My first 911

Hello there Having been a 911 fan for as long as I can remember, I finally find myself in the position to buy one. I can probably get to £23k, but I have a narrow garage so only the standard 996 body (not the 4S/Turbo wide body) will do. I've tried a W-reg Carrera at £19k, then tried an early facelift at £22k. The 'expert' with the facelift said the pre-facelift 3.4-litre models have had some engine problems. So do I need to spend that little bit extra for a facelift 3.6 model? Any of you out there got any thoughts/experience to help point me in the right direction? And a final question: bog-standard unleaded or premium unleaded? Cheers Justin

Hi and :welcome: There have been some engine problems that are very well documented on here and other places, but no evidence statistically than any worse than other high performance engines. The repair costs have been exaggerated due to OPCs replacing rather than repairing, but in any case, it is across the board - 3.4 and 3.6, and to a lesser extent Boxster and some 997s. If you are worried about repair costs, you can still get an OPC warranty (at a price) on a facelift car, but not on most earlier cars. I'm biased of course, but prefer the styling of the pre-facelift anyway! If you do go pre-facelift, try to get one with full leather interior as the plastics do not wear well in standard cars. As far as fuel is concerned the engine can be run on either, but it will cost you about 30 bhp and about 1 mpg if you run on 95 octane. Most of us use V-Power or Tesco 99 Octane. Finally, if I was in your position right now, I would have a word with Baz from Hartech: He runs a maintenance/warranty scheme for 911s where, for a fixed monthly payment you get warranty and service all included. OK you do have to have the work done at his place in Bolton, but there's someone on here from Ireland that does that! Good luck in your search... If you are buying from anyone you don't know, then get the car checked out by an expert first! There are some very expensive hidden issues with some older cars, that a few hundred pounds spent on a PPI might avoid! :thumb:

Welcome Justin, Can only agree with Wattie. Any questions you have on any potential cars feel free to ask on here, 911uk has the best 'experts' in interweb land :thumb:

Justin I have just been through same thought processes as your good self and plummed for a 00 yr 996 3.4 manual with 68K miles. I was out in the car again today & I just love it. I tried turbo's, C4s', and 3.6 Carreras as they are all now very affordable and within my budget. prices are compressing across the whole range & whichever you buy you will enjoy. I eliminated the turbo as the power is, IMO, not friendly and, like a TVR, feels "too much". I tried the 4s but failed to see the benefit of paying for turbo sized tyres & suffering the less compliant suspension. IMO the thrill of the 911 is rear wheel drive & not 4wd (the C4S is slower & less economical than the 2, and more expensive to buy). The 3.6 gives "crisper" response across the rev range and feels a bit stronger on the cam (top 2K revs) but you can pick up a 3.4 for £5-6K less than the 3.6 'facelift" and the difference in performance is not worth that amount of money. I think the reliability issues, whilst catastrophic if you suffer from them, are far less likely than forums would indicate and would not worry about it - you could be unlucky & pay extra for a 3.6 & suffer total engine failure... the water cooled engines are very reliable & I think the Porsche anoraks who ***** on about air cooled engines welcome the worry promoted around the air cooled engines and total failers are a rarity (although apparently the liners are less prone to slip in a 3.6!). £15K will get you an awesome 3.4 which is as enjoyable to drive as the £20K 3.6, you will lose less money in depreciation and won't be at the mercy of the chancellor when he decides to levy a theft tax on post Mar 01 cars. Oh and the 3.4 is lighter. Fuel grades: you will not perceive any difference between super & bog standard, apart from 10% price deviation. (if "super" fuel gives you an extra 30bhp I will eat my arm, and that difference in performance would make more than 1 mpg difference on economy; a biased test might show 3 bhp difference but could you feel that if the engine makes 250-295bhp?) Don't believe the marketing guff of Shell etc. - imagine if Shell could actually show a 3bhp gain, they would use that fact in their advertising. You will see their ads do not make bhp claims but talk about "getting the most from your engine" etc.

:welcome:

Welcome to the site Buy the best car you can for your budget and remember to budget for annual running costs

welcome to 911uk.. Northway have some nice face lift cars - http://www.northway.co.uk/16821/npl_stock.htm And if your into a few upgrades have a look at this - http://www.911uk.com/garage.php?mode=view_vehicle&CID=161 (hope you don't mind Stuart) One of the best looking facelift 911's I have seen, clean lines and nice upgrades. Again welcome to 911uk, feel free to post any question you have. Dan

How wide is your garage ? I have a narrow garage and currently a C2 but have tried many wider cars in there recently in my serach for a new car so know that some larger cars (with fat arses :wink: ) fit in bcos the doors are not at the widest part of the car giving you more room to get in/out......

Have to correct you there... I can't find the article just at the moment, but Thorney Motorsport did a load of research on this and the power output differences are staggering. Tesco 99 was there fuel of choice and in some cars gave 50 bhp more power than 95 octane! They also tested BP102 and got an extra 100 bhp compared to 95 octane (in a Porsche Turbo IIRC) 996 engines were designed for 98 octane fuel, but automatically adapt timing, ignition, and fuel metering for lower grade fuels (hence all the myriad of sensors around the engine). This inevitably compromises maximum engine output and efficiency. Put it another way - on the few occasions that I have not been able to get super unleaded, I can tell the difference - especially when I next fill up with super again! Just found the test info: http://www.thorneymotorsport.co.uk/tuning/Fuel_Test_Results.shtml and I was wrong... it was 40 bhp extra with Tesco 99! (in the BMW M3 CSL)

Yo - I stand corrected, on the face of it the test shows marked improvement in power output. Most impressive is the old Toyota MR2 showing an 8bhp gain. I remain slightly cynical in that the testers are promoting their business, which includes their expensive dynamometer, and benefit from "good' results, but I will be filling up with Super & await a noticed & significant improvement!!

+1 on using high octane grades, you can feel the difference in throttle response and fuel economy is much better (but that may be because its air cooled) :lol: . Just wish we got the 100 octane Shell VPower that you get on the continent...and at Swiss prices. Maybe cos Porsche/high performance engines are more refined than a bog standard car and going through the Alps the thinner air at altitude was noticeable. Leaving Monaco with 98 Super in the tank going over the passes the power dropped off, after an overnight in Switzerland filled up with 100 VPower and did Simplon pass over to Italy and the car felt normal again. Unscientific but enough justification for me.

Thanks everyone! I was away for new year and then straight back into the grind of work, so today's the first opportunity I've had to see your responses. Thanks again Justin