Who will buy?

[colin129]

I have had 286 views (at the last count) for my advert (see below for link - this will ramp it up even more I am sure!).

No enquires yet though[&o]

I am sure quite a few of you guys have looked at the ad out of interest, is it just the mileage that puts people off? Obviously I can't do anything about that. I think the price is a reasonable starting point for negociations.

Any ideas how I can sex this up, or am I being impatient?

 

[Diver944]

All I can think of is better and more pictures, especially closeups of the dreaded sill and front lower wings to put peoples mind at ease.

If you have owned her for 11 years then you must have a rake of invoices, I would list some of the more recent ones to show that it has been properly maintained, for example:

July 2005 150k 12k service, fuel filter, brakes all round
July 2006 163k 12k service, coolant change, new belts and camchain
July 2007 176k 12k service, brake fluid, new exhaust, fuel pipes
July 2008 190k 12k service, calliper plates refurbished, shocks replaced all round

 

[Fen]

Is it competing with lower mileage examples at that price? My first impression is that it's honest but leggy and I'd probably expect it to look tired. If there are others at similar money that sound better I'd ring them first, personally. Miles don't put me off as a rule, so if I'm looking elsewhere because of that then they must be an issue and you simply have to make it cheap enough to outweigh that for someone.

 

[zcacogp]

Forgive me for being direct, but it looks overpriced for the milage to me.

I paid less than that for an S2 with biblical service history 2 1/2 years ago now, and that had about 117k on the clock. And the general notion is that prices have dipped a fair amount between then and now.

I can't remember the chap's name, but the fellow who posted on here as Apollo13 sold a completely, completely immaculate S2 in Dove Blue for £4k about a year ago. (When I say 'Immaculate', I mean it - it was a delicious example, with full leather and a recent respray. Lovely car.) OK, he sold that too cheap, but if that is the yardstick then yours looks quite pricey.

This isn't what you want to hear, but the mileage is the sort of thing that can be seen directly from the advert, and thus will put people off before they look more closely.

All the best with selling.


Oli.

 

[Fen]

My God, I must be losing my touch, Oli is being more direct than me!

For what it's worth I agree; north of £4k pretty much sounds like you get the pick of S2s nowadays. The trouble is how cheap does it need to be? £500 probably isn't enough differential but if it gets too cheap then it will look too cheap and be dismissed as a dog by potential buyers. Tricky one, but I guess the honest appraisal is that there is probably an oversupply of S2s now and one with a pretty major and apparent negative is going to struggle.

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

Terribly sorry old chap, and forgive me for being so rude, but do you think the price may be a smidge ... well ... steep, given the fractionally-high milage?

I am sure that it is worth much much more than the £4250 you are asking (after all I paid several thousand more for my ropey old hound of an S2, and that had about 997k on the clock. And the general notion is that these things have appreciated rather quicker than gold in the intervening time.) Any true enthusiast cannot fail to recognise the perfect weight distribution, handling balance and road feel, and the brilliance of the S2 over the (over-priced) Turbo models. However, it's a rough old market out there and you may need to come down on the asking price by a penny or so.

'Trifically sorry, as I know this isn't what you want to hear, but the (very reasonable) mileage is the sort of thing that the uneducated oiks who read the advert may just spot, and you know how fickle uneducated oiks can be when it comes to pesky things like numbers on an odometer.

All the best with selling.

OK Fen, I've taken the sting out of it. You can reclaim your crown as King-of-directness on this forum ...


Oli.

 

[xenon]

FWIW - I sold my S2 for £4500 recently, 129k miles, leather sports seats and all the bits (compressor, roof bag etc.). Very tidy other than a tiny ammount of bubbling right behind osf wheel arch, sills were sound.

I bloody miss it. []

 

[zcacogp]

Mine crossed the 140,000 mile barrier on the way to a client site this morning.

I watched the numbers trip over, and thought "Not good for the value".

About half a second afterwards, I then thought "Do I give a stuff?" []

I can understand why you miss yours Ian.


Oli.

 

[ronald smith]

Hello Oli,
You mean George Henson, he sold said lovely 1989 S2 Dove blue with less than a year old glass out respray
not a single stone chip all new seals and all Glass not just screen, with perfect mechanics. I bought it in Feb from
him for his asking price of £5850 and didnt even try to haggle[ unlike me].
All I have had done is a full service and alignment check by Promax who were brilliant-thanks Andy.
Just come back from Le Mans Classic over 1000miles,averaged 28.5mpg including 2 track laps didnt use any
oil.
Cant make Silverstone but hope to meet up with some of you guys soon.
Fraid a couple of stone chips and about 2.5K later- must drive it more.
Cheers
Ron

 

[Black80XSA]

As already said i think you need to be more specific about the last 50-60k miles worth of maintenance and invoices, post some more pics and get rid of the nurburgring sticker on the side window (that won't help sell the car if people think its high miles and its been round the ring a few times !).

