CC For Sale: 2002 Porsche Carrera 2 – Yes, Jim Is Selling One Of His COAL Carts…

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– Posted on May 4, 2019

After much soul searching, I have decided that it is time to attempt to sell the car that I wrote two COAL posts about over the years.  I don’t really want to sell it and don’t really need to sell it but I also don’t really use it much anymore so….Somehow over the last few years I have found myself becoming much more pragmatic – I still adore this car but it just sits in the garage a lot due to reasons entirely not to do with the car itself so doesn’t really make much sense to keep it anymore.

As you may recall, I purchased this car in 2002 from a gentleman in New Jersey and drove it home to Colorado a few days before the area he lived in was heavily damaged by Hurricane Sandy.  I wrote about it twice for CC, here as well as here as a followup.

It’s the car I have owned FAR longer than any other, over six and a half years at this point, which surpasses the next longest tenant in my garage by over two and a half years.  It’s the car I’ve done some of my longest drives in, the car I’ve traveled the fastest in, the car I’ve enjoyed just sitting on the garage step and staring at and the car that fulfilled one of my life goals – that being actually owning one.

Undoubtedly I will regret selling it if it sells.  I am not advertising it to just “move the metal”, I believe it is worth every penny but the market may not agree.  Beater 911s of this generation sometimes sell for less than half of what I am asking.  Pristine low mileage examples sometimes sell for more.  If it doesn’t sell, that’s fine too, I’ll happily continue looking at it and driving it occasionally as well as sharing it with others as the opportunity arises as I have been doing.  It has been utterly reliable during my ownership, needing nothing more than regular maintenance and a couple of smaller mechanical items.

OK, maybe not Toyota Camry utterly reliable, but certainly better than I expected from any German car with now 84,000 miles on the chassis (but only 26,000 on the factory remanufactured engine).  If I can get my asking price it will be one of the lowest Total Cost of Ownership vehicles that I have ever owned.  And I do not believe that the values of these, (at least those taken care of and in good or better condition) will necessarily drop much further.

It’s currently (since Friday evening) listed on my local Craigslist (that has FINALLY begun charging a small amount of money ($5 per car ad per month) to try to remove/reduce all the spam/multiple/fake/garbage listings).  Perhaps I’ll give BringATrailer a shot at it as well, who knows.  The ad is here but I’ve posted the ad in its entirety below as well.  If you happen to be reading this and feel a hankering to discuss buying this absolutely amazing vehicle, please contact me through the ad and we can chat.  It is listed for $28,000 which is not cheap but the car is well documented, well taken care of, comes with a pretty complete history, and the engine is a factory remanufactured unit installed at a Porsche dealer that basically eliminated the weak spot (IMS Bearing) with its final iteration that this one represents from what I understand/believe.

In my opinion the 996 generation, especially the post-refresh model (2002 on, referred to as 996.2) represents one of the best versions of the iconic Porsche 911 – it is modern enough to be low maintenance, safe, and very fast, was designed to be user-friendly in terms of maintenance and repair (and it really is), but is not so modern that your average Joe can’t click through the internet and perform almost any repair in his garage with mostly standard tools that it may conceivably need.  It is still “affordable”, as well as being considered one of the best driving 911’s ever built.  And school kids still walk by the house and holler: “I like your car, dude!”, as a couple did today as I was washing it, which never happens when I wash the Highlander.

Here is the ad in its entirety as currently posted on Craigslist Fort Collins:

“I’ve owned this 2002 Seal Gray over Black Leather interior Porsche 996 C2 since 2012. It was originally sold in Virginia to the first owner, then resold as a CPO car at the same dealer to the second owner and then resold again as a CPO car at the same dealer to the third owner in a high end suburb in New Jersey from whom I purchased it and drove it home to Fort Collins a week BEFORE Hurricane Sandy hit.

Of all the variants of the non-turbo 996 this is generally considered the most desirable – Coupe, RWD, Narrow Body (this variant has the highest top speed), 6-Speed manual transmission, 996.2 spec for 3.6l engine and revised interior and exterior, lightest weight 996.2 and in a very good exterior color with black leather interior without wood etc.

I just noticed what time it is on the clock. Perhaps I am high for deciding to sell this car.

It has been thoroughly maintained and garage kept its entire life. There is no accident damage that I am aware of. The engine was replaced with a Porsche factory remanufactured unit right as it was sold for the third time by the Porsche dealer in Virginia, I have the receipt. That was at 58,000 miles in 2008. Being replaced so late it carries the last/final iteration of the IMS bearing, the large single row that is not retro-fittable but also has virtually zero instances of problems/failures, all 996 motors remanufactured after about 2005 are basically 997.1 spec in regard to the bearing which also has virtually no issues in that regard.

