Questions about high mileage cars and suitability for infants

A buddy of mine is considering selling his 996 Targa to get into a Ferrari 308. He's the second owner and is responsible for about half of its ~175k miles. He's taken good care of it. I currently drive a Miata and a Saab 92x (= Subaru WRX). I love the convertible and only drive the Saabaru when I need a roof, seats or cargo. I'm planning on having my first child in about a year, and the Saabaru should be a good car for that, but it's pretty boring as a DD, and I don't like how dark it is inside compared to the convertible (no sunroof). I'm thinking of buying the 996 if I can get a friend discount, but there are a lot of unknowns there. My first concern is mileage: what would I be looking at for operating costs at that high mileage? I assume suspension, etc, would need refreshing soon, but am wondering about drivetrain as well. I do most of my own work on the basics, but the next few years are going to be busy for me so I might have to use my mechanic more than I'd like. How reliable is the Targa mechanism on the 996? How expensive to repair if it goes wrong? What's the deal with kids and 996s? Can you fit a rear-facing child seat in the back and a collapsable stroller in the frunk, or would I have to wait until the kid is in a front facing seat and stroller-less? I'm assuming the former is unrealistic and the latter may even be a stretch, but I thought I'd come here to confirm. Thanks for all your help!

we are all 996 911 Carrera owners on this board. Not the Targa. We cannot speculate on what will go wrong or what needs looking at. Your guess is as good as ours. You may be better finding a Targa Board if there are any. .

I am sure you could fit a rear facing seat in the back.... But nobody could sit in the front passenger seat.... It would be all the way forward. I know that my c4s frunk would NOT fit a stroller... But maybe a c2 frunk might. As much as I love my 996... It would not be my choice for kids in the rear facing seat age bracket. Pick up a nice 944 s2 968 or 951 and at least you will have the hatch for tons of storage/stroller. Get the 911 when the baby is in a booster!

I'm in search of a booster that will fit in the back of the c2. Not sure how a full car seat would come close to fitting.

What is your budget...including at least $5000 for doing at some of the immediate things a car with 175k could easily need. And I hate buying a car from a friend...you could end up with two lemons. In terms of the kid and the stroller I just do not see it a happy fit with a 911. As for maintanence costs, the Targa roof and system will require additional maintanence above and beyond the rest of the car. 175k miles could also produce needs for serious costs that you might not want to deal with on top of the baby. If you really want a Porsche, a coupe with a sun roof and fewer miles and an impartial ppi might give you a better car. And it may be wiser to wait until DIY it might becomes more practical for you.

As already said, if you can get a rear facing seat in the back, the front seat will be useless. There is, however, a bar you can install that connects to a wire under the front seat. Once the computer is reprogrammed you can then use it to deactivate the passenger airbag so you can install a car seat in the front. It was made for the Porsche child seats that had (still have?) a male buckle hanging off the front that plugs in. There is a UK company that sells a blank you can plug though so you can use any car seat. My son loves riding in the 'sche since he gets to ride in front and the seat puts him in a spot where he can actually see what is going on inside and out.

Don't bother. Rear-facing won't fit well in the back and would be a total pain to buckle anyway. And then if (when) the kid vomits you will be miserable crawling into the back to clean it all. I have a booster in the back (Recaro Vivo), it works great and my kid loves it. Started him in that at 3yrs old, he's still in it at 6 (smaller guy). I wouldn't even try with an infant seat. BTW, I also had a 9-2x when we had our first kid. Great car, but the rear facing seat sucked in that car as well as it forced the passenger seat too far forward (Britax Marathon in that case). Note that if your car is a 2005, it just got included in the Takata airbag fiasco. Also, with a new first kid, the last thing you want is the potential issues with a 175k-mile ANYthing. Not saying it's going to have problem, just that you will have your hands full and your wallet empty with the kid. Rethink the whole thing. (Well, not the kid part, just the car parts) Also, you will not be able to get a stroller that will hold the carseat into the frunk. It might somehow take an umbrella stroller but that won't work for an infant. However with a Targa the back hatch opens so maybe an umbrella stroller or one of the smaller big strollers (Graco MetroLite) MIGHT be able to be jammed behind the driver seat area somehow. I'm not familiar enough with the targa to be sure though.

I can't imagine putting a rear-facing infant seat into the back: how would you possibly put it back there even with a strong back!? Infant seats that are rear facing work great in the front seat, though. The Airbag bar does works great for any seat - you can use a stiff wire to click the buckle-switch to disable the passenger airbags when needed; no actual fancy buckle is needed to use it. But if you want to make life easier: get a Cayenne. You can fit all the stuff you need to bring along and it will likely be a lot safer...

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Just because the car has 175k miles it does not mean it immediately needs 5grand of work. It could actually need less money invested into it than a lower mileage car it all depends. Sure you could spend 5grand on a 911 rather easily but some things don't make sense to replace if it isn't putting the car or you in any danger.

