996Outpost.com

Thought I'd move my search for a 996 away from the new members thread since this seemed a more appropriate place to discuss it. And for others to add their own current hunt (not WTB) experiences.

My two thoughts are, forget what the pictures look like...and every 1999 and 2000 996 is going to seem some kind of work. And a third thought...don't get obsessed with finding the perfect car. And fourth, stick to your budget.

I went to see a car today, that on paper looked fantastic. Got there and it was a disaster. No point in going into the details, except I felt sorry for the owner/seller who is having serious health issues.

The first car I looked in this search still is out shining the others...and it may turn out to end up the one I buy...if the seller comes down one more thousand on his price. Again, I'm looking for the good, not the perfect. Some dings and a small dent and scratch that I can easily live with. Maybe you couldn't, but I'm a cranky old man who has developed very loose standards for women and cars...if they smile at me, that's good enough.

A private dealer has been sitting on a black 99 C4 for well over a year. They replaced the wiring harness because of rats, the steering wheel adjustable thing is stuck, the left door window needs to be reprogramed. I told them to fix those things and I'll come and drive it. No I don't want a C4, and I won't go through the drag of taking it out of the car. But I would want them to swap me out some silver wheels and take back the black ones on the car now. 17s would be better than 18s. And because it has been sitting I want a new oil and filter change, and a new serpentine belt. The paint is showing its age...getting thin in spots. I love it.

I originally wanted tiptronic but I can live with a manual. I originally wanted C2, but maybe I can live with C4. I would love to have found a car with the IMS Retrofit just done...and at no cost in price to me...but I also might be willing to roll the dice on the original bearing in these early two years.

So that is it for now. All I really need is for the car to smile at me.

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:20 pm And fourth, stick to your budget.

This is the advice I give to 100% of the people that ask me for advice finding a classic car. You hit the nail on the head in your own post - they're all going to need some work. If you buy the car with your budget, you're gonna go over that budget within the first few weeks of ownership. So I'd recommend, ideally, you buy a few grand under budget and leave some money to address those nagging issues.

That said - what would be your ideal purchase price? We can help post some cars for you. Great news that you want a tip - there's enough of them out there and they always command a lower price.

So Cal area only or would you be open to a little road trip if the car is in a good climate?

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: ↑Mon Jun 22, 2020 3:20 pm Thought I'd move my search for a 996 away from the new members thread since this seemed a more appropriate place to discuss it. And for others to add their own current hunt (not WTB) experiences.
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So that is it for now. All I really need is for the car to smile at me.

Like this?

I'm not finding a lot of tips. I went down to Escondido for one...a dealer...car was cosmetically okay but the ride was lacking, the wheels need alignment and balancing and it just didn't feel tight. I have found myself driving manuals, and it has its charm, but the automatics have spoiled me, diving into a turn, braking harder and later than with a manual, and blipping the little button or paddle and dropping down two or three gears much faster than in a manual. Plus, if TSHTF, you can steer and shift with one hand will shooting out the window with the other. Its so civilized. One of the cars I looked at, a tip, the seller was asking $17600...I thought it was worth $14,000. He said $16500...and I reluctantly said $15,000. He passed, I moved on. Now he's dropped his price to $16000 and I'm not even sure I'd offer him the $15,000...maybe $14700 tops. We have to draw lines in life. The car needs a trans mount, some other just because work. I've looked at two manual trans cars that could be had for $15,000...the one today was trash, but another one drove very nicely....but the coil over setup the seller had put on would turn my wife's spine into porridge.

For the moment I'm looking in the $15000 range and it has to be better than sex if it wants to get more out of me. And you're right about tips offering better prices and I may just wait for the right one to come up. I hate taking long drives...there is a car in SLO but with a rebuilt title...I'll pass on principle. And I'm definitely not interested in the 996.2...it just no longer is for me.

Patience is your friend. As soon as you settle for something, the perfect car will pop up. Happens to me every time.

Don’t worry about changing the IMS bearing on a ‘99. Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe ‘00 is 100% dual row also. I believe the changeover was in mid-‘01.

Plus, a bonus for tiptronics is that the IMS bearing issue has a lower failure rate.

