Poll: Which car would you rather buy

so i am going to use collective brain power here to help me decide you are given four choices (all are cabriolet): 2003, 16K miles, sport exhaust, carbon break/shifter, supple full leahter, digitial sound, power seats, black meridian metalic. one owner. warranty 'til 9/07. asking $58K 2001, 36K miles, C4, 100K/5yr warranty (a few years left), hardtop, nav, heated seats, adaptive sport seats, park assist, adv tech package, design package. 2nd owner. asking $54K 2003, 16K miles. not a whole lot of options: power seats, heated seats, xenon, premium bose sound, one owner lease return to carlson porsche. currently at the dealer getting RMS fixed and CPO'd. porsche factory warranty 'til summer of '07. asking $58-59K http://www.craigslist.org/eby/car/169206436.html what do you all think? last two cars are almost identical it seems like. i seem to have read somewhere on this board that RMS issue has finally been solved and there no repeat problems once its fixed. can somebody confirm that? thanks all. with your kind words of advice and support i'll be joining happy p-family soon

I'd spring for a twin turbo in the mid 60s if you could.

has to be a cab. doubt i can get a cab TT in mid 60s - plus i am way over my budget already. $56-$57 is really the most i am willing to spend on a 2nd car. i started out with a $30K budget for a used bmw Z4

option 2 or 4....4 looks prefect!! but if you where looking for something in the 30's why would you now double it?? I knew when I bought mine I didn't want to spend more than 45K...ended up spending 41.7 and spend another 10-12K on mod's (if I would have known this from the beginning I would have bought a younger P-car with less mileage...but if you know eveything beforehand!!! Make sure you are not over extending yourself!! It is very easy...but in the end you are going to get burned!!

yeah, if i can swing car #4 for $58K, i'll pick it up tomorrow unless dealer can give me a great deal on a #3 what do you think about #3 - should i worry about RMS? 4K in milage is not a big deal for me. but #4 does have better warranty. as for money... yeah, i am not good at controlling my spending when it comes to toys. you know, boys will be boys... i can afford it - i just didn't want my 2nd (old and used "fun") car to cost that close to my primary ride (2/3 $-wise) i have a feeling in a year or two i'll be here asking questions about which options to get on a new 997 C2S if my 996 experience goes well.

The ad for #4 states that the basic warranty for the Porsche is five years / 50K miles plus an additional two years / 25K miles for a total of seven years / 75K miles. The basic warranty for a Porsche is for four years and not five. A CPO car will add two years to a maximum of 100K miles. Do you know who's offering the extended warranty?

#3 CPO from Porsche can be transfered to a new buyer(private sale) when you get your 997.

i am sure the 5 year / 50K miles is a typo. i think the additional two years are also from porsche, but i'll have to find out.

There is a BIG difference between the original factory warranty (only 4 years no matter who tells you different) and any additional warranty backed by an insurance company, including the CPO warranty. I don't know how any of those but #1 can be the best choice. It's the only one there not bragging about some additional BS warranty, it has cool options, low miles, and decent price. What's to decide? BTW, RMS is not really a killer issue because it's something you can actually live with, despite the griping you see on this board about it. But if you can get a car that hasn't had the problem why would you choose one that had?

My vote is on #4. (Great shine too )

Yea I don't see why #1 wouldn't be the obvious choice? Nice set of options on it, one owner, warranty left for about a year and a half. The rest of them don't seem to have the options it has and are asking basically the same price besides the 2001, which has 20,000 more miles.

I vote #1. No known RMS, one owner who you can thoroughly debrief on issues (he may or may not be forthcoming, but you still can ferret out things). And, you can negotiate on price (find out why he is selling, too). Good luck.

What options are important to you? The cars are difficult to prioritize IMO because they vary so much and much of the decision of which is best for you comes down to your personal preferences. Heck one is even a C4 vs. C2 and has the 3.4 vs. 3.6 and the front ends are different. Are heated seats important? Not all the cars have them. What about xenons? PSM (C4 has the others don�t). What about Nav? Etc. Personally I would not own a cab without heated seats because it dramatically extends the top down driving time in my opinion and I actually prefer the look of the 99-01 cars to the 02-04 cars. The cars listed are just too different to prioritize on price or even warranty alone. Obviously get a PPI done, but get the car that gives you want you really want.

#1 for sure...for all the reasons stated above. Else, #2, but I know that I'll get it from the MY02+ crowd for saying that.

#1 for sure for me too. That one was quite obvious to me.

#4 (most vaue overall.... if you like a cab) and #1 (if you prfer the coupe)

they are all cabs. why do you think #4 has most value? bacause it has lowest miles?

#1 hands down.

