New 996 Targa

Afternoon good people. I am in the process of looking for my first Porsche 911 and after test driving have decided to go for a Manual 996 Targa as the preferred option. I have seen one advertised at an independant dealer in Buckinghamshire but have heard various scare stories about certain people. The car is a 2003 Targa Black / Black colourscheme with 69k miles on the clock. Includes: PCM (not sure if 1 or 2) factory sports exhaust PSM memory seats remote alarm tracker tracker carrera alloys Full porsche service history £30k It seems a bit cheap to me and so far i get the impession that if it seems a bargain there will probably be issues. any comments would be welcome. Cheers Patrick

its on the low side but thats what they are fetching these days since the 997 targa came out get an AA or RAC report which will include HIP check a sensor on the exhaust will reveal any problems take it for a test drive - check stability under breaking with psm on and off i love mine - a fantastic but practical car black is lovely but you will need to keep it clean

Seems about on the money for the miles. It will probably be PCM2- if it has a cassette player, its pcm1. Ironically, you can get aftermarket update discs for the much maligned pcm1, but you now can't get an up-to-date disc at all for PCM2. It might be worth shelling out £250 or so for a proper pre-purchase inspection, any potential issues/bargaining points will be highlighted- use someone like Peter Morgan or Phil Raby. Alternatively, get it along to a Porsche Centre, who will do you an inspection, and subject to it checking out, will sell you a proper warranty.

Welcome to the forum Patrick. Good value Targa you've seen there and with a pretty good spec too. The PCM will be v2.0; this is the widescreen version and comes with its own user manual (make sure it's in the glove compartment). Practicality is a huge bonus on these cars otherwise it would be hard to place those large suitcases, for example, onto the folded back seats on occasion when you need to. I've had mine just over a year now and the novelty still hasn't worn off. ~ Maxie

Thanks for the feedback guys. It seems like the price isnt too far off to be an issue in itself. here is the car..... (second one down) http://dealerservices.autotrader.co.uk/95558/stocklist.htm Has anyone had an ecperience with this dealer? Anything in particular i should be asking / looking for? cheers

It looks good I bought mine about six weeks ago and paid £33.7, mine is on the same plate, 53 and has not got all the extras like the one you are looking at but mine only had 27.5K miles on it when I bought it so that would have made a difference to the price!

Agree with most of the comments, but especially the one about getting the car checked by a Porsche garage. Even if you don't buy their warranty it will give you peace of mind that the car is legit and hasn't been involved in any accidents. If the dealer refuses walk away as there will always be another car. Good luck mate!

:x Gutted! Went to view the car. Everything looked fantastic until i looked inside the oil cap. looked like someone had dropped a jar of Hellmans mayonaise in there!!!!! The search goes on!

Hi, Mayo in the filler cap is normal - do a search on here there are lots of threads on this.. - Simon

If the mayo is a potential deal breaker, get them to take it to an OPC and get a written confirmation that it is OK. They will check for signs of a blown head gasket before confirming that it is OK. Usually, the mayo is a result of condensation in the filler neck and quite common in winter.

Thanks, i will speak to them about it. I had heard that gunk in thr oil cap was almost certainly head gasket issues. if this is not neccesaraly the case then everything else on the car looked good.

Definately worth getting an inspection by OPC or equivelent as it will give you peace of mind as you write a cheque with lots of numbers on it!!

that is prob only condensation on the cap as it dose not stay as hot as the rest of the engine, what was the rest of the oil like ?