Hey guys,

So I'm test driving a 2003 996tt with 60,000 miles on it on Sunday. Any advice on:
- What to inspect during the walk around and under the hood?
- What to test when I drive the car?

Getting the maintenance records tonight, will post repairs later to get insight on what has been done to date.

Thanks in advance.

 

Check for 2nd gear pop out issue and make sure you get a ppi done

 

1) Coolant leaking from rear coolant tank ($250-$600) - Have a look around and see if there is dry looking coolant on the tank or below it.
2) 2nd Gear pop out ($400 - $2000 depending)- Drive up to a good clip in 2nd and let off the gas (leave in gear) let it decelerate to stop a few times make sure trans isn't popping outta gear.
3) Leaking Master from blown slave / accumulator ($600-1000 fix) - When the slave goes it pushes coolant back into the master and it leaks. Look under the hood up near the windshield on the drives side for anything that looks wet. When the starting the car, the clutch may feel like its going down more after your start the car, sort of like it's vacuum assisted.
4) Front diff issues ($depends 2000 maybe) look under the car at the front diff, if it's leaking or wet it's blown or close. Mismatched tire sizes (other than 225 / 295 or other matching pair size) can blow the front diff as the tires are not matched in size. You can't simply go to a 245 (taller) tire on the front and 295 on the rear.
5) Clutch slipping on chipped stock clutch lots of miles car. If the car is making 1 bar boost it's chipped, 0.7 is stock. The stock clutch wont last on a chipped car for long especially with 60k miles (100km I'm Canadian too ) Clutch job is $2500 if you're lucky.
6) Tires ($1000 and up). Not expensive but they can look good from the outside and you look on the very inside and they are bald.

Anything I'm forgetting? basically drive the car and make sure it feels tight and goes fast and feel solid. Brakes will feel hard unless you have driven a Porsche before, that is totally normal, stomp on them and the rear tires will almost come off the ground . Also will feel light in the front end, rear engine will do that cause there is no weight on the front wheels at all.

Good luck!

 

If you are serious about the car get a PPI done at a indie shop that does extensive water cooled Porsche work. Not a Porsche dealer. Find out exactly what they check before you have it done. This isn't a safety inspection. Seriously do not skimp on this.

 

PPI is a must.
I bought my 996tt from a 6speed member in another state and I failed to get a PPI.
The condition was entirely misrepresented. I've spent $15k to get the car running properly. I still have cosmetic issues to address. Yes, I'm a trusting fool.

 

PPI from a GOOD shop is key. The PPi I got from the Porsche dealer sucked!! They missed a ton of crap which cost me about $3k

 

i think people tend to place too much emphasis on ppi's. i read all the time, someone got a ppi, something "broke" and then they think the inspection was lousy! ppi's are ( after all ) merely an inspection of a car. doesn't mean that they catch every potential issue than can crop up even if, or especially if, a problem is in its nascent stage... i mean, certainly they should catch stuff leaking.. or popping out of 2nd gear.. but there's a lot more stuff can can be missed if the anomalies or symptoms of a problem aren't readily apparent. to follow this line, if that were the case, it doesn't even mean the ppi was somehow insufficient or poorly undertaken. my current tt wasn't "ppi'd" ..and i just figure i saved a cpl hundred bucks! lol

 

I can say that a PPI is worth a couple hundred dollars for sure but, even more worth while when done at a good shop.

My exact problem was, I had to trust the Dealer because I bought the car out of state and very far away. They missed leaks and obvious things. These were items that were small but added up in the end. I don't expect them to guess the life left in the clutch but, when it is leaking coolant from a coolant tank that is known to crack, I have to wonder..

 

dealerships use porsche's standard cpo multi item "checklist" when determining the condition of a car. there is very little wiggle room. in addition to visual inspection/driving the car, kicking tires and honking the horn they measure tread life, brake pad/tire wear.. all the obvious stuff, and they test to ensure stuff is within their recommended spec. that which they can see, that is.

it sounds to me as if the dealership may have been negligent in their assessment of the cars condition, in spite of the foregoing. it wouldn't be the first time.

 

lol, this after the assured me their most "senior" tech was doing it and this guy races so, he knows what to look for.. what a joke.

 

Do a basic "stick it in 6th gear and stomp the gas" to check the clutch.

Other than that, listen to what others say and run some searches.

I would say something that is probably more important outside of maintenance is test driving other cars. I think a lot of guys get really focused on wanting that 996TT, but you might as well try out a 997 etc. The dealer would be silly not to let you at least.

The torque sold me, but if you drive the other car you'll never go "man, I could have had X".

 

How did the test drive go?

 

OP here. Thanks for all the responses. Really appreciate it. Went for a test drive today, but TBH, I didn't really do a good job. My observations as follows:
1) The car surprised me with how predictably it reacted when I pressed the accelerator pedal. Press down a bit and the car accelerates, but nothing crazy torquey and never felt out of control. Press it down faster or further down and the car just explodes, but still with a feeling of great control. My S4 was just touquey and while solid, didn't feel as "safe" when pressing down on the peddle. Just wondering if this descriptions seems accurate to you 996tt drivers. Almost feels like the first third of the accelerator I could use to drive the car with fuel economy in mind and the bottom 2/3 of the accelerator is to take off.
2) Car felt very tight. No squeaks or rattles.
3) Interior was very clean. Overall condition of the car seemed immaculate except for a dent on the drivers side door that the owner claims occurred when backing up out of his garage with the door slightly open. Pics attached. Cost to repair at the Porsche dealer is $1400 + tx. I initially wasn't too concerned about this, but a friend pointed out that I should have checked the hinges and door frame for deformities which could cause undue wind noise at high speeds.
4) Seller seems like the rich, yuppie, old money type. President of a well known charitable foundation, seems honest. Doesn't really have a clue about Porsches (e.g. had no clue about the metzger engine or the history of the engine). Doesn't seem like a scammer. Still, sometimes these types are the worst types, so not taking anything for granted.

We're looking at a price in the mid 30s for this 2003tt with 60K miles on it.

My next steps are as follows:
1) Get some of your thoughts on the maintenance history of the car...full details below . Any opinions about that door dent and story? I'm wondering if it wasn't a theft attempt.

2) Going to shop for a PPI. Going to call a porsche dealership and a non-dealer porsche mechanic. I want to get the compression test and leak down test done as well.

3) I'll probably go back to the seller and see the car again and do a more thorough inspection of the door frame and the other suggestions from all of you especially King James.

Also, some maintenance history for the car:
2012 some repairs done:
- Accumulator and Clutch Slave Cylinder replaced (owner was feeling clutch stiffness)
- Front left speed sensor replaced.
- Throttle assembly replaced.
- 2 radiators replaced
- Left condensor replaced.

Some repairs in 2008:
- Replaced two rear shocks.
- Car was missing a bolt on the rear sub-frame.
- Radio intermittently not working. Didn't fix. According to the seller, it happens on occasion when listening to the radio and he just presses "CD" and goes back to radio and everything is fine.
- Sunroof button not working (don't know if this was repaired, I have to check).
- Replaced windshield (had a crack in the windshield)

Worth nothing that the current owner bought the car in June of 2008 as a CPO and has put 28000 miles on the car in that time and went through one set of tires.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

I bought my car without anything. Basically flew in, walked around the car, drove it around the block and then 500 miles home.

Guess I got lucky, I've had almost zero issues or problems in over a year.

 

^^Maybe you did get lucky! Have you had a good look under the car since you bought it?

OP - Many Porsche dealers will do a state safety inspection and rename it a PPI. Again, make sure to get a list of what they inspect.