles from the 996 range. This car was to be a daily driver 100-150miles per week and it had to be reliable and fun and ideally not lose me too much money during ownership.
My car is a 2002 996 Turbo, Tiptronic, Seal Grey with full black leather on 62k miles, 12 months MOT (one advisory of slight movement in front offside strut) with a lot of previous owners, a reasonable amount of service history and, wait for it a CAT D! insurance status due to previous light cosmetic damage to the front end. Recent new coil packs, plugs, fluid and filter change.
By the way Insuring a CAT D vehicle was no problem and carried no additional costs other than £110 more in premium over my 330i, happy days!
The seller - An independent car dealership in Kent called Williams Group. These guys were very helpful dealing with my initial enquiry and carrying out the various checks I asked them to perform prior to my even seeing the vehicle, they are 100 miles from my doorstep. The list of checks covered all the usual Turbo issues: rotten heatshileds, rotten radiators, rotten exhaust mounts, suspension check, spoiler functionality..... My £500 deposit was taken prior to this being carried out.
I also had a bunch of things to check myself once I got to finally see the prepped car, approximately 3 weeks later: Cooling systems and associated fluid levels, oil pressure, airconditioning, engine noise, bodywork, tyres..........
I was handed the keys by the sales guy Jaz and he left me alone with the car for over an hour whilst he dealt with another customer. All the main things on the car checked out perfectly including excellent cold and hot oil pressures, cooling fans running when they should, effective air conditioning (re-gassed whilst I was there) and no unwanted noises or smoke from the engine at warm idle, all switches and functions worked as they should and the leather interior was in excellent condition.
On the test drive which was a decent half hour plus at a variety of speeds the car pulled like a train smoothly through the gears in both auto and manual modes, stopped perfectly and in a straight line and maintained perfect oil pressure at the various engine speeds.
The good bits included some pleasant surprises by far outweighing the bad bits - newer more comfortable Hardback Sports Seats fitted, Euro Cup GT Sports exhaust fitted, LED rear lights upgrade fitted, clear LED third stop light, Colour coded front lip/splitter. & Gorgeous unmarked 18" OZ Ultraleggera Alloys in grey. Personally I have never cared for after market wheels but these things look amazing on the car.
The bad bits - Odd tyre on the rear! I couldn't believe that there was a PZero on the back with the other three tyres being Continentals, my only critiscism of the dealer is that they failed to advise me on the tyres. Glove box retaining strap was broken- shall effect my own fix at some stage. Seat belt strap on the passenger side was broken- bought one new for £28. Door mirror control trim fell off- I have re-attached myself. No washers on the headlights- these units were swapped after the original damage. Lowered suspension! I'm stating this as a bad bit as until I have it identified by West Tuning see below it's not great on anything but a smooth flat road the ride feels harsh and the handling is a little nervous.
So we did the deal at pretty much the asking price less my BMW 330i MSport trade in and the £100 from the dealer towards the odd tyre, oh and they filled the car with fuel for me which was a nice touch. I then made the spot decision to take a 12 month warrany with a £5k per claim limit from them as I was spending less than I had originally intended to spend on the C4S! I will let you know if the warranty stands up in the event of a problem.
The drive home - this was basically M20, M26, M25 and M3 - the car was flawless delivering 32.5mpg by the time I was home. Mpg now reads 18.9 after a couple of quick but sensible trips to and from work and taking a few friends for a spin!
What about that thirteen year old Tiptronic box? All I can say is that the Tiptronic box is the best I have experienced to date I believe the ecu has 200 driver maps and so far it hasn't put a foot wrong maybe its not for the purists but for me its perfect, plus it seems to offer a bit of insurance against over revving by previous owners, correct me if I'm wrong of course.
First use at night and great no headlights! it appears the switches are a bit poor. A bit of fiddling got them on so a quick clean with contact or MAF cleaner and all will I'm sure be OK. Maybe a new switch under the warranty will be the way to go if it fails again.
On parking the car in a tight spot in a carpark I got PSM / ABS failure! - Oh dear I thought my world was coming to an end how can this be happening? well no biggy, as it happens there are a number of simple reasons for this message and other than total failure of the ABS unit none of them appear too hard/expensive to rectify. As my problem appears to be triggered by low speed full lock steering activity I am pretty confident it is the steering angle sensor being in need of calibration. On engine restart the problem went away and as yet hasn't returned.
