Greetings everyone. This is my first post after lurking for a bit. I must say, ya'll rock! Lol, I haven't seen so much input from a forum. I'm currently in a Mazdaspeed Miata but have been bitten by the P-car bug ever since my first ride in a 996 Turbo years ago.

A very lucky friend of mine owned a few Porsche Cup cars along with his Turbo, so I was fortunate enough to be around them whenever he made his way to Laguna Seca, etc. The Miata was the poor man's- wannabe poor man's Porsche.

Anyways, I've finally reached a stable place in my life which allows me to own my own P-car...used of course.

I've been looking at one in particular for some time now, but have been wondering why it hasn't sold. It seems like a deal too good to pass up on, which may be why it still sits on the dealers lot.

Here is the CL ad for it, and a few pics.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/ctd/1815469956.html





Can anyone give me some insight from the pics only? Miles are just below 70k. It looks clean enough...

Can I make the dealer pay for a PPI, or is that on me?

(Tiptronic wasn't my first choice as I'm in a 6 speed right now and love it, but the color combo and and the carbon fiber accents just hit the right spot for me)


Sorry for the long winded post!

BTW, this is what I'm current;y in. It's no Porsche, but it does put a smile on my face!

 

so if you can squeeze the dealer to 32 to 33K out the door, I'd say it's a deal.

Given the PPI checks out and title clean with no record. Have you looked at the car?

 

I should be checking it out within the next couple of days. It's on one those "luxury used car" lots and from the Yelp reviews, they don't give a damn about customer service.

So far he says his mechanic says the car is in "outstanding" condition, but that I would have to leave a down payment and pay for the PPI myself. Is this a common practice?

 

You usually have to pay for your own PPI (which I would definitely do at a 3rd party mechanic). Putting a down payment down is ridiculous. The dealership sounds fishy--I'd probably look elsewhere.

 

I'm guessing the dealbreaker here is the tiptronic. Third pedal is more desirable. I tried to do a deal once with this dealership in San Mateo, and left wondering how they stay in business. Maybe you'll have better luck.

 

It's important for you to pay for the PPI. You are the customer. You want the truth about the car. Someone is doing an investigation on your behalf -- not the seller.

Find out if the seller regularly uses any independent shops for repair (or recommends a shop that they have done business with) -- then choose someone else for the PPI.

(It's not that they would necessarily try to deceive you, but it can be hard for a shop to criticize something coming from a customer who gives them a lot of work. All you want is neutrality.)

About the downpayment. Clearly, they want to qualify you as someone who is able to, and who intends to buy the car. Your taking the car off site represents a risk for them. I would want some $$$ on the table before you took a car out.

On the other hand, by the time you do a PPI, you're essentially saying, "I'm going to buy the car at the agreed price if the PPI comes back clean." So, make sure you really want it for that price and make sure you have clear options for what will happen if the PPI shows one or more problems. (e.g., you can walk away with your money, you can negotiate an adjusted price, the issue can be fixed before you get the car, etc.) These options should be in writing, stated plainly so you can understand them.

Be cautious about letting the seller fix something before you get it. They might do a good job -- or might not. Personally, I would get an estimate from a legitimate garage and negotiate that much from the total -- or, let the sales guy contact your shop of choice and see if he can negotiate a lower price. It's fine if he can as long as the work gets done right.

Good luck.

 

I would say 32-33K is way too cheap ( at least in So Cal). An 03 C4S should go for 36-39 ( see AutoTrader). However 70K is a little high since that is about 10K per year. I would say that for 36-39 you should get some kind of warranty, even for 2 years. Make sure, brakes are done, tires are near new, and all maintanence is documentated. Brakes on a C4S are around $1500 (Pads, rotors and flush and labor) and tires are $900-1500. You will like the Tiptronic S in the C4S, the paddle shifters in manual mode are quite responsive and you will arrive home much more refreshed after 2 hours in rush hour traffic using the automatic mode. After 5 Porsches all with manual trans, including a 911 and a 914 with cable clutch, a Tiptronic S is a great tranny. It is virtually worry-free and the really quite fun when you get the hang of one. When in the manual mode you can shift either by the paddle shifters or by using the stick going into Automatic and then back to manual. I downshift into first at the stop and alway take off in 1st and then run thru the gears, and no missed shifts or grinding gears. The tranny will not allow you to red-line so you can run out the gears as you wish. I usually downshift when coming to a stop when the RPMs go below 3000. In time trials, the Tiptronic is only 0.2sec off the 0-60mph compared to the manual, and that is a trained driver running the test.

