I live in canada and have owned two 996 turbos over the years and love them to death. Check insurance prices and buy in the US, the prices are wayyyy cheaper. My self I live in vancouver and have had the admoration and hatred from other people. (more positive than negative)but someone did steal my turbo logo and I park at the back far corner when I go to the mall and people still park right next to me. Buy at the right price in the US and it will pay dividends if you sell it in canada. Just my two cents, PS my insurance is $280 a month and I have a 45% discount. But I find parts cheaper for my turbo than my nissan 350z figure that one out. But they are kind of a pain to work on, not much space under the hood err trunk. Good luck

 

Don't talk yourself into something you can't handle, and only YOU know whether this is true or not.

Cars are depreciating assets, and no matter how easy you drive it or how good you take care of them, you will have problems. As mentioned, a car in $35-$40k range will have problems. I've gone through checking out quiet a few of them and decided to pay +$10k for a clean one - in other words, if you plan on only spending $35k to get it, reserve another $15k for YR1 expenses.

I would actually reco getting into a 996 N/A as a "test drive" to see whether you can handle maintenance, then upgrade to a TT once you are confident you can support cost of ownership. If something goes really wrong, your losses will be much more managable - on the flip side, if you lose an engine or a tranny of a TT, God help you, and this can and does happen.

Good luck either way!

TK

 

The 996NA idea might not be so great IMHO. The 996TT's engine and tranny has a much better track record than the NA engines. With those cars it seems to be more like "when your engine needs to be replaced" more than "if your engine needs to be replaced". And not all 35-40k cars are a problematic or beat up car. It is like anything else, you have to look more into the "good deal" cars to make sure they are in good order. A good friend of mine just picked up a yellow 996TT with under 40k miles on it for under 40k. The car passed the PPI perfectly and is a very clean car. Not always the case with cars in that price range, but you would be silly not to look at them. Just my .02

 

That's fair, I agree!!

I don't have as much experience with N/A cars, that's pretty shocking.

Cheers, TK

 

I haven't really read past this post, so forgive me if I repeat what goes down later. It seems to me that this poster is dealing in retail assembly prices. I have, and have had several "unique" and "one off" cars. If you are patient, diligent, and careful you can find little bits here and there that accomplish your goal for much less. If the car does not need to be at 100% performance/appearance 100% of the time, you'll do fine....provided you don't do the 100-0 park job into a bridge embankment. Nothing will prepare you for really working on a unique car like actually working on a unique car. Keep your references, remember your price points, get to know your dealers/remanufacturers, meet some good mechanics and machinists, save your pennies, and don't be too proud to ride the bus every now and then.

I started off as a shade tree mechanic replacing belts and hoses. I chanced into changing a timing chain while using a pencil to determine the piston position for my next graduation (not recommended). I bought some tools along the way. Now I design and build parts for my toys. No one gets them besides me, but knowing that you can fix anything at anytime is pretty cool.

The outcome of your quandary is really dependent on one question:
Do you want a performance ride and know it inside and out, or do you want something to flog with the look of a P-car?

Flame away!

 

Well said. The thing to consider on these cars are the high failure items and maintenance items. You can't 100% budget for the car either though based on these items. Some other non-exotic german cars require periodic timing belt and control arm jobs that can be pricey and happen much more often than the pricier maintnenance items on the 996TT. Overall the 996TT is a reliable car(in stock form) that does not break nearly as often as other german cars. That said you could end up with a 20k repair if things go awry too.

You will at some point have to replace a clutch accumulator. You will eventually need to replace the wing hydraulics. You will need a MAF. You will eventually need a clutch job. This and the normal car failures and scheduled maintenance occur. Budget those items and if those prices are too shocking to you or your budget, don't get the car.

 

And here I thought I'd get next to no responses on a post like this...

Those points go along with what I've thought about already. Along with the 'N/A car as trial', except for the flawed engine thing. I think it'd be easier to keep a TT engine alive, but Hellish if it ever REALLY broke. Car-part.com doesn't seem to have much on tap for TT parts, and I'm betting the few specialist dealers in the US probably have people ready to grab most beaters/salvage cars for parts soon after they show up on their radar... As for my 'budget', I don't really have one 'per se', as we're debt-free but for the mortgage on our 'house' (which is less than a used 997 would cost ).

The wife is also giving me the 'silence until he grows out of this phase' treatment. She loved my Talon, but doesn't want me to have a 'dinky car'. Granted, this also plays on the other weakness in my plan. I also have a fondness for the last-gen M5 as well as the Audi S/RS4's... But they're not a 911.

 

Skip on the RS4. They have DRC and carbon buildup issues. One dynoed at around 250 WHP at sea level because of the carbon buildup. And they have yet to find a fix for it. I like the M5 alot though. I'm not a fan of the DSG, but love pretty much everything else.