Ekona

Overall, very reliable cars as you would expect from Porsche. Two well-documented weak points: 1. Rear main seal, or RMS. Big gasket between 'box and engine, can leak and let oil out. Never usually a major issue, some live with it or some get it done with the clutch. Nowhere near as common on the 997 as the 996 cars though, but possible. 2. Intermediate main shaft failure, or IMS. In short, the two halves of the engine are connected together by this shaft which has a bearing on the end that can fail, causing your engine to pretty much self-destruct. Porsche upgraded the bearing many times over the life of the engine from 996 to 997.1, but the issue can still occur regardless with an OEM part. There are companies in the US who can sell you the parts to convert to a bearing that cannot fail, however as you can imagine it's not a cheap job to do (mostly labour to be fair). Lots of horror stories about IMS, but truth is it's only about 5% of cars that have ever been made that failed at a very worst case scenario. Engine rebuild is about £3K to £7K depending on what needs doing if it does go pop, or you can get a warranty. Aftermarket warranties will only cover a certain amount of labour and parts, OPC warranty will cover everything but you have to stay with OEM parts for everything, i.e. probably no good for you. If it were me and I was buying at that end of the market, I wouldn't bother with a warranty but instead I'd put £1K away a year to cover myself if anything happened, same price as a warranty and you'd be better off long term I reckon. Again, we're only talking a 5% risk here. There really is nothing else major to go wrong. Engines are otherwise bulletproof, gearboxes the same, all parts are equivalent to Zed prices if you go like for like. C2 may be the baby of the range but we're still talking about a 325bhp 911 here, it's not going to be slow and the chassis engineering is second only to Lotus IMHO. Takes a while to learn the balance of the car, but ultimately it's incredibly rewarding to drive fast when you get it right. Spec is everything, and that car is right at the bottom as fair as I can tell. Sound pack might mean Bose, but it's @*!# so don't worry about that. The sat nav is equally crap, and changing the whole head unit over to something decent requires approx £500 of parts to convert the MOST before you get to buying anything. That said, that car looks immaculate and more toys = more things to go wrong. C2 cars did not have PASM (adjustable suspension) and on 19"s the ride is going to be very firm, you'd really either want to change the suspension or change the wheels to 18"s. You may find high mileage C2S cars in your price range (just!), and if the condition is good then I would consider one of those instead. PASM as standard, more power, lowered, and a higher mileage car is less likely to have IMS issues as the weak point is between about 30K to 80K. Buy on condition, not on mileage. That's the most important thing with any 911, right back to the really early ones. Any other specifics you want to know, just shout.

Possibly, but it would be easier (and cheaper!) just to get the paperwork from Nissan proving the work was done and keep that with the car instead. I wouldn't buy a car if the clocks had been fiddled with, even if it was for the correct reasons.

All you need here, I would think Stopped for newbies as from March last year, then dropping by 50% for two years for existing employees. That's the national one though, individual trusts now set it locally so it'll be lower in the north but higher in the south. Massive PDF here from *spit* Unite detailing their findings

A Hawkeye and older Impreza has no TCS at all. 4WD does naff all if the driver does something daft. It's all about the driver, and nothing to do with the TCS.

Are they not two different things? What's the issue, others who are not NHS may still be able to help

Jay, not sure if you're aware but if it's big power you're after then you don't want a PDK tubby, as the gearbox will not take anything over 600bhp before cutting out and leaving you in limp mode. No-one has figured out a way around this yet, which is why all the big power 997.2 cars are manuals. It's not exactly a slouch with 'just' 525bhp, but just so you know. I know you're about the show as much as the go, but worth bearing in mind. Keep an eye on the cost of PCCB replacements too, as they're absolutely daft money... Also, I'm fricking jealous. I would love a Turbo S, utterly stunning cars that will annihilate just about anything they come across. When I did Vmax at Brunters a guy had one there and it didn't exactly do bad against the 599 GTO in the head to head. Immense.

I'm sick of races being decided after the race. We had all this crap last year and the year before, we really don't need it again. The FIA need to come out quick and say the result stands, stop this nonsense.

You could be gaining power more than anything, but don't forget the ECU adapts so it will cancel itself out. That's an awfully big discrepency in your miles to a tank. How many litres are you getting into the tank when filling up? And is your MPG calculation based on what the car is telling you or what you've worked out yourself?

Six posts in a row. Wow, that has to be some kind of record.

I'd have said otherwise, I must admit. Yes, it will effect the gasflow, but we are talking fractions here and certainly no more than would change if you fitted a freer-flowing exhaust that was backbox-less (like the K1), and we all know the Zed ECU will adapt to stop any power increases. Any difference a broken midpipe to backbox would make to the MPG of the car is negligable, IMHO.

Looks like anywhere between 35-40K secondhand. Getting hold of one is more the issue. Terrific cars, especially in the orange.

Dance also tells you the code before you reset it.

No more than heel and toe in any other vehicle. Any additional fuel cost will be far outweighed by the benefits of reducing wear on the drivetrain, as you correctly say. Plus it sounds cool!

Best bit? The 2.5TD isn't even a V6, it's an I4!

1M, not M1

Boo, I was expecting this:

That is dErz's car I think. Correct It's the same as my old car, still looks awesome!

Who has the blue ragtop with the black Rays?

Umm, pretty sure that's France you're thinking of. If I remember my law A-level correctly, no such law exists here although there have always been talks about whether one should be introduced. That said, if you do know the exact law in question I'd love to be proved wrong, I like facts like that that no-one knows

Fair enough, if that's how it was meant that I agree 100%. On the other hand, you can end up with how most people in a 4x4 drive when the conditions are awful, which is thinking that they're god and invincible. Sometimes, ye just cannae break the laws of physics!

They won't, as they take too long to load up. I loved the idea at first, but when you think you have to pick up the device, load the app, go to the right screen, then push the button to get to where you want to go, it takes far longer than to just pick the remote up and push the button in the first place. Shame really. Yes. I hate them, as they sound very false and peculiar which disrupts the natural flow of whatever you're watching. Given how decent even the smallest of satellite speakers are these days, I would rather save up a few quid and do it properly than bodge it with a soundbar.

Which Harmony Ian? @Rich: Logitech Harmony, website is full of different ones. I can't make my mind up which one I want!

Which remote do you use Dave? One of the Harmony ones or something different? It's something I've been toying with getting for a year or so now, can't work out if it's a good idea or not though.

But they're not over here because you don't actually NEED them. Whatever did we do in years gone by when there were no such thing as winter tyres, and tyres (and cars, for that matter) were in general much worse? Oh yeah, we drove to the conditions and survived. You'll be telling me that we NEED all these stability and traction control devices in cars simply because the law says we have to have them next.

+1 on the Kube 2, it really is a cracking bit of kit. I do like the Pioneer stuff, the iOS control is a really nice touch albeit it's still quicker just to use the remote! Sound bars are utter shite, unless you're a mong who doesn't understand what proper surround should sound like or have absolutely no other choice (and even then I'd rather stick with decent stereo).