Took the car out today 24/07/2015 for the first time in the wet, wasn't sure how those odd rear tyres would behave but I have to say the car was almost flawless the Turbo loves this damp weather, the breaks are awesome god only knows what the ceramic ones are like and the the handling is great certainly more fun than in the dry.... what a car this thing is I am totally hooked. The smile hasn't left my face since I picked it up.
Next stop West Tuning - performance and race car specialists based at Thruxton Race circuit on 30/07/2015. I'm planning on using these guys for the ongoing maintenance of the car. But my first visit is to have the car inspected especially the lowered suspension and general geometry and to have what I believe to be the cause of the PSM and ABS failure message: the steering angle sensor re-calibrated with their Durametric. Once done I can hopefully address the tyre situation and treat the vehicle to new boots all round. It is early days of course and I will update again soon if anyone is still interested!
Having spent the last few months looking for a pristine FPSH low mileage 996 C4S with an IMS upgrade budget in reserve I finally chickened out and decided to take a punt on the lowest priced 996 Turbo I could find- £22,975. My decision to do this was heaviliy influenced by the research I had done online about these two very different vehicles from the 996 range. This car was to be a daily driver 100-150miles per week and it had to be reliable and fun and ideally not lose me too much money during ownership.
My car is a 2002 996 Turbo, Tiptronic, Seal Grey with full black leather on 62k miles, 12 months MOT (one advisory of slight movement in front offside strut) with a lot of previous owners, a reasonable amount of service history and, wait for it a CAT D! insurance status due to previous light cosmetic damage to the front end. Recent new coil packs, plugs, fluid and filter change.
By the way Insuring a CAT D vehicle was no problem and carried no additional costs other than £110 more in premium over my 330i, happy days!
The seller - An independent car dealership in Kent called Williams Group. These guys were very helpful dealing with my initial enquiry and carrying out the various checks I asked them to perform prior to my even seeing the vehicle, they are 100 miles from my doorstep. The list of checks covered all the usual Turbo issues: rotten heatshileds, rotten radiators, rotten exhaust mounts, suspension check, spoiler functionality..... My £500 deposit was taken prior to this being carried out.
I also had a bunch of things to check myself once I got to finally see the prepped car, approximately 3 weeks later: Cooling systems and associated fluid levels, oil pressure, airconditioning, engine noise, bodywork, tyres..........
I was handed the keys by the sales guy Jaz and he left me alone with the car for over an hour whilst he dealt with another customer. All the main things on the car checked out perfectly including excellent cold and hot oil pressures, cooling fans running when they should, effective air conditioning (re-gassed whilst I was there) and no unwanted noises or smoke from the engine at warm idle, all switches and functions worked as they should and the leather interior was in excellent condition.
On the test drive which was a decent half hour plus at a variety of speeds the car pulled like a train smoothly through the gears in both auto and manual modes, stopped perfectly and in a straight line and maintained perfect oil pressure at the various engine speeds.
The good bits included some pleasant surprises by far outweighing the bad bits - newer more comfortable Hardback Sports Seats fitted, Euro Cup GT Sports exhaust fitted, LED rear lights upgrade fitted, clear LED third stop light, Colour coded front lip/splitter. & Gorgeous unmarked 18" OZ Ultraleggera Alloys in grey. Personally I have never cared for after market wheels but these things look amazing on the car.
The bad bits - Odd tyre on the rear! I couldn't believe that there was a PZero on the back with the other three tyres being Continentals, my only critiscism of the dealer is that they failed to advise me on the tyres. Glove box retaining strap was broken- shall effect my own fix at some stage. Seat belt strap on the passenger side was broken- bought one new for £28. Door mirror control trim fell off- I have re-attached myself. No washers on the headlights- these units were swapped after the original damage. Lowered suspension! I'm stating this as a bad bit as until I have it identified by West Tuning see below it's not great on anything but a smooth flat road the ride feels harsh and the handling is a little nervous.
