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

Buying a Porsche is probably one of the most difficult car purchases I have encountered. There is such little choice on the second hand market used approved or otherwise in the £20-30k budget.

A Boxster S, 2010ish, in a non boring colour (not white, black or silver), with a good spec and manual, is proving very difficult to find.

Lots of £40-50K stock floating around, but very little further down the chain. Makes you realise how few cars Porsche sell in comparison to shopping for other makes of car second hand where its a complete buyers choice.
 
Voxination said:
Got to give a big shoutout to Neil Haddow and the team at Porsche East London.

My 991 started making a horrible knocking noise over speedbumps so I had a feeling something in the suspension might be playing silly buggers. Booked it in to Porsche and took the tech on a road test, he thought it might be stones in the ARB so said he'd take a look and let me know whilst I was there. No such luck with them there, but he said my undertray is filled with stones and mud so he's not ruling out that as the issue just yet, but that I would need to leave my car with them for a couple of days (this was a Saturday). No bother, left it with them with the aim to collect at the next weekend, but get a phonecall on Monday to say that they've cleaned out all the stones and the noise has gone, which is a result and I'm welcome to collect that night. Told him I had forgotten to mention it, but my electric window controls had also gone a bit funny (no one-touch, can't control the passenger window from the drivers controls but works fine from the key), Neil said leave it with him and he'll take a look.

Phoned back the next day, electric windows all fixed, and another test drive done to confirm that the knocking noise is definitely gone. Asked what my bill was and was told "we spent around an hour on the job but being honest sir, I don't have the cheek to charge you to clean out your undertray. Consider this one on us". Dropped by after work to collect it, had a quick chat with Neil and then jumped in my freshly valeted car for the drive home happy as larry at not paying a penny!

The level of customer service is amazing, I walk in to the dealership to ask about anything/get any work done, and straight away they're polite and treat me seriously despite going in there as a 23 year old in shorts and a t shirt with a mate in tow. They're strategy has clearly worked, as now I'm finding it hard to justify leaving the brand for whatever I buy next.
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Good to hear! They're probably worried that your Dad's going to come and tell them off if they charge you ;)
 
hurfdurf said:
A Boxster S, 2010ish, in a non boring colour (not white, black or silver), with a good spec and manual, is proving very difficult to find.

Lots of £40-50K stock floating around, but very little further down the chain. Makes you realise how few cars Porsche sell in comparison to shopping for other makes of car second hand where its a complete buyers choice.
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Don't forget that 2009/2010 everyone was still reeling from the financial crisis so buying a new Porsche was probably not up there on many peoples priorities. There seems to be lots more choice both before and after so there was probably just a slump in sales. Not at all helpful when looking now.
 
olv said:
Don't forget that 2009/2010 everyone was still reeling from the financial crisis so buying a new Porsche was probably not up there on many peoples priorities. There seems to be lots more choice both before and after so there was probably just a slump in sales. Not at all helpful when looking now.
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I hadn't thought of that, good point!
 
Anbody got any thoughts on a 40k 996 Turbo? Still wanting to scratch my porsche itch, and now have the funds to buy a toy, rather than a daily. Looking at a manual coupe. Prices appear completely irrational, with 30k being bottom of the market, up to 70! for a low miler x50/s. Would 100k mileage put anybody off completely?

Anything else I should consider??? i.e. similar performance, distinctive looks and lack of depreciation?
 
These are getting on a bit now and prices have gone completely crazy. If you want a 911 and have eyes for nothing but the 996 and must spend £40k then you should have course get a turbo. They're fantastic cars and look stunning, but will need a lot of looking after to keep them as Porsche intended.

If you want the best 911 for your £40k I would personally look at a 997.2. I know it's not a turbo but it's nearly 10 years newer and there's a lot more choice around. Before the prices went completely mad I was after a 996 C4S. When I was actually in the position to buy it seemed ludicrous not to go for a 997 for pretty much the same money. 3 years ago I'd be singing from a different hymn sheet and probably driving a 996 turbo!

If it's a toy then it doesn't really matter what you go for in the end I guess.
 
why is buying a porsche so damn difficult lol. Getting a good combo of price, mileage, model, options, colours etc lol is crazy!

40k only just gets into gen2 territory, which if it was a daily then would be the way to go. As a toy, id expect a 997 to depreciate quite a bit over the next 5 years which would just **** me off as a toy - id put up with it as a daily. Also, as a toy I dont care at all about interior gadgets like nav and radio etc, but for a daily it would have to be a 991 I think.

