Slakker

Picked up a 996 C2 and am absolutely loving it. Being the cheapest 911 MY on the market my expectations were pretty low when I test drove it but it was instant love. I was looking for a MKII C2 but when I saw this one on the local PCA board I jumped on it and landed it for $14,500.

"Arctic Silver over gray leather. 78K miles. LN replacement of IMS with new RMS and clutch done at that time (65k, proactive and all were in good shape). 160F Thermostat. Manual transmission, sunroof, after market LED taillights. 8K miles on Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrical* A/S tires, with a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sport UHP tires with 80% of tread to accompany the car. New power steering rack & pump, new front brakes."

I asked about the water pump and he said the dealer pcar tech said it looked fine and had metal blades instead of the plastic ones. Didn't get a PPI but it ran smooth, no leaks, no squeaks, but it has a spoiler light on startup and the cruise doesn't work. Tested every single button, lever and **** and all worked fine. I'm planning on this car being a hobby so as soon as I get a durametric and my garage/tools organized I'll start working on these issues.

My first upgrade will be a 997 SSK as the sloppiness of the 996 shifter drive me nuts. I'll also need to figure out something about the seats as I'm only 5'10" 170 but they seem about 3" too narrow on my upper torso. Does anyone else have this issue?

One thing that has been kinda fun is that the car came without training wheels (PSM). It really forces you to respect her and take into account road surface, conditions, and temperature anytime you drive with a little spirit.

Anyway, it's great to be back on Rennlist and I'm looking forward to getting my "fix" here in the 996. Cheers from OKC.

450knotOffice

FYI, that's EXACTLY what you are supposed to get. Nothing wrong with it.
For whatever reason, Porsche decided to give you a spoiler warning light on startup until you start moving forward a bit. Not sure what their reasoning was, but it is what it is.

Beautiful car and great deal, btw!! Nice job.

longrowe

I have a 1998 ROW C2 coupe and I had the same feeling about the seat. I am same height but 190 and it feels like it kind of pinches you upper back. I though it would bother me but i got used to the feeling after a couple weeks and now I don't even notice it.

Enjoy your car. I sure do!

Slakker

Sweet. That's good news. Thanks!

Now I can move on to trying to figure out how to open the glove box. jk

Slakker

OK, good info. I'll give it some time to get used to them. I do like the support they give when cornering.

Slakker

OK, so here's what I like better about the 996 than the '09 997TT 6MT cab I owned:

- It's about 600 lbs lighter
- Rear wheel drive
- No PASM. The TT was too hard for me in sport+ for Daily Driving and too floaty in standard mode. The DSC probably would have solved this but never got to try it.
- No torque addiction (hopefully). The TT wasn't fast enough stock. So I added an APC tune, Klein decat exhaust, and 100 octane fuel. That sucker would scream (literally). Then after a while, I got used to it and started looking at what mod I needed next to get back the adrenaline rush.
- No turbo to blow, knocking out four O2 sensors and causing spy hunter smoke from the exhaust.
- Instead of focusing on how fast my car can go, I can focus on how good of a driver I can become.
- Though I don't like to admit it, the TT ended up screwing with my ego. It was so flashy that people were always staring and commenting on it. It started to become part of my self concept even though I'm really not that damn cool. (I'm actually more of a computer nerd than anything.)
- It has every quality that made me fall in love with the 911 the first time I drove one at a price that I don't feel guilty owning and my wife doesn't bitch about. Heck, I could drive it for a year and then give it away and still come out better than I did on the TT.

I'm not taking anything away from the Turbos, they truly are "supercars". This one just happens to be a much better fit for me with where I'm at today.

frompub2dub

Nice choice! I have the exact same year and model...upgrade your radio to the cdr-220 and enjoy auxillary!


Btw what is 997 SSK?

Slakker

Cool, I'll check it out.....Short Shift Kit.

http://www.suncoastparts.com/product/99742498300.html

Coloradocurt

I could be mistaken, but IIRC the "preferred" SSK is the one that came stock in the 997. Sort of an "in-between" the 996 shifter and that one with the 35% shorter throw.

911 carrera blue

Nothing wrong with downsizing, but a 17 year old Porsche is not a smart financial decision when money is tight

Sent from my iPhone using Rennlistedtrtfytj

Slakker

The stock 997 shifter is definitely an upgrade over the 996. I put the Porsche SSK in my 997 and thought it was a nice upgrade over stock. May just be preference (or laziness from having to shift so far, ha).

Slakker

Agreed. One could argue that an air cooled might be because of the appreciation. But you are still going to have repairs and are investing 3-4x the dollar amount for an incremental increase in enjoyment.

When they said buy the best car you can afford, I believed them and tried that. It was a bad idea. It doesn't take into account that you will mostly likely have repairs that are you aren't prepared for. I bought my '09 997tt for a steal at $64k with them fixing all items that came back on the PPI. I sold it a year later for $63k. It would have worked out awesome except for the $5k in upgrades, $12k in repairs and maintenance, and $3k in sales commissions.

So this time I bought the cheapest car I could love and that had proof of most of the known major repairs taken care of. I almost bought an '04 C2 for $19.4k with 85k miles on it. But they had no maintenance records, I was going to have to pay for a PPI, and I figured I would dump another $4K+ doing the IMS/RMS/clutch. Then I would just be out the normal $1,000s in typical repairs though out the year. With the $10,000 I saved, I can now blow the engine and have it repaired without spending two days in the fetal position wondering what I "did to deserve this." Or at least that's my rationalization this time around.

KoB

The stock 997 shifter can be found on eBay for not much $$. For a few bucks more, there are a couple kits that replace the plastic bushings with metal ... if I hadn't bought a Numeric Racing shifter, I'd probably have gone this route. IMO the Numeric is the best feeling shifter I've used -- very crisp, positive action.

Slakker

Whoa, that looks freakin awesome. I take it it's worth the money? What other mods did you do?

Elumere

What a fantastic deal. Wow..

Congrats on the new car!