DWPC

I've been shopping for 996 in the LA area for three months. Every car I've seen has been priced well above (15+%) the online car pricing references, and more telling, all but one of the cars I've shopped (maybe ten) is still on the market; in some cases over 60 days later.

This tells me that (1) I'm not being overly picky, and (2) that the sellers; private and dealers, are expecting unrealistic prices. The only other reason I can come up with is that super-low interest rates have taken away dealers' motivation to move high end used cars; but no sales means no profits. A Porsche dealer tried to convince me that $44K is a good price for an '01 Cab!

I'm not an "old hand" with Porsche so I wonder if others more familiar with long term Porsche trends have any thoughts on this.

Wait, you are telling me that you are buying the car from the Porsche dealer and they won't give you a service history or do a PPI, or is it from another dealer and the Porsche dealer won't do it?

The seller is a new car dealer but not a Porsche dealer.

What color is the interior and what year is the car? There are often grey and black interiors for sale from cars that are being converted fro track use or wrecks. Other colors are harder to find as black and grey are the most common. Also note that the same thing happens to the Carbon Fibre, my buddy's 2000 Cab has loads of it, almost every piece you can get from the factory, and most of it is very clouded, lots has delaminated.

It's dk tan leather (rich & gorgeous), wood is a dark burl; looks like walnut. The "windshield" strip would look fine with a black replacement.

You can have the previous owner give the shop permission to show you the service history--or get a copy & give it to you.

Nope. The dealer won't provide any data to a non-owner. The previous owner can get the history for his period of ownership only and give it to me. If I could find out who he was. Which I can't.

I'm hoping someone posts a source for a non-wood replacement piece. Its no place for wood trim, especially burl veneer that disintegrates in the sun. The only thing I've found are aftermarket kits with no equivalent part.

If the dealer is the one who serviced the car they may know of problems and don't wnat to get involved.

If the seller is unwilling, run don't walk away from the car, the seller is hiding something.

The Porsche dealer's service writer couldn't know the car's identity. The car is a trade-in, and apparently CA law prohibits the selling dealer from identifying the previous owner, and they're not going to go out on a limb and call him for permission.

I've found a 996 Cab I'm ready to buy if I can verify a clean bill of health and care. I was going to take it to the dealer nearest the seller for a pre-purchase inspection, but they, a major LA area dealer, won't do the inspection because of liability; in case they miss something. And even though its likely they serviced this for the past 5 years, I can't get service history info for the time prior to my ownership either; even if I buy it! Privacy laws.

But if I want to sell my house I'm supposed to disclose even trivial and potential problems?

Go figure.

Seems to me its just a lawsuit away from spreading to the indies too. Then what?

I'm leaning towards making an offer on a 996 cab but the wood trim finish is almost opaque (age?). I had to look twice to see that it's wood. Worse, the full width wood strip just inside the windshield is thoroughly sun baked and broken into several pieces. Can the intact pieces be refinished? Does anyone make a replacement for the ruined strip in al. or carbon fiber that won't cost an arm? Direct direct sun was a bad place for a wood trim piece.

What color. I have a 4 spoke with airbag, Savanah Beige that is like new. Went to a 3 spoke in my car.

It's savannah biege, but I haven't bought it yet.

Bought my first Porsche (a 356 Cab) at 28. Second one will be at 62. :D

I'm looking at a 01 Cab that's in nice shape, but the leather (tan) on the steering wheel is heavily stained, rubbed through, etc.; generally looks terrible. It spoils the the whole interior. Maybe the owner has super sweaty palms or wears gloves...dunno. It's only got 50K miles on it. I haven't seen any other car with this fault. I have a hunch this isn't a minor thing to have corrected. Has anyone dealt with it?

Beautiful automobile...I'm still on the hunt for mine.

...there is a small warning in front of the gear lever that says you shouldn't move the gear lever without holding the brake pedal down.

That may mean you can't go back from N to D without stopping.

The manual says shifting from D to N while moving is OK. Doesn't say anything about going from N to D though. Are you having paranoid thoughts because of Toyota?

996 prospect here. My Audi's Tiptronic will not allow over-revving the engine in manual mode. It upshifts at redline. Does the Porsche Tip (in manual mode) do the same, or can it be driven to a dangerous engine speed.

Thanks for the responses. The car's history proved to be somewhat murky, so I passed on it. So I'm back on the hunt

1. I'm looking at an 01 C4 w/Tip and the bottom of the car looks clean and dry. Does that mean the RMS is likely OK? It's at a dealership so looking for oil on the ground is pointless.

2. Are C4s just as likely to have RMS and IMS issues?

3. Where can I find a technical description of the C4's AWD system? Is it electronically controlled?

4. Is there a website with 996 engine, driveline, suspension diagrams where I can learn my way around the C4 mechanically?

