DrBrain

This is my first post here, planning to stay a a future Porsche owner. And here is my first inquiry:
A friend of mine is selling his 2004 Carrera convertible. It has leather seats and the upgraded stereo. Interior and exterior in excellent condition, except some wear on the drivers seat. The car has 67K miles, with ca 20k driven during the last years.
AOS was replaced recently, along with complete tune up.
Engine had a failure (probably IMS) when starting the car and was repaired by the dealership.
Convertible top was repaired, new hydraulics, canvas and probably some other parts.
Tires P zero rosso at ca50%.
Clutch and brakes will need to be replaced in ca. 5k miles.
Runs great, albeit the pull in first gear is not as strong as I expected and on startup it runs a little rough and picks up a little hesitant. No oil leaks.

Considering the (repaired) engine failure, is this car a good buy at ca. $22K? I am not worried of running expenses but don't want to buy if the previous engine failure will make it likely to experience another one.
Thanks

Barn996

First of all welcome to Rennlist. I'd want to know exactly what caused the engine to expire, then I'd want to know who fixed it and what that involved. At $22k it's a good buy if in fact the repair was done properly, but you have outlined some potential red flags ie.needs clutch, brakes, runs rough, poor pickup. Does the current owner have detailed records?

DrBrain

It was fixed by the Porsche Dealer, that I know. Another friend of mine is an independent repair/tuning shop owner and offered to fix the brakes and clutch for $2000, I am ok with it. I will find out the exact reason for the engine problem, thanks.

skiracer

The asking price is certainly reasonable if everything has been sorted out and if the car drives well. Since you know the PO it should be easy to capture the history, but don't forget a complete PPI at an independent shop. That's a lot of car for $22k...good luck!

RF5BPilot

Your friend should be able to call the Porsche dealer and give them permission to go over the repairs & service done to the car (or at least get copies of previous service orders). If he/she has copies, bring them to the PPI so an experienced person can go over them with you. Rough running is usually straightforward to fix.

dgjks6

$22,000 is a steal if everything checks out. But...the running rough thing scares me. If the IMS failed a lot of times there is engine damage. Usually you have to get to them before they fail to prevent problems. You need a good mechanic to check it out first.

If there is internal damage you are looking at doubling the cost of the car.

That being said there are a number of reasons why the car runs rough that can be easily fixed.

As far as not pulling in first gear, others may disagree with me, but my limited experience has been that 911's don't "pull" like domestic cars from first gear. But when you get the rpm's up nothing can match it. But I have never experienced any hesitancy.

Hurdigurdiman

Lets hope for your sake that he is a VERY good friend of yours and dropping the price simply because he is your very best friend. If not then IMHO. There's more wrong with that car than meets the eye at that price. The price is way low for a 2004 Cab even with those miles. It should be $30000. If I were you I wouldn't walk away. I would run. Or buy it and have to spend the 8 grand on repairs one way or another. Just too many red flags are up for my liking. Well you asked ...and I gave my honest opinion. .

David A

How long ago was the engine replaced? Refurbished engines have all the latest upgrades. And a PPI is a must, don't buy someone else's problems.

joshtownsend

Are you kidding me... The car is under-priced.. but even at $22k and he does have to spend $8k and come out to $30k, he is far better ahead because he knows 100% whats been done and not... remember, even with a pip.. its still just someone else opinion.. they cant tell 100% whats been done or not.

At worst case, hes gets a car that he already likes and has tons of maintenance and thing done for 100% certainty at a retail price or lower... best case, he gets a steal and put $1k in it and drives it for the next 4 years and sells it for $25k..

You people over think way to much...

DrBrain

Thank you for your honest input. Three years ago he bought it from Porsche In Livermore, CA for $38.5K. All,maintenance was done in time and at the local P dealership. Before that I don't know. Engine repair was done two years/8000 miles ago. Rough idle and hesitance lasts only for the first minute at max. It pulls great, has a wonderful midrange and accelerates great. The first gear seemed to pull less then my Infiniti EX37 but past that the engine runs great on the Porsche. I will provide repair details little later. Interestingly the P dealership sent me the documentation for the engine repair (8 pages) but blocked out the right side of it. I only can see the left side. BTW, he brought it to Carmax and was offered 23.500$

Hurdigurdiman

Yeh us people do over think way too much. Taking statements at face value can land us a heap of **** down the road with any car but especially a PORSCHE car. What dyu think you can buy for a measly $1000 for a Porsche 996 in preventative maintenance? Not much. Certainly not anything like enough to keep it on the road for another 4 years.
The top and bottom of this posting is..the question WHY is it being offered at a ridiculously low price????????????

joshtownsend

It you think a Porsche is something special..maybe your priorities are in the wrong place. Its a nice car. that's about it... it still a car and still works like every other road car on the road.. you still got to put gas in it, you still have to change the oil, you still have to fix thing when they break.

You need to look at it from the prospective of his position and where he lives... The greatest country in the world.. TEXAS.. He did state it was his good friend's and that is what good friends do here.. help each other out.. i highly doubt hes trying to screw him over.. that's for everyone else to do outside of Texas... here, you screw someone over bad enough, they knock on your door and settle the issue right then and there.. I know its hard to understand, but its a way of life here.. $22k it not the steal of the century. Its a really good, home town deal. I bought mine for $20k, 02 cab 68k miles and all records up to date, 2 owner car. It was from a local Houston guy i never meet before. I showed up, talk to him a bit and he throw me the keys and said go drive it, he was watching tv... that's just how we roll around here.

I think to many people don't take into account of the specifics of a question but more answer to what their own life is like vs others that may be half way around the world.. its called the world wide web for a reason.

joshtownsend

idle issue could be simple as a coil, plug or maf is dirty. If it runs good up top, its nothing to major otherwise it would have issues thru the power band. $23.5 from carmax sounds about right, which make the deal very reasonable for you and seem that everything is as it should be.

DrBrain

Joshtownsend, thanks for pointing out the virtues of TX.
I am not screwing him over, he is too smart for that and we work in the OR on a daily base. He had the choice of bringing it to Carmax or getting 22K from me, and he took the latter.
Anyways, here is the update: Porsche said that it was indeed a IMS failure and 55K miles and they rebuilt the engine.
I had two independent garages do the PPI, the last one by DBC tuning (http://www.dbctuning.com/). I know the owner personally. In all cases the car has scored very well, including the pressure testing. The rough running was fixed, purring perfectly now.
I wrote the check, signed the title and am off to the Tax office for licence transfer.
Again, thanks for the input. I say no ***** no glory, at the end you need to pay to play.

Gaspasser19

I wasn't aware that Porsche had started rebuilding engines due to IMS-B failure. This was NOT their practice in the past.