So Jan, If #3 is cpo , it's 6yrs, 100K miles warranty, since it's still under factory warranty of 4yr/50K miles. Now number 4 is only nice because it has a picture, post pic of all 4 cars.LOL Number 4 has no haggling? how much is Gary selling you number 3? is this the one with scratches on the hood?the only thing i like with 1and 2 are the options, but warranty is ending soon, so you stil have to add that... hmmm decision decision

hey.. its not CPO - i'd have to pay more to get it CPO'd. for #4, well, the guy says he already has a buyer, but i told him i'll give him $60K cash tonight for the car (he said car has not a single scratch or ding or anything on it). he said he will find out for sure if his buyer is serious. if not, i'll pick it up tomorrow. gary is giving me #3 for $59K. yes, it is the one with scratches on the hood. i am going to go with a friend of mine tomorrow to carlson. he knows a lot about car detailing and will see if we can take care of it without repaint. while its a low milage car, i can see that people who drove it didn't really care about it and didnt take good care of their car (interior is not in best shape either - its like they had a dog or little kids or something)... and it had an RMS issue too - which is not something i am worried about, but still, its there... it just looks like it was one of those "its a lease, i am going to give it back, i dont care about the car" deals. gary has been very patient and helpful throughout my "i am so picky" stage if i do get a new 997 eventually, i know where i'll get it from. of course i understand that my standards for car maintance are pretty high. for example, my 750 has 17K miles on it and doesn't have a ding, a scratch or anything on the body or wheels. it looks like it just came off the assembly line. i am going to check out #1 tomorrow. i ask the owner how would $57K sound and i didnt hear a no (than again, i didn't hear a yes either). i think $57.5K might just seal the deal if i decide to get it. he says car is in great shape - sounds like he was planning on keeping it but is moving out of the country. one hesitation is that the colour is "meridian metalic" - not my top choice, but i'd have to see it in person to know for sure. the car (#1) also has a sport exhaust. anybody has more info about it? didn't see it in the 'build your 911' options for 997. the only thing i wished it had was heated seats.

If you got the money..don't worry about primary secondary car.....I had the money too and thought the same way..now I am kind of pissed..because I went for a 99 for 42K and spend about 10-15 (lost count) in mods!!!!...42+15=57K...so I could have bought a 02!! You are not going to regret buying a 996 either way...I already put 10K miles on it and spend in maintenance (not mods) about 1650 bucks (including 2 rear tires, got a 5 inch screw in one...and needed to replace them both 600 bucks) and 200 bucks for a stupid fuse, which was my own doing) 850 bucks for a 60K miles service.... So get the best and newest car with the best warranty your money can buy...and start driving!!! #4 looks the best...also because it looks very close to my P-car

Nicolass I know what your saying...Since I bought my car I installed numerous mods. You didn't necessarily make a bad choice because if you bought a $60,000 porsche, you know you would have still put $15k worth of mods in it making it $75k.

Faris you are probably right.....my biggest mod was converting my P to a 02-04...the front (fenders, bumpers, headlights and the interior (from graphite black to real soft touch black).....and you are right I would have done the same amount of mods to a newer one!... I am happy with my P.....10K miles within 7 months.....without problems (knock on wood).....waiting for 2 more mods to arrive (side skirts and spacers)...will the modding ever stop????.....still making up my mind about 19" black rims....

My thoughts exactly.

#1

#1 looks to be the winner

I have been through the same thought process as you. I was also hoping to be in the $30's as it is just a toy and there are lots of other toys I enjoy. I ended up with a 99 Black on Black cab with 24k miles. I had to fly to Texas to pick up and drive home, but that was the best part. I would focus on the options. The options I would not do without are full leather, heated seats, 18" wheels (sport design), xenons, hi-fi stereo, and sport seats. Mine had all those plus hard top, parking assist, aluminum trim and instrument faces, and was in excellent condition (even with 2 owners) with no RMS history. I paid $43k in April of 2004. The must have mods have included short shift kit, cup holders, PSE (with switch for the cab), auto switch for the convertible top. I have also added aluminum guage trim rings and pedals as well as MP3 input and bluetooth hands free. I will probably upgrade the speakers and amp sometime in the next 6 to 12 months. Mods have been less than $2,500, so that has not been an issue. I also live in the Bay Area and use the heated seats all the time, occasionally use the hard top. I like option 4 except for the fact it does not have the full leather. I would advise you to look at the dash, instrument pod, door panels and rear seat area of one with and without the full leather and make sure the plastic feel and look of the non-full leather will not bother you. Once I did this I was only going to consider cars with the full leather. I would make sure that you are getting all of the options that you want and not settle for less even if it means waiting a bit or expanding your search outside the bay area. Good luck! Kris

hey kris, i already got the car. no full leather. but if i want comfort and luxury, massage, ventilated seats and other toys i can drive my bmw. are you coming to the porsche drive in south bay on 24th? hope you can make it. i do have a couple of questions for your: 1) did you get your PSE installed after you got the car? how much was it? why did you pick PSE and not something like fabspeed? 2) could you pls pls pls tell me more about how you did bluetooth?

You don't list colors or whether the cars are at Porsche dealerships. Both should effect the decision. I would probably go for #3. RMS is no big deal if under warranty. They are updating to the new 2-piece seal. If you can afford it, I would definitely go 3.6l over 3.4l.

jkb Here is a link to my install on the bluetooth kit. https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...tooth+motorola I installed the PSE myself. To install without the switch was very simple and only took a couple of hours. I later installed the switch and find that I use it a few times per week. With the top up I never use the switch, but it is nice sometimes with the top down. I purchased from Brandywine. I didn't really compare the sound to any others, just knew I wanted something louder than stock. The PSE is plenty loud for my tastes. In case your interested, your car probably came with cupholders, mine didn't. I also did a mod that I believe is better than factory if you want something a coffee mug will fit in. Here is a link for that. https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...ight=cupholder I won't be able to make the south bay drive on the 24th, will be in Idaho playing golf. I have went to a couple of the events in the south bay, there are always some great cars there. You are going to really enjoy the car, glad you were able to get one you liked! Kris