The cooking carrera 996 doesnt do anything for me. I like the look of the 4S, but the prices of these are going crazy and its not like there is more performance - and still has the IMS issues etc. 997.1 is a possibility, but would have to be something special..... i.e. something nicely modded maybe, and more like 30k max.
 
Had my GT4 a year now, and took it in for its annual service last week. No issues to report thus far at 8200 miles. Surprisingly, I'm even on the original set of tyres, which given they're essentially track tyres isn't bad going.

As it stands, I'd say it's the single best car I've ever owned, and really can't fault it. Would I like the gearing to be a shade shorter? Yes, but it doesn't really detract from the experience. I've signed an order sheet for the new one for when it's announced, but we'll have to see how that turns out as to whether or not I make the change. Pretty happy that values are still very strong too, as my local dealer offered me MSRP for the car to buy it back, and I was offered the same when I was mulling over the idea of getting an M2 instead (but I came to my senses, despite it being a very impressive car).
 
GT4>M2 any day of the week!

The GT4 is the only other car I've eyed up in the Porsche lineup, I feel the regular 911's and Cayman are not enough for me, though brilliant I want something with a bit of extra flare, so GT3 all day long with PDK. Turbo too boring and though I love everything about the GT4 and don't slap me but I'd want a PDK version as it would become my daily car. Plus the values in the UK seem to be flattening, so now could be a bad time to drop 90k on a GT4.

Hence just ordered the MY18 Mustang, was looking at R8 V10's but kind of got put off from Housey's experience of reliability and the terrible dealer network. I'll just stick with yank tank for now and keep the M3 for corners. :D
 
mikeh501 said:
why is buying a porsche so damn difficult lol. Getting a good combo of price, mileage, model, options, colours etc lol is crazy!

40k only just gets into gen2 territory, which if it was a daily then would be the way to go. As a toy, id expect a 997 to depreciate quite a bit over the next 5 years which would just **** me off as a toy - id put up with it as a daily. Also, as a toy I dont care at all about interior gadgets like nav and radio etc, but for a daily it would have to be a 991 I think.

The cooking carrera 996 doesnt do anything for me. I like the look of the 4S, but the prices of these are going crazy and its not like there is more performance - and still has the IMS issues etc. 997.1 is a possibility, but would have to be something special..... i.e. something nicely modded maybe, and more like 30k max.
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I got totally obsessed! The only problem is actually deciding what you want in the car and being patient until the right one comes along. A lot of people put a deposit down over the phone subject to pre purchase inspection. Not all the options are absolutely necessary and waiting for one with the exact spec that you want could take you a very long time.

Remember that >2006 Gen 1 cars have an updated IMS.

£40k should easily get you a Gen 2, perhaps it's just the summer sports car bubble affecting things at the moment. If depreciation is your worry I think a keenly priced low mileage Gen 1 will have the slowest depreciation (and be cheaper to buy). At this price point you're into slightly higher mileage Gen 2 cars which, depending on your intended use, might not hold their value quite as well as the mileage ticks on.

A 996 turbo is a much more special car but they'll never reach the heights of a 993 turbo for example.

At least you can be safe in the knowledge that you'll get a nice 911 for £40k - you just need to decide which one you really like. If it's a toy and you're keen to spend cash making it your own then a 996 turbo would be awesome. There are a lot of options if you decide to tune the car too and it's the cheapest way to get a Mezger engine currently!
 
mikeh501 said:
Anbody got any thoughts on a 40k 996 Turbo? Still wanting to scratch my porsche itch, and now have the funds to buy a toy, rather than a daily. Looking at a manual coupe. Prices appear completely irrational, with 30k being bottom of the market, up to 70! for a low miler x50/s. Would 100k mileage put anybody off completely?

Anything else I should consider??? i.e. similar performance, distinctive looks and lack of depreciation?
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I've sent you a pm. But for anyone else interested I'll be listing my 103,000 996 turbo for the (hopefully reasonable) price of 37.5k with a set of winter wheels/tyres. I have kept on top of the maintaince and the old girl has never let me down. Just need a bigger car so I'm going to sidegrade to an m4. I don't think there's a lot out there that's 400hp + and is less than 40k (talking about 996 turbos in general here not just mine) that can tick all the boxes that a 911 does. For me personally I've got my 2 kids in it and my wife and it's only longer journeys that are difficult due to lack of space.
 