Other than that its a waiting game - fuel prices and credit crunch not helping your cause for sure - although you can play the low VED line since its pre March 2001

 

[zcacogp]

Ronald,

That's the one. It was/is a lovely car - I hope you are enjoying it.

However, price - I thought (and could have sworn) that it went for £4k, but I was clearly wrong. Thanks for putting me right.

So, to the OP - I take back what I said before about the bar bring set so low by the Dove Blue S2 ... it isn't *that* low!


Oli.

 

[colin129]

Thanks for the comments, I will update the service history stuff at the w/end. Maybe I should point out that I only visited the 'Ring once a few years ago?

Looking at the other prices I have seen, £4,250 looked like a good starting point for negotiations. I just need to get a serious buyer round I guess...

 

[ronald smith]

Hi Oli,
Prices of 944's do seem to vary a lot. I had a 1986 lux that I paid far too much for, but decided I wanted anS2
Ilooked at quite a few some a lot more and a few around £5.5-6K.Paul Mc Nulty started a thread saying what
a good car Georges was- so I expected it to be good it was immaculate much better than some for several
K more with only 94K miles. I was first person to view it although someone had offered nearly his asking
price on phone.I didnt have the cheek to barter and feel I got a real bargain- I think I could easily have spent
up to 2K to bring some of the others to nearer mine, and thats the good ones that were a lot more to start with.
Must go for a drive as its a sunny afternoon- probably get another stone chip still they are meant to driven.
Cheers all

Sorry Oli I didnt answer your question- Yes i am loving it.
Ron

 

[colin129]

Finally got round to updating my advert on Pistonheads, hope this has the desired result.

Don't all rush at once now!!

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/623526.htm

 

[xenon]

Looks nice. I guess the belts are due again now though?

 

[Guest]

I hope it's not inappropriate to ask a question on the back of this topic. Service costs on this car seems to be running north of £2k per annum excluding tyres. As a prospective 944 buyer myself next year can I ask if these are typical numbers for keeping a car of this age and mileage in correct order?

 

[xenon]

Per annum varies by person and so a mileage guide is better. You have to change the belts every 30000 miles / 3 years (time is appropriate here as rubber perishes) and I would change the oil at 6000 mile intervals. Routine servicing is not prohibitive and much less than 2k BUT.... with the car being around 20 years old there is plenty of non-routine stuff that could pop up, clutches (very expensive), water pumps (ditto), cams (more ditto). If you get a nicely-sorted example it's quite practical to run everyday as I, and many others, do. (or did, in my case [])

 

[pauljmcnulty]

ORIGINAL: polymoog

I hope it's not inappropriate to ask a question on the back of this topic. Service costs on this car seems to be running north of £2k per annum excluding tyres. As a prospective 944 buyer myself next year can I ask if these are typical numbers for keeping a car of this age and mileage in correct order?

You could get lucky and own one for several years with no major costs if you buy well, or you could easily spend £2k per year if you're either unlucky or you go for the false economy of a cheap one.

I've spent £400, £800 and £800 on the three services mine's had, 5k miles per year. Includes 2 belt changes (one with rollers, seals etc.) and a very expensive (£300) handbrake overhaul. I don't think that's unreasonable for a 22-year-old Porsche! [&:]

 

[Black_JPN]

Spent 10k on my S2 over the 4.5 years I had it. Had the turbo nearly a year I'm into 2,200 already with another biggish bill coming up!

As Paul said sometimes you have lucky years, other times not so much. It's all part of the fun.

 

[colin129]

ORIGINAL: xenon

Looks nice. I guess the belts are due again now though?

I have always changed the belts every 48K, with no ill effect and this is the prescribed interval although age will have an effect. Thus my car (192K now) is due belts at 214K which is a couple of years as a daily driver.

The clutch was changed at 93K but to be honest it was funked for at least 10K before that, my current clutch shows no obvious signs of wear AT ALL you could not tell if it had been changed yesterday or 100K miles ago. I guess that means I am not mechanically tough on my cars.

I think that the costs went up mainly because I changed my job aound 150K and had to drive it 20,000 miles a year for 18 months with the resultant additional wear. The last service I had I had done much less miles in the preceeding year and the service was significantly cheaper. If I don't sell it before the next MOT is due in January 2009 [][][][] I don't suppose there will be agreat deal required as I will only have covered less than 1500 miles.

Polymoog - My car may be just what you are looking for! []