Trip back home from Texas with new 996

OK, I have flown to Houston to pick up the 996 that I bought, and drive it back to Chicago. I found the car on the Internet. 2004, single owner Targa with 25,000 miles. It was originally listed for $39,990 (They had the original used car window sticker in the glove compartment), but apparently they had no action on the car, and reduced the price to $31,990, which is when I saw it. I flew in, took a cab to the dealer. Saw the car - MMMMMMM - it's a beauty. The PPI was spot on. They pointed out a number of paint chips and scratches. I could see none of them. The car is dark teal metallic with a savannah leather interior. Crests on the seatbacks, 18" turbo twist wheels, electric seats with memory. The car is gorgeous, but you can see for yourself from the pictures. We took it for a trip around the block, and then I opened up everything to take a look. The toolkit was missing. I told them that this wasn't acceptable. The sales manager said that it was a used car, and there was no guarantee of anything. But they told me that the spare, owners manual and toolkit was there. I insisted. He said, "OK, we get 4 or 5 of these in a month. I'll take one out of another Porsche we get in, and I'll send it to you." That problem was solved. The car drives like a dream. It is the first 996 that I've ever driven. I am SOOOO HAAAAAPPPY!!!! The car is FAST, comfortable, the shifting is like butter. I finally stopped to get some rest for the night, but I am sure that I won't need an alarm clock to wake up. I will spend the whole night dreaming about driving. Then I will spend all tomorrow driving!!!! LIVING A DREAM. It's just wonderful. larry

Congrats they are a blast to drive and yours looks excellent. Just check to see if you have wheel locks. If so you should get that sorted out as soon as you can. Either get them replaced with standard lugs or figure out which key you would need to purchase. I think this is something the dealer would have to do.

Nothing like a road trip to break in a new car. Congrats and enjoy it!

Enjoy! Safe travels! And for the other travelling buyers - be sure you let the Renn community know when you are coming in. We can show up and buy you a beer! -td

Beautiful find. I figure any moisture that might of ben in the oil got cooked off during your trip. Try looking at all the tires manufacture year on the tires. You don't want to have around 6 year old tires on the car. Thats no matter what the saleman said.....remember the tool kit game.

VERY rare color - haven't seen much of that before. BEAUTIFUL CAR!!! I remember my first drive home was from Porsche Danbury to Boston - it was only about an hour and a half but it was really the best way to get acquainted... CONGRATS

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Silver - There are wheel locks on the car, and the key is in the trunk, along with 4 separate plastic bags. It's funny. The toolkit was probably in one of the plastic bags. Someone walked off with the toolkit, and left the bag that it was in. In addition, all of the instruction books and service booklet are in the car. Some are still covered in stretchwrap. There is even the instruction CD!! I'll have to toss it in my computer and see what's on it. More things to explore!!!! larry

That is one BEAUTIFUL CAR!!!! Makes mine look like a "plain Jane" Enjoy the car. As a fellow new to me owenr I am having a Blast everytime I get in the car. Have fun and drive it....I mean REALLY DRIVE IT!!

Congrats! Glad to see another targa here. Agreed on checking the tire dates. The fronts on mine were made in 2001 - originals with about 23k on them now.

Beautiful car. Interior looks like "Natural Brown" to me. Savannah Beige is much lighter and with the SB the air vents and console are also SB. With NB they don't make the vents and console in that color so they go black. Enjoy the car. If you are looking for a good indy in the Chicago area I can give you a recommendation. Is that your car in the avatar? I had a 69' 911E targa with a soft rear window that was the same color.

Thanks for the pics, your new Targa looks absolutely beautiful, what nice overall condition, and with very few miles.Congrats on your newer porsche. have fun going home.

are you sure that is savanah? looks like natural to me >? anyhow nice - enjoy !! when you get home you can pull the wheels and put the center caps on right, till then I would open every conversation with "I have not fixed the centercaps yet, i just bought the car and am driving it straight home to do that"

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Wow Ed, YOU are becoming very ****, must be the AC crowd influencing you.

Beautiful car! Enjoy the trip.

