Originally Posted by glowone

The answer is simple....NO!

Buy a lower milage car. Garage queen if possible. Youll save money through less repair and better resale.

Low milage garage queen are the target!

Originally Posted by C70Pete

I would agree with you that the cars that are driven are better than garage queens.... these cars need to run... not sit around...

what are the leak down numbers... ? did your indy get them?

with PSS9's and lightweight flywheel the car is definitely being tracked.... take it to porsche and plug into the computer to see if any type 2 overevs have ever taken place... metadata from the computer is invaluable....

and if he doesn't want to take it to porsche with you you know something is up..

how many stone chips are in the front hood... you mentioned that it looked like a 20K mile car... are you sure the front has never been resprayed...?

Originally Posted by PJF

I went to look at it again on Saturday and the previous owner has put $10k in the car in the past year. Everything from brand new Porsche factory battery, 6 new coil packs, the PSS9s, the Sachs clutch and lightweight flywheel, new tires, new windshield, RMS repair and all other services that needed done. He will give me a great trade in on my car (almost what I could sell it for outright), but the lowest I can get him to go is about $28,000. What does everybody think? The car drove amazingly well and was extremely tight for the miles. Again, I would place the overall car as a 9 out of 10 in both appearance and drive. The car looks and feels like a 30k mile car. I really like the car and the private party value lines up with what they are asking. I have just seen so many posts like the ones above that say I should be buying the car in the low $20s that I am confused. I have not seen any really nice 996 cars in the low $20s even for MY99 cars with 50-60k miles. I would think a MY02 with the condition and upkeep this one has had would be at least as valuable as a MY 99 with 60k miles. This cars original window sticker was in the glove box and it stickered at $94k new to give you an idea of the options on this car. I am really torn about whether to buy this car at $28k with the feedback that I have gotten so far. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Pat

Originally Posted by PJF

I should be getting the leak down numbers this week when the indy checks it out. I did check the Type 1 and Type 2 ignitions with a Durametric. The type 1 I am not worried about as the rev limiter is there for that reason. It did show 15 Type 2 ignitions. Does that mean 15 times, or 15 actual spark plug firings? If it is firings, then that was just a fraction of a second. The car runs fine and I would think that a leak down would show any damage that those Range 2 ignitions might have done. Would you agree?

Thanks,
Pat

Originally Posted by PJF

I checked with Durametric for the answer to this.That 15 actually means that the car had 15 individual cylinder ignitions over the redline. They said that this must have been barely over as at 7500 rpms you have 125 ignitions every second. The 15 would indicate that the car was in a downshifted over rev situation for a total of about 1/8th of a second over the cars entire life. He said that he would not even worry about it as any major over-rev would have registered several hundred ignitions at least. He said that he knows 996 turbos with 60,000 Range 2 ignitions and they are still fine. Granted, that is a different motor, but that made me feel better.

Originally Posted by PJF

That is the plan. With wanting to do track events, this car with the mods and miles almost makes more sense to me than a lower mileage garage queen. I certainly do not have to worry about putting too many miles on it! I am going to chizel away at the seller a bit more, but I think if the leak down checks out and the deal is between $27k-$28k, then I am going forward. I would still love to see links to MY02 cars selling in the low $20k range. I have looked and they are nowhere to be found.