hello fellas,

I am new to the Pcar scene, but have been in the import scene / car business for years and even did a season of Scca in a Integra type-r.

I might be starting a new job with a good salary that pays insurance and gas on whichever car i choose. I would love a AWD 996tt. I have a few questions:

How reliable are these cars as daily drivers? What are the Cheapest (average condition, 60-80k miles) availble? I have seen as low as $35-$40k usd.

My main issue is reliability as the car will be a DD and will do HPDE's most weekends. I dont mind replacing wear items (ie brakes, clutches, tires, maintenence items) but I dont wanna fork out for big ticket items. I would hope these cars stand up to average/heavy use. I cant find an FAQ for noobies on these cars so any links or what not would help out. Also I havent rules out a 996 c4s, but I like turbo.

I would love to buy one of these cars but would like to know if I can afford ownership cost and what to look out for.

Appreciate all replies.
-Ben

 

There are many on here whom are more qualified to answer than I am...

But from my research and personal experience, the Turbo's engine is pretty well bullet-proof. Assuming you keep up with proper maintenance, of course . It is derived from the gt racing engine, unlike the N/A 996 engines which have/had a history of failure.

I drive mine daily and I NEVER cease to get a grin when I hit the throttle in 2nd or 3rd and feel the thrust of the turbos push me into my seat

Go for the turbo. The C4S is nice, but it's no Turbo

 

use the search function, there is tons of good info that will help you, i spent lot of time on this site reading and it paid off

at the very least make sure you get a thorough ppi from a reputable porsche specialist and a dme report

good luck and welcome

 

Using the Turbo for track is FUN but it's not going to be cheap. Normal maintaince such as oil change, brake fluids, tires, rotors and pads, etc. are all double if not 3x of most Japanese or domestic cars. These cars are pretty reliable, but HPDE puts will a lot of wear and tear on any cars. I have friends that tracked an average of once per month for 4 years with nothing wrong (knock on wood). On the other hand, I have seem people that tracked once in a while but has transmission failure left and right.

 

Ben,
I used to have a very similar plan to what you describe. In the end, I ended up buying an inexpensive daily driver, and am now looking for a 996tt. For me, I think that option works best as I will not be putting huge miles on the tt. My research has certainly shown these cars to be very reliable, but they are by no means cheap to maintain properly when burning through miles. Good luck with your decision.

Dave

 

It's not the maintenance but the mods that will cost you big time.

 

haha!! I concur..


For a daily driver seems like very reliable,there's a 996TT on rennlist that's being track regularly, has 200+ Kmiles , with original clutch? forgot his name

My advice is get something newer that you can CPO so anything goes wrong will be covered..
If you want modded Christian's car is for sale 40+, woodster is around 50+ a lot of cars for sale already modded..therse guys tok care of their cars
there's a gt700 here in the bay area that has 40K miles on that engine..

good luck with our decision.. buy a v1 when you decide..LOL

 

HELP!!!

sorry..dont know where to post this but its a 996 tt x50 so maybe someone can jump in with help/info? if y"all have any..

heres my deal..

i just bought from a well known porsche dealer an '02 tt x50 with 27.5 miles. approx 650 hours on the engine. now about 850 hours on it.. had it 4 months incredible piece of machinery PSM already saved my *** once. on an LA fwy..but thats another story..

anyway..

ive put approx 5k miles on the car in the 4 months ive had it. i purchased the 2 year factory extended warranty and the car was "certified" at purchase or as you know they wouldnt have let me get the warranty.

my problem: its popping out of 2nd gear mostly when going downhill but never while under throttle.

theyve put the car on scope and told me there were two stage events; a #1 event and ONE number 2 event (. one at 650 hours ( when i couldnt have owned the car! ) and another stage 1 event maybe 7200 rpm which i indeed did hit redline as ive talken the car to 130 mph and 120 mph several times. but this was NOT the cause of any trans problems!! they just use that to help them ( iwas told by the dealer tech ) make a determination as to wether or not driver abuse! was a contributing factor which would render their( pcna's ) responsibilty to FIX it null and void!

heres my question if anyone? can help!

the dealer who put it up on the rack says that they have to open the trans and break it down completely to determine whether or not I was somehow responsible for the damage to the synchro and that at the least 1st and 2nd gears need to be replaced and that the synchro does also. the cost to teardown is approx 3800.00 and the cost for repairs is about 8800.00 ! and that they cant sdetermine whether or nor I will be responsible until they take it apart and that i must authorize this and take my chances..!

