Buying a 996 911 Carrera 4

Hi All, A friend is looking to sell his 996 as he is moving abroad - he has owned for 5 years. It is a 1999, 996 Coupe Manual, Carrera 4 with 79 k miles. Comprehensive service history (stamps every year). I know it has had the following in the last 12 months: - Oil separator fault - oil leaking to exhaust (fixed) - Anti roll bar bushes - 2x front bottom arms - Discs and pads - Brake sensors - Regular service I couldn't confirm IMS was replaced though. Car is in tidy condition, silver with black leather and 18 optional alloys, aluminium hand break and gear lever, extended leather (panel, dash and steering), 3 point steering wheel - as far as I remember on the optional list Codes on the maintenance book were C16, XRL, X97, X98, 236, 424, 436, 446, 695, 09991 What is your view on the model and what price would it be reasonable for the vehicle? Thanks in advance :thumbs: :thumbs:

Don't touch the ims bearing, its fine. Somewhere in the region of £13k

I would have thought on a private sale he might put it up for 15k and realistically expect to let it go for a bit less, as a friend 13k sounds fair, 12.5k sounds better, that's still probably more than a dealer would give him

if I get it, I was thinking of keeping for 5-10 years, not worth doing anything preventive on the engine?

If you have the gearbox off its worth having a peek at the ims bearing and when you see it's absolutely fine, pop the outer dust shield off so that the engine oil lubricates it. Other than that, the only other stuff is an engine rebuild once you're way into 6 figures on the mileage.

.......and change the oil and filter every 12 month. :thumb:

Sounds like a nice car. A gen 1 too which (yes I'm biased!) is the prettiest version. I'd have thought around the 15k mark but tricky without actually seeing the condition. I would get it looked over by an Indy at least, or a full ppi. These cars can throw up surprise costs. Always a bit tricky when your buying from a friend.

Problem is many of the big cost problems don't show up on a pre purchase inspection. Only wear and corrosion items.

Thanks - car has been plugged in a Porsche specialist, only thing showing is the door lock which is triggering the alarm. No other errors on the system. Car drives solid apart from a couple of gearbox scratches (not sure if it is the lack of talent or the gearbox) but that was my first drive on a manual in a bout a year so may be the reason Would like that it had xenons, are these hard to retrofit using the full light set from a 996?

perhaps another question, in terms of reliability (note I will be doing about 2k miles a year), would a 1999 (November) car with the 3.4 engine be better than the 997.1 S version 3.8 engine? Still concerned with all the engine scare stories c: :?:

If you're that concerned it would be better to invest less in the purchase price of the car. The 3.8 (especially Tiptronics) is more prone to bore-scoring than earlier cars but IMS Bearing issues should be less of a worry. The advantage of bore-scoring is that you get a gradual warning whereas IMSB failure can be sudden and catastrophic. ps :welcome: to 911uk

Thanks! I could potentially stretch to a 997.1 (2005) Carrera S with c. 55k miles. Would that be a better buy? I do like the 996.1 myself (1999) so would be happy with either

Its '99 model so will have the ferrous-coated pistons so chances of bore-score are very very low. its done almost 80k miles - do a borescope obviously to confirm - but you should have legs left for many years.

Probably not. The likelihood of borsecoring on a 997.1 3.8 is immense compared to the likelihood of an ims problem on a 996.1 3.4.

thanks both. I know there are remedial work possible on the 996 with IMS replacement for about GBP1,500, is there anything that can be done on a 997.1 to remediate future issues?