New member looking for help and advice

stephenowen · Sep 7, 2019

I have moved this from the general section.
Hi I have recently joined the club, so take it easy on me until I establish myself and familiarise myself with the rules and customs. I have owned and maintained a 924 LUX N/A 1981 for three years now. My ownership experience, driving, maintaining and showing the car has developed a passion to own a 911 (997). The reason I am looking for a 997, because I intend to use this new purchase as a daily driver for my 6 miles a day commute. I can then leave the wife and kids to the SUV and retrieve my passion for driving, which I only seem to feel these days behind the wheel of my 924. I am looking for some advice that I cannot seem to find on this website. I am not in the market until December ish, I have promised the wife a new car first, so I am off down the dealership of her choice on Sunday (appointment booked) to beat the Brexit blues. I live in the Merseyside/Lancashire area and I have a budget of 30K max (don't really want to spend that much, so in-between 25K to 30K for an 07 upwards)
The questions I am seeking answers for are below, thanks in advance:
I am thinking of a C4 cab, what are the tops like? I live in a rural area and my car rubbers turn green now, so how do the tops fair?
Whats the big difference between the C2 and C4, four wheel drive?
Would it be suitable for use all year round. I have owned cabs in the past with plastic rear windows that were a pain in winter, i am aware that the rears are glass on these models.
Would a C2/C4 Targra be a better solution.
I know I have Hartech on my door step, has anyone used them for a pre vehicle purchase check, if not is there anyone else in my area that they could recommend?
Do the club members inspect vehicles or help. I haven't attended a club meeting, but I have noticed the region lead member is located in my area.
What are the essential extras required in the members opinions and experience.

Thanks in advance

delboystoy · Oct 3, 2019

Hello Stephen, I owned a 2009 C2 cab before my Macan and had no issues with the fabric roof. I used 'Fabsil Gold' which you can get from Amazon for around £20, this did help keep the mould at bay as well as being an excellent waterproof-er, however I did buy a half cover for the winter months just to keep it a bit more protected, these are readily available on line. The only thing I would say if you have kids and intend to put them in the back, the back seats on the 997 cabs lean slightly forward due to the roof storage compartment so they are not overly comfortable for long journeys. The Targa is also a good choice, although a bit marmite, you either love them or hate them so might be harder to sell on, however the back seats will be better and obviously a hard top which slides inside the rear window but in my opinion not as nice as the cab's or as much fun.
2 wheel or 4 wheel drive, well only you can decide that but don't go thinking that as it's a 4 wheel drive that it will be great in the snow with plenty of traction, IMO better then the two wheel but not as good as a 4 x 4, there will be many arguments from people on here about which is better as like wine everyone has there own preferences, some like the extra grip etc etc where as some love the rear wheel drive and getting the back end out more.
As for an inspection, you can always get Porsche to undertake the 111 point inspection before buying or use an independent such as 'Porsche Inspections' who will drive out and undertake a more thorough 230 point inspection within 5 days, not used them but heard good things.
I hope this helps a little bit, happy hunting and let us know what you end up with.

stephenowen · Oct 3, 2019

Thanks for the reply, I was wondering if there was anyone out there. I am looking at a 08 C2 cab over the weekend. Nice car, cobalt blue with some nice extras. Thats good advice about the children. I have just bought the wife a large SUV, its our family car I suppose. I might have to pick them up from school and its only around the corner, so no worries there. Thanks for the roof tip.

Lancerlot · Oct 3, 2019

delboystoy said:
As for an inspection, you can always get Porsche to undertake the 111 point inspection before buying or use an independent such as 'Porsche Inspections' who will drive out and undertake a more thorough 230 point inspection within 5 days, not used them but heard good things.

I believe you need to have owned the car for a minimum of 26 weeks before you can obtain a Porsche Centre 111 point check, so might be an idea to ask the seller to get it and make it part of the negotiation. [

]
Regards,

Clive

delboystoy · Oct 7, 2019

Is that right I thought that was to obtain a Porsche warranty on said car but I think you can have the check done at any time. I could be wrong though, according to my wife I normally am !!

davidallard · Oct 30, 2019

I have a 2007 997 carrera 3.8 128,000 miles, black in and out for sale around £23k. Contact me if you are interested,

mikegibson · Nov 22, 2019

Hi and welcome. I have owned my 997.2 C4S Cab for 6 years now and it has always lived outdoors. We are not in a woodland but car does get quite a bit of tree pollen and other tree stuff dumped on it fairly regularly and "green rubber" on all our cars is a regular occurrence. In terms of Cab top maintenance, I do clean (using a cab top cleaner) and re-proof the hood twice a year (I currently use 303 but have used Autoglym in the past). Every couple of months I do clean the seal rubbers around the hood - wiping down to remove dirt/grease that gets trapped and not removed by a regular wash; including the rear seal (requires top in maintenance position and undoing cables). I also apply Gummi Phleg to the rubbers as a protector/to maintain flexibility. I don't wash the hood with detergent except when doing the twice yearly clean/re-proof and instead simply brush/hoover to remove dust etc. If its particularly dirty or suffered from bird attack I will run clean water over the hood to loosen dirt etc. but never at pressure, then dry off.

