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If I get a compression check and a leak down test, would that be sufficient testing to reassure me that the heat had not damaged the engine?
I have one solid opportunity and a lot of other opportunity input.
Solid one is a Red 2006 911 Certified Cab w/13k miles and solid amount of options (Xenon lights, Wheel caps with colored crests, CD changer, Power seat Package, Heated Seats, BOSE stereo and 19” Carrera “S” wheels). The price would be $65.9 but I think I can push them a bit more. I live in CA.
Other things I'm encoutering from Porsche dealers, non-Porsche dealers having Porsches and private parties is centering around high 60s to low 70s. Certified cars are going in the 69-70s range.
Questions:
1. I had not really thought about a Red 911. My optimal colors are Black, Silver, Gray and Blue. I know color is quite personal, but any visceral reactions to "red"?
2. Is red considered a "lower value" or "problem" color that could make it harder to sell down the road?
3. Any thoughts on the price of $65ish for this car?
4. Any thoughts on an additional $4-6k to get a preferred color (again, understand somewhat personal)?
5. Any thoughts on the 69-70ish ranges I repeatedly am hearing for these cars (outside of the red one I've found)?
Thanks. 1st time Porsche buyer so want to do it right!!
Porsches sell if they are any variation of Black or Silver
In my experience, Porsche makes it very easy to check dealer inventories using their web site Porsche USA, clicking on "Find a Dealer" and then checking inventories of every dealer within 50-100-200+ miles of your location.
As for "most dealers" selling C4S's for list price, I don't think so - unless they stumble upon a naive buyer. There are plenty of C4 and C4S's around, at least within 200 miles of my location (Washington DC). If you are willing to compomise a little on your exact option preferences, a $10k+ discount on a $100k+ MSRP C4S cab is certainly not out of the question. That's the discount I got from a Baltimore dealer on my C2S Cab in 2005 at a time when the redesigned 997 Cab's had only been out for 2-3 months and the economy/demand was much stronger. Today, the 4 DC area dealers that wouldn't take more than $1k off any new 997 in 2005 are all offering significant discounts on in-stock cars, if the buyer has the common sense to ask.
Other than the lone 4S Cabriolet, there appear to be plenty of choices. One dealer even has a Speed Yellow C2S Cabriolet, which, if I were to trade mine for, would make my 10 year old daughter ecstatic.
my point being... there comes a point where it will stop depreciating and begin to appreciate. Keep it clean and keep it original.
One more thing, I bought the wheel and tire protection for $600 for four years. I told the credit manage no, but my wife insisted that I buy it. The last flat I had cost me 8 bucks to get it fixed. I thought this was a rip off. One hour after driving it off the lot I did $3100 damage to one wheel and two tires, no damage to the body, thank god. I'm in the santa monicia mountains just after sunset looking for the spare tire, after driving over a sharp piece of concrete. Called 1 800 porsche. They had me towed 50 miles to my house. Then, the next day came and towed me to the dealer and fixed the damage at no cost to me. No one told me there was no spare and to be careful with low profile tires and watch those dips, curbs (for opening doors) and tire bumpers in parking lots. Just one of those big, bad rear tires cost $750 not to mention the $1500 wheel. What I'm saying is that I'm glad I bought this car from a porsche dealer. If I were you, I would only buy a certified porsche from a porsche dealer. Find the color you like and buy it even if you have to pay a few thousand more. It's your first porsche, like me, you don't know everything there is to know, and the dealer will take care of you when you get in trouble. Believe me, with the speed these cars have, you will get into trouble. I'm going to take that two day prosche high performance driving school in Alabama, but that's another thread.
However, just so you don't get taken to the cleaners down the road, those "big, bad rear tires" in 295/30/19 are about $450 in Pirelli P-Zeros and $475 in the top of the line Michilen Pilots. Hopefully, they didn't stick crappy $300 Continentals on your car. For $750, you should be able to get a Danika Patrick look-a-like to change them for you wearing a bikini. The price they quoted you on the wheel is similarly absurd.
Despite what I perceive should be a softer market, the Porsche dealers are still pretty tight on discounts on '06 911 Cabs. I live in Southern California.
In any event, it has gotten me thinking about lease vs. purchase.
