Porsche Owners Thread - If you own one or just like or hate them! :)

Isn't the whole purpose of the inspection to get an idea of the cars condition, existing problems and near and distant issues? I'm not sure the car 'fails' as such.

Or that's how i read the last Hartech report for a 994 turbo quite a few years ago.

Without a nice stash of money set aside for engine issues i can't see this ending well.
 
I think the point is a that it will not pass the 111 point check but he will pay 200 to have a full list of what is wrong with the car and then can decide if he wants it or not.

But buying a 10k 911 is mad in my view. It could cost 5k per year to keep running.
 
SoliD said:
This will come up with probably something in every category. If you can't afford 5k bill then walk away, Porsches are not cheap cars to own.
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Firestar_3x said:
Isn't the whole purpose of the inspection to get an idea of the cars condition, existing problems and near and distant issues? I'm not sure the car 'fails' as such.

Or that's how i read the last Hartech report for a 994 turbo quite a few years ago.

Without a nice stash of money set aside for engine issues i can't see this ending well.
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You are misunderstanding me - I'm not going to buy a car knowing the engine is going to fail. If it is rated as ok then i'll take my chances. I know what to look out for. I have money set aside however I want it to last me a year, not a month. I understand Porsches are not cheap cars to own hence why I'm taking precautions. I have the money, run it for a year, then sell it and I shouldn't lose any money and it's something to scrub off the bucket list.
 
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helpimcrap said:
You are misunderstanding me - I'm not going to buy a car knowing the engine is going to fail. If it is rated as ok then i'll take my chances. I know what to look out for. I have money set aside however I want it to last me a year, not a month. I understand Porsches are not cheap cars to own hence why I'm taking precautions. I have the money, run it for a year, then sell it and I shouldn't lose any money and it's something to scrub off the bucket list.
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Well I hope it goes well for you. The car will probably need some work doing on it when it is being sold for this sort of money. The engines are always the obvious worry, however other things like suspension, steering and rust (especially on 996 and 997 911s) really do add up if there are issues that need sorting. Just make sure you are going in with your eyes open.

The other posters in this thread are correct however, Porsches are expensive cars to keep on the road. Take my 1990 944 S2 for example. This in one of the "cheaper" Porsches to own and run and it has cost me £2k a year in maintenance.
 
It's Porsche, they'll easily fail a £10k 16 year old 911 on tons and you'll be left in the awkward position of spending thousands to fix it and get it up to Porsche standard for the warranty or leaving it and risking repairs.

For £10k I'd have got a nice 987 Boxster S.
 
From the opposite end of the scale, ive had my 996 turbo for 2.5 years and average consumables are about £1000 a year and thats being generous so not that bad with 8,000 miles a year use. Just because its a porsche doesn't mean its that expensive to run.
 
theone8181 said:
snip.
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Thank you for that. I did my research on it and asked on a few Porsche forums. They all said budget on £1k a year which surprised me because that's not much than what a BMW or Audi would cost.
I was looking at Maserati but was put off by the fact they use Ferrari parts, however you can use lancia parts to do the same job and same part number.
Porsche just seem 'more'. As the car is a cat C it should have been repaired to same standard but I'll pay £230 out to make sure. I can afford to lose £230 but not £10k.
My current car is a cat C, been faultless for 7 years. Few niggles but got it lot cheaper than it should have been. My last motorbike was cat C also. After doing it up I got back twice what it was worth from insurance without argument.
 
theone8181 said:
From the opposite end of the scale, ive had my 996 turbo for 2.5 years and average consumables are about £1000 a year and thats being generous so not that bad with 8,000 miles a year use. Just because its a porsche doesn't mean its that expensive to run.
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The turbo is a very different ownership prospect than an NA 996, not least because it runs the uber reliable mezger lump whereas the NA runs the troublesome m96 engine.

