Medevack1

I drive mine EVERYDAY!!!!!! I bought my car 19 months ago and I have put 35,000 miles IMO there is no reason to have such a beautiful, powerful car and keep it in the Garage. And not enjoy it?. If I die tomorrow I can honestly say.... I ENJOYED DRIVING MY DREAM CAR!!!!!!!

gnat

To some degree yes, but in general I disagree with your premise.

When something does need to be done, yes it is more expensive simply because of the gold shield on the frunk, but it doesn't have to see any more maintenance than any other car and actually needs far less than the majority of cars in it's class.

Unless you are piling on 40k of stop and go traffic a year this is still going to be a 3-4 year maintenance at worst if you go on the low end of reported clutch life at 40k.

True if you rarely drive the car and don't keep it for a long time you wouldn't have to do the clutch at all, but $3k for 40k miles of fun? $0.075/mile doesn't sound too terrible to me and the $0.04ish/mile difference of milking 80k out if it doesn't seem like an incentive to baby the clutch to me

No they won't. They wear at the same rate. What you will do, however, is actually need to change them due to wear vs age. Personally I can stomach $1-2k every 10-20k much better than $1-2k every 5k and then have to change them after 3 years due to the rubber hardening and/or starting to rot.

As I opined in an earlier comment, there will be an uptick in maintenance during the initial period of going from a play thing to a DD, but after it settles down very little is needed.

These cars like to be driven and the best maintenance plan for them is to actually drive them.

It also, I think, greatly depends on what is a great unknown for most owners. What happened in it's early life? That more than anything will decide what the future holds for it and no amount of maintenance records tells the full story (e.g. it's great you see that they took it in for every little thing and you have a stack of paper work a mile high, but what it doesn't tell you is they regularly red lined it on a cold motor).

Not the best fuel economy? What are you comparing it to? It's a high performance sports car from the end of the 90s putting out 300hp and capable of amazing things around corners. 18mpg is pretty damn good for what it does and compared to it's contemporaries in my book. It also depends on how you drive it. I get 14mpg out of ours, but my wife can do 21mpg. There are also plenty of reports of people getting low to mid 20s. Not bad at all.

It's no Prius, but somehow I think you're getting a fair trade for the MPG difference. Additionally the cost in acquiring a better MPG car when you already have a 996 in your possession vastly outweighs any gas savings due to better fuel efficiency.

This I agree with

Chiamac

My clutch is starting to show signs of going out and that's after 1 season and having fun with it's power when I can...

Reading online, and my experence, is that heavy stop and go on the roads and city driving can drop that 40k down to around 25k.

Tires and gas don't seem to be doing anything un-usual, other than I get around 16-17mpg on average.

Not a complaint as that's the price of admission to own one and drive it to work, but it is an added expense. Although, on the flip side, the 98 Jeep Cherokee cost us around $1500 this year and it's at about $1000 per year or so, give or take, on average.

Chiamac

ma2399

Exactly! That's like having a hot wife, gf, husband, boyfriend, etc and never

The winter months are the best people. Unless you get enough rain for a jetski, what else would you rather be riding in?

Longnose

I work as a project manager on civil construction projects, so I drove a pick-up for decades. Finally got sick of lusting after Porsche cars when the drove past me on the freeway and traded in the 2012 Toyota Tundra with 5.7 V8 for a 2002 C4S I found with 50,000 Km on it. Here is what I have found:

