Little Green

Besides driving it and the obvious scratches and nicks to look out for, anything in particular about the car I should pay special attention to. Anything from a shifting perspective, handling etc. Anything in the frunk or engine compartment(leaks etc) that may be visible?
Looking at an 05 Coupe
Thanks
Caesar

Macster

Too much to cover in a brief amount of time.

My advice is to skip this visit to the car and instead focus on getting answers to your questions then venturing to visit the car.

The risk is with no real knowledge of what to look for, how to properly check out a used car, you'll do a hasty deal that you should not have done.

The first rule of used car buying is there is always another car.

Even if this car sells while you are regrouping getting all your ducks in a row, big deal.

There are tons of other cars out there and one will be the perfect car for you.

Sincerely,

Macster.

neanicu

If you search this forum real quick,I believe the most common abbreviation you will find is PPI(Pre Purchase Inspection). This is done at the dealer...such a small price to pay for such an expensive decision! Ask them about a DME over revs readout too.
Good luck!

BoomC2S

One place I started was Excellence http://www.excellence-mag.com/resources/buyers-guide and then spent a lot of time looking at Rennlist and other forums. This helped me a lot and I think made me feel confident about my decision. I would also have a PrePurchase Inspection done prior to any purchase. I had this done on the first 997 I considered and half way into it the guy called with a status. I rejected that car.

USMC_DS1

+1 on the insights already provided. And since it's an '05... see if the owner has done the LN Engineering IMS retrofit as well.

Palmbeacher

I own an '05 coupe. Lovely car, and has been quite reliable. You'll hear drone regurgitating third-hand sound-bites warning you away from the '05, but in fact they have not been more problematic than any other year. I bought mine in '09 with ~20K on the mileometer, now has ~40K. I had the clutch done at 30K as the previous owner's bad habits had evidently shortened its service life, and at the same time I had the LN-IMS retrofit done (an advantage of the early-build '05 is that can be done without disassembling the engine). My car was a 1-owner, purchased from the same Porsche dealership where I bought it, with the full service hx available for my perusal. And, the car was CPO'd.

That said, unless the car you're considering is a CPO, it would behoove you to have it thoroughly inspected by a professional mechanic intimately familiar with 997 Porsches. I am extremely knowledgeable in that regard, but, lacking a floor lift and the proper tools and test equipment, there are a lot of potential problems even I would miss. It's a lot of money you'll be paying up front, and even minor issues on a Porsche cost a surprising lot of money. A string of little niggles can quickly add-up to the cost equivalent of a major repair.

Little Green

I have read about 40 pages of this particular forum so acquainted with the 05 issues. A PPI is of course going to be required, my question was more of as a quick glance or "feel" is ithere anything I should look out for to if its even worth that next step(PPI).

jason74

Go drive it and have a look around. You'll probably come up with more questions for us. Don't make a hasty decision.

Little Green

IS there any way to check if the rear main seal is leaking by looking under the car?

Little Green

I promise I won't. Just want to look out for obvious things and see if it's worth exploring further.

Macster

You should arrange to visit the car cold, check the CEL comes on when you turn the key to on and then goes off when you start the engine.

Start the engine and let it idle until quite warm.

In the meantime listen to the engine for any scary noises all the while.

The above assumes you are familiar/comfortable/experienced enough to be able to spot (well, hear) a sick engine.

Insist on a test ride. Yes, ride.

15 miles in length, during which the driver can demo the car to you. No need to get all crazy with the car... we all know how fast they are, what you are looking for is anything out of the ordinary in any thing: engine, steering, braking, shifting, etc.

Back at the starting point take the car out as a driver cover the same route drive the car the same way.

If after 15 miles of test driving (and 30 miles total run time) if you still like the car and think you can buy it for a reasonable price, treat it to a used car check out.

Be sure *everything* works.

If you have made it this far then have the car PPI'd. This is best done *after* the test ride/drive for this gives any leaks a chance to make themselves known.

The PPI guy will know what to look for, where to look. In short that is everywhere there is a seal, gasket, hydraulic line, fitting, connection or reservoir.

Happy Shopping!

Sincerely,

Macster.

eflight

One thing to look for is paint work, look for over spray on edges, look under the car for parts that have body color that should not, look for rubber seals that looked like they got hit with the buffer.

I learned this lesson during a PPI while looking at a dealer CPO car. It had all of the above.

btran005

How much value ($) would you guys place on a vehicle being a CPO? Also, if considering a CPO model, is it still critical to have a PPI?

I'm looking at a vehicle that is out of state so was wondering if you guys have any recommendations.

Thanks.

eflight

Yes, see my post above

Macster

How lucky do you feel?

I bought a nice 03 Turbo with a CPO with no PPI but I viewed the car about a zillion times while the dealer was closed -- to avoid tipping my hand I was interested in the car -- and assured myself the car was indeed pristine.

But you are buying a car out of state.

Thus my advice would be to arrange to have the PPI'd. This should also involve riding/driving the car to give it time to manifest any symptoms/misbehavior.

And the PPI proper comes after the test ride/drive portion of the car's checkout because if a car is leaking chances are very high it will be evident *after* the engine has been running, the car has been driven.

The risk is something was missed during the CPO process.

I'm not talking about something minor that would be covered by the CPO but say the dealer missed a scratch or even something worse, like some body/paint work.

(For instance I found someone overlooked the battery with a improperly attached (it was Taped in place...) battery vent hose when I got my car home and looked it over closely.)

While the dealer might stand behind the car and its assessment of the car and make things right, you have to deal with this long distance.

Thus given your distance from the car I'd say a PPI is very important, critical in fact.

Sincerely,

Macster.