I lucked out. My short 2 week search for a TT has yielded a spectacular result. I was ready to go with cash in hand and looking for a deal. I had thought this venture would take many miles of traveling and months of perusing the usual spots to find a nice TT.

Then 2 weeks ago a 2001 TT with 20k miles appears on Craigslist for sale by a dealer about 25 miles away. Carfax indicated a one owner damage free car and I was ready to roll. The dealership owner wanted a summertime toy and picked the car up at auction in May. With summer ending, he was ready to dump it.

After a week or so the owner finally responded to my email and explained that this car is mint, one owner, no paintwork, records etc. I have heard that story a million times, but, it was local so I decided to take a peek. Yesterday the owner agreed to a PPI at Musante Motorsports that was thankfully 10 miles from where the car was located.

Musante molested this car for me. No stone was left unturned. Every switch, shock, light bulb, brake rotor, pump, floor mat..etc was scrutinized by his chief mechanic and by Chris Musante himself. There were no scrapes underneath, the spoiler worked and did not leak, the rims were spectacular and the rotors were neither cracked or ever overheated. The brake pades were thick and rear tires, of course, thin. After 3 hours, with me present, we found one issue, the reverse lights didn't work and the fuel filler monovalve fuse was blown.

They took a paint meter and measured paint depth at dozens of different points and they were all spec. No dings, dents scratches and a mirror like finish all the way around. It looked to be a spectacular early TT. All the codes were downloaded and nothing out of the ordinary appeared. The car had 590 hours of runtime that matched right up with mileage. The interior smelled and looked like it was just delivered, dare I say "as new". From alcantra to leather and carpeting it was almost too good to be true and perfect in every single way.

Now, comes the test drive. My words to Chris Musante were "make that thing pop out of second". For 35 minutes he drove the car hard (Chris is an established racer) and a few times I nearly crapped my pants as we doubled the highway speed limit. Hard on the clutch, steering and brutal on the brakes...the car would not give even one bit, ever. It begged for more and I begged for Chris to find the "fatal flaw".

Then uphill, dowhill, straight aways trying to get that thing to pop out of second, it wouldn't. High revs and low rev coasting with intermittent stabbing at the throttle we were gonna make this thing pop out, it never did, not even close nor could we get the clutch to slip, ever. He checked boost levels, pulling of the wheel, braking etc. and we could find zero realistic bargaining points on the car. Both Dan Jacobs and Chris agreed that a leak and comp test was useless on this low mile car. If it had issues, OBD would have solidly reflected them.

So after returning from the test drive, the engine fans on, the car ticking as it attempts to shed heat and me stinking of gas from the attempted pre test drive fill, Chris looks at me and says "this is a winner David!"

The car was delivered to me about 2 hours ago and I really had some time to go through it. For once, I did well, very well! She is Spectacular!! I feared the Becker 220 would be the downfall but after fiddling and adjusting bass, treble etc...It Rocks! There is no Bose tag on the speaker set, yet bass is ample and sound is strong.

It has all books, tools and a Porsche car cover, seat crests, colored wheel crests, red belts and I think that's it for options. The interior is almost an "orange tan" and it is beautiful. Yes, its got warts and yes its got solid wheels, however, it looks drives and smells as it is brand new! So, for the price of a fully loaded Nissan Maxima (we agreed on $40,500) I am ripping it up.

Yes, I lucked out but if it wasn't for the extensive info on this board this purchase would have been much harder. And as I type this post sitting in my chair next to the front fender of my new purchase, I agree with Chris, she is a winner!! Oh, and Musante Motorsports, THANK YOU!

Best,

David

 

And who said you can't get a great deal from a ''dealer!?!?"


I garauntee that dealer didn't make a penny off you, and even if he did, it couldn't of been more than a grand or so... which is nothing considering the investment/risk...


This transaction is the EXCEPTION not the rule* I hope people don't EXPECT to purchase mint/low mileage TT's for $40K off dealers now

Congrats on your new 911 David!!

 

Thanks Kevin. The car was on Ebay twice and achieved a $39k and $39.7k bids to qualified bidders. The dealer bought the car for $42,500 at auction in May and they were not happy at all about the selling price. They dealership owner put about 900 miles on the car and he was incredibly sour (understandable) about the entire transaction. Getting the PPI done and even getting him to return my calls was a massive hurdle. However, I can say that these guys had a good eye during the auction. It was the ever dwindling market values that stung them a tad.

D

 

Nice find.

 

Excellent purchase! and you got a great deal. Now make some time to register for the PCA and come on down to VIR for the november track weekend.

 

Wow Congrats on the purchase. I'm still trying to find my right one.. My search continues..

 

Congrats. I looked at the car on Ebay - it was a stunner.

 

Sweet! I like the color! :-)

 

Welcome and nice find. Enjoy it.

 

That's a nice car and an unbelievably low price for a car with those miles, well done.

 

sounds like you found a gem. Congrats!

 

Congrats. I can feel your excitement. I've had my 02 for 4 years and it's great every time. These cars are built like tanks. Modded 700HP versions go 100K miles.

That's the magic of the 911. Bulletproof, world class performance EVERY day.

Now bust out for a flash and exhaust and enjoy the 500HP experience. Trust me in a few years, you'll be at least at 600. But I'm betting 700.

 

I hope to get as good a deal as you in a few months. My search continues until I return to the states in the fall with cash and ready to buy!

 

Awesome car and at a great price.. Can't believe that went for so little!

 

Beautiful!