 

Quite the contrary... with that kind of mileage, it should be in the high 20's. My buddy got a C4S with 18k miles, X51, heated seats, manual, carbon fiber steering wheel, shifter and e-brake, for $39k.

A PPI IS A MUST!!! You DO NOT want to skimp on this. Do a "DME dump" and an engine leak down test also. Seriously, DO NOT skimp on this. You have been warned. Do a search on the horror/sob stories of how people come back into the forums when they didn't do a PPI. I believe I paid $350 which ultimately saved me $4000. A normal PPI w/o leak down and DME dump should be around $100. Again, DO NOT SKIMP on this. As a fellow Miata owner, I know what you paid to get your Miata to be in that shape. So spend the money and insist on the PPI...

 

I recently bought a 03 X51 cab. My experiences are this:
- Check the carfax. Accidents, title issues, abnormalities in maintenance schedules etc may show up here - and it's cheaper than a PPI
- You pay the PPI. It's *your* inspection, the mechanic reports to you. btw I paid for 5 before I settled on *the* car.
- The price *seems* high to me (**I haven't researched coupes as I was interested in a cab) My car had 50K miles and I paid sub 30K. **It's not a C4S, but it is a pretty much fully loaded cab
- There are PPI's and there are PPI's. Make sure you *ask* for the leak down test and DME test. I paid ~$300 per shot (on average) for a full PPI.
- I wouldn't get suckered into paying so-called 'regional pricing' because it's too darned easy to buy a car in one location and move it to another (I live in central Canada and bought a car in Utah). Factor in an extra $1200 for transport to and from pretty much anywhere in the continental US. Also remember that asking price is asking price and selling price is selling price. I've *never* paid asking price and I believe most sellers factor in some wiggle room into the asking price anyway.
- 70K miles probably wouldn't phase me too much if the PPI comes back clean.

 

The dealer likely got the car at this price (high 20's)...so if you can do 33 out the door, that would be a good deal for you. That is with no warranty or anything like that. Add that stuff in if you plan on getting that stuff.

And if you look hard enough, you'll find THE one. If that doesn't fly, I'm actually thinking about selling mine, PM me. I have an 02 C4s, tiptronic, good amount of CF, 55K miles or so.

 

This is too funny... you say that the car should be in the $33k vicinity... but only to offer your own car for sale!

To the MSM37, good luck with your search. I've found Edmunds.com's prices to be spot on. So maybe you can use that as a basis... Either way, good luck!

 

Thanks to all for the thoughtful insight. So much info on this page I would have otherwise spent hours searching for!

I went to check it out today. I guess I can't ask for perfection out of a 7 year old car, but there sure were quite a lot of "scars." A few nicks would have been okay, but the front needs a respray to say the least. And the prettiest part of the C4S (rear quarter panels) had a handful of rock chips. For someone as **** about chips and door dings as me, that would drive me crazy!

The bugger that really turned me off was some missing CF on the dash.

It looks like it came with the full CF package, but someone decided the piece that goes along the window was too much?



The piece that's lifted looks like someone tried to glue it back, but it didn't work.

There was black touch up paint covering up scratches on the seat controls, as well as a tear in the driver's side bolster.

The sales guy would not budge on his price either! I figured is $34,442 asking price gave me room to get at least nice round number, but he was insistent on getting exactly that.

If it means anything, he had more "Scarface" movie posters in his office than most fraternity houses I've been to. I think he believes in "every dollar counts" just a bit too much.

My search continues as of now.

If anyone comes across a find, please let me know!

Thanks again for all the info.

 

I forgot to ask, should the C4S come with side sills that say Carrera C4S, or just Carrera?


Thanks.

 

well, if they're carbon, likely just carrera, and likely added after the fact. If they're the black rubber ones, it should say carrera 4s.

As for the center console window switch, for the most part these cars didn't come with carbon center consoles. Added on after the fact, and people have the option of including the window switch. It's nothing to sweat over, $100 or so for that window switch plate. Last, that carbon airvent, real common for it to do that, mines like that too...haven't gotten around to fixing it.

The rest that you mentioned, sorry, that just sucks. Keep looking, you'll find the right one. I saw a TT on craigs for 40K yesterday? Also, decided that I'm keeping my car for a while

 

To ALL: you get what you pay for, My 04 C4S Spd Yel, Cab Tip (36K) is pristine, everything works, garage queen, no dings, dents of any kind, and only one small chip ( size of pencil head) on front bumper. All records to date with all maintenance done (even airbag check), all OEM and pure stock ( Except Fabspeed CAI and sport muffler). I would not take less the $40K and could sit for months, which is fine with me!