I see a lot of solid info on this site generally about leasing a new Porsche. Any thoughts/input on leasing a used '06 or '07 911 C2 Cab?
What kind of money factors do they use? What kind of residuals? Let's say a 36 or 48 month lease with 10k miles.
Any reactions to the prospect of leasing a couple of year old 911 vs. buying it?
My questions emanate from trying to balance the cost of leasing where I walk away in 3 to 4 years vs. purchasing and seeing what it will be worth in 3 to 4 years as retained "equity", taking into account having to pay hefty sales tax on a purchase for the full value of the car.
Any thoughts on info on things like money factors and residuals on '06 and '07 911 Cabs?
Thanks.
My bad on the spelling, it's Danica. I take it that you are snobbing her because her daily driver is a Lamborghini and not a Porsche?? But if you really don't know who she is, you need to get out more.
it sounds like the Michilen Pilots are far superior to the Pirelli's,
That would be an overstatement. The differences in performance are fairly minimal and, by some measures, the Pirelli's are above the Michelin's in dry handling. But overall, and factoring in tread life, the Michelin's were recommended by both of my dealers and a couple of other Porsche enthusiasts. Both the Pirellis and the Michelins are several rungs above the Continentals, which it appears are no longer used by Porsche.
Check out Tire Rack for prices. My dealer will mount and balance tires for the same fee, whether or not I buy them from the dealer or Tire Rack.
What do porsche owners do when they come upon one another??
In your case, I'd suggest listening to your wife.
By the way, do know or heard anything about the Porsche high performance driving school is Alabama? It sound good from their web site. I really want to know the limits of the car.
I have ordered an M5 and a 550i from my local small town dealer who indicated that getting a M5 is luck of the draw from them, or getting an allocation build it. But nevertheless, BMW sends you out to the BMW driving school for M5 owners to learn the limits of the car safely. I just learned that Friday they started production on my 550i so it may be quite while until I can move "up". But when the time comes, and financial disaster does not strike, I plan to get that Mcar! would be great to compare the Skip Barber school with the BMW "M" driving school.
Btw, what's up with getting two new cars at the same time, if I'm reading your post correctly?
The Continentals are significantly cheaper (40%) than the Pirellis or Michelins, so if you are happy with them, that's great. But the more expereinced enthusiasts and dealers I've talked to claimed they weren't worth even the lower price. And, if I'm not mistaken, Porsche has dropped them as an OEM for 2008.
P.S. As for the Cayenne not being a "real Porsche", be careful with being too snobby! The GT-S 6-speed manual at my dealer that I'm still trying to make time to test drive would probably get around a track faster than a base Boxster or older 911. Or my 911S Cab for that matter, since without a permanant roll bar installed, it's not even permitted on a track. That friend with a Turbo has owned at least 2 Porsche's continuously for nearly 40 years. But never a "Cabriolet". He doesn't say it in front of me, but I know he doesn't consider them "real" Porsches. Or at least not real 911's.
They will take you to the cleaners. For what they wanted to charge me for TWO rear michelins, I found I could buy all 4 tires and have them mounted and load balanced from tirerack.com. The Michelins are probably the better tire but I am unhappy with their wear in the rear and am trying a set of pirellis this summer. not a big difference in price (couple hundred bucks cheaper) but I am hoping I get more than 9000 miles on a set of rears.
And Danica is the first woman to win an indy car race... this year... in japan.... I have it recorded on my dvr if you wanna watch it.:-)
If you are looking to save money, Bridgestone Potenza Pole Positions are rated very good/excellent in all categories by Tire Rack and are only $280. According to my dealer, they are much better than the Continentals - and are the only "discount" tire he would recommend in lieu of sticking with the Porsche OEM Pirellis and Michelins.
Porsches sell if they are any variation of Black or Silver "
you should buy the car for yourself not for the next guy. So if you want a bright car, get one. Let say you get $5K less from the bright color after 5 years, that's only $2.74 a day.
I was educating myself regarding the D.O.T. numbers on the tires. One of the front tires was made in 2005 and the car is 2006 which leads me to believe that it is an original tire and I have 14,600 on the car (I've owned it for two months). The tire looks good, believe it or not. I've been told that a reputable dealer would never sell an old (but never used) tire. I'm going to check out the Tire Rack next time, as was suggested.