Door window needs to be reprogrammed? If it is just the auto-up and auto-down feature, you can reprogram that simply by running the window all the way up and hold the button all the way to the 2nd detention for 10 seconds. Then do the same thing for the down position.

While a PPI is nice...is it really necessary? Or always practical? As many have said, no matter what you do or what a mechanic tells you, you are buying a 20+ year old car and something is going to break sooner or later. One of the cars I'm looking at is a two hour (one way) drive away. That seller sure isn't going to let me drive his car two hundreds and let a mechanic he doesn't know start digging into the car. And even if he did, I'm not willing to drive back and forth and back and forth and spend a few hundred dollars for the guy to tell me the car looks good. What does that mean? It makes more sense to me, to set a price limit and have money tucked away for the known unknows that could happen.

There's another car on BaT, up in Oregon. In the end it will cost as much as the first car. Anything the seller says is just an empty promise. And all the service records in the world are just pieces of paper. When the car rolls off the trailer, you won't really know what you bought until you start it up and drive it for a hundred miles.

There is a saying in the world of vintage Rolex watches...buy the seller and not the watch. Not quite as easy with cars, but the saying still holds some truth. You have to trust yourself when judging the character of who you are buying from. You look them in the eye, you drive the car, and you either walk away or you take out your wallet and buy the ticket to ride.

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2020 9:47 am While a PPI is nice...is it really necessary? Or always practical?

A lot depends on who is doing the PPI. If you take it to a shop that doesn't know the 996, then yeah other than possibly spotting major things common to all used cars it's probably not worth much. If they really know 996s, however, they can find all the things that you might not think about or that the seller may be trying to gloss over.

Even with the not great PPIs, they still have value when looking at a remote car to help judge if it is worthwhile to make the trip to see it in person.

Another good value from at least asking about a PPI is the person's reaction. If they aren't willing to let you get a PPI (or will only let you take it to their regular shop), that's a good indication that something isn't on the level.

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2020 9:47 am While a PPI is nice...is it really necessary? Or always practical?

With your budget I would say no it's not necessary. For $15,000 I think you also realize you're not looking for garage queens. This is not to say you don't deserve a car that runs for a long time, but I consider a PPI to be an "insurance of investment" type of action. If you were to say to me that you can't afford to lose $15,000 then I'd say you're looking at entirely the wrong car - but it seems like you have a rich history with these cars so I'm responding to someone I believe knows exactly what they're doing looking for a $15k tip 996.

Dr_Strangelove (whew!) wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2020 11:10 am

best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2020 9:47 am While a PPI is nice...is it really necessary? Or always practical?

With your budget I would say no it's not necessary. For $15,000 I think you also realize you're not looking for garage queens. This is not to say you don't deserve a car that runs for a long time, but I consider a PPI to be an "insurance of investment" type of action. If you were to say to me that you can't afford to lose $15,000 then I'd say you're looking at entirely the wrong car - but it seems like you have a rich history with these cars so I'm responding to someone I believe knows exactly what they're doing looking for a $15k tip 996.

I concur. At the $15,000 price point, a PPI is less important. If it grenades on you, you sell the carcass, absorb the $9,000 hit and move on.

I also concur with best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland's Rolex mantra of "buy the seller." If the seller is a seedy used car lot, then maybe you reconsider doing a PPI, or better yet, just pass. Look for a private seller who has owned the car for a while. Somebody who can talk you through the car's history and can hand off a baseline on the regular maintenance items rather than having to pay to have everything redone to establish a new baseline (oil, coolant, brake fluid, brake pads, etc).

In the end, you pays your money and you takes your chances . . .

I can't imagine that $15k 996 is not a higher mileage, multi owner car. Hoovie bought his first 996 claptrap with 230k miles for $10k I think.

This will be a 20-21 Y/O car and I don't think it is reasonable to have perfection expectations for a $15k price for 996.

That being said, I would still do a PPI and barring significant issues move forward. You clearly enjoy this vintage of 996 John and you already owned 2 or 3 of the cars, so you are 95% ahead of most people on issues and quirks of the car.