I'm in the beginning stages of buying a used Porsche 911 (1999-2001) w/ tip, and I was looking to see what kind of advice some current owners or prospective buyers could give me before I make my purchase.

Below I have listed some topics I would like to know more about. I would appreciate any help you guys can give me.

- Where to find a certified mechanic in L.A./Is is preferable to have a dealer inspect v/s mechanic
- Thoughts on extended warranty
- Mileage: should I stay under a limit, e.g., 40k
- Recurring problems with 1999, 2000 or 2001 w/ tip
- Resale value in 3-4 yrs.?
- Which model yr. would you recommend and why?
- Any other recommendations you may have
- Worth the extra $ to get into a 2002

Thank you for the help!

 

Hello Surfsup,
I just wanted to say good luck with your purchase. I myself just went through all of the worries and concerns over buying a used 996. I spent many weeks worrying about all of the problems and concerns that other owners have had with their cars. After spending many nights quandering all of the problems that I 'could' have with a used car, I finally just went out and did it. Now I don't know why I waited so long to do it. I ended up purchasing a 2002 Carrera 4S from a dealership in Studio City that I felt very comfortable with. The car had almost 45k miles on it so I did purchase an extended warranty just to ease my nerves. I have to tell you, I absolutely love the car. I hope that when you do make your purchase (no matter what the year) that you are as happy with it as I am. You can 'scare' yourself out of any purchase by worrying about potential problems, but there is no guarantee that you will or won't have those same problems with your car. Just enjoy what you do get and good luck.

 

I bought a 996Turbo 2002 in 2004 from a Porsche dealer and it was "Certified" - meaning the warranty was extented by Porsche to 6yrs and 100,000m (double the original). And Porsche have stepped up whenever ANYTHING is wrong. Once I mentioned the stereo played up. I didn't even finish the sentence and they had the tech replace the head unit. Before asking me if there was anything else .....

Get a CERTIFIED 2001 vehicle and you'll have no worries until 2007/8 and 100,000k...

 

Good luck on your purchase and here are a few comments for what ever it's worth.

I recommend going with an extended warranty and as a result your choice for service would naturally be a certified Porsche dealership. One major problem and you'll thank your luck stars you had the warranty and at the same time it will be crystal clear to you why you spent the extra money.

Try to stay under 50k on the miles if you can.

With the model/years you're thinking about you won't loose as much money on resale IMO. Generally speaking, at this point with the 996, the newer the model you buy the more money you'll loose on resale, so if you can find a clean early model 996 (definitely get the extended warranty) I think that would be the best value for your money.

Can't comment on the tip other than to say I drove one for two years and really enjoyed the ease of use in traffic (and no mechanical problems with the tip at all). However, I much prefer the stick version as the non-turbo Carrera is under powered IMO and really pays a price with the automatic trans.

No worries just go for it!!!!

 

I'm also in the beginning stages of buying a used 996, 1999-2001 as well, manual trans though. Have you bought one yet Surfup? I have some great info from my research. Maybe you wanna share insights on buying a 1st-Generation 996 (that's what I call it, the 2nd-Gen starts with 2001).

I've read that the clutch is a problem area for 1st-gen 996. Tiptronics have no problem, except that it's not as fast as the manuals. I'd love to have a tiptronic in Manhattan, but I just prefer manual trans.

If u could PM or email me, that'd be great..

p.s. check out this link https://www.germanautoforums.com/m_4141/tm.htm the motor had to be replaced? And this is the year I'm looking to buy, 1999 model