Totally echo comments about rear seats. At best they are suited to a short journey as even small people find them uncomfortable.

Personally, I would use an Independent to do the inspection (this comment will probably result in my post being removed!). When I purchased my C4S from an OPC (so car had been subject to the 111 point inspection), I found that within 12 months I was hit with a bill for new discs; replacement of all exhaust mount bolts (all had corroded); 2 new tyres; and a list of other non-warrantied items adding up to £3k. I had covered 4000 miles in that 12 months. Had I known that so many things were on the verge of needing to be done I would have negotiated harder.

You don't say whether you are looking at Gen 1 or Gen 2 cars or auto/manual. If I were buying again, I would be very tempted to seek out a manual for the additional driver fun (mine is PDK) . If you go Gen 2 PDK, I would definitely go for Sports Chrono as a must have in order to get Sport Mode. In standard mode, the PDK changes are relaxed and I find down-changes in auto mode are too leisurely. I use mine in Sport mode all the time unless on the motorway; albeit I always have PASM in normal mode as PASM sport seems a bit hard for our roads. I have not driven a Tiptronic 997.1 but my mate's Tiptronic 996.2 C4S is a great car. I don't think PASM is a must have but will come standard on S versions (from memory). Switchable Sports exhaust is a nice thing to have although the 997 is so muted (both generations) that even in sport mode it wont howl.

Aside from that, everything else is convenience. For modern convenience you probably want the Aux/iPod connection available on 997.2/PCM3 to connect iPhone/music; not sure what 997.1 options are. You'll certainly have to look at aftermarket solutions if you want bluetooth music streaming on any 997 but at least the iPod connection allows music from iPhone or you can use Aux 3.5mm jack on most other devices. Bose sound is a bit better than non-Bose but not essential in my view; the car is hardly a great sound-stage If you are the only driver, do you need electrically adjustable memory seats etc?

One final thing. I have had several issues with my hood mechanism, as have owners of every 996/997 generation which share the same design; in the end, its quite complicated so it is bound to throw up issues over time; everything from wayward micro-switches to leaking hydraulics. Nothing substantial has failed on mine but over the last 3 years years I have twiddled with it quite a lot to address minor issues. Big issues seem fairly rare and hydraulics/motors stand the test of time as long as you don't do anything daft and do a bot of maintenance. Most of the issues can be dealt with inexpensively if you are mechanically minded but costs at an OPC can mount up as they will replace parts rather than "twiddle" them. For example, rear-quarter window on mine would not close properly when hood was going up. Diagnosis was that a new rear window regulator was required (c£400 + Labour). I took a look and after de-greasing/cleaning cables/runners it has worked perfectly ever since.

All that said, I would always go for a Cabrio as on those clear days (Summer and Winter) when you can drop the lid, there's nothing better.

Good luck with your search.

stephenowen · Nov 23, 2019

Thanks for the reply. I can now report I am the proud owner of a 2008 C2 tiptronic s 997.1 with 70k on the clock. I have owned the car for around six weeks now. I managed to get all the goodies on the car I wanted.

Heated Active sport seats
Sports exhaust, switchable
19 inch lobster claw wheels
Bose system
Auto wipers
Xenon headlights
PAS
Full OPC history

These were my main credentials that I was hunting for. I did want a nice colour and I settled on colbolt blue.
I had the car inspected at Cath Burrows Porsche after I bought the car just in case my spider sense was off , her comment was that it was the best condition 997 cab she had seen in a long time , well looked after and in great shape. I can recommend Cath Burrows if you live in near the Wigan area. She inspected the car for me, borescope was okay, mileage verification through run time and access to the computer all fine. The small faults she found I reported to the dealer. Ste at LTV has been fantastic , no issue with the found faults been addressed at another fabulous specialist in Lancashire , white bear garage. It's currently there now awaiting a new coolant hose and should be okay to collect on wednesday, all jobs completed.

997Mike · Nov 24, 2019

Congrats on your new purchase is it a 3.6 or 3.8s
You have picked the best colour in my option as I also have a Cobalt Blue one not a cab though
(3.6)

Hope you enjoy many yrs of happy motoring they are the best 911 out there

Regards

stephenowen · Nov 24, 2019

Thanks [

] I went for the 3.6, less chance of borescore. It's plenty quick enough for me, sounds lovely with the sports exhaust activated. Thanks for everyone's advice , I will have to devise a plan to shoehorn it into my double garage with my 924. I cannot part with my 924.