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Wanted entry level 996
- Thread starter Rjm2000
- Start date
I've been watching the market for some time (albeit primarily to look for a 997 at around £18k) and they are definitely getting cheaper across the board.
Sub £10k 996's are appearing with more regularity in the format you want (manual coupe) and whilst I don't think they would drop much below £8k I can see the choice becoming greater at that end of the market as we head into winter and poissibly recession.
I'd not imagine many dealers will be bidding to go again on any slightly edgy 996's with much over 100k that come their way, might be worth registering your interest in the trade, offer to underwrite something if you get a look at it first and see what pops up.
Whilst the enthusiast owned cars are of course better looked after, they seem to be advertised at prices that see them listed again and again.
A Boxster is 99% a 911, so the running costs by and large are no different.... yes the inherent value in the vehicle will always be a small gulf apart but to keep one one the road long term will be the same.
987 Caymans (2.7l Gen1) are in that ballpark now also - worth considering but of course it's not a 911 which may be a factor... it is for me
Sub £10k 996's are appearing with more regularity in the format you want (manual coupe) and whilst I don't think they would drop much below £8k I can see the choice becoming greater at that end of the market as we head into winter and poissibly recession.
I'd not imagine many dealers will be bidding to go again on any slightly edgy 996's with much over 100k that come their way, might be worth registering your interest in the trade, offer to underwrite something if you get a look at it first and see what pops up.
Whilst the enthusiast owned cars are of course better looked after, they seem to be advertised at prices that see them listed again and again.
A Boxster is 99% a 911, so the running costs by and large are no different.... yes the inherent value in the vehicle will always be a small gulf apart but to keep one one the road long term will be the same.
987 Caymans (2.7l Gen1) are in that ballpark now also - worth considering but of course it's not a 911 which may be a factor... it is for me
GMG said:
This ^
What people seem to forget is you either pay up front, or continue to pay for sometime after!!
Good 996 C2's are now circa £20k, thus you have to ask yourself why there are cars advertised at £10k, its generally, and I appreciate that there may be some rare exceptions, that it is going to be rough, have a patchy service history and need a ton of work doing.
There are no cheap 911's, its long mentioned that a 996 is going to cost you £20k, be it day 1 or year 1, but your not getting anything remotely decent/usable for under £10k!
I also do not see winter, Brexit or recession changing this, the amounts of money we are taking are not significant enough.
I think it's certainly possible to get something decent and usable for substantially less than £20k. Maybe not concours but a good usable car.
I picked up mine for £9k for various reasons, one being that the owner had advertised it so badly and there were a few faults. One was the central locking that I fixed with no outlay. I have spent around £1500 on it but some of that was entirely optional spend such as new wheels because I wanted to have them as standard again.
So for £10,500 I have a very usable and decent car. No doubt I will need to spend money on it over the next few years but there is nothing currently that requires urgent work to make it usable. It's just been driven to Germany for a long weekend and had a OPC inspection, neither of which flagged any significant issues.
Mine isn't cat C/D/N but it's certainly a way to get a very good car at a lower price. Friend's car was written off for dent in a door so older cars can be written off for incredibly minor damage.
I picked up mine for £9k for various reasons, one being that the owner had advertised it so badly and there were a few faults. One was the central locking that I fixed with no outlay. I have spent around £1500 on it but some of that was entirely optional spend such as new wheels because I wanted to have them as standard again.
So for £10,500 I have a very usable and decent car. No doubt I will need to spend money on it over the next few years but there is nothing currently that requires urgent work to make it usable. It's just been driven to Germany for a long weekend and had a OPC inspection, neither of which flagged any significant issues.
Mine isn't cat C/D/N but it's certainly a way to get a very good car at a lower price. Friend's car was written off for dent in a door so older cars can be written off for incredibly minor damage.
...I have several subjective issues with a cheap 996 ( <£15k)... miles will be up (>100k) which means commensurate wear and tear to the interior which most likely will ruffled grey ; a colour not prone to wearing the miles well and the least attractive...
It will most likely have been used as a daily...resulting in a commensurate likelihood of rust and rusty parts...plus the inevitable associated wear to the exterior...
And of course this leaves the biggie ! Engine implosion !! At which point and following the £8-12k rebuild leaves you with a high mileage, high worn car owing you close to £20k ...
Leading to a single conclusion to these eyes :False economy?
I am a fussy git and like everything to work; to be able to enjoy a clean and kempt interior and an exterior that gleams " garaged, low mileaged and cherished"
I have just realised that despite owning a 996 I am the archetypal 993 owner
It will most likely have been used as a daily...resulting in a commensurate likelihood of rust and rusty parts...plus the inevitable associated wear to the exterior...
And of course this leaves the biggie ! Engine implosion !! At which point and following the £8-12k rebuild leaves you with a high mileage, high worn car owing you close to £20k ...
Leading to a single conclusion to these eyes :False economy?
