First time Porsche buyer

Hello everyone, This is my first post in Rennlist! I am a recent college graduate with not a lot of student loans and I also happen to make a decent living. I am very passionate about driving and I have always wanted to own a Porsche. I am slightly in a position to indulge in my passion. So I started looking at my options for an old Porsche as a daily commute. Car: 2004 White C4S Cabriolet, ~ 75k miles on it. Following are my observations 1. IMS problem not fixed but will be before delivery 2. Decently new tires (not a lot of wear n tear) 3. Ok interiors but upgraded infotainment module with nav, etc 4. Convertible top has a few marks on it. Similarly body has light marks which I have been told will be cleaned up. 5. Brakes need a little tuning probably. What else do I need to watch out for? What sort of expenses can I expect (~ $1000 per year maintenance I have been told). The asking price is around $32,000. Is it a fair deal?

Hello Vaibhav, I am also in the position of buying my first Porsche. That being said, I am far from an expert and there are far more knowledgable members on this forum. Though certainly possible ~1K a year in maintenance may be a bit conservative. These cars seem to be VERY reliable, though they are performance machines and the fact remains they are also not cheap to work on. If you aren't doing your own work, it can become costly. If you are using this 1K figure as a max, you may need to double check and make sure you have more room in the budget SHOULD you need it. Not a rule, just a suggestion. I have heard many examples of 996's lasting well with no maintenance other than oil changes, so remember it is possible.

Quotes source post: 12465414

Like I like to tell everyone the fill in the blank with the model under discussion is just a used car so it must be given a thorough used car check out. The abbreviated version of my advice is this starts with visiting the car cold and starting the engine and letting it idle while you check the body over all the while listening to the engine. Fake a profound interest in the body as an excuse to let the engine idle. 'course, do pay attention to how the panels, the gaps, shut lines, etc., look. Listen for any scary noises as the engine idles and warms up. After some idle time -- the more warmed up the engine is before the test ride/drive the better -- have the seller take you on a 15 mile test ride. The route should be chosen to give him a chance to demo the car as you intend to use it. Back at the starting point then you take the car out and drive the same route and drive the car the same way. Be sure the engine runs good at all times and the Tip shifts up and down under light and hard throttle with no drama. Do a K u-turn to really exercise the Tip and having have to shift between Drive and then neutral and Reverse a few times in fairly rapid succession. After your test drive back at the starting point give the car a thorough used car check out. The check list the techs use to CPO one of these cars is a good starting point. Assume nothing works until you confirm it does. If after all the above you still like the car arrange to get a PPI. Among other things this has the car on a lift and a check can be made for any leak sign. This is part of the reason behind the 15 mile test ride and then drive, to put some run time on the engine to give any leak time to show itself. It also of course gives you a chance to experience the car on the road in its natural environment. Furthermore, it gives the DME a chance to run through all the readiness monitor checks, hopefully without detecting a problem. If a problem is detected the CEL will come on. Maintenance costs to some extent depend upon how much use the car gets and what kind of use. Low usage of the mild kind can have you possibly banking some of that $1000/year. More miles and a bit of spirited usage can have that $1000 gone and then some. You don't have to answer these questions -- they are intended to get you thinking about the answers though -- but when was the oil/filter last serviced? The brake fluid flushed/bled? The spark plugs changed? The engine air filter, cabin filter, fuel filter -- if it has a serviceable fuel filter -- and a bit premature but not be much the Tip is coming up on being due to get its fluid serviced. I like to replace the coolant every 4 years or so too. If too many of the above need doing you can go through the $1000 in the car's first service before you even get to drive it. There is also with that old of a car with the miles starting to climb the odds of something going wrong having to be dealt with. Water pump, fuel pump, RMS perhaps, brakes, tires (and alignment), leaking coolant tank, leaking radiator (or radiators), CV boot, top problem, window or door lock problems to name a few. A general rule of thumb is to when buying a used car to have set aside 10% of the used car's price to have just in case you need to say replace a water pump shortly after buying the car. For the price I can't help you other than to offer my opinion that $32K sounds a bit high for a 2004 with 75K miles and with needing some TLC to bring up to condition. That every car seller prices the car optimistically is also a given so this tends to reinforce my feeling the price is a mite high.

I shopped 996s around this model year for a while before I bought, and I would say being a C4S and having the IMS fixed that price is OK.

