As a California person, I fear and rarely encounter rust of any sort. However, 997TT prices are high in NorCal and my home town of Columbus, OH has lots of Porsche supply, being a relatively affluent midwestern town. Prices are easily $10-$15K cheaper. Assuming DME overrevs and mannheim reports check out, should I be concerned about buying a car that's lived in snow and salt? One 997.2 in particular has Sotto Zeros so I know it's been driven. Thanks- did a search and did not find anything conclusive other than possible corrosion issues on Mezger engined cars.

 

Living in a colder climate I have winter tires as well. I drive my P-car very sparingly in the winter so it really doesn't get much if any exposure to salt. I have the tires more for the shoulder season (last month of the driving season, first month of spring) as the performance tires lose traction so quickly in the cold (or so I'm told) even on dry roads. I also use them for insurance in case they flat spot over the winter while in storage, so I don't damage the good performance tires. And it gives me a spare tire in case of a summer emergency. I guess my point is that just because it has winter tires doesn't mean it's been extremely exposed to salt, etc. it's much more important to know how it's been maintained, not only mechanically but whether it's cleaned thoroughly after any exposure to salt. My 2 cents.

 

Like stated above, most people I know around here won't drive these cars between November and April. A California car is certainly nice, but I wouldn't be deterred by a rust belt car that is 4 to 6 years old. The plus side is that many of the cars from colder climates have lower miles. Now an older car, that would be a different story. I am in Columbus and all people I know with these types of cars store them.

 

More important than geographic location is the mileage, maintenance records, and probably PPI results. I purchased my 08 with a CPO from Minnesota, and have had absolutely no regrets.

 

I have all season on my car, since when it gets below 40 the summer rubber turns to stone. That said, I never drive after the first snow and don't bother until the spring rains wash off the salt from the road, and the potholes are filled

 

I drive my car year round, but also perform strict maintenance.

Will the undercarriage have more surface rust or rusted fasteners...maybe. If that bothers you, pay the premium for the cali car. If not, then jump on it. They are robust cars and using them year round is no problem. Its very common in europe as well.

 

My car is 10 years old and driven sometimes in snow-salty roads also. After 45000miles, it's wheel bolts are litlebit rusted, exhaust has also litlebit rust and plastic details won't look as new. No rust on body, because it's aluminium-plastic-zinc. Probably cars which haven't driven even rain are better, but Porsches are German made and snow isn't rare thing there.

 

My previous 996TT came from Cleveland then to Cali. It had a fair amount of underbody corrosion, and I paid less knowing this, but didn't seem to affect it so much for the year I had it. And my 997 came from Florida, and looked like it never left the garage.

It all depends on how the previous owners took care of the car. Cleaned, detailed, garaged, not DD? Maybe it was stored most winters?

Good luck.

 

The only bad thing about cold weather driving is all of the rough roads associated with it. The potholes year round can take their toll

 

Our car came from NY state, and had lots of corrosion on engine and suspension fasteners, as well as lots of I assume salt stains on the aluminum castings. The Aluminum appearance is just cosmetic, but many of the steel fasteners (exhaust, coils, small brackets) were in pretty bad shape. Just be prepared to replace those as the systems get serviced later. The body/chassis showed no signs of corrosion, just fasteners.

 

Fantastic. I'm going to buy the car. I have a lift so I can check things out when I get the car and replace bits as necessary. Thanks all, for the advice!