Carpokes Porsche Forum

Wouldn't an E36 be cheaper to run and mod?

Thom wrote: Fri Jun 03, 2022 11:28 am Hmm you would have broken the 996 engine no doubt, as unless it would have been fixed and upgraded they do break like crystal. The 951 at least is I believe a far more reliable car. Mine is nearing 240k miles yet the whole car feels as if tight as it did when I bought it at 130k miles.

Is it for sale? I used to hear this a lot when I was looking. People on rennlist would tell me how great their cars were and how little maintenance they needed. But those cars bore little resemblance to the ones you could actually buy. They'd come up for sale occasionally, but it was the exception. Most of those people had had their cars for years and maintained them really well. They didn't do that just to turn around and sell them!

Of course all of this is anecdotal, but I worked really hard to find mine. I had a few cars inspected before I zeroed in on this one. I had a professional PPI and had a very well known rennlist member in the neighborhood go and check it out for me too. By all accounts it was regarded as a decent example compared to what was available, and most I have seen since then have been in much worse shape. It cost just under $11K, and probably needed about that much in parts immediately (though neither I, nor the PPI shop, not the rennlist guy, nor the previous owner realized that). Even now it would swallow another $10K just from the stuff I know about off the top of my head. And it will get it, when I have time.

From what I have seen since, a 996 or Boxster that needed that much poured into it was as rare as a 951 that didn't. They were much newer cars, and so the average condition was far better. And the same thing is true now for whatever is 10 - 15 years old. You could buy a car like that, and spend the next 10 years telling everyone how cheap and reliable it is to own. But if they were to buy one then, 10 years later, their experience won't be anything like yours. Conventional wisdom about cars lags behind reality by 5 - 10 years imo.

Congrats for your find. Sometimes it's better to purchase a car that hasn't been messed with and spend as much as the buying price over as many years as needed than purchase an apparently sorted one that went through too many hands. I think long term previous ownership(s) should weigh in as people who keep their cars for long at best spend whatever needed to keep them on top or at least are careful enough to not mess with them too much within a more limited budget.

Took me 18 months to find one I wanted to buy 15 years ago. There were a few rotten/clocked/bashed up turbos around then. I bet a few rough cars are being rolled in glitter now.

I regret selling my 87 turbo with 49,000 miles for $20,000. I held it for 25 years. Of well. My stocks performed better over those 25 years and the 944 proceeds got me a 718 GTS with the superior engine- 2.5T