Thinking of buying a 996 ..

Hi all .. 8) Me and my other half are maybe thinking about treating ourselfs and buying a 1998-99 996 C2. Im just at the "Doing my homework" stage at the moment and have been reading through some of the threads on the forum, some good reading and some scary .. lol ... The car would be used daily and from what im reading these cars dont have a problem with that ... would you agree ? .. Also im up in the Glasgow area and was curious if anybody knows of a Porsche indepedant for carrying out the services and maintainence in the Glasgow or Edinbrugh area ? .. Also what kinda MPG are you guys getting on long runs and town driving ? .. be it heavy or light footed .... lol ... i only ask as i like to know these things, im reading anything from 19 to 32 mpg is normal ?? ... Being a Porsche am i letting myself in for a world of constant high maintanance and headaches or if looked after they are generally just like any other car of that age ? ... Any other tips would be appriciated for the newbie ..... Thanks all

Hi Roddy996 Welcome to the forum! :thumb: It's commendable you are doing your homework, when you buy make sure you get a pre-purchase inspection carried out before parting with your $$$. The 996 is generally a sound car to run. The problems a few people do encounter is the RMS (do a search on the forum) and rusting of brake discs (if the car is left outside). Possibly one or two other items as well but really no more than and actually quite a lot fewer than other performance cars of this league. In town, my 3.6L gives around 18mpg. I hardly ever drive it around town though and is almost always used for dashing (literally :wink: ) up north to see family where I get 29mpg which I am quite happy with. It's not constant high maintenance, but bear in mind, is even though you might be buying a 98 or a 99 MY car, it is in essence a £60k car to begin with and servicing and maintenance costs will reflect that. I would budget around £1200 - £1500 a year for most things. This year I have spent £570 on 4 new tyres and the car will be due a 24k mile service which I reckon will be another £500 (?). I am sure others will add their experiences on here shortly. Let us know which cars you are looking at and perhaps we can help you? Cheers & happy hunting! ~ Maxie

Welcome! I'd say that they weren't any worse than any other car of a similar age and value for reliability/expense. You do very occasionally get engines letting go, but that would be very unlucky. You might even get one which already has a newer engine which would give peace of mind. Don't know of any specialists- Rodders who posts on here owns a 993, he lives up north of the Border and may know more... Happy hunting, and post up ads etc if you see anything you want comments on.

Welcome!

>Me and my other half are maybe thinking about treating ourselfs and buying a 1998-99 996 C2. Try and stretch to the 99 clear light model. Some minor engine mods to make it a bit more reliable. >The car would be used daily and from what im reading these cars dont have a problem with that ... would you agree ? .. Yes, they are better used as daily drivers > Also im up in the Glasgow area and was curious if anybody knows of a Porsche indepedant for carrying out the services and maintainence in the Glasgow or Edinbrugh area ? .. I don't, but budget for around £2k / year, stretching to £3k, excluding insurance , but including tyres. > Also what kinda MPG are you guys getting on long runs and town driving ? .. be it heavy or light footed .... lol ... i only ask as i like to know these things, im reading anything from 19 to 32 mpg is normal ?? ... Yes. I get about 17/18 mpg from congested school run. 32mpg is top end, 56mph driving. Expect lates 20s on the motorway, typically. > Being a Porsche am i letting myself in for a world of constant high maintanance and headaches or if looked after they are generally just like any other car of that age ? ... Allow up to £8k for a new engine.

somebody mention my name :wink: Roddy, you have a well respected specialist quite close to you Motortune in Shotts :worship: amazingly cheap too!!! under £50 p/h labour rates too!!!

+1 for Motortune - excellent to work with and will only do what's necessary on the car unlike OPC Glasgow - who have to pay for their big shiny new Braehead complex soon!! Also heard RPM in Maryhill are good but I've not used them yet.

Hi there! We did exactly what you are thinking about nearly four years ago & have had no dramas. We got a 2000 C2 Cab. So far, the Fiesta & Puma we're running alongside have cost more than the 996... I've also had an '86 3.2 in the past & that was a really expensive car to keep up together. Fuel is as expensive as your right foot is heavy, but way better than you would think when driven sensibly - I'm sure the 30+ is fairly easily achievable. Maybe that's just male rationale though... I think the best bet, is to put a few quid aside each month to cover yearly bills? We still use the OPC because of the warranty, & to be honest, though the hourly rate is high, they discount cars over a certain age which means a minor service cost less than your average hot hatch service & major, not much more. Of course things go wrong, hence the "just in case" fund!! After four years though, all is well & we've not regretted the purchase one bit! :wink:

I was in the same position exactly 1 year ago and ended up with a '99 996 C2 Tip. I did all the research and there's so much out there that will put you off buying one but I decided they were nearly £10k cheaper than the facelift model so it was a gamble worth taking. I use mine daily for everything including ferrying my 7 month and 2 and a half year old about. Its fantastic and 1 year later I have absolutely no regrets. I service it at an indy and do some work myself including fitting the Porsche Sports Exhaust. 4 tyres for the 17 inch rims were £520 all in. I get about 18-20 mpg in town and about 30 mpg on the motorway. Go find a good one, get it inspected and enjoy it! As other have said it is still a £60k sports car and with commensurate running cost although much cheaper than other sports cars.

Thanks for the replies back guys and the tips, very much appriciated.... We will be taking out time over this and not rushing into anything, would like to maybe try and get the facelift model 3.6ltr ..... although if we found a crackin 3.4ltr then i would'nt have a problem with that ... Cheers Rodders ... they are just next to the house so thats great, makes a big differance if there is somebody who knows what they are doing on your doorstep. Roddy