Cruise this thread https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...names-etc.html

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What? The Targa is a 996 coupe with a glass roof.

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I have 2 kids and I will unequivocally tell you the 996 is NOT a good car for rear facing seats - the seat belt and latch positions are not ideal for rear facing and even if you manage to do it , it will never feel secure rear facing, and there is no front seat passenger room AT ALL. Now if you wait a couple years till they're front facing eligible there are tons of good seat options and it works pretty well.

I love my Targa top. Worse case scenario if it malfunctions and costs big buck$$$ to fix I'll close it one last time and have a big moonroof.

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You are an insane person.

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I use the inflatable Bubble Bums with success. Also handy for travel. http://www.bubblebum.co/us/booster-seat/

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Today on Rennlist, we learned that Hurdi has no f**king idea what a Targa is. Hurdi, I'm a HUGE fan of being an *** to people who ask stupid questions, but when you fail to determine that the question is actually stupid before being an ***, you slip into the douchenozzle category. Very few things - not even extra badging and liberally applied WD-40 - can get you back out of douchenozzleville, so perhaps be a little more reserved before slipping into full assmode in the future...

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+996 Unless your wife is under 5 feet and don't mind sitting forward a bit, it's not gonna be fun. FWIW, I got one of the smallest rearward facing seat at the time and it was still pretty tight. Ended up only using that seat maybe 3-4 times.

I don't think this is the car for you, for many reasons. Not the least of which is you should do a whole lot more homework on these cars before you jump in. And buying from a friend is usually not a great idea, for a host of reasons. I had a new baby in 1984 and was obsessed with buying my first Porsche. The only thing in my price range at that time were the 1974-1977 911's, which at the time had issues that put them on the bottom of the list for aficionados (seems quaint now). Sort of analogous to our 996's IMO. I could afford the car, but I couldn't have afforded ANYTHING to go wrong. After looking at several cars, and coming close to buying one, I finally came to my senses, and bought a used Celebrity (audible puking is heard). It was disappointing at the time, but in hindsight it was the right decision. Now I can enjoy my car without worrying if the worst happens. Worry can suck a lot of the joy out of anything. Based on your initial post I'd recommend that you bide your time, enjoy your new child, and all things will happen in good time.

I agree with the above. I recently had two kids - one is turning 3 soon and the other is 18 months and believe me cars are the last things you will have on your mind for a while. I bought my 997 well before all this and so got to enjoy it for a while but once the kids came the car sat parked. To this day I have trouble justifying keeping the car simply because I love to drive and we go driving all together and you simply cannot enjoy a 911 with a little baby in it + a wife who is not very comfortable and cannot get to the baby if needed (and it's needed a lot!) My Odyssey, on the other hand has been a Godsend. I never thought I would own a minivan much less enjoy driving one, but on road trips with all of us in the car, all the gear, and my wife able to get in the back any time she's needed back there, there is no way any cramped, loud, and harsh sports car would compare. Also you may be in for a shock - the rear facing car seats are huge! I had a Nissan Juke as my winter car when my first kid was born and I could only fit a rear facing seat in the middle position which is a PITA to put a baby into. A nissan Rogue which we also had at the time was the smallest car that woul fit a modern infant seat without affecting the front passengers. And if you need to change a diaper while on the go... that's when you start to really appreciate the space of a minivan.

By the way, that new baby in 1984 is now my 31 year old son, and he's as big of an enthusiast as I am. Hopefully you too will enjoy doing autocrosses and DE events with your son (or daughter!). Sometimes delayed gratification is not only the right thing to do, but the subsequent results can seem even sweeter.

looks like we scared the OP off or he listened to Hurdi to hunt for a Targa board LOL

Strongly suggest an SUV or minivan. 3 boys 15, 11 and 2 all grew up looking at my porsches. All enjoy riding in them now. Getting them as infant/baby into a rear facing seat not to mention all of the accessories to leave the house, stroller, diaper bag, Spouse? Never worked out as expected. Just won't happen. I tried

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Speak for yourself bud. Plenty of targa guys here like me. I am childless though so can't comment to the seating. I do know that the roof mechanism can be expensive if it craps out but I have had great luck with mine. I love the tear hatching window. It makes the rear space behind the seats much more useful

For infant drivers, I think a lower-mileage car would be more appropriate. While I don't have any children, I would hate for my infant to be stuck on the side of the road. If you are determined to go this route, at least buy your infant a membership for AAA so they can get a tow if necessary. If your infant doesn't yet speak, you may also want to make up some cards with instructions on where you'd like the car to be towed in the event of a breakdown. As an aside, giving your newborn baby a Porsche really doesn't help with the feeling of entitlement the youth of today have developed. I think an old Buick or Oldsmobile would be a much better choice for the newborn driver in your family unless the infant has earned a good amount of the cost of the vehicle on his/her own.