An everyday Porsche for under 30K
Discussion
Well first post for me, although I have been reading PH for a good 2 years now.
Having owned my 04' Clio 182 from new (mistake financially but what a fun car!!) I'm now kind of outgrowing it and looking for something with a lot more class! a 911.
I would like to spend less than 25K but COULD extend to 30 for the right car. This will be my first porsche and I want it to be traditionally porsche, just because and to that end I don't want a 4WD.
I want something thats well looked after and will take the 15K miles a year and the daily commute on the chin and not cost me the earth. My old merc (R plate E320 - Boring as hell but it was a bargain and I was doing 1000miles a week!) was around £500 a service this is OK. Plus the odd 800 here and there.
Any advice/pointers/links are most welcome.
Cheers
Matt
Having owned my 04' Clio 182 from new (mistake financially but what a fun car!!) I'm now kind of outgrowing it and looking for something with a lot more class! a 911.
I would like to spend less than 25K but COULD extend to 30 for the right car. This will be my first porsche and I want it to be traditionally porsche, just because and to that end I don't want a 4WD.
I want something thats well looked after and will take the 15K miles a year and the daily commute on the chin and not cost me the earth. My old merc (R plate E320 - Boring as hell but it was a bargain and I was doing 1000miles a week!) was around £500 a service this is OK. Plus the odd 800 here and there.
Any advice/pointers/links are most welcome.
Cheers
Matt
looks like a 993 C2 which in RHD you should be able to pick up a good car for 25k, £22k for LHD. Services not extortionate and reliability good. You could also just hit a 996 C2 which is undoubtedly also a great car but for me doesnt have quite the same feel as the earlier models. Personally I'd spend my money (if I had £25K) on a 965 Turbo, but it wouldnt suit everyone.
What he said.
993 C2, RHD, will cost you next to nothing in depreciation and less than your Merc to service. Think £200 for 12k miles, and £350 for 24k miles.
Get out and drive one. You may hate it. If you do, find a 996 C2 for high 20's (RHD) and add a couple of hundred quid to your annual service bills. Keep a grand to one side (in case you have to do a clutch and an RMS) and don't look back.
993 C2, RHD, will cost you next to nothing in depreciation and less than your Merc to service. Think £200 for 12k miles, and £350 for 24k miles.
Get out and drive one. You may hate it. If you do, find a 996 C2 for high 20's (RHD) and add a couple of hundred quid to your annual service bills. Keep a grand to one side (in case you have to do a clutch and an RMS) and don't look back.
A lot of 'cheap' 996s are pretty awful but some are OK and can take the mileage and servicing isn't too bad at independents.
Before getting my current C4 I had a lot of email exchange with the seller of this car:
www.pistonheads.com/sales/49598.htm
...he seemed really genuine (so far as one can tell from email) and I notice he's just dropped the price quite a lot to less than £23K, that would give you spare cash to sort quite a few problems (Ocean Blue is a great colour but does show the mileage with stone chips). That car has a switchable sports exhaust which is a great option - if you buy the car and want a normal exhaust I'll swap exhausts with you and give you some cash!!!
You could then buy an independent warranty to alleviate the RMS issue (budget about £500 a year for the warranty).
Before getting my current C4 I had a lot of email exchange with the seller of this car:
www.pistonheads.com/sales/49598.htm
...he seemed really genuine (so far as one can tell from email) and I notice he's just dropped the price quite a lot to less than £23K, that would give you spare cash to sort quite a few problems (Ocean Blue is a great colour but does show the mileage with stone chips). That car has a switchable sports exhaust which is a great option - if you buy the car and want a normal exhaust I'll swap exhausts with you and give you some cash!!!
You could then buy an independent warranty to alleviate the RMS issue (budget about £500 a year for the warranty).
Also I wouldnt rule out a C4, drive them both and see if you can tell the difference. I do know that if you want to track the car the real PH'ers prefer the C2 but Im very happy with the C4 I have (a 964, cheaper to buy , more expensive to service, but IMO looking much more like the traditional Porsche than the 993 (probably sour grapes cos I cant afford one))
Astonishing!!! agree on 964 differences,,,but a 996 C2 & C4,,,way differnt in driving,,,press on in a C2 on a B road and you have the nose dip on braking,,rear squat as you come out of the bend...a C4 will drive MUCH flatter....very competent, but slightly unnerving if you are used to the 911 weight transfer lark...
For your daily driver,,,I would suggest buy the latest 996 C2/4 you can afford for yur budget.
For your daily driver,,,I would suggest buy the latest 996 C2/4 you can afford for yur budget.
verysideways said:
What he said.
993 C2, RHD, will cost you next to nothing in depreciation and less than your Merc to service. Think £200 for 12k miles, and £350 for 24k miles.