So we did the deal at pretty much the asking price less my BMW 330i MSport trade in and the £100 from the dealer towards the odd tyre, oh and they filled the car with fuel for me which was a nice touch. I then made the spot decision to take a 12 month warrany with a £5k per claim limit from them as I was spending less than I had originally intended to spend on the C4S! I will let you know if the warranty stands up in the event of a problem.
The drive home - this was basically M20, M26, M25 and M3 - the car was flawless delivering 32.5mpg by the time I was home. Mpg now reads 18.9 after a couple of quick but sensible trips to and from work and taking a few friends for a spin!
What about that thirteen year old Tiptronic box? All I can say is that the Tiptronic box is the best I have experienced to date I believe the ecu has 200 driver maps and so far it hasn't put a foot wrong maybe its not for the purists but for me its perfect, plus it seems to offer a bit of insurance against over revving by previous owners, correct me if I'm wrong of course.
First use at night and great no headlights! it appears the switches are a bit poor. A bit of fiddling got them on so a quick clean with contact or MAF cleaner and all will I'm sure be OK. Maybe a new switch under the warranty will be the way to go if it fails again.
On parking the car in a tight spot in a carpark I got PSM / ABS failure! - Oh dear I thought my world was coming to an end how can this be happening? well no biggy, as it happens there are a number of simple reasons for this message and other than total failure of the ABS unit none of them appear too hard/expensive to rectify. As my problem appears to be triggered by low speed full lock steering activity I am pretty confident it is the steering angle sensor being in need of calibration. On engine restart the problem went away and as yet hasn't returned.
Took the car out today 24/07/2015 for the first time in the wet, wasn't sure how those odd rear tyres would behave but I have to say the car was almost flawless the Turbo loves this damp weather, the breaks are awesome god only knows what the ceramic ones are like and the the handling is great certainly more fun than in the dry.... what a car this thing is I am totally hooked. The smile hasn't left my face since I picked it up.
Next stop West Tuning - performance and race car specialists based at Thruxton Race circuit on 30/07/2015. I'm planning on using these guys for the ongoing maintenance of the car. But my first visit is to have the car inspected especially the lowered suspension and general geometry and to have what I believe to be the cause of the PSM and ABS failure message: the steering angle sensor re-calibrated with their Durametric. Once done I can hopefully address the tyre situation and treat the vehicle to new boots all round. It is early days of course and I will update again soon if anyone is still interested!
Now being a ex-996 C4S owner (im in the V8 Vantage fraternity now im afraid) i wanted to congratulate on the purchase but mention a few things.
Tip Box....i had it on mine and actually enjoyed it as long as you use it correctly and never in auto. A lot of people say that the Tiptronic is better suited to the Turbo engine anyway.
Headlight switch...this happened to me as well. Bit of on and off a few times and the lights suddenly come on. Apparently its a known fault and i had mine sorted by OPC on a service. You may need a new switch though.
Enjoy the car!
Tip Box....i had it on mine and actually enjoyed it as long as you use it correctly and never in auto. A lot of people say that the Tiptronic is better suited to the Turbo engine anyway.
Headlight switch...this happened to me as well. Bit of on and off a few times and the lights suddenly come on. Apparently its a known fault and i had mine sorted by OPC on a service. You may need a new switch though.
Enjoy the car!
petop said:
Now being a ex-996 C4S owner (im in the V8 Vantage fraternity now im afraid) i wanted to congratulate on the purchase but mention a few things.
Tip Box....i had it on mine and actually enjoyed it as long as you use it correctly and never in auto. A lot of people say that the Tiptronic is better suited to the Turbo engine anyway.
Headlight switch...this happened to me as well. Bit of on and off a few times and the lights suddenly come on. Apparently its a known fault and i had mine sorted by OPC on a service. You may need a new switch though.
Enjoy the car!
Many thanks and I totally agree about the Tip its great to just tap it down a cog when you were in Auto mode sitting at 50 on the M25! and the road clears.As long as the car works out it will be a paddle upgrade for me. Enjoy that V8 of yoursTip Box....i had it on mine and actually enjoyed it as long as you use it correctly and never in auto. A lot of people say that the Tiptronic is better suited to the Turbo engine anyway.
Headlight switch...this happened to me as well. Bit of on and off a few times and the lights suddenly come on. Apparently its a known fault and i had mine sorted by OPC on a service. You may need a new switch though.
