turboman786

What do you guys think of this 996?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...530672943&rd=1

Its exactly what I am after, and the only thing I am unsure of is the colour....I actually like it very much, makes the car stand out...but is it too lairy for a 996, and will it make resale difficult?

Its on autotrader for circa 30k......a good price, or should I be trying to get it for less given the unusual colour?

Any advice much appreciated.

stormyuklondon1

the colour is definately a grower. first time i looked at it i wasnt sure, but i think its quite cool actually

zoog

Too lairy for me personally, prefer black in 911's. Also not sure about bodykitting as a GT3 when it isn't one. Both these make a classy car seem a little tacky, IMHO.

GCollier

Most 996 buyers (apparently) want dark metallic colours - silver, grey, black. When you come to sell it you will have a more limited number of potential buyers, but just as you like it now, other people are bound to as well.

Though personally I think to carry that colour off, the car needs to be a bona fide GT2 or GT3.

Gary.

Allan

iTrader: (1)

I understand your reservations about the colour, I actually think it suits the 996, wouldn’t put me off buying the car.

Allan

DaveMiddleton

I looked at a Twin Turbo in Riviera Blue before I bought my Midnight Blue one.
The colour is great in my opinion (it is normally more common on GT3's and GT2's. However I did back off when I considered future re-sale as it is SUCH a vivid colour.
Seems a lot of car for the money though.

Rumplestiltskin!

Price looks a little low, by a few k, this might be due to the colour. Come resale time the colour might well prove to be an issue for you.
Guards red & Rainforest green gets kicked in the nads & those are more mainstreem colours.
I am not a fan of the GT3 kit on non-GT3 cars, though lots are. I am more a fan of the clean lines of a 996 (which makes me wonder why I have a Turbo !)

If you are interested make sure it is an official factory upgrade, not a re-chip that has been passed of as one (come accross a few of these)....check clear HPI status yourself & get it checked by a local specialist, or even porsche themselves will do a 150 odd point check for under £200.
Check all history too with the mentioned dealers.

Sorry if teaching gran to suck eggs, but any Porsche can be a horror story which can be avoided with the right homework.

Rumplestiltskin!

Oh forgot, I thought that side airbags were part of a pack that included traction control.....? could be wrong. I dont see traction control button.
Maybe they could have been ordered on their own, worth checking

turboman786

Rumple, thanks for the sound advice, I think I will deffo look into a Porsche check, I know how to buy 'normal' cars, but a 996 may be beyond my ood judgement!

Does anyone know of any good UK based 996 forums?

BTW, thanks for all the replies so far...

Patt@firstime

Looks lovley, the colour wouldn't put me off buying

Rumplestiltskin!

Here you go mate :

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?f=48&h=0
http://www.911uk.com/forum/
http://forums.rennlist.com/
http://www.rennteam.com/ubbthreads.php
http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/
http://www.renntech.org/forums/
http://www.stuttgart9.co.uk/upload/index.php

These are the better ones, pistonheads is my fave UK one & also renntech although more a US forum is full of good advice. A few of these are US ones, but still worth looking at for advice.

I think its been mentioned before, but Porsche owners are a very conservative lot, hence why most 911's are dark metallics or silver. Very safe come resale, but I actually think that when the 996 came out it was rounded off compared to the 993, and needs a little more visual dramatics, so a colour like yours helps. I am sure if you advertise in the right places when you want to sell it that you will sell it easily.....I had a vasuvious 996 (kinda plum/grey colour) which is generally looked down on as a colour choice, but I had no end of people interested in it & eventually sold it to a Porsche specialist with no problem at the market rate......in fact I was told by those interested that the colour was a selling point because is WASN'T boring blue/black/silver etc

If it all checks out I would snap it up at that price.

Good luck & feel free to PM me if you want, I am on my 4th 996 in 3 years so have been through this a few times recently.

Good luck !

