996 C4s Cat C do I buy or not?

I'm looking at a 2004 996 C4s thats on a cat c because of an interior fire. The interior parts have been replaced but badly! It has been imported from Northern Island without much information! ie service history owners etc. It has done 19000 miles and looks like a turbo as the seller says he had the vents on the back arches retro fitted! I want a project and would like to replace the interior which is savanna on seal grey body. The asking price is £ 14995 is it worth this? Also how do I verify its not stolen, cloned etc. I've never owned a porsche but have wanted to for years. Do I buy or walk away?

Without seeing it but just on your description. FWIW my advice would to be take some big steps away get walking[:-][:-]! If you get a bad experience with your first Porsche you will not come back for more[ ]

Walk away..looks like a lot of money for a Cat D. You could buy an older but much better car for similar money.

OMG!! Find the biggest barge pole you can find and steer away is my advice . If you've always wanted a Porsche then thus is definitely NOT the one

NO! Do not buy, there are plenty of examples for sale for late £teens. http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds?Category=used-cars&Keyword=4S&KeywordCleanedValue=4S&M=519&SortOptions=PriceLowToHigh

In reply to Geoff997 the actual car is on the advert link. It's the low milage with turbo vents!!

I quite like the look of it. I think you need to do a lot of digging around first though. Try and get the mileage ascertained (these cars are easy to clock), call around and find out where/when it was serviced, work out exactly the price of the parts you need replacing, then give the dealer a huge kick in the balls bid, because as everyone has said it's badly over priced (it also has ruffled savannah leather which is very near the bottom of most peoples favourite interiors - not mine)

Keep looking, you will find better.

Pianoman, with all due respect everyone will know it is not a turbo as soon as you put your foot down. Don't be sucked in by those retro fitted vents. (excuse the pun) Fifteen grand is a lot of money for this car. Having done it there are so many hoops the car has to jump through to allow you to be issued with a certificate to allow you to apply for a new V5, where upon it will be issued with its original registration mark should it have been changed, and this mark will become non-transferrable. It has to go to one of a limited number of SVA testiing station to have a test to see if it is even fit to have a V5 issued which means checking vin on the front and rear halves match etc., etc., and after all that hassle you might as well buy something for about 17,000 grand up and running, because without even looking I can't see you getting a lot of change out of £2000 to put the interior right and get the new V5. No service history is a big detail. One of the things this can help disguise is the true mileage of the vehicle if it has been missrepresented. On top of that, though this is only a minor detail, is the apparent fragility of the column switch. MY turbo needs a new switch becase a small plastic tab has broken off so the right turn movement barely latches in, and the indicators do not self cancel in either direction, and it has not been in a fire! If the car you are looking at has an OBC lever then the column switch is a massive £270. What else has been baked and become brittle? No, honestly save your money and keep looking. Be patient they are always out there. If you take my example, I did have to trawl for six months or so but in the end I bought a 17,800 mile Turbo cab fully spec'd for £6,000 under dealer forecourt price. As many have said don't let your enthusiam get the better of you, a calm calculated approch is always the best way to buy a Porsche, in fact any car. By being patient I have had a stable of low milage examples. A seven year old 944s with 55,000, in 2005 a 1991 944 turbo with 27,000 yes really twenty seven thousand, a twenty year old 924turbo with 59,000 and of course my 2004 my 996 with 17,800. We all fervently hope that our opinions have convinced you to have second thought about this project. Without wishing to sound immodest, even with my wealth of mechanical knowledge, and perhaps over confidence, even I would shy away from a car that has had an interior fire unless it was bonkers cheap, and you could make one good car out of two, as I did when I bought a 924 about 10 years ago for £250 that has had a short in the dash loom, but even then this did not result in an interior fire. Many of us believe that £15,000 is not bonkers cheap and that you could do a lot better with your money.

Front view pictures show after market led light strips too, If it were me I'd look for a genuine straight unmolested car. There are plenty out there.

Offer him 8-9k, do the bits and pieces that it needs gradually, and slowly piece together the history and get a PIWIS plugged in to check the mileage. Then run it to the ground. Enjoy [ ]

15 grand ! they are havin a laugh !

It's probably stolen pleas don't unless upon gt it for £3 and fits stolen its get constifated interior will cot you a grab on replace ! If nothing goes wrong

If the fire was caused by the wiring, and you need a new loom for the passenger compartment, it will set you back a cool £5000, and it is a marathon to change. Is Cat C is worse than Cat D? Either way, for it to be viable you would have to steal it, and bear in mind that it will be incredibly hard to sell, no matter how good a job you make of it. It will always carry that stigma, and although it may not bother you unduly, 90%+ of Porsche buyers wouldn't give it a look in. There is/was a chap on here who bought a flood damaged C2 and brought it back to life, but IIRC he bought it for buttons, and managed to refurb a lot of parts himself.

Hi Richard; I finally know something you don't[ ]. In order of severity ascending it is cat D to cat A. Specificaly cat A must be used only for scrap I believe, and not even used for parts; cat B can be used for havesting of parts. Niether A or B may be returned to the road. Cat D could be nothing worse than £600 worth of paint on a £1000 924. Cat C was like my other 924Turbo, minor bodywork no structural damage, beyond economic repair using new parts plus labour. Strangely when I creamed my 928 into the armco on a certain slip road near where region 19 meet, it was £8700 worth of repair on the car, valued at £9,000, it was repaired at Bodytechincs and not written off, because in the words of the loss adjuster, this is such an easy repair, that they would rather it be repaired properly than pay out, sell the car and have someone bodge it up and put it baack on the road. Years later when the oik in the peugeot hit the front offside and appeared to bend the front strut back they wrote it off without a second thought.

Walk away. You can get yourself an honest car for 15k or a smidgen over.

Thank you to all who have posted on this and answered my question. I have walked away and will NOT be buying the car. I have been looking for a 996 for the last 12 months and have looked at so many. I've been looking at Cat c's and d's but after thinking about decided today to look at 996's that don't have any history of damage. I have found one today a 996 2004 C4s convertible with private reg, 67k with full dealer history and have offered £20500 it was £23000. They have accepted my offer so from next weekend I wont be the jealous one looking at every 911 with envy!! I'm now starting to think about what and where I can go to and will seriously consider joining some of the owner days. Once again many thanks to you all. John[ ]

Well done John! We'll expect to see the obligatory photos soon!

John I hope you have witnessed first hand just how freindly and informative this forum is. Richard won't own up to his fame and I hope he doesn't mind me blowing his trumpet for him; he has had a comprehensive work on the 996 published and is a considered expert. When you get your first Porsche do, we urge you, join the club, whatever model of Porsche you end up buying, and continiue to use this forum. Which ever register you use you will find lots of help and as you have already discovered, can save you a lot of money.

20 grand for a GREAT car - these are such bargains now dont underestimate running costs but it will give you years of pleasure

Congratulations John!! You have made a good move. I can't think of starting Porsche ownership with a car with damage history and lots of unknown costs !! Pictures please when you pick it up!