Thoughts on this 997 Carrera? - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

I have a deal agreed to my part exchange my VW Transporter against this 911.. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501107... I have placed a deposit with intent to buy pending a successful viewing and test drive once this storm passes. This would be my first 911; and is a car I’ve waited a long, long time to own. I’ve spoken to the seller at length about it, picked through a lot of the receipts/history he sent over, checked the MOT history, HPI status and read the AT reviews of the dealer too.. all of which was good. But I’d like to hear if there are any glaring show stoppers or red flags that you can see with the car? Or perhaps particular areas which you’d suggest that I check when viewing? Any help gratefully received.

Lots of owners seems to be quite normal for Porsches which seem to be kept for only a few years before being moved on. But 8 seems to be a bit much. The next poster will surely tell you to buy on condition and not worry about the number of owners/keepers. Personally I don't like the colour or the steering wheel. I'm also not super keen on the aftermarket stereo, and the exhaust mods and plenum tell me that one of the former keepers might have been a bit of a hooligan. It'll likely be a lot louder then standard but I don't mind a loud car. Make sure the cats are still present or you could have problems at MOT time. I do like that it's a manual though. That's what a sports car should have unless you're a track day driver.

Very much at the other end of the country, and a couple of thousand more, but gets you in this http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024091239...

Both nice looking cars. Not sure whether the prices are fair or otherwise, but I miss my 997 and could be persuaded into a 3.6 997.

therams said: Very much at the other end of the country, and a couple of thousand more, but gets you in this http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2024091239... Was even a grand cheaper on NYE.

I've not driven a VW transporter but I have driven a 997, and I reckon the 997 is a bit quicker! Both look ok, 2nd looks nicer imho, BUT- for that kind of layout I would consider a specialist 3rd party inspection/ Also lots of friendly advice available here; https://911uk.com/ good luck and keep us posted Edited by brownspeed on Friday 24th January 09:28

That’s good money for a base Carrera. Whilst I appreciate that the px for your car will be a factor, I’d be looking at a 991 for that money. Either way, as long as you’re happy, enjoy.

997.2 Carrera with a manual gearbox is a joy. Cheap(er) road tax too. Whichever one you buy, welcome to the club :-)

You should NOT buy any 997 without a Pre-purchase inspection by a mobile Porsche specialist - then negotiate on price depending on what they find. A viewing and test-drive won't be enough. A dealer warranty is often rubbish and hard to claim against. Also - get the car's number plate from the dealer and check its MOT history on the DVLA site and its record of Passes and Fails and when issues were fixed. This will point to how well it's been cared for by previous owners. For that money, I would go for a higher-mileage (well looked after) Carrera S. Don't discount the PDK gearbox - it's excellent. RS Grant said: I have a deal agreed to my part exchange my VW Transporter against this 911.. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501107... I have placed a deposit with intent to buy pending a successful viewing and test drive once this storm passes. This would be my first 911; and is a car I’ve waited a long, long time to own. I’ve spoken to the seller at length about it, picked through a lot of the receipts/history he sent over, checked the MOT history, HPI status and read the AT reviews of the dealer too.. all of which was good. But I’d like to hear if there are any glaring show stoppers or red flags that you can see with the car? Or perhaps particular areas which you’d suggest that I check when viewing? Any help gratefully received.

That is very expensive IMO.

Discombobulate said: That is very expensive IMO. For a manual 997.2?? Have you seen many cheaper ones?

maz8062 said: I’d be looking at a 991 for that money. Each to their own. Wild horses wouldn’t get me back in a 991, whereas I am giving serious thought to another 997.

There does seem to be a scarcity of manual 997 Carrera S on Autotrader, but a motivated private seller would probably accept £38k, especially in this market. However the OP needs to P/ex which limits his options a lot. VerySideways said: Discombobulate said: That is very expensive IMO. For a manual 997.2?? Have you seen many cheaper ones?

Hard to be totally sure from the images, but I think that white 997.2 has been lowered. It's also fairly high miles from a market perspective. The lowering isn't necessarily a problem depending on the hardware used and your preferences, but is certainly something to be aware of. At a bear minimum, I'd want to know how it rides and handles. The mileage is mainly something to factor into the valuation and your usage. It'll be a very high mile car (again, in market terms) pretty quickly if you're planning on using it a lot. Getting up near 100k miles will really knobble the value.