now i KNOW i didnt do this damge to the car as ive never ground the gears..its my 3rd 911 ( first TT NEVER going back to no turbo unless gt3 or gt2 ha! ) but when i had a brand new 993 in 96 porsche gave me all kinds of grief on replacing a wiring harness and i had to get the west coast rep from pc NA involved but they finally coughed up to fix the car.

so does anyone think theyre gonna try and deny me and make some BS claim on a car ive had for 5 k miles and 4 months and try and make ME cover the 9 grand to replace 1 + 2nd gears etc?? im ( sorta ) made friends with the service tech and the service advisor and the guy said to me off the record " well.. the guy likes you and its gonna be HIS call when he gets inside the car etc! the tech showed my the porsche factory pics inside the service techs computer "Book"? ) book w pix that shows the damage caused by malfunction VS user abuse etc! )..

i just dont have the 9 K to fix it if theyre TRY and deny me the warranty claim!? i just bought the car!

what would YOU do, and any suggestions?? thx a LOT!

 

Far as I know, the 2nd gear pop out issue is well known and I don't see how overrevs would have anything to do with a known factory defect...

How many stage 2 revs were on it when they certified it? That's what I would ask.

 

[QUOTE=raineycd;2456162]Far as I know, the 2nd gear pop out issue is well known and I don't see how overrevs would have anything to do with a known factory defect...

How many stage 2 revs were on it when they certified it? That's what I would ask.[/QUO

wow! A KNOWN factory defect issue?! That sure helps to know
they of course like all dealers went "Chinese" on me as if they'd never heard of such a thing! Can anyone point me to supporting info thAt speaks to this issue?
The car had ONE stage 2 event thAt occurred prior to my buying it AND them certififying it. No Way did I "do" this to me dream car . I know how to drive!
Thx for the reply and any other infonim ready to To go in and do battle IF ncessary I didn't buy a broken trans car not having it ! Thx again for any more info btw the stage on evnt Was on my ownership but thAt's nothing & NOT trans related! Thx again!

 

I would use the search function at the top. Try 996tt buyers guide too. That is the #1 thing to look for on 2001's and 2002's. Then print it out and show it to them.

 

Thx a million! all I know is the dealers Job is to "deny deny deny" but if it's really that known an issue' I feel a bit better just telling them to break it down
i'll search it further . Did you mean buyers guide I. "here"?! As my online searches turned up nothing ... Again thx for the headsup! I"ll post the outcome
this is a great forum thx for the help!

 

Not usually too sensitive to comments like these but I don't appreciate the cultural stereotyping.

 

Forgive me when I originally posted last eve it occurred to me that might be offensive to any of my Chinese brethren so while I neglected to qualify the intended suggestion that a dealer will tilt their heads In a "scooby doo" manner as if not to understand English
but rather be fully fluent in dogspeAk when a customer asks something
as i did even though the issue or question of a known mechanical flaw or weakness might in point of fact, be well known to them
again forgive my reference to chinese as being a language most English speaking people might be fluent in.

 

Repost where it belongs...
02996ttx50... just found this, actually you added to the '2nd gear thread' and it alerted me.

Your car was most likely abused BEFORE YOU BOUGHT IT. You may actually have bought it with the pop out issue under way.

Did you specifically inspect the car for the signs of this issue when you purchased?

At the end of the day, you might strongly consider offering the mechanic and tech $500 (to split or each!) to make sure it goes your way. PCNA has a very detailed TSB with pictures and a pretty thorough forensic analysis... it will be hard to argue this away 'playing fair'. Indeed, even if they submit a claim, they can get screwed if the Porsche District rep says "I'll stop by to inspect it"...

I know you are gathering your facts... You will argue that they CPOd it, and you've not abused it. So what. You cannot PROVE it... They don't look at the tranny, or even the overrev data in the DME when they CPO it! They just pass on hidden abuise to the next sucker, er, client.

The over-revs are a red herring. The TSB cites driver error (not fully engaging 2nd gear fully before releasing the clutch, or adding a non-porsche SSK) as possible causes. Over-revs while engaged cannot cause this damage.

The problem you have is that once they open it, there is no way to separate abuse from the old owner (or the salesman at the dealership...) from abuse you (or didn't) do! They simply look for specific telltale signs, and if they find them- Game Over.

If you cant find the TSB, PM me your email, I think I have it. Also, there was an interesting thread on a similar issue. http://encore-exotics.com/ 6speed member was liquidcool... Check out his bill for the repair, as a point of reference.

Good luck

A