Looking to make my first purchase. Advice please.

The box choice is purely personal. My Mercedes W211 E-Class Saloon is tiptronic. It is a lovely box in that sort of daily-driver across city and motorway driving. Indeed, the vast majority of buyers want that car with an auto box. Try shifting one of those off a forecourt with a manual box!

When it came to the Porsche, for me it had to be a three pedal manual car.
The tiptronic is well mated to the torque and power, but it wasn't for me.

Try a 6 speed manual and then decide.

Thanks Cheshire911. Appreciate your comments.

I've decided to extend my budget to try and capture a GEN2 car. I'm sorting out a local test drive of a car at a dealer.. I want to either rule in or out the PDK box.

I've increased the budget to approx 42k

RCS said:

The Tiptronic is older technology, and only 5 gears. It does 'learn' your current driving style, so if you've been pootling along then it will become lazy (ier?!!!) with its changes. Start accelerating harder and braking harder the shift points move and become sportier

Have you tried it in manual mode?

Not saying that any of this will make it more engaging for you but may help you understand it a bit better in trying to extract performance from it. You can also get it to change down by double blipping the throttle. Try it and you'll see. (pdk does likewise) . Some prefer using the buttons to change down others the throttle blip.

I agree that 7 speed autos (leaving pdk out it) are smoother than the older 5's. We have 2 Merc's with both types and I'm very conscious of the older 5 speed when first swapping from the 7.

As regards the hard ride what wheel size has it got, not an expert with 911's on this, but i do know when we were test driving 986 Boxsters when we first got a Porsche the ones with the larger wheel options were a lot and quite noticeably harder than those on 'standard' options, leaving aside any suspension options it may or may not have. The ride was also a 'shock' to us coming from the usual modern saloons, but that soon faded and now its no great issue - probably because we're more adept at spotting and avoiding even the smallest potholes and ill fitting manhole covers driving the Porsche, whereas the Mercs just soak up the punishment!!

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RCS..
Thanks also.

A quick update for anyone interested.

Today I seemed to crack the tiptronic box and really found that thrill all you guys are talking about. I had a smile each and every time I pushed the car..

So much so.. I upped my budget and purchased this
http://www.rsjsportscars.co.uk/showroom_details.php?url=MzM5&id=339&oderid=3

I have to say. Joel at RSJ has been pretty paitient ..

The car is going through prep. Should have her (yes it's a lady car) in about 2.5 weeks time.

I am so excited .....

Congratulations on the purchase, car looks great. Good luck sleeping for the next 2 1/2 weeks

uktivo said:

My budget. ID like to pay 26k but I could stretch to 35k if I had too.

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:floor: :floor: :floor:

Nice car, well done. :thumb:

T8 said:

uktivo said:

My budget. ID like to pay 26k but I could stretch to 35k if I had too.

Click to expand...

:floor: :floor: :floor:

Nice car, well done. :thumb:

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I know.. Best made plans..

There's no question that white car is a Gen.2. If not it's had the best conversion I've ever seen including a PDK box. The only Gen.1 car that had the PCM3 was the the 2009 Turbo.

The white car has all the Gen.2 exterior parts, which I know can be converted (I had it done on my old 911) but you can't retrofit a PDK gearbox.

The lack of any history would unfortunately mean I wouldn't touch it. I doubt very much anyone including someone who owned a garage would not get it serviced by Porsche, so the chances are it has a shady history. No service history, no deal.

uktivo said:

I also considered this car:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201505153490110/usedcars?logcode=visc

I called them this morning to discuss this car.. I asked if the car was gen 1 or gen 2 as the spec suggests gen 2. The guy said, I don't know, you will have to ring Porsche. Basically couldn't tell me much about it. When I asked how they obtained the car, he said, what are you from the trade? why do you want to know..
At this point I gave up..

UPDATE:
I called back again. The guy said it's a GEN2 car. No porsche service history, the guy that owned it had his own garage and serviced it himself.

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This is a perfect example of who NOT to go to. No History? RUN A MILE! Though the best bit of the advert is:

"IT COMES WITH,PORSCHE CERAMIC COMPOSITE BRAKING SYSTEM THIS IS A £4500+VAT UP GRADE (NEW PADS JUST FITTED)"

Now, I may be wrong, but I didn't think ceramic brakes ever needed new 'pads'? Oh and they are awful apparently.