Enjoy the car!
OK so this is hopefully now turning into a living with and maintaining a cheap Cat D 996 Turbo long-term. So it has been raining again and the PSM ABS Failure has returned. I now think it is a faulty sensor rather than my initial suspicion of the steering calibration, if I switch the car on and off it goes away. In other news, yesterday I let my wife loose in the car and struggled to get the keys back from her. I also had my three and six year old's in the back with the appropriate seats/booster and even though I am 6ft my six year old had ample leg room behind me and my driving position was spot on.
b4bacon said:
It's been 15 years since my last Porsche so after owning various performance vehicles in between I thought it was time to return to the fold. For anyone interested this is the story so far.
Having spent the last few months looking for a pristine FPSH low mileage 996 C4S with an IMS upgrade budget in reserve I finally chickened out and decided to take a punt on the lowest priced 996 Turbo I could find- £22,975. My decision to do this was heaviliy influenced by the research I had done online about these two very different vehicles from the 996 range. This car was to be a daily driver 100-150miles per week and it had to be reliable and fun and ideally not lose me too much money during ownership.
My car is a 2002 996 Turbo, Tiptronic, Seal Grey with full black leather on 62k miles, 12 months MOT (one advisory of slight movement in front offside strut) with a lot of previous owners, a reasonable amount of service history and, wait for it a CAT D! insurance status due to previous light cosmetic damage to the front end. Recent new coil packs, plugs, fluid and filter change.
By the way Insuring a CAT D vehicle was no problem and carried no additional costs other than £110 more in premium over my 330i, happy days!
The seller - An independent car dealership in Kent called Williams Group. These guys were very helpful dealing with my initial enquiry and carrying out the various checks I asked them to perform prior to my even seeing the vehicle, they are 100 miles from my doorstep. The list of checks covered all the usual Turbo issues: rotten heatshileds, rotten radiators, rotten exhaust mounts, suspension check, spoiler functionality..... My £500 deposit was taken prior to this being carried out.
I also had a bunch of things to check myself once I got to finally see the prepped car, approximately 3 weeks later: Cooling systems and associated fluid levels, oil pressure, airconditioning, engine noise, bodywork, tyres..........
I was handed the keys by the sales guy Jaz and he left me alone with the car for over an hour whilst he dealt with another customer. All the main things on the car checked out perfectly including excellent cold and hot oil pressures, cooling fans running when they should, effective air conditioning (re-gassed whilst I was there) and no unwanted noises or smoke from the engine at warm idle, all switches and functions worked as they should and the leather interior was in excellent condition.
On the test drive which was a decent half hour plus at a variety of speeds the car pulled like a train smoothly through the gears in both auto and manual modes, stopped perfectly and in a straight line and maintained perfect oil pressure at the various engine speeds.
The good bits included some pleasant surprises by far outweighing the bad bits - newer more comfortable Hardback Sports Seats fitted, Euro Cup GT Sports exhaust fitted, LED rear lights upgrade fitted, clear LED third stop light, Colour coded front lip/splitter. & Gorgeous unmarked 18" OZ Ultraleggera Alloys in grey. Personally I have never cared for after market wheels but these things look amazing on the car.
The bad bits - Odd tyre on the rear! I couldn't believe that there was a PZero on the back with the other three tyres being Continentals, my only critiscism of the dealer is that they failed to advise me on the tyres. Glove box retaining strap was broken- shall effect my own fix at some stage. Seat belt strap on the passenger side was broken- bought one new for £28. Door mirror control trim fell off- I have re-attached myself. No washers on the headlights- these units were swapped after the original damage. Lowered suspension! I'm stating this as a bad bit as until I have it identified by West Tuning see below it's not great on anything but a smooth flat road the ride feels harsh and the handling is a little nervous.
So we did the deal at pretty much the asking price less my BMW 330i MSport trade in and the £100 from the dealer towards the odd tyre, oh and they filled the car with fuel for me which was a nice touch. I then made the spot decision to take a 12 month warrany with a £5k per claim limit from them as I was spending less than I had originally intended to spend on the C4S! I will let you know if the warranty stands up in the event of a problem.