R

clarence

That Powerkit looks to be genuine-the intake plenums are metal as opposed to black plastic on the normal engine. U can easily see what's fitted at the factory and what's not from the build sticker (should be inside the 'bonnet' lid and in the service book).

iainmac

I was looking at getting a 911 recently, and from the 911 lists I checked out it would appear that 996s, that are out of porsche warrenty, are ticking timebombs. Lots of tales of unexpected engine failures and no help from Porsche UK towards repairs. Reported bills for official recon engines seems to be around 10K ukp (ouch) fitted. Pays your money takes your choice. You might be better off with a late model 993 ?
My choice has moved onto a TVR T350 (yes lots of engine probs there too, but at least the rebuild bill is expected to be cheaper).

Iain Mac

Rumplestiltskin!

Most of this relates to the RMS (Rear Main Seal) that can weep oil & should be replaced. Its a design fault on all non dry-sump 996's (so does not effect the GT3, GT2 or Turbo)
Just get a Porsche warranty - get them to check it over (worth doing if you are buying it anyway) & then hand over £750 for a years warranty.

Quite pricy, but not compared to a £10k engine rebuild.
Porsche Warranty's now cover all RMS issues.

Porsche are quite happy to put warranties on all ages of 996's, even the early ones, so they cant think its a huge problem or they wouldn't do it.

Ro.

turboman786

Ro, many thanks for the links....

Can you extend the Porsche warranty even after it has expired ie where there has been a gap between the end of the original warranty and now...?

What does the warrnty cover, and are there any notable exceptions?

Again, many thanks!

Rumplestiltskin!

Yes you sure can, you need to have them check the car over as mentioned above, then if ok you can put the warranty on it. They can do this with any age 996 regardless of how long its been out of official 2 year warranty from new, & regardless of how long its been sinse any last warranty ran out.
As to whats covered, the easiest way is to pop into a dealer & ask for warranty info, they produce a brochure that shows exactly whats covered.
Most major mechanical things I believe, not wear & tear stuff (as you would expect) or give the warranty person at your local Porsche centre a call - they are usually happy to discuss this over the phone.

Ro.

Bobby Peru

I like it, coming from new Porsche owner

turboman786

Hi Bobby, I take it you got rid of the C32 and got the boxster you were after?

Bobby Peru

Yup. pick up Boxster on Weds.

hawkthescoobslayer

RUF!!!

Old_Fart

When I bought a Speed Yellow C4S I had to search high and low to find one. Then the car was a good 10% cheaper than any similar spec'd silver 996...shocking really.
I sold the car in Jan this year and the dealer bid me low (but I'd bought it cheap anyway) and he managed to sell it within a week. The unpopular colours therefore make the car generally less easy to sell, but if there is a buyer in the market for that colour at the time you are selling then it'll go in a flash as choice is soo limited.
Being a shy conservative type I've gone for Cobalt Blue on the 987 Boxster 'S' I pick up next saturday
On the RMS, the leak is really just a weep, and most owners aren't aware their RMS has gone untill service when it goes on the ramp. Even if you don't attend to it chances are nothing will go wrong with the car for many thousands of miles. The most likely failure to be caused by a weeping RMS is clutch contamination. If that hapens and you need a clutch replacing then doing the RMS at the same time is like £60 in parts. There is a fear that there is a more fundemental problem though, which the leaks being caused is a symptom. Personally I'd want an OPC warranty
Rgds
Cman (dead RMS on my C4S discovered when I sold it to a dealer, warranty covered replacement)

Skittles

Sorry but this is exaggerated rubbish.

1. RMS is a known problem on 996s and 997s.
2. It covers a small % of cars, but as people discuss them on BBS it looks larger
3. It costs £60 to repair, unless you leave it then it will be a lot more
4. Impacts manuals by weeping on the clutch

On the e-bay Porsche, do make sure you have an independent check it out, this is not a nice to have but an absolute must.

While 996s are very reliable, they are expensive to fix.

On the colour, it does look nice, but how many times have you looked at a whacky car colour and thought it looked nice, but you'd never own one yourself? I think it would be difficult to sell.

Another point the GT3 kit spoils the car looks IMHO.