Anything over a Stage 4 and you should probably consider getting silicon hoses...regardless of the year TT.

 

threre're more 03s out there than 04s so the price is better while the warranty is longer than 02s.

 

This is very simple. If you plan on keeping the car forever, and someday rebuilding the engine or doing mods you want one of the earlier cars that still has a "964" case. These were still made in Germany. At some point Porsche ran out of these cases and had a company in Spain make the cases for the rest of the 996 Turbo run. If you have the car up in the air or you peek your head under with a flashlight (if the car is on the ground) on the right side of the case you will see a serial number. If it starts with 964 you have one of the german cases. These cases also still have the "ports" for oil return (ofcourse they are capped) but the 996 cases won't have them. The 996 case is probably more evolved of a design, without the oil returns since they are no longer needed, but the fact that they are made in spain kills it. If you are just buying the car to drive for a few years then who cares, buy whatever is cheep. As far as warranty... I don't let anyone work on my cars, I do it all myself. As far as I'm concerned a warranty is like ghetto health insurance. Plus I don't think I've ever had a car that breaks untill the warranty is over anyway!!

 

This is interesting information but I would like some clarification. First of all, what do you mean by case? Are you talking about the transmission case?
The engine in the 996TT is a derivative of the GT1 and is different from all previously air cooled 911s, so I don't think that is what you mean.
Never heard the Spain claim before. Got any evidence to support it or any documentation that it is a problem?

 

O.K. So '01 is the best year!! but low miles...is 27K low miles?

 

"Case" refers to engine, not transmission. I think the switch to the Spanish case was in '02. It is not surprising that many people don't know about this since it was not widely publicized by Porsche...

 

It sound like a non-issue really.

 

For a 2001, 27K miles is low. The good thing is that it's not so low that the seller can ask a premium, so I think it's a perfect target for a buyer.

 

agreed ^

 

02 or 03

 

I have not read all the responses. I have owned a 2001, 2003 and a 2004 TT cab. If money was a concern, get a 2001. The great thing about the 996TT is that the 2001 is virtually the same. No glove box and a different brand of stereo is the only thing that really jumps out in my mind. The 2001 is an awesome machine. The only issues I had with the 2001 was a spoiler issue which a lot of 2001 have, but it is no big deal.

If money is not a big concern, I would still buy a clean 2002 and save some money. You should be able to find a good deal ona 2002 and the 2001 and 2002 prices will not go down that dramatically over the next few years. Those of us with 2004s will take a beating on value, but I think the 01s and 02s will level out price wise and will not go much lower over the long haul.

Good luck. I would get a PPI just to be safe if the car is out of warranty. If the car checks out fine, you should be good. I have put a lot of miles on my 3 996TTs and have never had any mechanical issues on any of them.

 

As with any porsche buy the newest you can afford..........

 

Thanks for all the input...I'll keep you guys posted