RS Grant said: I have a deal agreed to my part exchange my VW Transporter against this 911.. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202501107... I have placed a deposit with intent to buy pending a successful viewing and test drive once this storm passes. This would be my first 911; and is a car I’ve waited a long, long time to own. I’ve spoken to the seller at length about it, picked through a lot of the receipts/history he sent over, checked the MOT history, HPI status and read the AT reviews of the dealer too.. all of which was good. But I’d like to hear if there are any glaring show stoppers or red flags that you can see with the car? Or perhaps particular areas which you’d suggest that I check when viewing? Any help gratefully received. If this car was previously sold at the back end of 2022 in the Leeds/Bradford area then I would insist that you get an independent inspection done before you hand over your cash. It may not be the same car but I looked at a white 997.2 Carrera with Turbo alloys, no Bose, no rear wiper no sports exhaust and standard seats at a dealer around that time. I walked (well ran) away from the car. Check the painted brake callipers. These should have been unpainted alloy in black. The ones I saw had been rattle canned red on the car with evidence of overspray all over the place. The car was on lowering springs of unknown origin and had iffy wheel spacers on. Check the engine. The sump showed signs of a gasket leak and the plastic 'elbow' to the waterpump was cracking. Check the air-con works. If its the same car all these issues may have been resolved in the past 2 years as the one I viewed did not have the aftermarket headunit or re-trimmed steering wheel. The dealer also tried to sell the car as having BOSE but said the stickers had just fallen off. Somebody must have also removed the sub behind the back seats

Thank you for the replies so far... I'll address a few points: Colour & Exterior: White is fine with me and outside of a nice PTS colour.. I've always had White, Red, Black or Yellow on my 'ideal' spec 911 in my mind. I don't particularly like the black arch guards or door decals though, so if I proceed with the car then I'd have them removed when getting the car detailed and ask the guys to apply some clear arch guard PPF film instead. The wheels aren't quite to my taste, but they're shod in decent (although mix-matched front to back) tyres and will likely be changed at some point anyway. This is how the car was delivered originally: Spec: I like and prefer the smooth look of no sunroof and rear wiper, I also want a car which has BT streaming, DAB and ideally CarPlay, so the aftermarket stereo isn't a bad thing to me. I'd prefer a PCCM+ unit but the last I looked it was only available on 997.1 cars. The rest of the OE is nice to have, but not overly important. I wouldn't consider a PDK car, given it's a fair weather/fun purchase I will only consider a manual. Mechanical Mods: this is something I don't know a whole heap about for the 911. With cars I've owned previously, if you start bolting on modifications then you need a remap of the ECU to make sure everything is happy and it doesn't run any risk of grenading itself. Mileage and Owners: The owner count is higher than ideal, however, I believe that the first 3 owners were a company, the company owners wife and then the company owner. The miles bothers me a little less because this won't be a daily driver for me; it will cover around 3k per annum, so the car will likely drift down to being an average mileage example after a few years. History: The HPI check came back clear, the MOT history has 2 advisories for worn rear tyres in 2021 and a fail for a lambda reading/advisory for a minor leak of exhaust gas in 2022, but all greens apart from that. The car started life in OPC Edinburgh, then service stamps are OPC Nottingham twice, OPC Tonbridge, 9Excellence, DW Performance twice, SP Autobahn twice, then the last one is from the garage selling it. There is an extensive paperwork folder to back up servicing, repairs and modifications. Price: I've been looking at 911s for a few months now and to be honest for a 997.2 with a manual gearbox, the price didn't seem horrendous to me. I've also been given a reasonable bid on my VW Transporter too, so the price to change isn't hellish either. I've been that guy who messages private sellers asking if they fancy a deal with my van, with no joy unfortunately.

It was maybe a bit cheeky, but I sent a text to the number I saw on a receipt from work the previous owner had done and very helpfully/graciously the previous owner has replied to me with some details: - The car doesn't use water or oil, although very occasionally there is some smoke on start up but he says that's a flat 6 trait.. which I have read similar about on t'internet. - The modifications that he did to the car are: IPD plenum, exhaust, Eibach springs, uprated engine mounts, EIbach adjustable coffin arms and tuning fork arm at the front, new rear coffin arms and tuning fork with polybushes, braided brake lines, Brembo HP2000 pads front and rear, alcantara steering wheel/gearstick/handbrake. Geometry was set up at Centre Gravity after the above was fitted. - It's not had a clutch but doesn't need one either.