I am a fussy git and like everything to work; to be able to enjoy a clean and kempt interior and an exterior that gleams " garaged, low mileaged and cherished"
I have just realised that despite owning a 996 I am the archetypal 993 owner
To echo 996driver's post, not all cheap high mileage 996s are dogs. I picked up my 2000 C2 5 years ago on 100k miles from a dude who loved it. My only car and it's now on 152k, bodywork is tip top, still feels nice & tight and goes like a bat out of hell. He'd spent £2.5k getting the suspension totally refreshed about 6 months before I bought it and the only serious outlay beyond wear & tear consumables I've had to drop is £1.9k having the gearbox stripped, cleaned & all bearings replaced to solve the pinion bearing whine (a commonish problem). Did a ton of reading, drove a few (important) and went in with the mindset of ignoring low mileage garage queens (these cars hate sitting around it seems) & service book stamps, concentrating instead on one that had been used daily with good average miles (around 7-8k a year) backed up by a complete history of actual receipts of what had been done & when.
Far as the 'timebomb' of the engine goes, time has revealed it's generally much less of an issue with early 996s but IF (and it's still a big IF as the issue is ridiculously overblown on the net) it goes it can happen more or less at any time so a low mileage car isn't a guarantee against the kick in the balls of a rebuild. The point being that £8-12k can be applied to ALL 996s (and 997s for that matter) of any age.
If you're going cheap/high mileage be sure to understand what should have been done or will potentially require doing (assume around 80-100k miles for all the below unless otherwise stated):
Suspension - full refresh, anywhere up to about £3k for the full bifta (so so important this, the difference between a baggy & a tight 996 is astonishing).
Air Oil Seperator - if still on the original expect to replace it, around £1k.
Coil packs - £500 for a full set.
Power steering - high pressure line/steering rack pipes, anywhere up to £1k or so.
Brake lines - £1k or so.
Discs & pads all round - around £1k or so for the full set.
Coolant expansion tank - £300.
Radiators - £500-£1k
Condensors - £500-£1k
Water pump - £500
Exhaust - anywhere for £1k-£3k.
Clutch - around £700
Service every 6 months with quality oil plus all the filters - £300.
All the above are my approximations based on taking it to a decent independent specialist but all are achievable yourself, with varying levels of difficulty, if you're handy with the spanners & can follow instructions (saving literally £000's).
Bottom line - it's essential the cash is spent when needed & get one if you're going to drive it as intended because they really are ***** awesome! Buying one simply to polish & pootle about at the weekend is such a waste.
Far as the 'timebomb' of the engine goes, time has revealed it's generally much less of an issue with early 996s but IF (and it's still a big IF as the issue is ridiculously overblown on the net) it goes it can happen more or less at any time so a low mileage car isn't a guarantee against the kick in the balls of a rebuild. The point being that £8-12k can be applied to ALL 996s (and 997s for that matter) of any age.
If you're going cheap/high mileage be sure to understand what should have been done or will potentially require doing (assume around 80-100k miles for all the below unless otherwise stated):
Suspension - full refresh, anywhere up to about £3k for the full bifta (so so important this, the difference between a baggy & a tight 996 is astonishing).
Air Oil Seperator - if still on the original expect to replace it, around £1k.
Coil packs - £500 for a full set.
Power steering - high pressure line/steering rack pipes, anywhere up to £1k or so.
Brake lines - £1k or so.
Discs & pads all round - around £1k or so for the full set.
Coolant expansion tank - £300.
Radiators - £500-£1k
Condensors - £500-£1k
Water pump - £500
Exhaust - anywhere for £1k-£3k.
Clutch - around £700
Service every 6 months with quality oil plus all the filters - £300.
All the above are my approximations based on taking it to a decent independent specialist but all are achievable yourself, with varying levels of difficulty, if you're handy with the spanners & can follow instructions (saving literally £000's).
Bottom line - it's essential the cash is spent when needed & get one if you're going to drive it as intended because they really are ***** awesome! Buying one simply to polish & pootle about at the weekend is such a waste.
Agreed, I've done some of those jobs myself for a fraction of the prices that you'd pay for a mechanic. Some are seriously easy for DIY if I can do them!Alex said:
New radiators (Hella) & thermostat for £250
Air con condensors £100 (plus regas)
Service £70 (oil & all filters)
Gearbox oil service £30
To reiterate the previous points, 100k miles is not high for a 20 year old car. If serious engine failure can happen at any mileage you've still got possible £10k bill whether you spend £20k or £9k
went fairly pessimistic with the prices to try to avoid sugar coating things but yeah you guys are right, can be done much cheaper. thing is, many are terrified of tinkering despite the fact, in the most part, it's not actually that hard technically. toughest thing i've done to mine was the air oil seperator - only about £120 in parts but probably around 10hrs to do it. ball ache though it was, it taught me a sh*t load about the engine layout and how to get access all sorts of other potential issues should they arise.
Here's my one https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274070319264?_trksid=p2471758.m4704 loads and loads of work completed while we've had it the last couple of years, list is in the ad.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/312817633933?ul_noapp=true
This was up on Friday.... £4.5K, only the bravest of the brave need apply
This was up on Friday.... £4.5K, only the bravest of the brave need apply
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