Price Should be ~$30-$31.5k. With IMS resolved agree price is fair. $1K is not enough for maintenance plan on at least $3K first year of ownership. Your gonna want to do a full maintenance when you get her for your piece of mind. Do you have a link to actual car with photos and history?

Annual "average" maintenance stats for older Porsches (especially) can be very deceiving because you may only spend $4-500 for a few years, then all of a sudden you can be hit with a BIG expense. Few of us have the discipline to fund a reserve fund or to easily absorb these BIG hits. When asked about annual maintenance costs, there's a tendency to quote the recurring expenses and to forget about those BIG hits. relinuca PS: A pessimist is an optimist with experience.

Not to mention the upgrade/modification Virus that will attack your system 1-3 months into ownership. I checked with the CDC 6 years ago, and my wife looked into it last month... Still no known cure! And it goes something like this.... 1. Cold Air Intake - if there is such a thing 2. Exhaust 3. Suspension - Control Arms, Tie Rods and the ultimate plunge into coil overs/springs 4. Engine Mounts 5. Those awesome looking exhaust tips 6. Wow Nice Rims (wonder how they will look on my car) 7. Spoiler? hmmm 8. Are those Sport Seats really as comfortable as they look? The more you hang out on Rennlist the more severe your Flu will get. $$$ Cha Ching

Quotes source post: 12465881

1 - Stock airbox isn't too bad. Under $50 buys a new rubber manifold and plug and taking out the dumb resonator box deal in the airbox makes it more efficient. 2 - This is a Cab, so although more sound is nice this isn't going to be a monster track day car. 3 - See 2 4 - This is pretty cheap and easy to do I'm told 5 - It should have tips already? Plus a person can't look at them when they are driving. 6 - Being on the lower end of the income spectrum around here, yes, rims are nice, but I can't afford them so I don't look. 7 - I honestly haven't seen any that look much better than what was stock for my taste. 8 - see 2

Quotes source post: 12465860

I'm not sure of any big numbers as far as the engine or mechanicals but even wear items add up, along with insurance. Oil changes at home (where my gf can dress up like a barista) are $80ish, tires are looking like $600-1000 every few years, a few hundred for a brake flush every few years, not to mention brake parts, insurance is just south of $200 a month, then the price of gas. That's before getting into anything that would need replacing or break.

Quotes source post: 12465533

I heard some noises when changed from Drive to Neutral to Reverse. I am guessing it was the brakes and could be fixed by flushing the brake fluids. Correct me if I am wrong. Thank you so much for your advice, I will check the service records and get a better understanding of the car's standing.

Quotes source post: 12465860

This is exactly what I am trying to get a feel for. Any car I get will have a few hundred dollars worth of maintenance and that I can account for.

I won't be doing a lot of "upgrades" to the car initially since the model I am looking at already has some fancy upgraded rims (I can't describe them much due to my lack of technical knowledge, but they are one of those black expensive ones). Apart from that, I was very happy with the way the car drove and sounded and thus I am not looking for any fancy exhausts or suspension upgrades.

Quotes source post: 12465808

I don't have access to pictures or the history yet. I will post them once I have access to it.

Quotes source post: 12465414

First off, Welcome! Congratulations on your graduation and obtaining a good paying job. It also sounds like you managed the amount of student loans that you took out and are taking accountability to pay them back. As tough as it is, I wouldn't lock in on the first car you find. Fortunately there are many, well maintained 996 model cars available. This is a great group of people that help each other in many ways. Also, there is a lot of information that has been discussed before so I would always recommend the search function. Good luck with your search. They are great cars!

IMO, it's a fair deal. Looking down the road long term though will offer higher resale as long as it's taken care of. Reason being because C4S verts are already rare but add on the white color and it is even more rare. What color interior? 6spd or Tip? Any pics of the options sticker?

Quotes source post: 12465795

+1

Hi vaibhavgandhi12 and welcome! $32K sounds a little high for that car in the US - more like the price here in Canada. Maybe you can bargain for a better price though if you really like the car. Best advice - get a thorough independent PPI. That will give you a good idea of the condition of the car and any maintenance issues. As for annual maintenance costs, I would budget about twice what you have been told. You may not need that much, but just one shop bill could eat up your budget, plus. These are great cars and the driving experience is awesome, but they aren't cheap to run in my experience.