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LOL, just bustin him a little... actually I was wondering which lug the lock goes on - on those wheels non of the holes line up with the stem or directly across from it??? **** HA.. I havent washed my car since July - love it, the darn 996 had to be washed weekly at a minimul.. darn black in case you havent noticed Steve I dont seem to have a "home"

Beautiful car! Welcome! Not having a toolkit would not be the foremost thing in my mind when I'm passing 5000 rpms in 3rd! (Although I guess I don't know what it feels like exactly as I have a toolkit). Enjoy it and become a Member - you will have access to hidden features of the board including a wonderful For Sale section where you can pick up any number of things for the car at great prices from other members. I love your interior color, whatever color it's called.

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Funny you say that, I haven't washed my 99' for 3 weeks, but I did clean the wheels and tires, and even vacuumed the interior yesterday.

I miss the black sometimes... there was an 86 930 turbo - black on black at the shop last week and I had to wash it after drooling all over the poor thing its 7:45 am I think I will go wash my car right now

I washed mine tonight...so it will look great until tomorrow.It certainly was nice to drive a 'clean' black Porsche so I could dry out the brakes before garaging it.

What a beauty! I'm sure we all remember our first time bringing our babies home.. I thought my car didn't have the tool bag either and was getting upset since on my previous boxster it was just in the pocket of the spare cover then I read the manual and it showed that the tools were actually in between the spare and the car.. Try taking the spare out and if the tools were never used it might be in the inside of the spare.. If it's in there u owe me a drink...

Beautiful!! I LOVE that color combo!

Guys. Had a fantastic trip home. Ran into some rain on the run, and found out that the car needs new windshield wipers. They had Rain-Xed the windshield, so I mostly drove without the wipers on. When I started my drive, I turned the A/C on, and the squirrel cage fan was squeaking and squealing. OH, GREAT, I thought. You probably have to take out the entire dashboard to lubricate or replace that fan. A squealing fan would just drive me crazy. But by the time I had put 400 - 500 miles on it, I guess that the bearings re-lubricated themselves, and it's quiet as a mouse. I was a really good boy and kept my cruise control on just to keep Smokey away. Along the run, there were three times that some trooper pulled out behind me, and then, with lights blazing, blew past me to catch some other poor sucker. Yes, with a car that drives at speed as effortlessly as this, you need CRUISING Control!!! It was great hitting the on-ramps, though. That is where I did my dragrace for the moment. I found that I could hit 90 mph by the bottom of the ramp, and then had to brake to merge into traffic. The car is really a dream to drive. It was a very comfortable, though long, trip home. Now to answer some questions: About the Leather Color: the window sticker says "Natural Leather Brown" and then later, it says "Natural Leather Code PAG." So I guess that I will have to look for the trim piece for the console in that PAG code. The car is NOT Savannah. Pac996. Yes, I know that I should check those dates. I seem to remember that there is an article on the net that I saved with the code conversions. Dharn55 - My avatar is from my first Porsche. A '73, 911E Targa. Loved that car. Had it restored. Black vinyl sport seats with houndstooth inserts. The car was a wonderful car. Sad to have gotten rid of it, but I was between jobs, and it just didn't seem prudent to have that much money hiding in the garage when we were short. Ivangene - Center cap alignment? Which lug for the wheel lock? Geez, you guys are as **** as the "early" crowd. But, OK, I'll play along. Which lug do I put the wheel lock on? and where is the Porsche center cap supposed to point? How do you take the center cap off? Are there allen screws in the cap that hold it in place? Give me the info, and I will "adjust" the car. BTW, I have had a couple of black cars, and though they are beautiful, they only stay that way for about 30 minutes. I felt like I needed to wash it daily!!!! That wasn't going to happen. So for this car, I wanted to steer clear of BLACK and SILVER. It seems that 75% of the Porsches on the road are silver. Mikes_996 - YOU WIN. I pulled the spare tire. Inside the back of the spare, there is a styrofoam insert. Inside that insert is a place for the jack, jack handle and VOILA - a black vinyl toolkit. I owe you a drink, and I am sure that this is the reason why the dealer couldn't find a toolkit on ANY of the 4 Porsches that they had on their lot. Anyway, I will put my money where my mouth is, and join later today. For now, I have to go for a drive. Geez, it's been nearly 12 hours since I drove it, and I am already suffering from withdrawal. larry

