911 NKC

My wife and I are considering the 718 in the link below that popped up at a local dealer. We test drove it this weekend and were impressed, but have a few reservations about the car's history. The dealer said they cannot sell it as certified pre-owned because the previous owner installed an aftermarket (Fabspeed) intake and exhaust on it. This would be a daily driver for my wife so we are already factoring in the cost to remove the Fabspeed exhaust and bring it back to stock to get it more reasonable as a daily.

The previous owner also blacked out the side mirrors, roof, and rear decklid in vinyl, and smoked the rear tail lights. We are fine with leaving those in place, but think that this car may sit for a while since it's so close to new (2018, 14k miles) but has all these modifications to it. My wife and I both love the graphite blue color and the black 20" Carrera S wheels which is the first time we've seen this combo come up on a pre-owned 718 since we've started searching, so we are really drawn to this combination.

Is a CPO really worth waiting for or do you think we would be fine with the remaining factory warranty on this car? It was originally purchased in October of 2017, so we should have until October of 2021, or about 2 and a half years left on the factory warranty. Isn't the CPO warranty just 2 years unlimited miles?

Lastly, does $60k sound like a fair price for the vehicle based on its condition? To us, it seems like it should be much closer to $55k to move given all the modifications. We did hear that the previous owner traded this one in to upgrade to a 991 GT3, so it's also likely seen a good amount of track time as well.

https://nationalpreownedporsche.com/...allic+15364595

X2Board

The best deals on a used Porsche, are usually not at a Porsche dealership. My last '14 991 S was purchased in 2015 at a BMW dealership, with 11k miles, for 77k and it had the Porsche pre-paid maintenance attached (121k original MSRP). My local P car dealer wanted 89k for a similar car with no maintenance. I drove that for a year and sold it at a slight profit.

My current 718 S, I bought 2 months ago at a Cadillac dealership for 59k and it also has the pre-paid maintenance attached (85k original MSRP). It had 10,060 miles on it, and even with shipping costs from WA to NC, it was way cheaper than what my local P car dealers would sell for. This works for me as I usually switch cars yearly, but I may keep the 718 and if so, I will purchase the Porsche extended warranty before the factory warranty expires in 1/2021

Keep looking, unless you really want a CPO car.

ldamelio

I'd also keep looking for the reasons you implied. Just too much baggage on this one - modified, likely tracked, etc. 14k miles on a 2018. For all you know it could have been ECU tuned, etc. And you're looking at it as a daily for your wife. It would have to be an incredible steal without CPO to satisfy my personal risk/reward barometer. Also, the 20" wheels have their pluses but are not ideal for daily. I have them and love them on my 2018 CS, but mine is a toy and the 20's are a little loud, harsh, and vulnerable for everyday use IMO.

john981

If you are willing to pay 60k, why are you not custom ordering one? A Base caymen with few options costs around 65k. Many dealerships give up to 9% of the MSRP on custom orders. Than you have a brand new car with no doubts if it was tracked or how it was treated. As @idamelio mentioned, there is a big chance that this car was tracked, I would not risk it. Also the 2019 has few extras on the base model (e.g. sport exhaust)

911 NKC

I brought that point up over the weekend as well as the spread from a new one can't be that far off. My wife loves the Graphite Blue color though, which was discontinued after 2018. So we are still looking to find a pre-owned one with that color vs. just ordering new.

john981

depending on where you live, here few options, the 3rd one is even a S:


https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...Type=spotlight


https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

wmc

I have a 2017 718 Cayman S, graphite blue with platinum satin carerra S wheels that I am about ready to put up for sale (awaiting new car order.) 10K miles, no track time. If interested I can send you the build sheet.

Gamecock718

I think you can get a much nicer car, with less questionable history, and even CPO for that price... IF you're patient or open to a different color. I wouldn't buy that car for any more than about $52-53k. Just my $.02

911 NKC

Thanks everyone for all of the great feedback. The dealer has come down to a price of $55k but we are still a bit apart on where we see this car's value at. I would agree $52k is more accurate given its history and modifications. I did have a couple of extra questions for the community though.

Does the car look lowered from stock ride height to anyone? I compared it to a few other stock 718's with the 20" Carrera S wheels and it appears to sit a little lower than others in comparison. Any other way to tell if the car is lowered short of ordering an independent PPI?

Also, on our test drive the other week, I noticed a cord in the glove box that appeared to possibly for flashing an aftermarket ECU tune. I forgot to grab a photo if it, but it appeared about the same connector that is circled in the photo below.



