1999 996 purchase questions

all, i have been an aircooled owner(993,964)the past 10 years and interested in purchasing a 99 996 i found in california bay area...1999 silver black coupe, 6 speed, car has 105K, one owner, serviced at dealer including new factory engine replaced at dealer at 58K miles(factory replacement under warranty), all service records since new. car is in excellent cosmetic condition with 1" seperation on seat bolster and will need brakes soon....also headlight lenses have a bit of a yellow tint from the sun. i can buy the car for $16.5K **car is a friend of a friends and has not been advertized publicly anything i should be aware of other than the obvious? thanks!

Get a thorough PPI with someone who knows the water pumpers. New motor is a plus and complete records will help tell a story. Sounds worth persuing to me. GL

+1

Having a new engine with warranty will be a plus IMO. What part in the Bay Area? I can give you some suggestions for PPI. If close enough I can even go check her out for you.

PPI on 996 is good, will give you a good sense of any red flags. Sounds like a well used car which IMO is better than one that never came out of the garage... my old car is probably pushing 130+K miles on the original motor.... no reason the car cant last for a very long time. seats can be fixed or replaced - brakes....big deal, you will be doing them at some point anyhow. make sure the PPI checks for ridges on the rotors, that could add another $1k worth of parts to the brake job. headlights are often available second hand depending if they are the amber,clear or lits ($150-$500 ea) post pics and we will pic it apart/point out nice features ect... Best of luck

car is in san anselmo and i was thinking of using rector porsche for a PPI. really appreciate the feedback. as far as the brakes, i think the rotors will need to be done too according to the owner. he has been very upfront about what the car needs. he is a close frind of my best friend and has a large bank account and just purchased a new ferrari. as i mentioned the engine was done at the porsche dealership while the car was under warranty. his list of items needing atttention are: 1. new remote key as both are not opening the doors/locks 2. brakes & rotors 3. small 1" seam seperation on drivers bolster **4. possible front wheel bearings...*he said his mechanic mentioned this possible need for replacement of bearings as he noticed after the A/C is running for about 30 minutes, when he turns the front wheels there is a squeeking noise...sounds odd to me?..can anyone chime in?? i usually don't like to discuss dollars and cents on the forum but the bottom line is i can pick this car up for $14K cash this week as he wants it out of his garage.

I know you don't want to buy a lemon but at that price you are risking a heck of a lot less than a $25,000 car.

are you or anyone else familiar with any front wheel bearing issues and symptoms?

I would pass on that car and buy one for a little bit more money without the issues, since a very good example of an early 996 doesn't go for much more than that (smaller delta than fixing this car it sounds like). For me the LSD and Litronics (xenon) headlights were must have options by the way.