Year: 2006
Make: Porsche
Model: 911
Price: $41998
Mileage: 78000
Color: Black
Private or Dealer Listing: Private Listing
Location (State): TX
Transmission: Manual
Drivetrain: Rear Wheel Drive

Selling my 2006 Porsche Carrera S, 3.8L, 355hp. The "Carrera S" is basically the higher horsepower version of the base 911, and comes with things like bigger brakes with painted calipers, HID headlights, lower suspension, PASM and PSM. I bought the car nine months ago when I came home from out of country, and have loved it every minute. I'm an ASE certified mechanic, but only wrench on the cars as a hobby, so I've looked for any excuse to work on the car. It's in GREAT working order, runs great, sounds great, no rattles, MEGA smooth engine, and just a blast to have. I took tons of pictures just so you can get a good idea of the great condition this car is in.

Exterior Album
Interior Album
Special Items of note

Since owning it, I have worked on the car a lot! In fact, I have a build thread on the forum describing the entire past 9 months of stuff, if you would like to read up on it. I would suggest reading the whole thing, if you are interested in this car; it's very telling of the work put in and several thousands of dollars. LINK HERE I didn't work on the car to "modify it," but merely to improve on worn items, and replace those that weren't very practical (like no tint in Texas.) For instance, the stock Carrera S wheels were curb rashed from the previous owner a little, so I replaced them with black wheels and new tires to improve the look of the car but maintain a stock appearance. The center console was base bland black lacquer with some scratches in it, so I replaced it with an alcantara one.


Things I've replaced recently (within 9 months, most within 6) include: (summary explination in the "Good" section below, or visit my forum link above)
Starter
Alternator
Air Oil Separator
Alternator Cable
Battery
Wheels
Tires
Radio
Center Console
Arm Rest
Shifter & Boot
Cup Holder
Car Manual and Leather Case
Tail lights
Fog Lights
added 3M car bra
Brake Pads
Brake Rotors
Rear Spoiler
A/C Controls
Side markers
In Cabin Filter
Spark Plugs
Oil
Power Steering fluid
Serpentine belt

For more in depth information, visit the build thread I've linked above: Once again, you may have to register an account to see most of the images I posted - as I tried to put pictures on everyone of my posts. Or, see my summary below in "Good" section.

Things I would replace/change to consider myself "done":
#1) Windshield wipers (they aren't Porsche OEM, so don't curve perfectly to the windshield)
#2) Speakers (the original factory speakers are still in the car, and bottom out on bass intense songs)
#3) Driver's door interior plastic window switch trim (it's the last piece of original black plastic I haven't replaced with alcantara, and the OEM porsche black lacquer finish has scratched, typical for 997's.)

Thing that needs to be done, but I don't live within a couple hours of a Porsche dealership:
#1) I've replaced the factory wing with a non hydraulic (non moving) ducktail spoiler. Normally when you hit about 65mph, the rear wing will go up, but because I've replaced it with a non moving wing, and installed a Porsche OEM fixed wing wiring harness, the last step still remains, the car needs to have Porsche plug into the car computer and set the car's settings to "Aero Kit fixed spoiler." because right now, when you hit about 65mph or over, a warning comes up on the dash reminding you the hydraulic spoiler isn't moving. You can dismiss it with the dash controls, but it's still not something you should have to deal with IMHO. Dealerships usually do this for free and it takes the tech about 5 minutes. I even have instructions on the 3 steps for the tech to go to on his little car computer laptop - just in case your dealer has never done an aero kit fixed spoiler install.

#2) While you're at the Porsche dealer, I only have 1 key for the car, so I bought a second brand new one. Well, Porsche needs to cut the key, but like I said, I don't live anywhere near a dealer - but the new key comes with the car.

OVERALL:
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Cons: The car does have a little ding on the driver door. The paint isn't scratched, and I only notice it when I bend down to wash the car. I've circled it in the pictures I've labeled as "Special items of note"
There is also a scratch on the rear bumper on the driver side. I've shown a picture of this as well, and it's the only other damage I've noticed when washing the car.

The passenger side mirror has a light wind noise/whistle above 50mph. You can only hear it if you are going over ~55 and you roll the window more than halfway down on the passenger side, you can't hear it any other way. Doing a little research, it turned out that this was a common problem for the early 997 models (05 and 06) and required replacing the mirror housing. Porsche would do this for free if you were still under warranty, but the previous owner never did. It never bothers me enough to try and replace/fix it.

This car is daily driven to work, so miles will be added as time goes on; luckily I only work every /other/ day.
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Mediocre: This car was owned by 1 owner previous to me who used it as a high way car in Florida, and got it serviced everytime at his local Porsche dealership according to Car Fax. I myself also used the car to go to and from work, and since then, it has racked up some rock chips on the front bumper. Well, I claimed my insurance after getting a small scratch on the front bumper when I hit a duck (no lie!), and they painted the front bumper for me, fixed a small ding on the passenger quarter from a car door (listed as un insured driver because I had no idea who did it), and I forced them to polish and buff the entire car. I put a leather Porsche car bra on the front end after the fresh paint, for 2 months, and then when the paint had fully cured, I put a 3M clear car bra on the bumper, hood, lights, mirrors, etc.

