I just reviewed service records on a car I test drove, and am a bit concerned about all the service. granted is an 8 year old car with 46k miles, but this seems excessive:

navigation went bad at 7,500 miles
ball socket in shift console and sunroof flaps at 11,500
window regulator at 11,700
seat belt buckle at 14,500
deck lid cooling fan at 26,000
engine ASM (?) and clutch at 34,000
vario cam solenoid at 35,000
door panles (bad glue) at 35,500
spoiler hydraulic at 37,000
transmission and ignition switch at 40,000
spoiler hydraulic (again) at 40,500
MAF Sensor at 45,000

not exactly sure on engine repair, waiting on the seller as the invoice is tough to understand, but "gasket," "o ring," and "core return" sound like it was full replacement

i know seat belt buckle (which needs to be fixed again) and spoiler hydraulic (also broken twice) are common, but engine, tranny and navigation unit? thats $30,000 in repairs alone

I keep hearing these cars as described as Honda reliable with power, but with all the tranny issues, has the durability of these been exagerated? or is the car described above just a bad apple?

 

actually, probably had a good dealer who would actually perform some warranty work...look at it this way...everything has been fixed...btw...core return could have been the battery or many other items that carry a core charge...not necessarily the motor unless it specified engine block core return

 

I have thought that too, but didnt want to try convincing myself that was the case. And the tranny was not warrantied, owner came out of pocket $18k. syncros in gears 1-4 were bad, metal in tranny fluid...sounds like more than your typical 2nd gear pop issue. Even at $18k, the tranny was a refurb from porsche, is that normal?

just nervous seeing a) most expensive parts on car have broken and b) a few things are repeating themselves (batteries, seat belt buckle, spoiler hydraulic, etc.)

car just had a PPI done by dealer, everything came back fine. hoping to review report tomorrow sometime

 

nothing wrong with a refurb factory tranny...that would be a plus to me rather than another car that has a tranny that is worn and will need work...check the ppi and the car over carefully, drive it and if it still looks good to you grab it

 

I would view the repairs as a plus. Good luck.

 

ill call porsche on this, but do you know if the new tranny is warrantied?

 

I agree with the sentiments above, look at it as all of things that have been fixed and should be good to go. These are after all cars and are subject to failure, however they are great cars that are much more then transportation from point a to point b, these are recreation and to a certian extent automobile excellence and perfection, I am a new owner but the smile still has not worn off, this car is great and if you test drove and like, thats half the battle.

 

thansk guys, i'm going to see if i can swing in another test drive.

 

Good luck, and remember if it doesnt feel right, you have many choices to choose from. Dont be afraid to travel to get exactly what you want.

 

Remember this was a ~$120k car when new so parts/repairs are going to be expensive. The list doesnt sound unusual. When I bought mine I was only able to get the records for the previous 2 years and it has 7-8k in repairs+cpo certification (eg new tires, brakes,etc)

 

The repairs on the tranny and on the shifter ball for the shifter indicate the car was driven quite hard. Synchros bad on gears 1-4? DEfinitely check the ignition events at redline.

Justin

 

per PPI

range 1 - 27,000
range 2 - 72

per the porsche tech, those numbers are very low. 27k is only about 3 seconds.

 

the syncros being worn does not necessarily indicate abuse either...could have been someone who uses compression braking and wore out the syncros that way...guys who track their cars don't use compression braking and are less likely to abuse the syncros

 

guys i'm really struggling over here. I drove the car again today and seems solid, PPI is great, but knowing the engine was replaced at 34000 and the tranny at 40000, is just a total turn off. but where do i go from here?

do i buy a car with 25k miles out of warranty? risk here is the tranny could go out any day, and the car's transmission above only has 6000 miles on it?

or do i buy a car with 25k miles, CPO? problem here is i've heard from several people that CPO does not guarantee a free replacement? so why pay a premium for "assurance" when there's no guarantee a gear pop issue next week will be covered?

so it seems like of the 3 options, the car with the new tranny is the safest bet, but for a stock car to need a whole new drive train in under 40k miles, something just feels wrong. i'd be willing to pay more for a safe bet, but of the 3 options, there dont seem to be any safe bets?

 

I'd run fast....