What's the standard practice for including a PPI in the deal when buying a used car from a dealer (GM)? I can't get the car into my mechanic of choice for a few days, and the dealer, understandably, won't put the car on ice over the weekend when there may be other buyers. Are PPIs written into sales agreements? Are they left open-ended, or is it practical to define a limit on potential inspections findings? I've never spent $30K on a ten year old car before.

I'm looking at a 996 Cabriolet with a badly sun-damaged dash top panel. This is the main dash "skin" but doesn't include not the raised portion where the gauges are. Porsche dealer price is $2200 for a replacement. No way! Has anyone removed the dash skin and had it recovered? Its it a monumental job?

I'm looking at an '01 Carrera 4 Cab w/Tip on a Caddie dealer's lot. No service records. The odo says 23K miles and the CarFax history showed 21K in 08 and nothing with mileage data before that. I have some concern because of wear of "soft" parts. I think it has an aftermarket replacement soft top. The driver's seat leather looks like my Audi's with 90K. The rear window is opaque, and the big oval panel on the dash top is curly from sun exposure. I think that can be replaced. But these things could be because it wasn't garage-kept. The body is clean (color: silver). It drove beautifully. Engine and Tip trans were very crisp and it sounded great. Seat of the pants when driving says the odometer is right, visible wear says not. Is there any way to know if the mileage has been altered? If I decide to proceed, I'll get an inspection. Dealer asking $32.5K. I'm thinking mid-20s. I'm in So. California but not the LA area.

I would pass on this car and look for another one. There are so many cars like this one on the market and in my opinion offering mid-$20Ks for this car is to much .

Just want to share with you that I bought my 2000 C2, Cab, 6speed, 54K miles, like new conditions with brand new engine and clutch (installed by Russnak) at 47k miles in Nov 2008 for $24K.

Keep looking....good luck!

Nghia

I've been looking for about three month but the 50-mile+ run to LA to check cars out is getting old; I live in Ventura, a veritable Porsche desert. I can go days not even seeing a Porsche on the road. I don't know why they're so scarce around here.

Thanks for the feedback. I've dropped the car with 13K miles...the dealer wants over $40K and I think that's nuts for an '01 regardless of mileage. The other has a couple issue...I've posted some specifics above. The mileage doesn't match the apparent wear/deterioration on soft parts unless maybe the car spent all that time parked outside.

I'm looking at an '01 Carrera 4 Cab w/Tip on a Caddie dealer's lot. No service records. The odo says 23K miles and the CarFax history showed 21K in 08 and nothing with mileage data before that. I have some concern because of wear of "soft" parts. I think it has an aftermarket replacement soft top. The driver's seat leather looks like my Audi's with 90K. The rear window is opaque, and the big oval panel on the dash top is curly from sun exposure. I think that can be replaced. But these things could be because it wasn't garage-kept. The body is clean (color: silver). It drove beautifully. Engine and Tip trans were very crisp and it sounded great. Seat of the pants when driving says the odometer is right, visible wear says not. Is there any way to know if the mileage has been altered? If I decide to proceed, I'll get an inspection. Dealer asking $32.5K. I'm thinking mid-20s. I'm in So. California but not the LA area.

I'm looking at two 2001 996s; one is a 6-spd heavily optioned with only 13K miles, the other is an "average" optioned Carrera 4 Tiptronic with 23K miles. The Porsche dealer selling the 6-speed wants a huge premium for the low miles, the other is at a Cadillac dealer and priced pretty much where Edmunds is. Would I be facing any serious maintenance issues from vehicle age on either of these cars, even though both have very low miles? Should I be looking for any major items in the service records.

This is a common (and infuriating) problem in Audis too. A few auto instrument specialty shops can fix them for a fraction of OEM replacement by the dealer. If you can get your cluster out and send it to be repaired, you can save a bundle. This outfit gets a lot of good comments on the Audi forums, but I have no first-hand experience with them. I plan to send my A6 panel to them next time I can park the car for a week. They don't list Porsche, so its possible Porsche has a lock on replacements. Probably worth an e-mail though.

ModuleMaster

These forums provide a lot of subjective information and if you are looking for an objective evaluation on the reliability of the 996 pickup (Consumer Reports Use Car Guide 2009).

Since CR ratings are based on questionnaires sent only to CR subscribers; a pretty anal bunch to begin with, and not on neutral industry data, I don't give them much weight. Less than 5% of their subscribers bother to respond, and there's too much room for subjectivity in their questionnaire. I think CR's "survey" is useful to gauge QA trends in perhaps the top five selling names, not much more. The real sample of higher end makes; BMW, MB, Porsche, Jaguar, Audi, in their report is not very significant. I think if the basis of the annual CR survey was well known, far fewer would give it so much weight as a guide their car choice.