Really??? I think if you make a decision to buy a car based on a budget of this amount for servicing and repairs, you could be in for some surprises. I've recently had to do an ABS ECU at £650+VAT+fitting, my brother had the Hydraulic ABS controller go at a cost of about £1100 all in, clutch at about £800 and at that age, unless the dampers have been done already, they probably will need doing fairly soon, which is going to be around £1500. This is in addition to the normal consumables which I would suspect are a little more expensive than an E-class Merc....
I agree that a 993 c2 would be great for your purposes, I certainly haven't looked back, but don't underestimate the running costs. You may get very lucky and have nothing in addition to routine servicing that needs doing, but as well made as they are, these cars are approaching 10 years old and it is inevitable that things will go wrong.
Fellow 182 owner here too! Also have a 993C4S - started out looking for a two wheel drive but honestly couldn't tell much difference between them - best condition car happened to be the one I went for - that it has 4wd is an additional bonus to my mind...Another vote to buy on condition rather than drivetrain...
Adom, the prices i gave were for servicing, not for repairs, though as i said if you keep £1000 in reserve you're unlikely to get hit too badly.
Having done 50k miles in my 993's (each bought with over 50k miles already) i have not had major repair problems.
A set of shocks (Bilstein HD's) fitted and geometry reset should cost you less than £1k, a recon steering rack fitted should cost no more than £600, a clutch no more than £900 (every 60k miles, give or take).
Sounds like you were unlucky on the ABS.
All IMHO of course.
Having done 50k miles in my 993's (each bought with over 50k miles already) i have not had major repair problems.
A set of shocks (Bilstein HD's) fitted and geometry reset should cost you less than £1k, a recon steering rack fitted should cost no more than £600, a clutch no more than £900 (every 60k miles, give or take).
Sounds like you were unlucky on the ABS.
All IMHO of course.
hoges11 said:
looks like a 993 C2 which in RHD you should be able to pick up a good car for 25k, £22k for LHD. Services not extortionate and reliability good. You could also just hit a 996 C2 which is undoubtedly also a great car but for me doesnt have quite the same feel as the earlier models. Personally I'd spend my money (if I had £25K) on a 965 Turbo, but it wouldnt suit everyone.
Wise words, I ran a turbo2 for 30k+ miles for 9 months, brilliant, really reliable and somehow the journeys seemed shorter.....................I wonder why
verysideways said:
996TT will soon be under 30k. I would get one of those.
Uh oh, who woke him up? Jon, by soon, i guess you mean in the next 4 years?
Well RSJ had a mint (LHD) tiptronic 996TT for sale in the mid summer for £35K. It did have £75K miles but was in v good condition. Sure you can get similar for £31 K in Jan / Feb - the worst time to be a seller but best time to be a buyer.
Adom said:
What he said.
993 C2, RHD, will cost you next to nothing in depreciation and less than your Merc to service. Think £200 for 12k miles, and £350 for 24k miles.
Really??? I think if you make a decision to buy a car based on a budget of this amount for servicing and repairs, you could be in for some surprises. I've recently had to do an ABS ECU at £650+VAT+fitting, my brother had the Hydraulic ABS controller go at a cost of about £1100 all in, clutch at about £800 and at that age, unless the dampers have been done already, they probably will need doing fairly soon, which is going to be around £1500. This is in addition to the normal consumables which I would suspect are a little more expensive than an E-class Merc....
I agree that a 993 c2 would be great for your purposes, I certainly haven't looked back, but don't underestimate the running costs. You may get very lucky and have nothing in addition to routine servicing that needs doing, but as well made as they are, these cars are approaching 10 years old and it is inevitable that things will go wrong.
Touch wood, my running costs have been approx the same as verysideways. Get a good one and you should be fine.
Out of interest verysideways, where did you get the HD's plus geo done? Need to do the same myself pretty soon..
Thanks,
Al.
abarber said:
Touch wood, my running costs have been approx the same as verysideways. Get a good one and you should be fine.
Funnily enough I was talking to VS on Friday night about the running costs of various prospective cars, namely a 355 -v- 993 C2 -v- 993 RS.
I worked out that over the 18 months I owned the C2 it cost the grand sum of 14p/mile to run (excl fuel, insurance and tax). In conclusion it's too expensive not to own a 911
The biggest expense was tyres which was eye opening considering I had to replace the clutch - big thanks to Jaz who carried out a quality job at a rock bottom price
cyrus1971 said:
Well RSJ had a mint (LHD) tiptronic 996TT for sale in the mid summer for £35K. It did have £75K miles but was in v good condition. Sure you can get similar for £31 K in Jan / Feb - the worst time to be a seller but best time to be a buyer.
Excellent ! If a 75k miler Left Hand drive car still commands £35k then thats good news for right hand drive cars with a third of that mileage IMO.
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