The drive home - this was basically M20, M26, M25 and M3 - the car was flawless delivering 32.5mpg by the time I was home. Mpg now reads 18.9 after a couple of quick but sensible trips to and from work and taking a few friends for a spin!
What about that thirteen year old Tiptronic box? All I can say is that the Tiptronic box is the best I have experienced to date I believe the ecu has 200 driver maps and so far it hasn't put a foot wrong maybe its not for the purists but for me its perfect, plus it seems to offer a bit of insurance against over revving by previous owners, correct me if I'm wrong of course.
First use at night and great no headlights! it appears the switches are a bit poor. A bit of fiddling got them on so a quick clean with contact or MAF cleaner and all will I'm sure be OK. Maybe a new switch under the warranty will be the way to go if it fails again.
On parking the car in a tight spot in a carpark I got PSM / ABS failure! - Oh dear I thought my world was coming to an end how can this be happening? well no biggy, as it happens there are a number of simple reasons for this message and other than total failure of the ABS unit none of them appear too hard/expensive to rectify. As my problem appears to be triggered by low speed full lock steering activity I am pretty confident it is the steering angle sensor being in need of calibration. On engine restart the problem went away and as yet hasn't returned.
Took the car out today 24/07/2015 for the first time in the wet, wasn't sure how those odd rear tyres would behave but I have to say the car was almost flawless the Turbo loves this damp weather, the breaks are awesome god only knows what the ceramic ones are like and the the handling is great certainly more fun than in the dry.... what a car this thing is I am totally hooked. The smile hasn't left my face since I picked it up.
Next stop West Tuning - performance and race car specialists based at Thruxton Race circuit on 30/07/2015. I'm planning on using these guys for the ongoing maintenance of the car. But my first visit is to have the car inspected especially the lowered suspension and general geometry and to have what I believe to be the cause of the PSM and ABS failure message: the steering angle sensor re-calibrated with their Durametric. Once done I can hopefully address the tyre situation and treat the vehicle to new boots all round. It is early days of course and I will update again soon if anyone is still interested!
Today I popped over to West Tuning for a freebie hours inspection and diagnostic. To be honest I was nervous with the CAT D history in the back of my mind. Well it was all good. We identified the lowered suspension as BR Racing Coilovers - not the best apparently but perfectly OK for road use albeit on my car currently very badly set up. No health issues with the car just a few minor cosmetic telltales from the historic repair. The Durametric showed up the PSM ABS Failure to be a Front left rev sensor so a quick look on Ebay at Car Parts 4 Less and at £44.99 delivered I can't complain.Having spent the last few months looking for a pristine FPSH low mileage 996 C4S with an IMS upgrade budget in reserve I finally chickened out and decided to take a punt on the lowest priced 996 Turbo I could find- £22,975. My decision to do this was heaviliy influenced by the research I had done online about these two very different vehicles from the 996 range. This car was to be a daily driver 100-150miles per week and it had to be reliable and fun and ideally not lose me too much money during ownership.
My car is a 2002 996 Turbo, Tiptronic, Seal Grey with full black leather on 62k miles, 12 months MOT (one advisory of slight movement in front offside strut) with a lot of previous owners, a reasonable amount of service history and, wait for it a CAT D! insurance status due to previous light cosmetic damage to the front end. Recent new coil packs, plugs, fluid and filter change.
By the way Insuring a CAT D vehicle was no problem and carried no additional costs other than £110 more in premium over my 330i, happy days!
The seller - An independent car dealership in Kent called Williams Group. These guys were very helpful dealing with my initial enquiry and carrying out the various checks I asked them to perform prior to my even seeing the vehicle, they are 100 miles from my doorstep. The list of checks covered all the usual Turbo issues: rotten heatshileds, rotten radiators, rotten exhaust mounts, suspension check, spoiler functionality..... My £500 deposit was taken prior to this being carried out.
I also had a bunch of things to check myself once I got to finally see the prepped car, approximately 3 weeks later: Cooling systems and associated fluid levels, oil pressure, airconditioning, engine noise, bodywork, tyres..........