I am not ****... well OK a little so the tip or pointed end points to the valve stem - the wheel lock was a question.. On Fuchs there is one hole directly between the center cap and the stem. that's where the locking lug goes. On Sport Calssic II's the hole for the lock is opposite the center cap...it's directly opposite. On your wheels there is no hole directly in line with the valve stem so I was asking "where does it go" correct "alignment" remove wheel and tap the back with handle of a ? screwdriver or other, they should pop right off. i wouldn't worry about it .... too much....

Hi Larry: Sounds like a great trip home. Good to hear the car in person met/exceeded your expectations. If you Really want that early 911 experience again, we can always trade!

Thats great, congrats man!

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Harry: Let me think about it . . . . . . . done thinking - NOPE. But thanks for the offer. larry

very nice.... brought back memories when I drove from GA to NJ. Enjoy in good health.... and love those turbo twists 2's.

Sweet ride let her rip! By the way any sort of teal or green looks gorgeous on these cars with the right matched interior. Let Smokey be jealous and chase some other fool LOL.

CAR LOOKS GREAT GOOD LUCK WITH

Larry, congrats on the purchase! It really sounds like you got a deal on a well sorted out Targa. Like you, I bought my car out of state and drove home. The memories are what make the car even more special. Have fun!

Look great! Enjoy the new ride!

Very sharp,can you put up some better exterior shotts? Hard to see the teal.

Very nice, love the full leather natural interior! Good luck with the car! Glad you found the tool kit too.

Larry you will learn over time how rare our color - metallic teal - is. third level special order or something like that. I have a 03 C2 with the same external paint but a different interior color. whenever i go to porsche events or to races at Lime Rock or NHMS, there's a crowd around the car commenting on the color. yours is the second metallic teal i have seen.

I was really looking for a car that was in a "different" color. Sooo many silver and black. The dark Teal is hard to get a picture of that shows off the color. But, I will try. To me, the contrast of the light brown interior with the dark green exterior makes for a very striking car. As I was arranging for the PPI I saw a couple of posts from at least one other Pcar guy that said he was interested in the car, but his wife didn't like the color combination. "Thanks, Honey; If you hadn't said NO, I wouldn't be driving a dream car." Like I said before, wish I had a longer commute. larry

From your Avatar, it's obvious you have a thing for green cars!

Larry - congrats on the purchase, gorgeous color combo!

She looks brand new, and I like the wood trim on the tan interior. It's looks classy. Enjoy your trip and be safe... (If you listen closely, you can almost here him gigglin' as he drives)

It's been three weeks since I brought my 996 home from Houston. I park it at the other end of any parking lot, and walk backwards all the way to the store, keeping my eye on it, so that it doesn't disappear in a cloud of smoke. I get into the car and smile all the time that I'm in it. I love hearing the engine howl as I put my foot in it at 3K RPM, and get pushed back into my seat as the car launches forward. I don't mind filling it up twice a week at the gas station. Several times a day I look out my office window to see that Dark Teal Porsche in the parking lot - amazed that it's still there. I look out the bedroom window before I go to bed, just making sure that that car is still there - proving that it IS really mine. I have automatically allocated two hours every Sunday morning, so that I can take the time to give it the weekly bath, so it continues to look the part. I have to keep my mouth shut to keep from blurting out Porsche drivel to everyone I work with or meet about the tires I bought, the oil change I'm doing, the challenge from some dude at the stoplight of this morning, the . . . . . Porsche stuff that no one else cares about, but me (or any other Porsche nut.) Ahhhhh, but it's really mine, and I LOVE IT - but anyone that I talk to who hasn't had a Porsche just doesn't get it, they just don't. Larry

Hey Larry, I know exactly what you are feeling. I picked my car up the same way. You are a few weeks ahead of me. I have it in the shop getting all the fluids fixed and a few of the PPI problems fixed. It feels so good to get in and drive the car. I feel a little naked with out it. Everyone is sick of hearing me talk about it. Pete