For some reason I’ve been really itching for a Porsche 911 of late. I’ve done all the scenarios in my head from a G-body all the way up to an early 997.1. Naturally the most cost effective way to get into a 911 is a 996.1, but given their less-than-beautiful looks and dreaded IMS issues that the internet compares to a same amount of severity as a tsunami, it might not be the most enjoyable car to buy. However, bump the budget up another $10,000 and you can slide right into 996 Turbo looks without 996 Turbo cost or of course, power. The C4S in my opinion is a great looking car given what you want to work with on the 996 body, and I love they went with a heckblende across the rear like generations past. Today’s car, a 2004 C4S up for sale in Washington state, is painted in the always nice Guards Red and even has a handful of nice little options on the inside.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S on eBay
Year: 2004
Model: 911 Carrera 4S
VIN: 133114125724
Engine: 3.6 liter flat-6
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Mileage: 87,789 mi
Price: $33,950 Buy It Now
2004 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S
$94,054 Original MSRP with $14,180 in Factory Options
Optional Sport Shifter
Optional Sport Exhaust System
San Diego, CA car since new
Factory Options:
Bose High-End Sound Package
Xenon Headlamp Package
Savanna Beige Full Leather
Sport Exhaust System
Sport Shifter
Instrument Dials Colored
Heated Front Seats
Lumbar Support-Left Seat
Guards Red Top
Alum/Lthr Shifter/Brake Handle
Savanna Beige Floor Mats
Porsche Crest in Headrest
Seat Belts – Guards Red
Custom Tailoring
Stitch F/R Seats – Dev. Color
Door & Dash Stitch – Dev Color
Additional Info:
320hp/273lb-ft 3.6L 6-Cylinder Engine
6-Speed Manual Trans
Clean CarFax Report
Standard Equipment:
All-Wheel Drive
Porsche Stability Management (PSM)
Sport Front Seats
8-Way Power Front Seats
Power/Heated Mirrors
Leather Steering Wheel
Stability Control
For more information on this 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S or any of our 100+ High-Performance, Exotic and Special Interest cars always in stock, contact one of our friendly and knowledgeable sales consultants or always feel free to drop by our 40,000+ sq ft of Indoor Showrooms in Bellevue, WA – Home of an Exciting Inventory of Luxury, Exotic, High Performance and Collectible Automobiles. With 200+ Always On Site, Nobody Has What We Have!
Would this be my first choice of color combo? Probably not. The Guards Red is nice, but Savanna Beige full leather is an absolute mountain of beige. Does it work? I suppose, but I couldn’t imagine plopping down $95,000 for this when new. I personally love green or blue in this car with a black interior, but beggars can’t be choosers. The red seat belts and Porsche crests in the headrests are fun options, but matching Guards Red gauges are questionable considering the needles are orange. Not a problem at night, but day time viewing might take a little longer than you are used to. I think the biggest fault I can find with the C4S, and this is 100% unique to my situation, is that it isn’t all that fast. The 3.6L flat-six produced 315 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque when new, which is tough to compare to my 350 horsepower and 395 lb-ft of torque 19 year-old E55 AMG. I certainly know it isn’t all about power, but losing well over 100 lb-ft of torque is a tough pill to swallow.
The price of $34,000 isn’t bad, but I think there are better deals to be had. You can pick one of these up all day for under $30,000 and even some really nice ones with lower miles and the IMS service done aren’t bringing much more than that. Heck, another $10,000 puts you square into Turbo cars without question, so you have to wonder on this one. I could maybe see if this car had half the miles, but it is creeping towards 90,000. While a cool example, save your pennies for another year and go Turbo. That’d be my plan.
– Andrew
These certainly can be had for seemingly relative bargains these days. Even the most casual buyer knows to look for the IMS condition perhaps an even more insidious problem may lurk.
I have an engineer friend who had some semi serious, or so he thought, running issues on his 996.
Being very hands on, and having free time aplenty, he took a well known engine rebuilding class and dug in. He basically found that his engine had started to oval bores 6 and 5.
After successfully rebuilding his car he thought he would buy another with a “bad engine” as a project. He subsequently found the project car to have the same problem with oval cylinders except that the owner did not diagnose or get to it in time and ruined the engine. In the subsequent search for a replacement engine he asked suppliers to boroscope cyls 5&6 and found more than one that he wouldn’t buy because they showed the same wall scoring and precursor to going oval.
Folks may be correctly looking to see that a +-$2,000 IMS was done while unknowingly walking into a $15K+ engine job! Today I would not buy one of these models to day without paying to check the internals.
It’s not so much the beige, it’s the post-90s MONOTONE. Inexplicable.
I think this one looks a-o-k, but to each their own. In fact, my 911 has a tan interior. My wife says my car is like being inside a camel, but I can’t stand all black interiors. I remember Car and Driver once described the interior of an all-black 90s VW as a “teutonic coal bin” – no thanks.
Crack pipe pricing. Typical for that dealer.
I’ve been scouting these C4S’s a bit this days, going back and forth between spending a bit more for the Turbo. This one is definitely overpriced, with too many miles and no IMS upgrade. Like the other comment said, this is very typical for this dealer. I don’t mind beige/tan interiors, for me, much better than black and more so, maintaining it because you see EVERYTHING little piece of dust,dirt, hair, etc. in dark interiors. Having said that, Porsche went a bit overkill on this tan and this “camel” color is a bit much to take it, particularly when almost EVERYTHING is “camel” colored. Because of this, I’ve often wondered why Porsche didn’t put a black steering wheel (and other design contrasting tidbits) to give a more interesting interior to live in, after all, you see the interior a hell of a lot more than the exterior. Some of these came with the tunnel and back of seats body colored, which helps, cuz, man, all these 996 models can be very monochromatic. Beyond these concerns, I think this would be a great next car to replace my 2001 Audi A6 4.2 “widebody”, to use as a daily driver here in 4 seasons Idaho.