I was handed the keys by the sales guy Jaz and he left me alone with the car for over an hour whilst he dealt with another customer. All the main things on the car checked out perfectly including excellent cold and hot oil pressures, cooling fans running when they should, effective air conditioning (re-gassed whilst I was there) and no unwanted noises or smoke from the engine at warm idle, all switches and functions worked as they should and the leather interior was in excellent condition.
On the test drive which was a decent half hour plus at a variety of speeds the car pulled like a train smoothly through the gears in both auto and manual modes, stopped perfectly and in a straight line and maintained perfect oil pressure at the various engine speeds.
The good bits included some pleasant surprises by far outweighing the bad bits - newer more comfortable Hardback Sports Seats fitted, Euro Cup GT Sports exhaust fitted, LED rear lights upgrade fitted, clear LED third stop light, Colour coded front lip/splitter. & Gorgeous unmarked 18" OZ Ultraleggera Alloys in grey. Personally I have never cared for after market wheels but these things look amazing on the car.
The bad bits - Odd tyre on the rear! I couldn't believe that there was a PZero on the back with the other three tyres being Continentals, my only critiscism of the dealer is that they failed to advise me on the tyres. Glove box retaining strap was broken- shall effect my own fix at some stage. Seat belt strap on the passenger side was broken- bought one new for £28. Door mirror control trim fell off- I have re-attached myself. No washers on the headlights- these units were swapped after the original damage. Lowered suspension! I'm stating this as a bad bit as until I have it identified by West Tuning see below it's not great on anything but a smooth flat road the ride feels harsh and the handling is a little nervous.
So we did the deal at pretty much the asking price less my BMW 330i MSport trade in and the £100 from the dealer towards the odd tyre, oh and they filled the car with fuel for me which was a nice touch. I then made the spot decision to take a 12 month warrany with a £5k per claim limit from them as I was spending less than I had originally intended to spend on the C4S! I will let you know if the warranty stands up in the event of a problem.
The drive home - this was basically M20, M26, M25 and M3 - the car was flawless delivering 32.5mpg by the time I was home. Mpg now reads 18.9 after a couple of quick but sensible trips to and from work and taking a few friends for a spin!
What about that thirteen year old Tiptronic box? All I can say is that the Tiptronic box is the best I have experienced to date I believe the ecu has 200 driver maps and so far it hasn't put a foot wrong maybe its not for the purists but for me its perfect, plus it seems to offer a bit of insurance against over revving by previous owners, correct me if I'm wrong of course.
First use at night and great no headlights! it appears the switches are a bit poor. A bit of fiddling got them on so a quick clean with contact or MAF cleaner and all will I'm sure be OK. Maybe a new switch under the warranty will be the way to go if it fails again.
On parking the car in a tight spot in a carpark I got PSM / ABS failure! - Oh dear I thought my world was coming to an end how can this be happening? well no biggy, as it happens there are a number of simple reasons for this message and other than total failure of the ABS unit none of them appear too hard/expensive to rectify. As my problem appears to be triggered by low speed full lock steering activity I am pretty confident it is the steering angle sensor being in need of calibration. On engine restart the problem went away and as yet hasn't returned.
Took the car out today 24/07/2015 for the first time in the wet, wasn't sure how those odd rear tyres would behave but I have to say the car was almost flawless the Turbo loves this damp weather, the breaks are awesome god only knows what the ceramic ones are like and the the handling is great certainly more fun than in the dry.... what a car this thing is I am totally hooked. The smile hasn't left my face since I picked it up.
Next stop West Tuning - performance and race car specialists based at Thruxton Race circuit on 30/07/2015. I'm planning on using these guys for the ongoing maintenance of the car. But my first visit is to have the car inspected especially the lowered suspension and general geometry and to have what I believe to be the cause of the PSM and ABS failure message: the steering angle sensor re-calibrated with their Durametric. Once done I can hopefully address the tyre situation and treat the vehicle to new boots all round. It is early days of course and I will update again soon if anyone is still interested!
The car is booked in at West Tuning for 25th August to have the sensor fitted and the suspension sorted. To celebrate the news that the car is safe and all up together I am treating it/myself! to an Alpine Touchscreen head unit with Sat Nav + some rear parking sensors. It will be nice to get the old PCM 1 system removed and to be able to reverse without worrying about damaging the most attractive arse end on the road IMO
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff