Taking my first look at a 986 S today

[Stewart_H]

3 hours ago, Menoporsche said:

In Yately he's close enough to Eporsch, so that's sorted!

I've heard Eporsch  moved from Chertsey (I believe they used to be next to GTOne) to Bisley and that is quite close to home 🙂 I used to use Northway in Reading when I had my 968 Sport. Does anyone have any recent experience of either/both?

[Menoporsche]

Eporsh always well regarded, Northway often well regarded as I remember. 

[edc]

Eporsch have not been in Chertsey for years. Roly did the sales and GT One did the workshop stuff. Eporsch has been in Bisley since at least 2012. I have been one of their earliest customers. Again, it was mainly sales at the time but they are fully kitted out for workshop duties. Their biggest problem is the site isn't big enough so there are only so many cars they can do at any one time. Dean who now runs the Eporsch workshop is related to one of the GT One owners and previously worked there. 

They have been great for me doing regular servicing, mods, fixes, arranging MOTs etc. 

[½cwt]

Necessary costs on mine to solve immediate problems since September are:

£35 for new OEM spec reversing light switch - fitted my self

£275 for two new air con condensers (Behr) and drier with seals - fitted by me, also gave opportunity to clean out rad ducts and inspect the rads

£40 to re-gas the above

£50 for 4 new CV boots - fitted by me but takes a lot of effort (10 hours) to do both shafts whist still on the car an only access to axle stands...!

£20 for second hand replacement interior light due to broken training clips - fitted by me, from Peugeot/Citroen breaker on line but same as Porsche part

 

Still to do replace mirror control switch and trim panel on driver's door due to broken fixing lug

Gearbox oil change

Get electrics to interior lights and sun visors sorted out (Possibly needs to be switched out of transit mode)

Investigating minor coolant leak near front bulkhead area to rear of front luggage compartment, but not leaking rads or hoses from main front to rear pipes to outside of rads.

 

Additional/optional costs

£150 for replacement Kenwood head unit with Bluetooth to give media player and hands free phone

£45 for open bin to replace CD holder in centre console

£178 for heavy duty half cover for screen/hood

 

Nice to haves

Sort out minor wear & tear, cracks and damage to under body & wheel arch plastic liners

Cruise control

Leather recondition/repair to seats

 

Otherwise I was lucky, clutch and rear main seal done 7000 miles ago, brakes and discs all round done 1500 miles ago, tyres done 2000 miles ago, service due in time for MOT in May.  Also factor in road fund tax and insurance which should be around £500 so that's half the £1000 budget given above.

 

As I said earlier in thread - Do it, do it, do it.

[Paul2359]

Slightly off topic but how do people view diy maintenanceon a Porsche. 

On older cars I tend to do all my own maintenance and servicing and will have a go at anything apart for bodywork but I will go to a specialist to have work done if I can’t do it or don’t have the right tools for the job.

As people have said a 986 is going to be about 15 years old and priced between £3 - 10k, so if you came across a car advertised for sale which stated that all servicing and any maintenance work that had been needed had been carried out by the owner and there was a pile of recipes for all the parts and record of when and at what mileage the work had been done would you bother to even look at the car?

I realise that if you are spending  somewhere between the middle to the top end of the price range you would like to have a proper service record from a specialist but on the lower price range would it bother you. 

If someone was to do all there own maintenance would it be right to claim that the car had a full service history if it was carried out to the Porsche schedule or would  you want stamps in the book from a garage?

One last thing, if you would go and have a look are there any jobs that someone doing it themselves would be a step to far such as changing the ims bearing etc.

By the way I’m not a mechanic by trade just interested in what people think.

 

[PaulQ]

I do most of my own work, and keep all of the receipts for parts, and make a note of the date and the mileage of when the work was completed. 

Previous owner did pretty much the same, so it wouldnt bother me at all on a 986.

I think as the value of the car rises, then I would expect more of a proper service history, as lets face it the main reason for people doing diy on their cars is to keep costs down, so I wouldnt be as comfortable about it on say a £10k + 987.

This can work in your favour though as diy serviced cars quite often will have more jobs done on them as the owners can afford to do more then someone that relies on garages for everything. 

Obviously there is the question of is the owner competent to do the work, but I've seen plenty of garages mess up, or say that jobs have been completed when they clearly have not, so you can never be 100‰ certain. 

I think you buy the owner of the car as much as the car itself, so should soon be able to tell if they are enthusiastic about the maintenance of the car. 

[Paul2359]

Thanks Paul Q for the reply, as you have said when you get to a certain price level no mater what make of car/ bike I think it makes sense to have had it serviced by professionals as you want to keep as much value in the vehicle as possible what with depreciation taking a big chunk out each year as it is.

I also believe that nowadays most modern stuff is so complicated that it is almost impossible to work on them without diagnosis equipment which can run into thousands, also it seems that a lot of people aren’t interested in doing the work themselves now.

[Mr96er]

On 12/6/2018 at 10:47 AM, Topbox said:

For the money your best bet, I think, is to find a high milage car that has been well maintained in the last 3 to 4 years, but  you should expect to spend money after purchase, allow for £2000 to be on the safe side ! That is realism for you 😁

I found a super 3.2s last year in a weekend of searching. Had sheafs of history all in chronological folders by year. Had done 142k miles I think and went like a goodun! Had recent decent rubber and oil was clean. 

Ask any of the “Scottish Borders” crew 2018 what my pre purchase approach was and they’ll confirm it included never meeting the owner before Sending cash online. Picking the car up (sans paperwork😱) in the dark outside a pals house with the keys in the exhaust pipe of a Corrado! 

The car was a super straight example and the owner was a forum member, who turned up the next day at my office with the paper work👍

There is good guidance in the previous posts. I agree with much of it. That said, these are nice old cars which aren’t dear. I’ve had 5 now and none have given me major grief. Ironically the only one that has even broken down is the 4th one and the one I chose to keep (forever🤔🤞)

Have fun looking, get one you like then live with the reality that they don’t have to cost the earth. The guys that look after mine now keep chickens in their workshop! The work is great, their flexibility is great and the price is... yup, great! It’s nice to be treated so well you want to tip them.

 

How many of you using OPCs drop a hamper or a slab of beers off around this time of year? Yeah, that’s what I thought...