Potential newbie needing help and advice..

Hi all, I'm currently carless and hoping to buy my first Porsche in the next few weeks/months. I have a maximum budget of £15,000 and was thinking of a 911 996 model or a Cayman. I know the Cayman will be 5/6 years younger for the budget but I think I've decided on the 911 now. I've been looking at several 98 or 99 models with around 80-90,000 miles on them recently. I live in the North West of England area but I'm willing to travel. I saw one in Truro for sale the other day, it was a T reg 99 3.6 engine model with a factory fitted GT3 kit on with 90,000 miles on for £9500. However, doing lots of research on these cars has made me worry about problems etc, am I sensible buying this sort of car for that kind of money? I'm willing to pay an 'expert' to check the car over before purchase. I spoke to Porsche Exeter today and they said they would be willing to do an '111 point check on it'. Does this go in depth? Ie. the dreaded intermediate shaft bearings or possible, potential engine issues? What are they checking? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Mark.

Hi I'm no expert here, but I bought my first Porsche (a 996) recently, there are a couple of good articles about the 996 in the January issue of GTPorsche that you might like to read. I can only go on what I've read and people I have spoken to but I think there are some great 996s out there but there are also a lot of problem cars at the bottom end of the market. I think you probably get what you pay for. If you, like me, don't really know enough about what you are looking at, then I would push my budget to get the best possible example I could find. I paid for a survey on the car I bought from Peter Morgan and I would definitely recommend him. He gave me lots of helpful independent advice while I was choosing the car, even before I engaged him. I also managed to get the dealer to sort out all of the problems that Peter found with the car before I bought it. I definitely saved more than the cost of the report. I hope this is helpful. Good luck David

Good advice to get a pre purchase survey from an independent - they know what to look for and what are manageable issues and what is perhaps a bit more serious like an IMS or RMS - btw the latter is quite cost manageable to fix though as long as its just the leak - and also its often easy (I understand) to confuse its symptoms with less serious issues such as the oil pan gasket (which also tend to leak on 996's) see here http://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/23696-porsche-996tt-tiptronic-leak/ You also want to look out for vario-cam solenoid issues - that should show up on the diagnostics fault finder, and it is well worth getting that interrogated before any purchase I'd say - its an easy job for any Porsche dealer - and often the ndie's will have a quick look for free or the price of a pint or 2. Mainly go in with your eyes open and manage your expectations - find a sound car (engine wise) for the right price and perhaps be prepared to spend a little more money to get it tip top - its what I've done and I'm in good driveable shape with a 996 (98) 85K miles, for 11K - I've a wish list spend of perhaps another 2k in the next year or so to do everything that ought to be done but isn't too pressing yet (I'll get there!). A great list of issues and fixes here on the Autofarm weebsite http://www.autofarm.co.uk/engines/water_cooled Happy hunting! J

Hi, I'm on my third Porsche now and hopefully going to my fourth. I always get a check on the car's history and one of the first things I ask the seller for, is the garage that services the car. Speak to the garage and they will have a history of the car's faults (if any), providing the seller lets you! Hope this helps?

Thanks for the advice!

I paid just over £15K at the weekend for my 2002 3.6 Cabriolet (2 x lady owners, 69K on the clock, & full Porsche history) from a dealer including a years 5 star warrantee. Movie clip of it. http://youtu.be/dwNCnC5LCeg

I think I saw that one when I was looking (recently bought a 2002 C2 3.6). The 99 model originally would have been the 3.4L engine which arguable is not as good as the 3.6 (and less powerful) so either the engine has been swapped at some point or it is being misdescribed as having the bigger engine. Would pay to confirm by getting the engine number. Just a heads up. Otherwise the 996 is a fantastic car, I'm loving mine!