The factory radio I took out of the car (and will provide with the car) because it does not have Navigation, and had a scratch on the trim. I replaced it with a Kenwood DNX9140 with DVD player, Garmin Navigation, Bluetooth with phone address book download and SMS texting. Some of you purists won't like the fact it has an aftermarket stereo, but I assure you the lights match the interior lighting of the Porsche, the trim kit is seamless, and the start up logo on the screen is even a Porsche emblem. Take a look at the pictures!
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Good: When I bought this car 9 months ago, it had 68,000 miles on it, and I traded my V6 2009 Nissan 370Z Nismo that had only 11,000 miles on it. The Nismo has 350hp, which is only 5 hp less than the Porsche. I was so sure that the Porsche would be just the same, but with a little "mileage" to it. I could not have been more wrong. The engine is ridiculously smooth, and I was not ready for the flat torque curve and huge difference from my Nissan. In spite of the miles on the car, it is tight as a drum, doesn't rattle, doesn't squeak, and because of the horizontally opposed cylinders, is the sweetest sounding, smoothest thing I've ever had. There is nothing on this car that shows the mileage other than the odometer, it's that good.

Brand new tires with less than 1,000 miles, the rear tires are 305mm wide (that's a foot!), the rims are in perfect condition, and the color Porsche center cap crests are amazing! I replaced the rear brake rotors, and the front and rear brake pads only 100 miles ago. I calibrated the parking brake at the same time, and it's now nice and tight. I replaced the cup holder with a brand new one, as a missing spring was making it not close the door all the way. The car was somewhat weak on start up when I first got it, so the dealership replaced the battery 9 months ago, I replaced the alternator cable, the alternator, and the starter. The starter finally fixed the issue, and now all those parts are new anyways! The side markers I replaced with OEM Porsche clear ones to get rid of the amber in front, and I updated the front fogs and rear tails with new LED up to date ones to look like the 2009-2012 Porsche lights, and they are gorgeous! The bumper is freshley painted to get rid of highway rock chips, and protected with 3M clear bra on the hood, headlights, fogs, and bumper, and the entire car is freshly buffed and polished. Sometimes when I would get out of the car after a drive, I would smell something similar to rubber coming from the engine area - and I thought it was a belt, so I replaced it with a brand new one while inspecting the old one. Turns out, the smell was just that Porsche designed the mufflers to sit right behind the rear tires with no guards, so your tires will put a light amount of rubber on the muffler as you drive, and the muffler will burn it off. This is a normal Porsche thing, but I replaced the serpentine belt with a new one before I realized this. Also normal, the Porsche boxster configuration of the engine caused oil to get into the intake, and the car is equipped with an Air oil separator to minimize oil getting into the engine and burning off. Well I noticed a small amount of smoke when you start the car intermittently, and I thought I had a broken air oil separator, especially since every 2,000 miles or so, the car would tell me (on the dash) that I should add about half a quart of oil. I replaced it the AOS, and I still would get the add oil message after a couple thousand miles. Well, after a little bit of research, (the car's owners manual says this is completely normal due to the boxster design, and Porsche even offers a leather carrying case for a quart of oil to keep in the car!), I learned that I needed to learn more about the unique things a Porsche is supposed to do. Either way, the car got a new AOS before I knew this, so it couldn't hurt. The Porsche standard interior has a black lacquer covering the plastics, but if you look in any used 997, the black lacquer has been scratched because it is naturally soft. I found this dumb that Porsche used this stuff, because my A/C control toggles were gummed up, and the center console was scratched too where the lacquer black was. I replaced the A/C controls with a newer updated unit that doesn't have lacquer on the buttons, and the center console & arm rest with alcantara wrapped versions, just like the stock headliner, and to continue matching, replaced the base leather shift **** with a lightly used (3,000 miles) GT3 alcantara shift **** and boot; because of this, the car's interior looks way more up scale now, and you'll be surprised how rare these options are, even in a Turbo. Just because I didn't know if it had ever been done, I replaced the spark plugs about 100 or so miles ago - and it looked like it has been done before, but that it was time to be done. The car was missing the manual and leather case, so those are both new, and I replaced the in cabin filter with a charcoal one about 6 months ago - and I already have another one that I will replace it with before selling the car. The last thing I'll mention on the work/good stuff done to the car is the rear spoiler. The factory spoiler is hydraulic and raised up at a certain speed (~65mph), but under the spoiler is this big black piece of folded rubber that hides all the mechanical bits when the wing is up. I really disliked the rubber corrugated piece, and it made the car, imho, look like a mid 90's Porsche. I decided to replace the wing with something similar that looked like the wing in the up position, but none of the ugly rubber under it. I still have the stock hydraulic wing in box, complete, and fully functioning if you want it, but I have to say the new one on the car looks great, and even has Porsche OEM GT3 grill mesh inserts in it.

The car comes with a binder I've kept with records of all the parts I've purchased to accomplish all this, including how much I paid, and where I got it. For instance, the alternator and starter both have a 1 year warranty on them currently. It also will come with a brand new spare key that is uncut, the stock (working) hydraulic wing in box, OEM Porsche Communication Management radio, and if you have the room and you want them, I have a fifth black wheel like the ones on the car, in front wheel offset, that I curbed about 1" along the lip and then replaced the whole wheel, the stock Carrera S wheels and mounted tires that I still have, and a spare center cap with Porsche logo for the black rims.
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Feel free to send me any questions or request for pictures. The car is also listed on eBay, but of course I will pull the listing if someone here is interested in the car.