Is there such a thing as a cheap Porsche?

[thstone]

Originally Posted by ksjohn

Long story short, I bought a Porsche with no PPI and no records ....

Nice looking car -I love the color and wheels! But I sure wish that you had got a PPI.

I would say that there are no cheap Porsche's - and this is coming from a guy who bought a 99 996 for $10K and a 78 911SC for $15K - both substantially below market price.

There are three rules for buying a used Porsche;
Rule #1 - No one gives away a Porsche. If its cheap, there is a reason. Or many reasons. Or many, many, many reasons.
Rule #2 - Never trust what the seller says. Never. Ever. Assume everything they say is a lie and you won't be disappointed.
Rule #3 - Get a PPI. It will be the best $300 that you ever spend in your life.

Based on my experience, with 87K miles and 17 years, in the first year or so you'll need to fix the obvious and not so obvious problems at $1K, perform a major service to get a maintenance starting point at $500, the suspension surely needs a $1.5K refresh, and the tires will likely need replacement within a year at $750 because there is no way to drive this car slow so you're are going to wear out tires.

Its amazing how fast one can spend $3,750 on a used Porsche.

Now, do you HAVE to do all of that? Of course not - you can just drive it and hope for the best. But most Porsche owners will start down a path of catching up on the deferred maintenance and overall rejuvenation which will lead to the costs outlined above. Its just what happens.

Just don't take it to the track...