Lastly, we aren't fans of the smoked taillights and would want those reversed back to stock prior to purchasing as I think they aren't even technically road legal in Missouri. Does anyone know if the taillights can easily be "de-smoked" or would they have to be replaced entirely if this is an applied coating instead of a film? Refer to the article I found on this topic in the link below.
https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/m.../05/222396.htm

Thanks again for all of the great feedback, it's truly appreciated!

Mbern

I bought a very lightly optioned 2018 base PDK cayman ($70 list) with 3k miles on it CPO for $60 last fall. I like the CPO but would not buy or not buy based on that. I think it adds $2-3k to the value of the car.

Depending on on how the blue one is optioned, that sounds like a car that should be closer to $50 with low options and $55+ if it has a high sticker. I would also want 100% confirmation the car has not been chipped or lowered but that’s just me

someone would likely swap the intake and exhaust for stock and pay you besides.

to check for track time, look for discolored calipers and heavily worn rotors (or brand new rotors). Either are in indicator. Good luck. Love mine

mike

john981

Did you bought this car yet? If not, this car just came into market, has your color, ultralow miles and is even a S. Seem to be a much better deal.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...5294/overview/

911 NKC

We didn't buy the car shown in the first post after all. We are now looking at another base 718 that's a 2017 model year in Portland, only difference being that it has full Agate Grey standard interior. The S you posted above looks great but it's just a bit out of our budget. Thanks though!

The original one shown above sold to another buyer literally while we were sitting at the dealer trying to finalize the deal. It was a crappy outcome as we had agreed on $55k minutes before they told us the car sold to another buyer, but it was probably for the best given all of the modifications and confirmed track time.

https://www.grandprimotors.com/used/...6adc5c172e.htm

1Carnut

I bought a 2018 Cayman a couple months ago, sticker was over a bit over 72K, I paid 52k, I said no CPO, but I am not one that cares about warranty. I knew I was going to tune the car, and do a bunch of other things as well. I have known Joe (the owner of Fabspeed) since he was selling out of his trunk. Keep in mind if the car was tuned, the ECU would have had to be unlocked first, many people believe that in itself would make warranty an issue. Fabspeed is a dealer for Cobb (I have that in my 718) plus downpipe and exhaust (IPE & AWE), but they also flash tune which means that unless the car was flashed back. you were driving a tuned car. I think you got lucky, I have been taking cars apart and designing parts and modifications for almost five decades, and unless you know what your doing, know the car, its owner, and more importantly who did the work on the car, I'd suggest sticking with stock.

Optical TDI

$62k for a used base 2017 with 14k miles? Way overpriced IMO. Point of reference in March of 2018, I paid $53k for a 2017 Boxster base. It had 9k miles and was $75k msrp. 2.5 yrs left on warranty at the time with no CPO. Good luck. Shopping is fun!!!

manifold danger

I think I've read enough to feel comfortable saying this- do not under any circumstances buy this car.

This is for your wife and you're considering reversing all the modifications that were done, which I'm assuming you're going to pay for unless you can convince this dealer to do it as part of the deal- complete waste of time to even look into this car, despite the appealing color combo. Based off previous experience, it would cost ~$1000 in labor or so just to remove the modifications and reinstall factory parts, not including the cost of the parts themselves, which is another couple of thousand. Also, it does appear this car is lower than factory, ESPECIALLY considering I don't see the X73 sports suspension on the options list (or even PASM- I honestly can't recall if X73 is a thing with the 718), so chalk up another couple grand for reversing the suspension mods. All of this on an already overpriced car. There's just no effing way you should even be considering this.

This car will only be a good buy for someone who would have done these same modifications, and the dealer walks back the price to at least the mid-50s. This thing deservedly should sit on the lot for a long, long time. Honestly surprised it's not up for auction. The vinyl is tasteless, and the paint even looks ruined in some of the shots. The owner abused this car aesthetically, so assume it was abused physically. RUN. AWAY.

Also, the CPO warranty is for 6 years, 100k miles. If I recall correctly, the 6 year part starts at whenever they certified it; so for example if this car was certified right before they put it up for sale you'd have a warranty through 2025, or 100k miles (have someone confirm this, I'm about 70% certain). It's definitely a worthy thing to have... but on an unmolested car it's likely you'll never take advantage of it. These cars are rock solid as far as reliability is concerned... but as someone else mentioned if anything were to happen to THIS car down the line, the modifications would run you at least a moderate likelihood even your factory warranty claim could be denied.