996 buying considerations?

hello all, most of you will have seen my other post about deciding on 996 coupe or cabrio. Thought it'd be useful for me to mention what buying considerations I'm basing my decisions on and to let everyone else add anything I'm missing out. 1) Mileage - personally my view is I'd prefer a 50k-70k 996 rather than a 37-50k 996, I looked on JZM website and the 48k service is fairly pricey, so I'm thinking a car of 50-70k is likely to have had its bills paid and I'd be in for 12-18 months of motoring without any major bills. Whats peoples thoughts? 2) Servicing - I'm obviously looking for full porsche sh, myself wound probably then take the car to JZM (heard lots of good things about them). I would be avoiding cars which were taken to specialists early on in there life. 3) Colour - I don't want silver or red (because the last two cars I've had were silver). I'm open to any other colour really. Especially something rare or I haven't seen much of. Going to view a nice grey/purpley car tomorrow. 4) Interior - no weird colours for me - has to be grey/black or I suppose the red leather is always a good look in porsches? 5) wheels - i prefer the carrera dog legs to the gt3 ones. Altho, when it came to it, I don't think this would overule my mind. 6) exhuast - I would actually love to buy a car with a nice sports exhaust. 7) head lights - what do 996's come with, zenons or halogens? was it an option? ps: i'm not looking for this to turn into a depreciation battle or a coupe vs cabrio battle. From a subjective point of view, it'd be interested to see if you were to consider buying a 996 again what model would you pick. thanks and free hair cuts (if I get a cab) to anyone who helps with this ;-) Migration info. Legacy thread was 44769

the 3 options i have that i would say are a must are: Sports exhaust PCM (Sat Nav) Bose upgrade Migration info. Legacy thread was 44771

Lee. I seem to remember a post on here by Mark Pearce, I think, where me said that the dreaded RMS tends to fail at either 15,000 or 70,000 miles if it is going to happen. It's worth looking into the history of the car with regard to any RMS problems it has had. The LiTronic headlight option is fantastic. Another useful one is PSM. Migration info. Legacy thread was 44775

Aaaah, just done an rms search and come up with lots of stuff. I remember ready about rms problems with the 3.2, 964 and 993. I guess porsche just can't make an engine which doesn't leak? I shall watch out for this. One thing I couldn't find in the posts was how much an rms failure is to fix? Whats PSM? Do 996 have any traction control on them? if they do, can I switch it off? thanks Lee Migration info. Legacy thread was 44787

Porsche Stability Management and i think the RMS can cost upwards of £1000...............as you are normally as well changing the clutch at the same time Migration info. Legacy thread was 44791

one thing tho.......without sounding elitist etc if you are finding a 48k mile service price steep,then perhaps going for a Porsche might not be an ideal so to speak,and if you think that if by someone else having coughed up a big service cost,that you don't have to worry about any other big outlays til the next big service is due might be a bit unrealistic Migration info. Legacy thread was 44793

Rodders is very right, 911's no matter how well looked after cost on average at least £2000 per year to keep on the road, including servicing, you might go 1 year with only £600 and then another with £4000, and that is Porsche ownership. And thats if you use it as second car, budget for more if a daily driver. And compared to ferrari ownership this is chickenfeed. Good luck Daz. Migration info. Legacy thread was 44800

yeh, i understand how it looks, it looks like I'm budgeting zero to fix it which isn''t the case. My audi s4 is also very expensive to keep running, so i'm not in for too much of a surprise, I'm merely trying to reduce the costs as much as I can. No point wasting money on a depreciating asset unless you have to. its the accountant in me :wink: sorry ;-) ***** getting a ferrari, driven a 355 and they're terrible cars, can't believe they're worth so much money. Whatever I buy, i'll be having a full inspection and be aware of the cars current condition. thanks for the psm explanation. can I switch it off if the car comes with it? Migration info. Legacy thread was 44806

PSM - you can switch it off, but even whilst off it can still intervene during braking if it deems it necessary. re RMS, my view is that this is an over-hyped problem with 996s/Boxsters/(and i believe 997s). At the end of the day what the guys are saying re running costs are very valid, part of these costs for a 996 in my opinion should definitely include the £725 Porsche warranty. RMS is covered by this now. Re 355's, my mate paid 55k for his, with warranty from ferrari approved dealership and managed to drop 10k in repairs in the first 8 months in faults not covered by 'warranty'. Madness...RMS is nothing...buy your 996 get the warranty...happy days will lie ahead... Migration info. Legacy thread was 44814

dont forget the 48000 mile service is a 4 year service or 48,000 which ever is first, as its about £700 its hardly a reason for buying a higher mileage car to save on servicing costs, a set of discs and pads or a clutch is more expensive than a 48,000 mile service!!! best advice is allways buy the best spec, lowest mileage car with a good service record, and have it inspected before you buy it, have a porsche warranty if the rms goes its covered by the warranty, if you cant afford a £1000 to service a car then you cant afford to buy a Porsche. I've just spent £2400 on a y reg 17,000 mile 996 service this week 4 year 48,000 mile service front discs and pads, 2 front tyres had the rms and a clutch as when the gearbox was out the clutch had a limited life Not cheap, but then the next owner wont spend much on it , as its now got a Porsche warranty as well These are theings you need to consider Good luck Migration info. Legacy thread was 44830

I think that remark was regarding engine failures RMS can go at anytime, I bought 2 cars this week, 2001 17000 miles, rms leaking for the second time,2002 12,000 miles again rms leaking AND i had 3 993's in jan all with leaking RMS, so its not just a water cooled problem Migration info. Legacy thread was 44831

Mark, what do you think causes this problem with the RMS, is it a seal design or material quality fault, and surely you shouldnt be changing these seals in such low milage cars? Such new cars would surely have been serviced by OPC who would have picked this fault up and done it under wtty? If they havent why not? I have no RMS problem, however on take off I have a very slight clutch judder, which has not detoriated at all for the 4000 miles I have had the car, if you were selling this car, would you be changing the clutch? Daz. Migration info. Legacy thread was 44837

Good question Daz, I have that judder as well. Migration info. Legacy thread was 44848

Not being a mechanic its difficult to give an accurate answer My own opinion is its poor manufacture i think in the engine castings BUT MY THEORY IS ONLY BASED ON THESE THOUGHTS Ok i only buy low mileage 996's I'm finding that if a car has had an RMS when 2 years old and say 10,000 miles, 2/3 years later and now at 18,000 miles, I do it again apparently Porsche are using the 7th design of replacement RMS seals the mechanics tell me that each new seal is supposed to finally cure the problem If only as each leaking RMS costs me about £700, So is it costing me £7-£9000 a year for Poor design? I could have some nice holidays if they got it right But at least if you buy the car from me and its been done, with the porsche warranty i've put on it you are covered, and i allways advise to extend the warranty because if or when the rms leaks again at least porsche will cover it and youve got the cost of the warranty back Migration info. Legacy thread was 44849