The place selling this is about a 5 min walk from my office. I will caveat this by saying I have never had the pleasure of Porsche ownership but the 'go to' guy locally is Jamie Nelson at Nelson Sports Cars (just down the road in Stockton) so if you are thinking about a PPI then they maybe worth a call. Alternatively, the local Porsche centre is also literally around the corner.

This is all sounding pretty positive, but you should still get a PPI done. There may be other 'wear and tear' items that need doing or worn out suspension/ brake components that need replacing. Costs can easily add up. I had to replace a Serpentine belt/ pulleys recently on my 997 gen 2 C4S and that cost £1,000. Porsche parts are very expensive. RS Grant said: It was maybe a bit cheeky, but I sent a text to the number I saw on a receipt from work the previous owner had done and very helpfully/graciously the previous owner has replied to me with some details: - The car doesn't use water or oil, although very occasionally there is some smoke on start up but he says that's a flat 6 trait.. which I have read similar about on t'internet. - The modifications that he did to the car are: IPD plenum, exhaust, Eibach springs, uprated engine mounts, EIbach adjustable coffin arms and tuning fork arm at the front, new rear coffin arms and tuning fork with polybushes, braided brake lines, Brembo HP2000 pads front and rear, alcantara steering wheel/gearstick/handbrake. Geometry was set up at Centre Gravity after the above was fitted. - It's not had a clutch but doesn't need one either.

wax lyrical said: Nonsense scaremongering.

suspension at the front on the first car looks low or lowered. It might not be a concern but I'd make sure you know the mods and get an insurance quote. Edited by FriedMarsBar on Friday 24th January 17:50

What's nonsense? The cost of the Serpentine belt (and related ancillaries)? I have the invoice from Porsche Torque in Uxbridge. Done a month ago. I'm not scaremongering - just giving honest advice to a fellow 911 enthusiast. maz8062 said: wax lyrical said: Nonsense scaremongering.

BlackStang5point0 said: The place selling this is about a 5 min walk from my office. I will caveat this by saying I have never had the pleasure of Porsche ownership but the 'go to' guy locally is Jamie Nelson at Nelson Sports Cars (just down the road in Stockton) so if you are thinking about a PPI then they maybe worth a call. Alternatively, the local Porsche centre is also literally around the corner. Thank you, hopefully you've not seen said 911 flying around the area being driven like a maniac! I appreciate the suggestion, I will give the guys at NSC a call tomorrow to see what their thoughts and availability are. I'm still waiting for the plate retention and new V5 to come through for the van, so don't have any concrete collection date organised yet.

wax lyrical said: This is all sounding pretty positive, but you should still get a PPI done. There may be other 'wear and tear' items that need doing or worn out suspension/ brake components that need replacing. Costs can easily add up. I had to replace a Serpentine belt/ pulleys recently on my 997 gen 2 C4S and that cost £1,000. Porsche parts are very expensive. While myself and my friend who will be joining me for collection are pretty good at spotting 'the usual' with a used car, there is no substitute for a knowledgable person getting underneath it for a look and poke around. As above, I will give the local specialist a shout tomorrow and see if he could run his eye over the car for me at some point before collection. My plan would likely still be to put it into a Porsche specialist up here and ask them to go through it with a fine toothed comb to see what is/isn't needing attention; along with a changing the oil as a bare minimum because I'm a bit of an oil freak and like to know exactly what is in there and when it was changed.

VerySideways said: For a manual 997.2?? Have you seen many cheaper ones? My bad. Thought it was a 997.1

wax lyrical said: What's nonsense? The cost of the Serpentine belt (and related ancillaries)? I have the invoice from Porsche Torque in Uxbridge. Done a month ago. I'm not scaremongering - just giving honest advice to a fellow 911 enthusiast. maz8062 said: wax lyrical said: Nonsense scaremongering. Changing a serpentine belt on a 997 and younger 911 is not a difficult job, in fact most of the jobs on these cars are much easier than similar powered AMG’s, Maserati’s or BWM cars. Ok there are some jobs that need specialist tools, but for the most part these cars are far cheaper to maintain than AMG’s in my experience. That said, if one is going to pay a dealer £500 (plus) to change the oil, filter, air filter and pollen filter, fair enough, but these cars really are not that difficult to work on and they’re super reliable. Also, 911’s tend to attract some of the well off in our society - owners tend to get Sh!t done. They don’t tend to spanner, they pay ££££’s in maintenance, just like you do, so if the book is fully stamped up, MOT advisories attended to and an owner that is passionate about his car, why delve deeper and deeper into it than one needs to? The cars are old, they’ll need maintenance. Such is life.