996.2 Carrera 4

Hi All New to this game and seeking some guidance. Advertised on autotrader - Carrera 4, manual coupe, 02 plate on sale at Portiacraft. £19,995, 53000 miles, 3 owners etc. Looks promising from photos and description. Fits with what I'm interested in at about the right money. It's in London though and I'm in Newcastle so can't just pop in to view. Do people still get a PPI even if the car is being sold by an indy specialist? If so, any recommendations on who to use? Also, any views on the ticket price? I would need to use the car as a daily driver but only do about 3.5k miles per year - drive to and from work, school etc. Even though it's getting on a bit the car should be able to handle that surely? Thoughts appreciated.

I bought a 996 from Portiacraft almost exactly 1 year ago. Slightly higher mileage and a c2 but otherwise very similar (including price). I did not have the car inspected, trusting instead in their relatively fulsome warranty. My mileage is lower than yours, but I have not had to call on their warranty. The Becker stereo did die and they were quite helpful about that - but to be honest it was easier to spend £130 on a direct replacement than spend a morning stuck on the North Circular. Other than that, 9e were struggling to find much to complain about when they serviced the car in March. I dont necessarily know if I did the right thing - but I am definitely happy with the car. As to price, who knows - but if you find yourself like me, with 12 months of ownership and an MOT under your belt at very little cost, then you might consider it was worth the paying the dealer premium....

If it were me now, with the knowledge I have accrued about 996s then I would inspect myself. Knowing now what i didn't know when I bought mine, I would reccomend getting a PPI done. The advantage it gives you is that if they identify anything you can use it for negotiation, or better still, insist that it's taken care of at the dealer's expense prior to you buying the car. The price seems to be in the right place for the car and for the dealer to still have some fat in the deal to fix a couple of minor niggles without complaint. If you do nothing else, check the exhaust manifold flange to cylinder head bolts. These rot like pig iron and cost a fortune to get drilled out and replaced, and get the cylinder bores checked for scoring with a borescope done by someone who knows what they're doing. That will cover the two biggest expenses that can reaonably be detected before they cost you money.

:welcome: to 911uk Eric', Well done for finding us before buying a car :thumb:. Hopefully you'll have used all the resources of this forum to be going into your purchase with your eyes wide open. With regards to your query I'd normally agree 100% with the points made by Martin 996RSR but in your position, given your location and the well established reputation of Portiacraft, I'd happily buy without an independent PPI. Portiacraft are renowned for pricing cars competitively so I doubt that you'd haggle much off anyway but anything significant found I'm sure they would put right. Their warranty is as good as most but I'd have to come to some agreement with them about a process for getting any post-purchase issues fixed locally rather than having to bring the car back to them. Good luck :thumb:

:welcome: Good luck with the search :thumb:

Not sure I'd worry too much about the manifold bolts. Yes they rot like crazy and are tough to extract but unless you plan on changing the manifold, I would leave well alone and ignore them. Well that's what I have done anyway.

Knowing what i know now about them, I would take them all out and replace them with stainless steel or titanium, as I'm currently staring down the barrel of a £1k job to get mine removed. If I had spent an hour of my time and £20 on SS bolts when I had first bought the car, I would have avoided this.

Unless they've already been done, I suspect any car has manifold bolts that are going to be difficult but I think Indy's typically charge about £50 each for extracting snapped bolts. £1k sounds like OPC pricing.

I guess it would be unlikely but if all 12 are fooked and snap that would be £600+VAT. I looked at a fair few cars and most if not all had manifold bolts that looked totally scrap. It's only a matter of time before they rot away completely and the exhaust starts to blow, so it is hardly a deal breaker, but definitely something to consider if you are going to be keeping the car for a while.

Unless the exhaust manifold is blowing I don't really see too much issue leaving them as is. Chances are the engine will need to come out someday before the rusty manifold bolts need addressing, why not deal with it then? I can think of better ways of spending a grand on a 996 to be honest. Unless we're talking museum-quality cars or something.

There's a YouTuber guy ('Matt Vlogs' or something similar) who bought a 996 from Portiacraft. He details his ownership experience and the various issues along the way. FWIW any car can have issues. Portiacraft know their onions and whatever they sell will come with a warranty - I wouldn't worry about a PPI as if there's any outstanding issues then they'll surely address them before sale or afterwards if anything has been missed :thumb:

Hi Eric, I'm in Newcastle upon Tyne (NE3) and bought a 2002 996 this year - happy to let you have a poke around it and point out any things to look out for. I can strongly recommend D&G Porsche Specialists behind the Silverlink too http://www.dg-porsche.co.uk

Wise words - I think this is a must either way!!

Thanks for all of your replies and advice. The more I read the more my "bottle" starts to go! I'm not exactly a spanner man and haven't got much of a contingency fund for emergencies - is it any wonder the wife isn't keen on the idea! If I buy I will post photos. Cheers

Personally I'd never buy a used car unseen. There's just too much scope for mismatched expectations. I've been disappointed with so many cars I have travelled to see, some I've turned down without even getting out of my own car! Nobody's said it yet but a life of short journeys on a 3.6 is asking for trouble. On a positive note and if you are prepared to buy unseen, I'd ask if someone local could take a look and many hi res photos for you of the forest green body kitted car in Cornwall and maybe take a punt. That looks quite distinctive and attractive and I normally turn my nose up at the 996.2! Good luck, see a few and enjoy the buying process. It's part of the fun and the learning experience.