[jerome951]

Well, driving a pickup 70 miles round trip each day has started to bore me (even though it's all highway) so I'm thinking of somthing a little more sporty.

I was surprised to see early 996s going for around $20k. Would one of these make for a decent daily driver and occasional weekend fun run toy?

Besides the known engine kablammo (in my best David Hobbs impersonation) problems, any other common and expensive-to-fix issues?

This car has me a little jonesed (I don't like the wheels but love the interior):
http://www.mbmotorsports.us/VD.html?...-E1A64C8D9D0D}

Opinions from current & past owners and those knowledgable are welcome.. though I don't think that will dissuade many others from chiming in...

[HoodPin]

That's a nice looking ride. IMHO, the spare tire is a nice to have; AFAIK the newer cars all have the sealant goo & compressor now. The interior does look nice. But I'd be cautious about a particular interior we saw that in-person was surprisingly "orangy". We passed on the 1st Boxster we saw because of it.

[good hands]

Go for it. It is a fantastic car. I've had mine for 5 years now and love it. It's comfortable, has reasonable trunk, and the hvac system actually works. It's expensive to fix but what P car isn't ? I think the engine problems happened early on so I would certainly not look for an ultra low miles car or i'd look at one that had a new engine installed. The RMS thing supposedly was an issue but once again it happened early on in the life of the engine ( and personally i think it was overblown ). The 99's had some glitches such as the airbag light came on and stayed on due to a short in the entire seat belt system. If you do a search on rennlist you will find countless threads on the early 996's. Bottom line is if you engine blows it's about 11k for a crate motor installed with a 2 year factory warranty.

[Trak Ratt]

I'd think a 996 made a very nice comuter car! Our 964 certainly does. I'd bet they would negociate a much better price for you too.

[Dr K]

And it has LSD! Future track car...

[jerome951]

Originally Posted by Dr K

Future track car...

NO!! Already have one of those and don't have the budget to maintain 2 track vehicles.

Well... maybe a few laps of the JC during an HPDC.

[jsaindc]

My 996 had that interior and it is very nice. The 99 looks even better because it has a little more black to offset it.

One problem area is that the coolant expansion tank often needs replaced; however, the picture shows a pretty clean (white) tank so it looks like that has been addressed. That is pretty low miles for the money.

[racer]

986/996 have spares.. 987/997s do not

One you get past the engine cablammo issues, they are great cars (well, at least my 986 was so I assume the 996 would be as well). Coolant tanks, RMS, ignition switches, seat belt recepticles etc are some of the niggling issues.

From what I've heard, wholesale prices for 3.4 996s with 50-70k miles is as low as $15K (this from a friend who works with two consignment shops and frequently goes to the big auctions, fwiw)

[martin944]

hey jerome, thats a nice one. take it before someone else does, then don't forget to give me a ride.

[jerome951]

Originally Posted by racer

From what I've heard, wholesale prices for 3.4 996s with 50-70k miles is as low as $15K (this from a friend who works with two consignment shops and frequently goes to the big auctions, fwiw)

Thanks Dave, I've heard the same as well. Now I just need to find someone willing to sell it for a few $k over what they paid.