Looks fantastic! Love the lightweight 18" wheels, but IMHO, overpriced. For comparison, my Speed Yellow over black, 2000 2.7l, 5spd,lightly optioned with 41K miles. pd much less. $22K for a '99 with low miles seems overpriced and potentially worrisome due to "under" use ;)

I'm not sure what a fair price is for this car, but it looks like a great example of a loaded non-S to me! I love the colors.

For 22.5K, you could probably find a 2000 S though, and enjoy those extra ponies.

He's wanting a lot of extra money for stuff you really don't use much on a car like the nav system, park assist, etc. The full leather is nice, but if you use the defroster much, it will wrinkle the leather near the base of the windshield. Check that on his car when you see it in person.

Just to clarify, he was asking $22.5, I negotiated $20.5k, which is a bit more reasonable. It's actually in the shop getting the PPI done right now. The car was obviously babied and in great cosmetic shape.

I didn't have much time to really drive it, but I did notice that it was really hard to get into third gear... I don't know if it's just because it hasn't been driven in a while or what... I told the mechanic to take a look at it... any ideas??

1-2 and 2-1 on my car when it's cold out and the engine is cold is really tough. However, when the engine is up to temp and I've driven it and shifted gears for a couple of minutes, it's quite smooth.

This may be the case with the car you are looking at now. Driving it when the tranny oil is hot could be the difference.

For what its worth I didn't take delivery of my 02 S until after they fixed the shift from 1 to 2. They ended up replacing the whole transmission. Whatever you do make sure it shifts well into each gear before you sign any papers. I've never had trouble shifting in cold weather. It may be a little "notchier" when its cold out but nothing out of the ordinary.

The true average value on 99 prabably around 15k. That said, as long as the car has the exact color combo and options you want, 5k can be justified. It's much better than buying the car with color and options you are not in love with and regret later.

A few things;
I never herad about 3rd gear problem. This is the must-fix.
Ask the seller if the wheels are OEM or aftermarket.
RMS check.

Btw, that is one awesome looking car.
Good luck.

The PPI checked out okay, with 2 exceptions. It has had some minor body work... mechanic said there was no worry of frame damage, looked like someone had scratched it deep and had to fix it (speculation of course). This didn't show on the carfax of course. He said that the body shop did a great job and he had a tough time even spotting it. Said he wouldn't worry about it.

The shifting problem is probably bad bushings... it basically doesn't spring back into the center when it comes out of gear. Mechanic said that it would cost about $80 to fix for the hour of labor, no big deal.

Overall, he gave it a clean bill of health, checked the RMS, tranny, etc. said it looked great. Checked the Carerra light rims and they are OEM.

I anticipate that some people are going to doubt the mechanic's advice. I will say that I am inclined to trust him. He's been working on one of my friend's Porsches for over 10 years and did this inspection at no charge. He's been racing and working on Porsches for close to 40 years (started with 356, 914, 968s). He's been in business here for well over 20 years and this is a town with a LOT of 911's.

I think I'm going to see if the seller will reduce the price to an even $20k for the 2 issues above. Thoughts?

HIFI:

c u at TOD!

Go for it
 

Hey HiFi I would get in a heart beat i have a similiar car with lower mileage at time of purchase which was at 36000. my color combination the burgundy with sand interior and I love it. Everyone I show it too females included love the color combo. As far as the options every one of them is very nice except the rear bumber sensors. Not knocking them but just don't think they were not high on your list as far as options you looked for in your box. But I would not be to worried about the low mileage especially if a mechanic you know and believe you can trust says it checks out. But that amount of mileage and factory problems in my opinion would have said hello by now. In fact I would be proud of the low mileage but use the negative part of the low mileage in your price points tell seller with a car like this it smiles with miles and the low mileage makes the car unhappy lol. Do not say those words because he will look at you funny. But you know what I mean. Anyways good luck with either path you take and if you get it good luck and have fun.

The car has 6,000 miles on it and there are bad bushings in the shifter. Unless this car belonged to the Little Old Lady from Pasadena, and that 6,000 miles is a quarter-mile at a time, I can't see how they could wear out that quickly.
Additional investigation may be in order.

HIFI,

I say go for it as well ! Beautiful car, love the rims !

I paid $22k for my 99 in April with 28k miles and NONE of the options that car has !

KBB value on that car ( private party ) is $17,650 without the options...

If you can pick that up for $20k I would say you are getting a GREAT deal :D

Nick

Thanks, yeah I'm trying to jump on it, but now he's saying someone else is interested and supposed to make an offer today. I just hope he didn't tell them what my offer is, which I imagine he did to get the best price. It's really frustrating, because he's in China and I have to wait a day to hear from him over email. So close...

I'm planning on replacing the bushings before I commit to make sure that fixes the problem. My mechanic seemed pretty confident it wasn't the tranny, but I agree with you about it sounding funny.

HIFI,

Good Luck ! Make sure to let us know what happens...

Nick

Thanks; I THINK we've agreed to a price, but it's going to take 2 weeks for the deal to finalize (he's overseas). I'm getting it for about 2k below book, so I'm happy, I just want to get it finalized!

It's still going to be dependant on whether the bushings will fix the shifting problem (hopefully!). I want to go ahead and put a short shift on it while this is being done... someone mentioned a clone on eBay for around $55, does anyone have the seller's name; the cheapest I can find is $90?

Hi,

The car has 23,400 miles on it. The seller is 2nd owner and only put 6k of those 23,400 mi. on it. Mileage should not be an issue at all with this car...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

HIFI-
I bought one of the SSK B&M clones on eBay - seller was a2rinc. Price including delivery was $64.

If you're picking it up for $20K, I think that's good especially since it's the color combo you want and it has some nice toys w/ it. I bought mine 18 months ago w/ similar mileage, 21K, and paid a little extra (even though it needed new tires). Why? Because it was very clean, had some nice options, was the exact combo I wanted and came w/ a 12K/12mo warranty.

Of course, for the first few miles on the way home w/ it, I got a little buyer's remorse until.... I hit the loud pedal and dropped it into 4th gear w/ the top down on the expressway entrance ramp. Anyhow, haven't thought about it since. Well, maybe once or twice - especially when random people compliment it while I'm grabbing coffee, getting gas or at another P-car gathering.

Hope it all works out for ya. Good luck!

Thanks, I got the short shifter from a2rinc for $69 shipped, it was his last one, so i guess he upped the price $5... oh well.

Yeah, I am happy with the deal, it seems to book out through Kelley and Edmunds at $22k, and it doesn't really need anything major until 30k miles. I just want the car in my garage! Thanks again for the info.