Now, why do you want an auto car? Tiptronic really is horrid and spoils a great drivers car. It may well be good for an auto box, but that doesn't mean it's good does it...... The most desirable spec for a Gen 1 car come resale is Manual, Sports Chrono, PSE and other things like parking sensor, Bose, hard back sports seats are all nice.

RSJ are very good by the way as far as I am aware. Also look at Portiacraft. Personally I brought without seeing it in the flesh from a reputeable dealer (Follifoot Motor Company) and I've had an excellent experience. When it was brought down to be delivered, I got the tyres checked. Turned out the rears had about 3.5 mm on them, not the 5 they thought and had been told by Leeds OPC who had serviced it. So, no quibble, money off to cover them. Then a week later when I stopped by Portiacraft on the way out of London, who very kindly took the car around the block to check it out and said the clutch was on its way out, ok, but would need doing, and one phone call later the dealer also paid for new clutch and flywheel to the tune of £1500.

So, for me, stretch to this.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...ype=coupe&channel=cars&make=porsche&logcode=p

Now, don't be alarmed by Cat D. Read up about it and it will be either stolen/recovered or damaged repaired. A Cat D car goes through serious testing when it goes back on the road, and as a result is worth less. They are in no way dangerous and do ignore anyone who says they are as they have no clue what they are talking about. A 2011 Carrera S with Chrono for £37k before you haggle? Oh hell yes. This is a good read about Cat D cars:

http://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/114820/cat-d-cars-insurance-write-offs

Seriously, avoid the Tiptronic!!!!!

Just had a browse and that car is the cheapest Gen 2 car around I can see. The days of £33k Gen 2 cars are gone it seems...... You might find a non S car around 35k, but prices have risen, even since I brought mine in April. I could't buy my car for under £35k now.

uktivo said:

A quick update for anyone interested.

Today I seemed to crack the tiptronic box and really found that thrill all you guys are talking about. I had a smile each and every time I pushed the car..

So much so.. I upped my budget and purchased this
http://www.rsjsportscars.co.uk/showroom_details.php?url=MzM5&id=339&oderid=3

I have to say. Joel at RSJ has been pretty paitient ..

The car is going through prep. Should have her (yes it's a lady car) in about 2.5 weeks time.

I am so excited .....

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Case closed. :judge:

I agree it does show the lack of any knowledge of Porsche cars the way it's been described.

It's not unheard of for new pads to be required on PCCBs although if used sensibly they should last for over 50k miles. PCCBs are fantastic, and I am talking from experience as i have them fitted. The only reason why some people don't want them is because they worry about big bills should they get damaged.

uktivo said:

At this point I gave up..

UPDATE:
I called back again. The guy said it's a GEN2 car. No porsche service history, the guy that owned it had his own garage and serviced it himself.

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Absolutely appalling dealer response. :nooo:

Would recommend only buying from a specialist that actually knows what they're talking about/selling or else from an OPC. And in my eyes, lack of an OPC service history would be a major turn-off. :what:

uktivo said:

A quick update for anyone interested.

Today I seemed to crack the tiptronic box and really found that thrill all you guys are talking about. I had a smile each and every time I pushed the car..

So much so.. I upped my budget and purchased this
http://www.rsjsportscars.co.uk/showroom_details.php?url=MzM5&id=339&oderid=3

I have to say. Joel at RSJ has been pretty paitient ..

The car is going through prep. Should have her (yes it's a lady car) in about 2.5 weeks time.

I am so excited .....

Click to expand...

Well done with that one, remember buyers are liars when it comes to setting budgets and you ony live once.
My car is a Cayman S also black on black and similar spec to yours including the PDK, I reckon going for a gen 2 was a sound decision as I have yet to hear a single horror story about these engines.
My only gripe was that the exhaust sounded too quiet except when in sport plus mode, so i upgraded to a Carnewals one, which is perfect for everyday use.

The next couple of weeks will go pretty slowly but well worth the wait

:thumb:

Nice car you've found, pdk and Titronic are light years apart.

now its just the l o n g w a i t :sad:

It'll be worth it though :thumb: