2002 Porsche 911 (996) Carrera 4 Cabriolet

First registered on the 3rd of September 2002 and still showing just 83,000 miles, this wonderful Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet is beautifully finished in black over black, lending a timeless air to its muscular lines that the private numberplate supports.

We think it looks utterly terrific and we especially love the discreet flashes of red that come courtesy of the four brake calipers and the rear lights when you look at it in profile. Ceramic coated and detailed at huge expense around five months ago, it looks as good close up as it does from a distance.

Very well serviced over the years, including some big recent bills, it also wears a matching set of new Pirelli P-Zero Rosso tyres – and y’all know how we feel about good, matching tyres by now, don’t you?

Being offered with no reserve, it is only being sold because he has had to move to a house without garages. Bought as a ‘forever car’ three years ago, he simply cannot bring himself to see it languishing outside while he waits for his new garages to be built.

But, his bad luck could be the opportunity you have been waiting for to buy a very good Porsche 911 996 Carrera 4 Cabriolet for less than you thought possible…

Black is even less forgiving than Jack Reacher in a grump, and yet this one looks great, even up close. With straight, ripple-free panels and the sort of shutlines that reinforce every Germanic precision engineering stereotype you’ve ever heard, it looks like it’s hewn from a single lump of carbon.

And that appearance is partly as a result of a three-day, £650 ceramic coating and detail that has left it looking amazing. Oh, and the light lenses are all in great shape too, as are the badges and the glazing.

The black fabric roof furls and unfurls as it should, rising and falling easily at the touch of a button and sealing tightly. It tucks away neatly too, and it’s in great shape with no rips, tears, or other damage.

The 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels have been recently refurbished and finished in black, a colour that suits the car’s theme perfectly but is a colour that will highlight even modest damage. Which isn’t a problem in this case because there simply isn’t any. The four tyres are matching Pirelli P-Zero Rosso too, fitted new in January 2019 at a cost of almost £700.

As we will never tire of explaining, our experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. Their presence does not, of course, preclude the need for a thorough inspection - something the vendor would welcome, by the way – but it does perhaps give you a shortcut into their attitude towards maintenance.

Problems? Well, we can’t see anything that would worry us unduly. There are a few stonechips here and there on the front end but these could either be touched-in or just left as they are as they don’t detract from the Porsche’s overall presentation in any way.

Which just leaves the fabric roof, which could do with cleaning. Still, that’ll be a lovely way to while away an hour or so when the weather picks up, won’t it?

The black leather interior might be as dark as the boss’s heart when it comes to our annual staff appraisals, but there’s no denying its quality – and that quality manifests itself in the way it has weathered the past two decades, surviving with little other than a slowly developing patina.

The front seats, for example are only lightly creased and still as firm and supportive as you could ever hope to find in a car with the 911’s performance potential. They still adjust as they should, and our tame photographer appreciated the very effective seat heaters when he was whizzing around with the roof down during the recent cold snap.

The rear seats are in good shape too, and while they do fold down to form a useful luggage area, the ones in here look like they’ve been used to carry actual human beings as the hard plastic trim on the back of the front seats does show some scuffing, presumably from little feet as the front passenger seat shows some dimples from a child’s car seat.

There’s a delightful period CD holder in the centre console too, and the door cards, carpets, and dashboard are all terrific and very nearly as good now as they’ve ever been.

We think we’ve tested everything as well, and everything we’ve tried works including the recently refurbished air-conditioning system, the electric windows, and heated seats. In fact, the only fault we could find is the radio, which doesn’t seem to pick up any stations inside our unit.

The boot is home to the space-saver spare wheel, tool kit, compressor and a warning triangle. It could do with a hoover but looks good and solid otherwise.

Speaking of issues, we have noticed some wrinkling to the rear quarters of the headlining that we can see will need sorting out, if for no other reason than the rest of the interior is so good.

Other than that, work to do is practically zero. A fastidious owner might like to take a look at the wrinkling vinyl ahead of the Tiptronic gear-lever, and there is some very light scuffing around the interior door handles and the door-mounted Bose speakers, but other than the sort of scratches that the 996’s hard plastic trim tends to accumulate over the years, it all looks great to us.

Serviced regularly, the service history book has the following stamps in it:

• 13.05.2004 and 11,725 miles – service and brake fluid change by Porsche Centre Cardiff

• 22.09.2004 and 14,937 miles – service and brake fluid change by Porsche Centre Mid-Sussex

• 18.08.2005 and 20,318 13.05.2004 and 11,725 miles – service by Porsche Centre Mid-Sussex

• 23.08.2006 and 26,878 miles – service and brake fluid change by Porsche Centre Mid-Sussex

• 05.12.2008 and 38,639 13.05.2004 and 11,725 miles – service by Porsche Centre Hatfield

• 04.02.2010 and 41,928 miles – service and brake fluid change by Porsche Centre Hatfield

• 27.08.2011 and 47,399 miles – service by Cavalier Cars

• 05.01.2013 and 51,550 miles – service by Mercury Car Centre

• 21.10.2014 and 62,026 miles – service by JMG Porsche

• 16.12.2015 and 69,321 miles – service by Hughes Workshop

• 03.10.2016 and 70,880 miles – service by 911 Link

• 16.02.2018 and 77,053 miles – service plus new drive belts, a set of spark plugs, fresh gearbox and front differential oil, a change of brake fluid, a new ignition coil pack, a CV boot, and a full suspension alignment by Zuffenhaus at a cost of £965.

Further recent invoices include one dated the 23rd of August 2019 from Zuffenhaus, the independent Porsche specialist, for a passenger window regulator, an air-conditioning condenser, two air-con pipes and re-gas, and a front nearside CV boot. All-in-all, this bill came to more than a thousand pounds.

An earlier bill from November 2018 came to just over £700 for new ignition coil packs, rear brake sensors and pads, and a window regulator. It also looks like it had a new water pump in January 2019 and a set of four new Pirelli tyres in the same month. A new battery at some point in its recent past if we’re any judge of condition, too.

This is a very well fettled car, and it shows in the way it drives. As you can see and here in the video, it starts beautifully, ticks over evenly, and revs exquisitely. It shows good oil pressure too, which is always reassuring.

The owner has used it lightly but properly, seeing three-miles-a-minute on the speedometer at Elvington Airfield as a one-off lets-see-what-she’ll-do exercise. Mind you, given how much he’s spent on it in the three years, he’s entitled to see a return on his investment, eh?

On a more prosaic note, he tells us that it doesn’t have a single mechanical problem that he is aware of, which is further reassurance if you’ve got an itchy bidding finger…

The engine bay is purposeful rather than pretty but that’s okay because the flat-six engine is equally so. The underside looks to be strong and solid but could do with the underseal touching up in a few places.

Right, shall we get the bad news out of the way first? This beautiful example was a Category C write-off in 2016. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the RAC confirms that even “surprisingly lightly damaged cars can get written off under the Category C rules”, which seems to have been the case here as the vendor was told that the 911 was valued at £18,000 at the time, and the £12,000 estimate from a Porsche main dealer for a new inner and outer front wing, a door, bumper, and a headlight meant the insurer cut their losses and wrote it off. An independent Porsche specialist subsequently rebuilt it, and given we are told that there was no underlying structural damage, we can’t see its Cat C status being the big issue the Internet might have you believe…

The Porsche’s MOT certificate is valid until January 2022. It also has a number of expired MOT certificates plus a sheaf of invoices and bills to confirm the work that has been done to it over the years.

It also still has its original owner’s handbook, the well-stamped service history, its book pack, and the Porsche storage wallet to keep it all in.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very good standard.

The Porsche 996 might be the ginger stepchild of the modern classic world but if, like every sane enthusiast, you can look past the slightly awkward front end then you’re in for a real treat because they’re as brilliant to drive and own as every other iteration – and *whispers* better than some of the more obvious choices.

Wonderfully easy to potter around in, they do tend to make the air-cooled cars sound and feel somewhat agricultural - and yet, for all their practicality, the 996 runs with the best of ‘em being lithe and nimble and as powerful as any sensible driver needs. (With a verified 180mph+ on tap, may be politely suggest you invest in driver training before spending money on tuning bits if you find the performance lacking?)

Of course, this comes with the caveat that you must buy the right one. Beautifully maintained, the only drawback to this one is that Cat C status, something it - and the minor cosmetic flaws – have turned it into a wonderful driver’s car rather than an investment-grade museum piece.

And yet, even that might turn to your favour because it reduces the 996’s appeal still further; while we wouldn’t be put off by this - or the fact that it’s a 996 in the first place – the great unwashed are more easily swayed, which means it’s probably not going to sell for a fortune.

With this in mind, we think that this one, as beautifully presented and fettled as any we’ve seen, will sell for somewhere between £8,000 and £12,000, which is a tiny sum for such a versatile, reliable, and thrilling sports car.

Even better, the owner as agreed to trust you lot to bid what it’s worth, so he’s offering it up with no reserve, so it’ll sell from the very first bid.

And, because their time has yet to come, because it’s likely to be reasonably cheap we wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that you might do very well out of it in the medium to long-term…

Inspection is always encouraged, within Govt. guidelines of course, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.