Thinking of buying a 996 Carrera

Hi guys. I'm thinking of buying a 996 Carrera purely as a weekend car (and for something to polish on a rainy weeknight). I only want to spend up to £16,000 and have seen a few tempting ones for sale around this figure. Ideally I would like a black or silver one with a tasteful factory fitted aero kit of some description. Can you give me any tips on what to look out for and the best places to look? Many thanks!

A good place to start is our buyer's checklist here: http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/fb.asp?m=269468 For your budget you will be looking at an early 996, but there are quite a few out there - you just need to find a good one. Most important thing is condition and service history. The golden rule if you aren't an experienced Porsche buyer is to get a pre-purchase inspection done by a Porsche specialist if you find one you are seriously thinking of buying. Obvious places to look are Autotrader, eBay (yes, really), Pistonheads, this forum, and 911UK. Good luck, and any questions are welcome here and you'll get some good opinions and advice.

Cheers for that Richard! Yeah I realise I'm looking at a 99-01 car with at least 60,000 miles for my budget. My main problem is that I'm from Northern Ireland and most cars of interest are from England. If I find a car I'm seriously interested in buying, could I get the owner to take it to his local Porsche dealer and have a full inspection carried out at my expense? Also - do you know what factory aero kits were actually available for the 996? Thanks again mate.

An OPC inspection will only check 101 mechanical points - it won't give you an idea of condition. Best to get someone like Peter Morgan, who will give a much better idea of condition as well. The factory fitted aerokit was called the "Cup Aerokit":

Much appreciated mate. Let the search begin!

10 more Richard; 111 mechanical points check [ ] But as Richard stated this is only good enough to say the car is mechanically sound used to get a Porsche extended warranty available for car 10 years and younger or 100,000miles or less (whichever comes first). Ideally what you want to do is get Peter Morgan to inspect the car; go for a late 1999 build and try and extend the Porsche warranty for another year. This will be just a peace of mind driving for your first year as you get to know the cars and problems that may appear.

Thanks for the reply mate. What do you chaps think of this one?: http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1197327.htm A little over budget but all the right bits and relatively low mileage.

Looks good. Just be aware that Vesuvious grey is actually a dark purple colour, which I quite like but many might not.

I'm also from N.I and i was in the same position a couple of years back. I looked at various cars on the net and called up the dealers/sellers for more information before deciding on my existing car when I got a good feeling about it. I had it professionally inspected, negotiated a price with the dealer, paid a small deposit then booked a one way flight over to the mainland and a one way ferry back to Belfast from Stranraer. I took a draft over, picked the car up and drove it home all on the same day. Only bummer was the average speed cameras all over the mainland so I couldn't give it welly properly. At least in Belfast we can still test acceleration and then the brakes before the camera, obviously not that I would condone such behaviour. The dealer even picked me up from the airport in a Turbo which was nice. To be fair, when you arrive and don't like the car, you can still walk away and lose your deposit rather than be landed with a lemon. Some have used Peter Morgan for inspections as he goes to the car which is handy.

Tell him to knock of a few hundred quid for having a GT badge on a 996 C4

Nice one! I just assumed it was a gunmetal. I love grey finishes with a purple sheen. That's the way to do it by the sounds of it mate. Does Peter Morgan travel to the car or would the car have to be brought to him? LOL! Yeah, a bit cringe worthy that. A sheep in wolves' clothing!

One other thing chaps - tiptronic - avoid or consider?

Peter travels to the car. If he doesn't go himself, he has a team around the country. Tiptronics - You need to drive both manual and tip to decide.

Just my 2p's worth and maybe I'm getting older (although I'm still in my 30s) but its Tips or auto all the way. There is another thread on another forum with a lot of replies but no negative ones about Tips. As Richard has said, drive them and make up your own mind. If you are in NI you are welcome to have a look and drive mine. PM me if you want to.

I used Peter Morgan about 6 months ago to both source and inspect my 996, as I live on the Isle of Man and had the same problem as you. I would definitely recommend him. He gets you to give him your ideal specification for the car and then informs you of similar ones he finds. As this was my first Porsche he did a great job of stopping me getting too excited about cars that didn't really match my original spec. Give him a ring and have a chat with him. There are others that will do the same, but I can only recommend the one I used. http://www.porscheinspections.com/porsche_inspections.php?navId=8#Geographical%20coverage Good luck and be patient ;-)