I know the 996 now incredibly well, mine is a 1999 car, so a similar age 996 and has had some 18k on it in 3 years of ownership (not including buying costs). In fact here is a little snip of invoices, just for parts, not including servicing or invoices relating to engine rebuilds in the last 18 months, just to be clear these are Ad-hoc items that have gone wrong:



The list of items I have replaced is mental and most of them age related and guess what? It's in my garage in parts again waiting for more parts to fix a slight oil leak from the variocam solenoids.

Knowing what I know would I buy another 15k 996? Nope! But I will be in the market after I get married in November and am considering doing something mental with a cheap 996 :).
 
An OPC will happily rinse you of 200notes, and hand you a list of work that they can perform.

It's win\win for them.

As Dr said, it's not always about pass\fail. It's about going into it with your eyes open. Some of the items you can fail on are frankly irrelevant if you can't get an OPC backed warranty anyway.
 
Skiddley said:
An OPC will happily rinse you of 200notes, and hand you a list of work that they can perform.
It's win\win for them.
As Dr said, it's not always about pass\fail. It's about going into it with your eyes open. Some of the items you can fail on are frankly irrelevant if you can't get an OPC backed warranty anyway.
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That I don't mind, as it's peace of mind. I can deal with faults and quirks.

I agree about going into with your eyes open. I've rebuilt cars and motorbikes so I have a more mechanical understanding than most but even so I'd rather somebody give me worst case. :)
 
helpimcrap said:
That I don't mind, as it's peace of mind. I can deal with faults and quirks.

I agree about going into with your eyes open. I've rebuilt cars and motorbikes so I have a more mechanical understanding than most but even so I'd rather somebody give me worst case. :)
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Absolutely.
 
[RXP]Andy;29353748 said:
If the engine needs a rebuild you'll be looking around 10K or so. If you're any where near Hartech, id recomend getting them to look at the car.
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Nowhere near but thanks for the recommendation. The other reason I want it checked by Porsche is the history - as it's a cat C the insurance took receipts etc and apparently it's had a good history so I want it checked out.
 
helpimcrap said:
Nowhere near but thanks for the recommendation. The other reason I want it checked by Porsche is the history - as it's a cat C the insurance took receipts etc and apparently it's had a good history so I want it checked out.
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You are a braver man than me. A 17 year old Cat C 911 with 100k+ on the clock is a mental ownership prospect, bear in mind mine hasn't reached 80k yet and the work it has had.

BTW be extra vigilant of cracked heads, these will not show up in a 111 point check and can be hidden for a good few months until you start noticing an intermix. I would also say this is a relatively common problem (more so than bores and IMS) which doesn't effect the running of the car, pay close attention to the coolant hoses and if they are at all swollen then walk away. When I posted about my car on 911uk.com I had a plethora of phone calls and messages from 996 owners that had been there and fixed the problem.

I would give a list of things to check but the 111point check will cover most of them I am sure.
 
Vince raises a good point, that an OPC check may give you a false sense of security.

I had one done on mine back in the day, but after 10 years of ownership, I could probably do a better job myself.
 
I understand what you are saying which is why I'll be checking the header tank for a film of oil etc. It's not a definite belief - it's more of a back up of what I'm looking at.
 
I should also mention that i owned a 1999 c2 996 for 4 years, that cost me a similar amount while doing the same mileage. On my C2 i had the m030 kit fitted (£600) and the clutch/flywheel changed (£1000) i think that was the 2 biggest bills, actually when i got it i had to have all the coffin arms changed as they had de laminated (1400), worth noting that i had it ppi'ed and they missed this. Its certain things that get you tho, on my current car not long after i got it i had to get the rads and condensers changed. It was £1400 but they will last another 10 years.
 
Honestly I think when 140k 17 year old Cat C examples are the only ones you can find in budget, the message is 'This is probably not the right choice'.
 
[TW]Fox;29354337 said:
Honestly I think when 140k 17 year old Cat C examples are the only ones you can find in budget, the message is 'This is probably not the right choice'.
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Sound advice, advice I probably should have taken and believe me there were similar comments when I was buying. I am curious to see what Porsche come back with, surely it will make very grim reading.

Helpimcrap can you post the report on here when you get it? Really intrigued.
 
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