Buying 996 C4S

Hi I have recenlty joined and I am looking to buy my first Porsche, I had previously been set on a 993 C4s but feel the the interior is a bit too dated. I have now set my sights on the 996 C4s or the Turbo (if one turns up cheap enough). I have been trawling the internet and so far autotrader and 911.co.uk seem to be about the best source - are there any hidden gems or good advise on sourcing a quality car? Are there any recomendations on who to get to inspect the car, I have seen some national companies and some smaller specialists who can do the job? Finally (apologies for all of the questions its my first time using a forum !!) I am looking at spending up to £30K should I stay away from turbos that are now in this price zone? Will I end up spending a fortune on fixing things? Cheers

Welcome Mark! You can also try eBay. Don't laugh everyone, they sell a lot of cars on there now, especially since they started classified ads. £30k will buy you a lot right now. An early Turbo or a 2002-2003 C4S if you buy privately. It depends what you want - 2/3 years newer, or an extra 120bhp [ ] [ ]. The Turbo will be a bit more expensive to run, but not that much. As for inspections, most decent indies will do it, or Peter Morgan and his team offer a mobile service. Peter is very picky, which is a good thing if you are buying. I've recently heard of an early 996 Turbo for about £30k, which I'm trying to get more details on, so if you might be interested, drop me an email.

Just to add to richard's comments ... You could also try PistonHeads classified - here - http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?s=554 Also, depending on where you are in the country, there are some reputable specialist indi's ... here's a few to get you going ... http://www.northway.co.uk/ - Northway Porsche Specialists http://www.rsjsportscars.co.uk/opt/rsj_opt.htm - RSJ Sports Cars (who have 2 C4S's in your price range and who have recently implemented their own maintenance scheme - speak to Joel, the owner, who regualrly posts on PH). http://www.stirlings.co.uk/ " - Stirlings The Low Mileage Porsche Specialists http://www.911virgin.com/ - Virgin 911 Porsche centres will also do a check on the car (know as their 111point check) for about 150 GBP. This is required if you want to take out an OPC warranty - but see other threads about the porsche warranty - as its t&c's and prices have recently changed and it is less attractive now than previously. Peter Morgan is highly rated. He also publishes an excellent "996 Buyers Guide" which explains all the differences, details about the cars and what to look out for. Its a useful 10GBP spent - I found it invaluable to do my own checks on potential cars first and only have a proper inspection done, when I was pretty sure the was nothing obviously wrong. HTH.

P.S. And for a light-hearted review of the difference between the turbo and the C4S, see Clarkson's review at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh484FWze5w&feature=related Enjoy!

Mark I'm off to the Middle East in January for 2-3 years and regrettably will be having to sell my C4S. I have not started to advertise the car, but will do shortly. Here is the spec: 996 C4S 52 reg 28k miles Blue metallic with grey leather interior Sports exhaust Porsche BOSE sound system Unmarked paint work and full Porsche service history If this is of interest please drop me a note or reply etc and we can arrange a viewing Kind regards James

996TT`s are very well built and ,generally well looked after,so if you get one of these(and there are quite a few out there)you will get a real bargain gem. good luck glad to see someone will benefit from the crunch[ ]

Thanks Guys The service offered by Peter Morgan sounds excellent and the £10 spend for buying tips sounds like a no brainer. James, unfortunatley I have set my heart on silver or (if perfect black), good luck with your sale. cheers[ ]

Good colour choice ;-)