I purchased the car with 63,000 miles and it currently has 84,xxx miles on the odometer (and thus about 26,000 on the new factory engine). It runs extremely strong, has never had issues, does not leak, and has frankly been one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned. (I have owned over 45 cars, have never owned one over four years and this one is now coming up on seven years with me.) It has been to both coasts with me and on many other long trips besides. It’s a fantastic vehicle both for long drives or short around town errands and I will dearly miss it.

I have copies of the entire service history of owners 1 and 2 and everything I have done since I have owned it. Owner 3 (a doctor) had it for four years and drove it a total of 5,000 miles, as he was in the process of moving when I purchased it those records were not available, so that’s the only gap. It was not his main or only car.

The oil was changed (by me) with Mobil 1 at intervals of no more than 4000 miles or one year, I have every filter cut apart (never any worrisome metallic debris) and every box the filters came in and the last two changes were less than 300 (not a typo) miles apart with the final filter still uncut to verify that there are no issues with the engine. I further sent oil samples to Blackstone at every change for analysis, all came back good. I have kept the packaging and dated it for everything else I have done myself (filters mainly, wipers, one window regulator, one door lock). I have receipts for work done at qualified shops (Poudre Sports Cars and RennStall). But again, it has very rarely needed anything.

When Porsche replaces an engine, they replace EVERYthing not just the block. So basically everything connected to the engine is much newer than the rest of the car including alternator, starter, etc. Battery was just replaced late last year. When I purchased it I had it pre-inspected by a Porsche dealer in New Jersey. I still have the results form, there were zero over-revs and the only (minor in their opinion) was that the AOS (which was new as it comes with the replacement engine) had for some reason caused the side of the engine case to be slightly damp (not wet). I was concerned at the time, they were not at all and they were right, it has never dripped a single drop of oil onto the ground and there is no smell of oil. To my knowledge it works as designed and has never presented an issue. They did not believe that it was worth the $1000 replacement even though they would have gotten the job at the time.

The car is in very good condition but has been driven and was not a garage queen, it was driven as a Porsche can be and should be, i.e. in every weather condition and for every purpose, not just babied around the shopping center. This car is surprisingly excellent in snow and ice with a set of Blizzaks and the PSM stability control system. The paint is in good but not factory fresh shape, there are some light scratches, some typical rock chips, and and a couple of light dings/nicks. It’s not in rough shape at all but I don’t want you to think I spent more time rubbing it with a diaper than I did driving it. But it looks really good for a 17year old car and better than most 3year old regular cars. The interior is in excellent condition.

The wheels are the factory lightweight MY02 wheels, I added those a couple of years after I got the car. Current tires are Sumitomo HTR-ZIII’s with lots of tread in the correct 285/30-18 rear size and 225/40-18 front size. Brakes seem fine, brake fluid and coolant were changed a couple of years ago, and it hasn’t needed anything else.

My reason for selling is that I just don’t have the time or really the inclination to drive it much anymore. The documented history will show that I drove it about 10,000 miles my first year with it, then 5,000 the next and then about half of the mileage of the prior year every year thereafter. Life just gets in the way. I don’t really want to sell it and have no plans to give it away, but realize it’s kind of stupid to have it in the garage and not use it very much even though I already know I will regret it when it sells.

There’s tons more info and I am happy to talk about it for as long as you want, email me and leave your phone number and I will call you. If you don’t leave a number I won’t contact you, sorry, just too many scammers.

No joyrides for unqualified people, no lowballers, and I do not need any help selling it.

There is a picture of the option code sticker, basically the factory options include:
139/340 Seat Heaters
288 Headlamp Washer
413 18″ Turbo Look wheels (I replaced them with the lightweight option, also 18″)
424 CD holder
437/438 Electric seats both sides with driver memory
476 PSM Porsche Stability Management
490 Stereo with CD player – Becker cable was added for ipod use by previous owner
513/586 4-way electrically adjustable lumbar support
537 memory seat
601 Litronic Xenons

It also has the factory body color painted center console as well as the Aero side skirts and the painted wheel center cap crests. The original sticker price of the car was just under $80,000 in 2002.

Check out the pictures and let me know of any questions you might have. If we end up meeting it would most likely be at the Police Station in Fort Collins. If you end up buying it, we will do the transaction at a local bank with your cashier’s check ideally from the same bank. Yes I will provide a clean emission test certificate.”  End of ad.

That’s it, thanks for viewing!  I am a combination of a little bit excited and a little bit apprehensive at this point.  Either result (eventual sale or not) will likely leave me with mixed feelings.  I guess fate will decide what will happen which is perfectly fine…