Another new 996 owner

Nice car. On your central locking issue. If the car has not been used for 7 days it goes into a type of standby mode and can only be opened with the key. Once opened by key it wakes the car up and normal central locking will resume. Just encase this is what you have experienced?

Hi There appears to have been a real flurry of new owners lately which is great. Well I have taken the dive and after 6 or 7 months if looking I have brought a 98 996 C2 in nice tidy original condition, even has the LSD option. It's still running amber lights and comes with full history from Porsche and then Jaz. It's got a few body mark scuffs, but inside and more importantly below its really good. The interior colour is not everyone's choice, but it goes well with the colour and I like it. Only driven it a few times in the last month but its really starting to grow on me. Few bits planned, but nothing too much at this stage as I want to keep it as original as I can. Had a central locking issue the other night after not using the car for a couple of weeks, but from searching this does look common, so I will connect my trickle charger from now on. May try out this "gundo hack" as the exhaust note is a bit quiet. Ross

Well done Ross. It looks like it might be a Savannah interior. I loved mine, which was also a '98 in Ocean Blue. I think it is a good combination, and much less boring than all the black interiors I have had since then.

Ditto on the interior - you can keep black and grey, I'm a tan man anyday! (possibly that came out wrong....)

Hi Ross Glad your enjoying 996ing. I can assure you nothing will improve a 996 more than getting a decent exhaust "noise" via whichever route you choose.

Thanks for the comments. Yes it's savannah. Not too keen on the savannah steering wheel, but I like the rest including the headlining. The remote would not open the car, used the key and the alarm went off and couldn't be silenced with the fob, so flicked the ignition on and off and its been fine since. Have to say that is a very odd idea and the fact you cannot pull the boot or engine cover with a flat battery even stranger. I will take a few better pictures in time as that was a screen shot from the original sale advert. What tyres do people run? It's currently got p zero rossos on it which have good tread all round but are 8 years old. Used cont sport 3's on the 964 and they were always good. Thanks Ross

Re the door locking/alarm I had this problem when I first got mine. After standing for 5 days, to save the battery the sensor that operates with the key fob turns off. To avoid annoying the neighbours with the alarm going off when just using the key, I found the best way of opening it is to put the key in and slowly turn it clockwise until the interior light comes on and the window rolls down. I then lean in and put the key in the ignition and turn it. This turns the alarm off and you can open the door as usual. I bought a trickle charger when I first bought the car nearly two years ago but have never used it and the car starts easily after two weeks not moving (which isn't often though). My car goes in the garage nose first so easy access to the engine. In case I ever had a flat battery I checked to make sure that I could get hold of the emergency engine lid cable release behind the left rear light. You put a bit of hooked wire into the gap at the bottom of the light and hook out the cable. Pull it and the lid releases and you have access to put jump leads on. Worth trying this in advance of actually needing to. I'm sure you'll enjoy your car as much as I have mine.

Top tip! [8D]

It does appear that we have some new owners on here which is good to see. I have said many times before I have had my car now for 11 years and every time I drive it it puts a big smile on my face, they are such great cars and brilliant value if you can get a good one. I had a battery problem after a couple if years of owning my car so bought a new battery and a CTEK trickle charger which it gets plugged into every time after use seems to work well but lucky as I have a garage. Enjoy your new car. Cheers Phil

When in 'sleep mode', I turn my key anti clockwise & when interior lights come on I press the unlock on the remote & can open the door with no problems with alarm going off...... I believe the alternative is to put key in ignition within 10 seconds[ ] Hope this helps Paul

Could not agree more Phil

This works for the later cars, but on my 1998 996 in sleep mode the alarm would always go off as soon as the door was opened. I never had the luxury of 10 seconds to get the ignition switched on. Most people I have spoken to with 1998 models say the same. It is amazing how quickly you can get the key in the ignition when you know it is going to happen, and amazing how long it takes when you don't!

Much as I love the Savannah interior, I have to agree the yellow shiny four spoke steering wheel did detract somewhat - they seem to deteriorate disproportionately to the rest of the interior trim! So, I bought a black 3 spoke on ebay and had a local trimmer recover and restitch the rim - in my opinion it looks an absolute snip and fits in well with the rest of the black and tan interior. Much nicer sized wheel as well - I believe the 3 spoke was a £1000 option when the cars were new - I got this one to good as new for about half that - still a hefty chunk but it lifted the interior substantially. All the best. J