Thanks for taking time to read this post. I am a new member and longtime Porsche enthusiast. I have decided that now is the time to purchase a Porsche and turn a dream into reality. I've been a fan of the 993's and after driving my neighbors 996 C4 back in 2002 I've wanted a 911. The 997's stole my heart basically, mainly with the headlight revisions and more reliable engine as opposed to the 996's. Having said all this, I have found a 997 in my area that has popped up for sale. I hope you would help me decide if I'm being to nitpicky or not.

The 997 is a 2007 model, 46k miles, base Carrera. Options include, Bose stereo, heated seats, seat memory/or mirror memory (can’t remember exactly what he said). The guy purchased the car 5 years ago with 30K miles, so over the past 5 years he only put 16k miles on it. He said the water pump went out and has been replaced, however he doesn't have service receipts or any log on the car. The oil changes are at random shops, no Porsche or Euro shops, which scares me. I use only Mobil 1 in my vehicles...

As for the condition of the vehicle, it was garaged most of its life he says, so no hard water stains on the glass or paint. The hood has a dent where the luggage hit when trying to shut the hood. Around the door handles there are various nicks and light scratches (deep though, but small in area). The front tires are original so he said, and the rubber is really hard, I would think new tires are a must at this point. Brake pads have never been changed. The rear area above the spoiler has a deep scratch (looks like a barcode now sorta) the seat bolster is starched and not conditioned. The overall interior is really dirty, he has a bad leg and drags it out of the car, and actually pushed the door open with a dirty shoe!!! As he got out he pulled his weight up by holding the window glass!!! So obviously he doesn't really care about the vehicle at least not in my opinion of it! Another thing I didn't like was that him and his son HAND PAINTED the calipers YELLOW WTF!? I was like why?? Why!? he said his son wanted to paint them, and I was like so no other reason? wow! Also the passenger side interior door handle fabric/leather is scratched somehow, I don't know how it was possible to do it but they did! So to reiterate everything I stated above...

Pros

• Car is local, no shipping, traveling, or extra expenses.
• Car is a 2007 with just under 50K miles.
• Car is less likely to have the IMS failure issues that the 05/06 had.
• Car is under the asking price based off the value of the car.
• Car doesn't look to have been driven really hard or raced, no track time stated by current owner.
• Current owner is elderly man who has too much knee problems to enjoy driving it.
• Car has brand new rear tires.
• Car has never been in a wreck and all paint appears to be original.
• Everything seems to work on the vehicle.

Cons

• Hood dent.
• Weather stripping has wear from paint buffer machines I assume.
• Paint around doors, rear bumper scuff, above spoiler scuff, front bumper chips.
• Driver side interior door panel scuffs, plastic and Carrera logo on the floor step scratched to hell, passenger side door scratches.
• Engine compartment dusty and dirty (not to bad though)
• Painted calipers.
• No service history, iffy shops did oil changes.

Edmunds states the vehicle value at 38K excellent condition to 36K for fair condition. He is asking 35K for the car, but doesn't seem to really know much or care much about cars. He said he loved the car but just doesn't drive it so his son listed it for 35K. After looking it over, all the things I noticed about it, I want to offer 31K and really don't want to pay more than 32K to 32.5, am I wrong with this offer? I don't want to offend him or shoot myself in the foot.


LINK TO PICTURES OF CAR.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127170...7649037093870/

 

I think you answered your own question. I would pass for sure.

 

Well I haven't seen a bunch of these cars, so I am assuming if you own a Porsche that it would be maintained properly. With the little miles and being an 07 make it more attractive to me. I think if I were to pay 31K I would be happy with the cosmetic blems and service history, because I could use the savings to have Porsche do a maintenance on it, as well as have them update the log book if I were to sell it down the road.

 

Don't assume that it has been maintained properly just because it is a Porsche. As you look at cars, you'll often find that the opposite is true.

In my opinion, cosmetic issues can be fixed or improved with a little bit of effort. A paint correction, proper interior detailing and some touch-up paint can make a huge difference. I'm more worried about mechanical things when I buy a Porsche. Low mileage can be good, but it can also be bad. There is a time schedule to change fluids in addition to a mileage schedule. One area that is frequently neglected is brake fluid. It should be changed every two years because it is hydrophilic and as a result it can cause corrosion inside the braking system if it isn't changed at proper intervals. I also wouldn't assume that a 2007 car is somehow "safer" to purchase than a 2005 or 2006 as it relates to the IMSB. The bearing can fail on a 2007 car too. You can minimize your risk by purchasing a car with a good service history. My 2002 996 was meticulously maintained. When I changed my original clutch at ~120K miles, I had the IMSB replaced as a preventative measure. It looked great and showed no signs of impending failure.

