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So today's question is should I pay $200-300 to have a person with many years of water cooled Porsche experience examine a car and give me an opinion of what it needs now and what it is liable to need next year? And is there a cut off on the price of the car below which you just buy on visible and driveable condition and skip the PPI?
My thoughts:
1. A 2003 has the worst IMS bearing and it has a ~1% per car year chance of failure. Not every one will fail but you are now probably up into the 15% range for an engine with no maintenance history. (Do you know the oil was changed at one year/5k miles or did the owner save money and do it at 10k?) Do insist on pulling the oil filter and spreading it out to examine for metallic parts even if you have to pay for the filter and a couple of quarts of oil.
2. How many different cars have you driven/bought and how much of the condition of the car will you be able to scope out just on a test drive. Can you tell from the condition of the tires the condition of the suspension? From listening to a cold start the condition of the valve train? A Porsche experienced mechanic can make a better educated guess than I can and I've owned two.
3. $3k is about the point where a "roller" (a car with no working engine) is priced at. Not any risk there if you are willing to part it out. At $5k you aren't expecting much. What is your tolerance for risk?
Good luck. Wonderful cars.
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