I've also been looking at 997s... would it be mad to buy a 997.1 for £25-30k? All the decent 997.2s are such a big jump over the .1, no doubt because of the horror stories you hear about the Gen 1.

But then I have read elsewhere that bore scoring only affects about 5% of cars, and most adverts don't even mention the seller ever having checked for these issues on the first place when they bought it, which makes me wonder if it's as well known as you would think reading forums online where every time somebody mentions a 997.1 everyone warns the poster off it :p
 
chanjy said:
I've also been looking at 997s... would it be mad to buy a 997.1 for £25-30k? All the decent 997.2s are such a big jump over the .1, no doubt because of the horror stories you hear about the Gen 1.

But then I have read elsewhere that bore scoring only affects about 5% of cars, and most adverts don't even mention the seller ever having checked for these issues on the first place when they bought it, which makes me wonder if it's as well known as you would think reading forums online where every time somebody mentions a 997.1 everyone warns the poster off it :p
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Just buy with your eyes open, i.e. right price, look out for hartech rebuilds etc, and keep a provision fund for a possible repair. I think 997s will continue slowly down in value to 996 values. There was more produced which is a big indicator.
 
chanjy said:
I've also been looking at 997s... would it be mad to buy a 997.1 for £25-30k? All the decent 997.2s are such a big jump over the .1, no doubt because of the horror stories you hear about the Gen 1.

But then I have read elsewhere that bore scoring only affects about 5% of cars, and most adverts don't even mention the seller ever having checked for these issues on the first place when they bought it, which makes me wonder if it's as well known as you would think reading forums online where every time somebody mentions a 997.1 everyone warns the poster off it :p
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Not totally mad to buy one, get a pre purchase inspection done and make sure they check the cylinder bores. Still a lot of car for the money and mine puts a smile on my face every time I get in it. If you had the cash, a Gen 2 car would be the one to go for, but for the price difference you'd get an engine rebuild and still have some money left over. To find an equal spec to mine in a Gen 2 would have been £45k considering the low mileage of my car (£40k for a non-S). This made up my mind and it came away with a clean bill of health from the inspection. If you buy a clean one with nice clean bores which has been looked after, there's no reason why it should be any more troublesome than another 10 year old high performance car. The pre purchase inspection might seem overkill but if it's all good then you can drive around with a big smile. If it's bad news you can leave counting yourself lucky that you've saved a large bill in the future.
 
mikeh501 said:
Just buy with your eyes open, i.e. right price, look out for hartech rebuilds etc, and keep a provision fund for a possible repair. I think 997s will continue slowly down in value to 996 values. There was more produced which is a big indicator.
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The 997 will always be worth more than the 996 as they're newer (and better!). The GT cars will always be on a different scale of course. The demand for mint 996's and the fact that they're increasing in value is partly because the really ratty bottom end 996's are probably being scrapped or broken for parts rather than being refurbished. This means less on the road and increasing difficulty in finding a good original one. Also they've been seriously undervalued for a while I think. A 996 turbo at 25k a few years ago was awesome value. Now even the 996 C4S is rocketing.
 
Who knows eh, just when you do some searching a "decent" 996 can nearly get you into a bottom of the market 997, and once you get to 20k there are many 997's. I still think we will see 997 carrera values decreasing slowly over the next few years before they bottom out, maybe not for those already nudging 15-20k, but those at 35-40 cant continue at those prices, as 991's continue to come down into the 40's. Obviously GT cars, specials, nicely optioned, and turbo cars are all a different case.
 
Can anyone tell me what the difference on 997's (specifically gen II's) what the difference is between sport button and PASM button you don't seem to get both (not sure if that's correct) is sport basically PASM combined with the chrono?
 
PASM is active suspension
Sport comes on all cars as far as i know
"Sport Plus" button is sport chrono

PASM & Sport Chrono would come with both buttons.
 
I've been messing about with my new camera and mic, so made a quick video on how loud the PSE can be. I do want to do a complete review of it when I get some more time and a Zhiyun Crane as its been on my list of things to do.


I do want to do a complete review of it when I get some more time and a Zhiyun Crane.

Also gave the car a good scrub and proper detail today, as its been months since i've been able to get it done.

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