The Affordable 996 Thread

[onewhippedpuppy]

That's a lot of car for not much money. Great upgrades and maintenance too.

[1990C4S]

The 996 does is not rising with the rest of the Porsche tide....


Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe 2 Door | eBay

Porsche 911 2dr Carrera | eBay

Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe 2 Door | eBay

[KNS]

Those are fantastic prices! I think I'm going to hold out for a 997, though...

[Shaun @ Tru6]

this seems like a bargain:

Porsche 911 GT3 2004

[Schumi]

I remember when 2004 GT3's could be had for 45K. Now they are all back up in the 60's. I missed out, again.

[911SauCy]

I have a buddy that bought the exact copy of the following with 36k and paid $18.5...I think he did well.

Porsche 911 2dr Carrera | eBay

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Schumi

I remember when 2004 GT3's could be had for 45K. Now they are all back up in the 60's. I missed out, again.

Exactly my thought. Dammit.

[porsche4life]

You still need one Matt! soon they will be 80!

[enzo1]

Porsche 911 Turbo | eBay

[aigel]

1999 Porsche 996 911 Carrera

[porsche4life]

So much want!!! That one won't last long!


I don't care what the purists say, for 13k I'd drive that car so hard you'd never get the smile off my face!

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by aigel

1999 Porsche 996 911 Carrera

Man, I like that color on that one . I am getting closer every day. I think I have one more truck flip in my future, and then it is 996 here I come .

Originally Posted by aigel

1999 Porsche 996 911 Carrera

That ad has so much BS bloviation, no way I'd trust that guy. I said it before, but my 99 had 48K when I bought it and I paid $2500 more than he's asking. This blue one may be cheap, but there are much better deals out there

[Deschodt]

Because of this thread, I drove a few FS, 2 coupes and a cab (my kids fit in the back, amazingly). Thing is, so far, in the thread range (say <$20K), all I've found was crap (and I'm in a target rich market). I wonder if this thread has already ruined the market ;-( Cars with 100-120K miles (w. or w/o a new bearing) and beat to hell, cars with dilapidated interiors (one had a leather dash falling apart and rolling back towards the steering wheel like nasty foreskin - go ahead, get that out of your mind's eye, I'll wait). Another smelled of oil leaks and half the dash lights were on (along with switches that wouldn't turn off)... Disappointing so far...

Looks like the car I'd want (OK miles, IMS done) is more of a 23-28K 996., possibly a gen2 C4S ;-( At that price, I can think of newer or prettier options... The exterior was never all that pretty, but the interior on these cars has not aged well. *At all*... Shoulda started looking before page 47 of this thread ;-( I wonder if people are clueing in on the fact that 997s can't get an IMS bearing done affordably, while 996s can...

[aigel]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

Thing is, so far, in the thread range (say <$20K), all I've found was crap (and I'm in a target rich market). I wonder if this thread has already ruined the market ;-( Cars with 100-120K miles (w. or w/o a new bearing) and beat to hell, cars with dilapidated interiors [snip] Disappointing so far...

I was seriously shopping early Boxsters last year as you see them around and even under $8k all the time. They were all junk with leaks, electrical gremlins, CEL and emission codes problems.

On that note, that is not just because the cars were old and not taken care of. These cars are not very good quality IMHO and not fun to fix if they have these gremlins. Short of broken head studs, a worn out SC is a lot easier to deal with than an old Boxster or 996 with electrical gremlins or cooling system problems.

G

[aigel]

Originally Posted by Mark Wilson

That ad has so much BS bloviation, no way I'd trust that guy. I said it before, but my 99 had 48K when I bought it and I paid $2500 more than he's asking. This blue one may be cheap, but there are much better deals out there

It is obvious he is an "enthusiast" that wants to unload for whatever reason ASAP. Maybe he sent the oil in for analysis. He has had the car up before, so I am sure it has issues otherwise it would have sold first go-around.

Georg

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by aigel

On that note, that is not just because the cars were old and not taken care of. These cars are not very good quality IMHO and not fun to fix if they have these gremlins.
G

I agree, and I've owned a few of that era. For my money, I was gonna go straight to a 987.1/997.1 (much nicer interior overall) but those are impossible to IMS-proof without major surgery. On the 987 front, you might get lucky in early 05s but nobody knows the exact cutoff date for replaceability. Good luck to unsuspecting buyers of these cars (most will be OK, in fact, but with my luck...). And 09s of any kind practically do not exist on the used market (recession production was lowwww). So If you want a car bereft of IMS risks, it's $20-something for an ageing 996 or $60K for a 2009-2010. If someone came up with an easy fix for 05-08s there'd be a glut of options !

[aigel]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

I agree, and I've owned a few of that era. For my money, I was gonna go straight to a 987.1/997.1 (much nicer interior overall) but those are impossible to IMS-proof without major surgery. On the 987 front, you might get lucky in early 05s but nobody knows the exact cutoff date for replaceability. Good luck to unsuspecting buyers of these cars (most will be OK, in fact, but with my luck...). And 09s of any kind practically do not exist on the used market (recession production was lowwww). So If you want a car bereft of IMS risks, it's $20-something for an ageing 996 or $60K for a 2009-2010. If someone came up with an easy fix for 05-08s there'd be a glut of options !

There you go - full circle. Now we know why this stuff is cheap.

On the boxster front - which I am still interested in - it'd be at least 12k for a decent base model. At that rate, I am in a territory where I can get a lot of other convertible cars that are interesting ...

G

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by aigel

I was seriously shopping early Boxsters last year as you see them around and even under $8k all the time. They were all junk with leaks, electrical gremlins, CEL and emission codes problems.

On that note, that is not just because the cars were old and not taken care of. These cars are not very good quality IMHO and not fun to fix if they have these gremlins. Short of broken head studs, a worn out SC is a lot easier to deal with than an old Boxster or 996 with electrical gremlins or cooling system problems.

G

I was too for a while - just thinking about what to do next once the 560SL is gone. In the end the SL reminded me that there's nothing more expensive than a cheap (whatever), and I was never able to get over the same cosmetic issues that bugged me since the debut of the 996. I'll probably wait a while and see what happens with the 997 and Cayman market or if the right deal on a SC comes along...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by aigel

There you go - full circle. Now we know why this stuff is cheap.

On the boxster front - which I am still interested in - it'd be at least 12k for a decent base model. At that rate, I am in a territory where I can get a lot of other convertible cars that are interesting ...

G

Maybe it's a regional thing, but we have lots of base Boxsters around here for under $10k.