I would like to see that race in Japan that Danica won. I spent some time in Japan building houses for a developer and believe me women are really put down over there - like some are still walking behind the man. I wonder how they took a woman winning an indy race?
LOL sounds like you hate japanese cars :P
Definitely have your mechanic (hopefully he's knowledgeable about Porsches) look at any car you're going to buy.
2001 Prelude Type SH, 2022 Highlander XLE AWD, 2022 Wrangler Sahara 4Xe, 2023 Toyota Tacoma SR 4WD
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First, you should be aware that 2004 was the last year of the 996 design, not 2003. Supposedly, Porsche revised the rear main seal / crankcase design for the 997 model (2005+) but there have still been a few isolated reports of leaks.
According to my dealer (former factory engineer) nyccarguy is correct in that improper break in was often, but not always, the culpret relative to cars that developed RMS leaks. Any used 911 purchase should involve a pre-purchase full mechanical inspection.
The previous air cooled model (993) is considered by many enthusaists a classic, and it is often worth more than a newer, lower mileage 996 in the used car market. The 996 is considered a bit of a hiccup in the design evolution, with the "fried egg" headlights and more streamlined (less aggressive) looking rear end. The downside to the 993's is that they will be 9+ years old, require more maintenance, and I don't think you can get an extended warranty, The 997 model was designed to be a low maintenance car, with the first regular service at 20k miles or 2 years. I had my oil changed at 10k miles out of anxiety, but was told it wasn't necessary by two factory reps.
From my experience, the PASM option set to "normal" results in a slightly less harsh, more comfortable ride than a base 911 with no PASM. The difference is not huge if the base 911 has 18" wheels, but becomes more noticable if it has the optional 19" wheels. Also, because PASM lowers the ride height and provides some other suspension tweaks, the handling/cornering on the S models with PASM set to normal mode still seems a bit better than the non-PASM base model. When you switch the PASM to "sport", handling is noticably firmer with zero body sway, but the comfort level over rough roads goes down noticably. When I activate my sport chrono/sport exhaust button, the PASM automatically toggles to sport and, unless I'm on very smooth roads, I usually toggle it back to normal.
PASM is an expensive option to add to a base 911 and, IMO, is one of the reasons prospective buyers might want to consider and S model, especially if they are also going to add 19" wheels and xenon lights. By that point, you are only paying about $5,500 for the engine upgrade and a couple of other upgrades not available on the base car.
There are two schools of thought. Yes, the Porsche CPO program has an extended warranty and, one would hope, the dealer will stand behind the car. It's a good program.
However, also depending upon the dealer, CPO prices can be grossly inflated. I've seen 1 year old CPO cars being attempted to be sold for darn near what a savvy buyer could get a new car for. My dealer readily admits that they make 2-3 times the mark-up on a used CPO trade than they do on a new car. Also, as has been pointed out, proper break in is absolutely critical for high performance sports cars in general, the 911 in particular. Looking eye to eye with a private owner and asking them what they did regarding break in and how they drove the car would be one way to assess this. Lastly, there are good independent extended warranties available - even a Porsche customer service rep told me that some privately available extended warranties cover certain "cosmetic" items that the CPO warranty does not.
My own experience opened my eyes to the other side of CPO. When my dealer asked me in March if I was interested in trading for a 2008, the trade in value they placed on my car was $18k less than what they were asking for a similar vintage, less well optioned C2S on the lot at the time. When I pointed out the discrepency, that's when they admitted to making a lot more on a used car than new one. The new car sales manager even went so far as to recommend that I sell mine privately, if I had the time. As he explained, many of their trade ins are from "desparate" sellers that got in over their head or had other circumstances that required they get rid of the car quickly. And, unfortunately, some of these desparate sellers were probably not careful about break in, proper warm up and responsible driving. Accidents repairs are not allowed, but improper break in and abuse is hard to detect until it's too late.
CPO or private-party, it pays to do your research and shop around.
If it wasn't a TYPO and you are using a quart every 300 miles, you have a serious problem that may require a new short block.
Any consumption under 1 qt per 1,000 miles is alarming IMO.