My dad is about to buy a '02 996 turbo. Today. Advice?!

Hi everyone, I'm sorry I don't have time to run a search or do any homework on this... He showed me a car at a local auction, a 996 turbo, which he wanted to buy last week. He had bid 33,000 on it, and the sticker value was 66k. Today he told me he went back a few days later and bid 47k, and that the owner (a bank) had called him and offered 49k. He is ready to just go and buy it. I didn't think he had a chance of winning, so when I looked at it with him, I was basically just admiring/exploring different details. Now I need to go look at it again today with a real buyer's eye. I know nothing about 02 996s so some input would be great. The cursory look I took last week was good for this information: 70k miles, cobalt blue / gray, not repainted or done extremely well, turbo twists, small whale tail, engine idles OK. When I go back today, what should I specifically look for? Any typical problems or issues that should scare me away from an '02 turbo? Oh yeah, and what are these cars really worth? Thank you all!

Hey there. 70k miles is VERY high for a turbo. Do a nationwide search on autotrader and you will not see many (if any) with that many miles. Last time I checked the highest mileage turbo I saw was around 55k. Honestly, my sense is that 49k is a bit high for a car with that kind of mileage. My buddy just sold his 01 Turbo for right at 50k, with 45k miles. As far as dependability, I'm not too sure, but my friend's car has been great, and I know the turbo/gt3 engines do not suffer from many of the "major" engine problems associated with carreras (i.e., rear main seal leaks, etc...). Good luck.

With that kind of mileage, it's about the right price. Beware the second gear pop-out, and make sure to cool the turbos down after each drive. Repairs will be expensive when they happen, but it's a pretty solid car. I bought mine, and within 2 days I had go to through a clutch+flywheel replacement. I had a PPI done, but the crappy clutch action was diagnosed as a slave cylinder that I had the PO replace... alas. That was about $4k (dropping the engine is 18 hrs by the book, and must be done if you need to change the flywheel). Check the Turbo forum, they can elaborate on these issues if you need.

Justin - 18 hours just to drop the engine? That sounds pretty daunting. Actually the car in question looks just like the one in your avatar! I'm sorry if I got the name of the color wrong. Though my dad won't really lay it out for me, I have a feeling he's got enough money to buy the car but then will not have much left for maintenance/upkeep. I'll cross-post to the turbo forum and see what they say. If you say the engines are solid though, and since I'll be doing all the work myself (if I can!) he might be able to manage it. Oh yeah, it was a tiptronic.

tell your dad to get a 951!

or to make you a copy of the keys after the purchase. See if you can get the VIN# and get a history of service performed.

Tell Dad that the TT is just an OK car, and the color's wrong. But he should buy it, and trade it to you for your '95 968.

high milage and automatic, I'd keep looking...

+1 If you find out it's not the RIGHT car, it may be very hard to sell...or just let mom drive it.

I convinced my dad to pass on this one (it took a lot of effort). I know he still has the bug though, so I'll have to be on my toes. I think it would be best if I just started looking for a car FOR him. He loves p-cars but unfortunately he never cared for doing any research, and he usually doesn't like waiting for "the right one". That's how he ended up with the 928 he's trying to sell... I wish he'd learn that lesson. He still doesn't believe me when I keep telling him that that car was not worth $49k. He keeps telling me it's worth $70k.