Get a good pre-purchase inspection from a qualified Porsche mechanic and don't be afraid to walk away if things don't look good.

 

Price sounds good. Cars sounds bad, but That's the risk. Do a PPI and factor in the things that are wrong into your price. The ones that seen easily fixable:
Hood dent PDR: ~$150
New tires, front and rear + alignment: ~$1500
New door sills: ~$200/ea

 

I just looked at the photos. That car is dirty and doesn't look to me like it was kept up very well. If you were selling a car, wouldn't you clean it up and try to make it look the best that it could look? The yellow caliper paint job looks terrible too. The general condition of the car and the lack of records would cause me to look for another car if I was the one shopping...

 

You can do a lot better in that price range. I would also consider higher mileage or '05/'06 cars in better condition.

An '05 will give you the opportunity to change the IMS easily, or if it built with the newer IMS, reliability should be similar to an '06 or '07.

 

I appreciate all these comments! Your knowledge on what to look at or for is much greater than mine, and I don't want to assume anything when the time comes to pull the trigger on the deal. I'm not dead set on this car by any means, so I am still looking as well.


What does a PPI cost on average? I am wondering if I can have the owner have this done so he can have a copy to help sell it as well.

 

The poor paint job on the calipers is just embarrassing. I can't get a read on the hood dent so hard to judge that. Outside those, a lot of the other things aren't terrible for the price. The whitish look of the trim, as far as I can tell from the photos, may be not all that an unusual aging and care artifact. There are no interior shots of the center console area and the PCM trim (around the radio, etc.). Those can often show a lot of wear and tear, especially on 997.1s, from less than picky folks' so you might want to see if those look acceptable. It's also not unusual for the sill to get a lot of scuffs. A glance at the door trim tells me the car may have the "full leather" option. If so that is a very nice plus. (For $10 you can send the VIN to Suncoast and get the full list of options on the car. There is also a place where you can enter the VIN and get the options for free, I'll look it up in a bit and repost).

The question I'd have to ask is if you would be disappointed with the car due to all of the nicks and dings and would find yourself always wishing you had spent a few thousand more to get a more well-maintained example. If you are more of the mindset that you would be happy getting a great deal on a high performing car at the expense of some wear and tear and dings, then it may just be a great find. If you would obsess about those things like I would, then I'd wait for something better and spend some extra money to get a more shining jewel.

If it became my car, I'd really really have to do something about the calipers those, the work is just shoddy. Restoring them to the original flat black would be far better.

I'd recommend a PPI by a Porsche-literate person due to the broader concerns if you move forward with this, it would be a few hundred well spent on risk mitigation.

 

I also just texted the seller and asked if he would be willing to have a PPI done on the car, and I'd be happy to pay the expense (I was told the local Porsche dealer charges around $200 on PPI). I figured he would be more than willing to accept this offer and he said he would have to get back to me! NEXT

 

you pretty much hit the nail on the head. I would be more than happy if he agrees on the lower price and I'll know that the saves have cost me a few nicks and scratches. If he gets back to me on doing a PPI then I'll be more apt to purchase this one.

 

If you want an options listing for that car, you can use the following link, substituting the VIN of his car in place of mine. I just checked it with mine and at this time it is still working. You can also see the original sticker prices.

https://admin.porschedealer.com/repo...AB29989S722782

The easiest way is to click on this, then edit the end of the URL to be the VIN you want.

 

Thanks, I did that actually last week before I saw it this past weekend. That's a neat tool to use!

 

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over whether the brake fluid has been changed every two years. Almost certainly it has not. You should assume no regular maintenance has been done, and should probably count on the cost of a major maintenance. That way you'll establish a service baseline. I wouldn't worry about brake pads/rotors until the current ones are worn, and you will get a warning light for that, anyway. I recently paid my indy $1,500 for brakes, with me supplying the rotors. Everything for these cars will likely cost more than you're used to paying. Be prepared for this, even if you're handy.

The cosmetic issues are very subjective. I was relatively "lucky." My car already had a little paint work done, so it wasn't a virgin. It already took a hit for that in its value, which was reflected in my price, but it looks great. Now I do freak out if I need to repaint a bumper. Bodywork is the one thing that doesn't cost more in these cars. Fixing the little things is actually a big part of the fun for me. While I often curse my car, I'm on my third Porsche. There really is no substitute.

Whatever you end up doing, good luck.

 

Personally I wouldn't feel too comfortable with that purchase - and I think you should be able to find many other examples in far better overall shape for about the same price!