rmc,

The oil burning was no big deal. Just had to add a bit more oil

But for me it's not worth paying a premium for low miles given it only takes a few years to drive away the premium value JMO.

 

I guess I need to do the math but its different for myself as I drive very little and most of that I put on one or two everyday rides. I never look at the cost as my car hobby is such a small part of my everyday expenses. My experience is different from others as I have always made out buying low mileage.

 

^^^. exactly the point i was making earlier. there is no way to know for certain, but i'm confident that NON use is a causitive factor when it comes to leakage/seepage and the like in these cars. just something to remember for all those garage ( ahem ) queens out there.

 

That is what we thought, very curious to see what it is like in person. The red is not as bright as some of the other Porsche red interiors we have seen, so maybe it will work for us.

However, my gut feeling is telling me someone ran miles on another cluster. I will see if I can check that out on Thursday, that is if we like the car enough to warrant a ride to Porsche.

M

 

One buys a low miles car and he gets to use the car. Nothing wrong with that.

The issue is that often times buyers equate low miles with new or "nearly new" and that is not entirely correct.

Sure the miles are low, the wear and tear negligible, but the car has aged. Seals and gaskets dry and shrink. They do not recover from use.

Also, with the low miles the car can still have "new car" issues.

These can really hammer one.

I bought a low miles (~10K) '03 Turbo in '09. The car was pristine, reasonably well taken care of, and had some new car things (mainly rattles) sorted. The car came with a 2 year, 100K mile warranty.

My '02 Boxster was no trouble in around 80K miles needing only an RMS at around 25K miles.

But I felt given the cost of the Turbo ($120K new and they don't get cheaper to service/fix as they get older) I wanted some protection so the CPO sealed the deal for me.

But the car needed the CPO. For various things: noisy idler roller bearing; broken radiator fan shaft which ruined a radiator too; broken shifter linkage; leaking tranny seal; clutch accumulator and slave cylinder failure. All told had the CPO warranty not been in place the car could have cost me another $5K to $6K (or more depending upon what the tranny would have cost to put right) on top of what I paid for the car.

Was any of the above due to the car having very little use?

The idler roller? No.

The broken radiator fan shaft? No.

Maybe the tranny seal. Maybe. Or maybe not.

What about the power steering tank high pressure valve? Probably not.

What about the spoiler hydraulics leaking later? Maybe.

What about the RMS leak? Again, maybe.

However, I do have to point out that while low miles may not have contributed to the above, it was only with miles the issues surfaced. In some way low miles kept the original owner from having these problems arise and some of them being addressed under the new car's warranty.

I do not want to come down too hard on low miles car.

In fact, to be perfectly honest I would prefer a low miles car to a high miles car.

But the low miles car has to be the *best* car. Low miles alone doesn't always mean this.

And there is still some risk as I covered using my used Turbo as an example.

I would want to ensure the low miles car was in very very good shape. This is not always the case with low miles cars. They can be super neglected.

I would still give the low miles car a thorough going over.

I would give the low miles car a proper test ride then test drive.

Possibly even a PPI. (I had the Turbo's CPO paperwork and the DME printout. I also felt that my multiple after dealer hours visits to the car to check it out had me to the point I didn't need a PPI.)

But I bought the car for less than the asking price. The dealer had the price going up and down but he was asking $62K (IIRC $61,999) and I bought it for $57.7K.

I knew I was going to drive the car, because I didn't want that CPO warranty to expire on time with just a few more miles on the car. Some you know what hit the fan at around 30K to 40K miles than again around 50K miles. The warranty finally expired on time -- June '11 -- with around 60K miles on the car.

My general advice is to find a good car, be sure the car is a good car, don't pay too much for car, at least try to avoid overpaying for car, take good care of the car and enjoy the car.

If the car is low miles so be it.

Also, when you come to a place like this and ask for input you're going to get it. Some of it, most of it good. Some maybe not so good. Almost certainly all is well intended input.

No one can tell you exactly what to do. Take all the input, think about it, digest it, then add your own egg and come with a decision that you are comfortable with. That is all that important.

 

Everything you have said makes sense. The spoiler/rms issues you mentioned were at high miles if I'm correct and the others not so. Most of the repairs that I have done to my lower mile vehicles have been preventive repairs such as putting new hoses/belts maybe a valve cover gasket etc. and the yearly oil change and intake/cabin filters. I have replaced some common seals/gaskets on my older vehicle's usually starting around the 50k mark as they arise but nothing serious. Low mile cars sell for a higher price on average because people equate miles with wear and for the largest part I have found this to be true, so I stick with it when I can. I finally have time now that the largest part of the restoration is done on my 18th/19th century home to get out and enjoy my toys and tomorrow if the motor gives up in one I will pull it and repair it myself= as I have always done. Thanks Macster for the informative polite response we need more people like you in this world.

 

Update. So we looked at the car today and we both like the car! The interior is pretty much like new and we love the color. The paint needs a good buff/polish. Evidently the entire car had a clear bra over it, they removed it, but still has some residue and light scratches.

It hasn't rained here in at least a month, but of course today it has to pour. We drove it anyway (not ours yet). It drove nice except for the battery needing jump-started and the alternator killing itself. I am pretty sure it will need an alternator, we were at about 11-12 volts. Obviously I did not drive it for that long.

With those issues we did not take it over to Porsche. However, we do plan on making an offer with the contingency of the car going to Porsche for check out. BTW, Carfax does not show any mileage issues, only Autocheck showed it once.

One thing that is alarming, the Kelly Blackbook wholesale value for a 2002 is about $33K! Do you think they have that much room on the price with them buying the car at auction?

Thanks,

Mike

 

I'll be honest....
I LOVE the interior.

http://www.lawautogroup.com/web/vehicle_photos/8563354

If it was a manual, I would stop my purchase for the 997 gt3 im working on and go after this one.

All this one needs for a perfect interior IMO is to change the wood to CF bits. and its PERFECT.

WOW beautiful interior.

 

We really like the interior also. Because of the special interior it makes us feel that the car is special, or different than any other 996 that we would come across.

Now we are struggling to come up with our final price. It is hard for me to justify paying $50K+ for a 12 yro car that wholesales for $33K. I guess all cars wholesale for less than retail, but this really seems like a big margin.

M

 

i'm actually a bit surprised such a pristine low mileage example came up for auction at all. dealers usually like to sell the showroom condition cars.

wait: edit. a dealer bought it at auction and ... i get it. nvr mind

 

You don't know for sure what they paid unless you connect it with an auction sheet, I would pay what I thought it was worth to me. I paid a little more then most but got what I wanted and that's what counts at the end of the day.

 

Update. I think we are out for now on this car. They don't really want to deal on it and we don't want to pay $55K plus Tax (7%) for a 2002 Turbo. I know most of the premium is from the low miles, but the low miles/dark wood/red int is not worth $13K more than another Turbo we saw with 17K miles.

Because of that we are not taking it to Porsche, so who knows if the car is legit. If anyone is interested in this car PM me.

We assume that once the 2014 991 Turbo hits the US streets, all 997/996 prices will come down.

M

 

17k mi. is still very low and your right 55k is too high for the other so I would keep looking as the right one will come along. I don't know if the 2014 prices will drop values but I guess we will find out.