1. Fuel economy - Porsche way better than the Tundra. I save $200 per month on fuel!!!
2. My commute never bothers me. Traffic, no traffic, the wife has commented that I alwayse walk in the door with a smile on my face after driving home in my C4S. I used to be miserable after a long commute.
3. Resale value - When a made the trade, both were around the same $$. Now, despite having put 50K on her in 2 years, the C4S is worth more than my Tundra would have been.
4. Maintenance - Porsche definately costs more. I do my own oil every 6K, but I have dropped about 4K in maintenance over 2 years. Primarily changing the clutch, RMS and IMS. Have also had to change both radiators, another weak point in the C4S no one tells you about.
5. Tires - Porsche definately costs more. Tundra ran all seasons, and were rock hard and lasted for 80K kms. Now, I have to swap between summer and winters, so just dropped $1,500 on winters, and had had to put on new Michelin Pilots in the sumer, that cost another $1,500 K. Plan about 30K per set of summer tires. Also, no rotation because sizes are staggered, so no way to extend the life. Just have to live with it. This has been a source of greif from my wife.
6. Speeding Tickets - Ironically, I got more in the Tundra than the Porshe so far. Maybe because I hated driving the slug pick-up all the time I drove like a dick...
7. Other People - Big surprise how other people react. Haters are gonna hate I guess, and you have your fair share when you show up in a Porsche. I actually turned down a job offer because they didn't want me to drive my Porsche to a job site. If people hate me because I drive a Porsche, that's their issue. My current boss supports me 100%, says "that's how we roll". In this day and age, shouldn't matter, but it still does to many.
8. Wear & tear - These cars are worth a lot of money for a reason. Materials and workmanship are way above the average car. You still get some rock chips, cracked my windsheild on the FIRST day I drove to work. But, compared to other cars I have driven, the wear and tear does not show as much. The front of my Tundra had way more rock chips after 2 years than the C4, and I drive them both the same.
9. Family Trips - thats a no go. I have two teenagers, and we need a SUV for all our trips. This has required a larger overall investment in auto's, since I need to pay for a nice SUV for the family (Volvo XC90). Also, need the SUV for things I would have used the PU for, but now my wife has to drive the big vehicle, not me.


I used to trade my pick-ups in every chance I could get, so over years have lost a lot on depreciation. I plan to drive my C4S as long as I can. And when this one dies, I hope my circumstances alow me to get another. Overall, I am very happy with my decision to use the Porsche as a daily driver.

Valkuri

Drove a 928 as a DD. Even in snow (don't).
Then a 964; 993 C2; 996 C4S, and current 2nd 996 C4S.

More expensive than driving an SUV as the DD? Yes.
Less storage/transport space? Yes.
Tiresome working the clutch in stop 'n go traffic? Uh huh.
Anyone ever lie on their deathbed and say, "I should've driven a more sensible car to work"? Doubtful.

Do it. Either you'll enjoy the experience, or after a year or two get it out of your system and have no regrets going back to the truck (personally, I flip between the 996 and my Land Rover). Enjoy.

white out

All of my 996s have been daily drivers. They are quite versatile and fun to drive for the daily grind.

kpl

I'm at ~137K mi now and here's everything that I've ever done to my 4S. Other than going through 2 sets of strut mounts and tires faster due to all the autocrossing I do, it should be pretty representative of what to expect.

MiamiC70

DD 5+ years and 50,000 miles

jdjones2010

996 is your DREAM Car You Don't Have High Expectations do you

NickHolloman

Been daily driving for a few months and 8k miles. So far I need a rear main seal, a clutch, a new door pouch cover, one of the cupholders, a new sunroof button, possibly an AOS, probably a coil or two, a new windshield wiper bottle, and the list goes on.

That said, I love driving it everyday.

DoninDen

Sounds like you're just getting her sorted out! Other than tires, I'm betting your maintenance will be a lot more manageable going forward. I had a 997 that I drove in every non snowy day and the tires are my lunch. I now have a 993TT and the tires are relatively very inexpensive. But the values have gone up so much, I'm not as comfortable driving it like I used to. It has 80,000 miles, so it's no neglected garage queen.

I just bought a 81 911SC for my daily, so I'll be going down the learning curve of a daily with significantly less power and creature features, but more of a raw roadster feel and more useable power band.

Do you guys recommend swapping the IMS on the 996 for peace of mind?

Water Hound

Why wouldn't it be his dream car? It's absolutely my dream too! I love the lines on my '04 cab, loved the price, love the power, love the handling, love the sound and can drive it worry free every day! If that's not livin' the dream I don't know what is.

Perhaps you're a car snob who thinks that a dream car has to be built of unobtanium, require obscene amounts of upkeep and be virtually immoral to drive more than a few k a year. That sounds like a bad dream to me.

Also, please don't confuse an "investment car" with a dream car.

When you find a good one, the Porsche 996 is the epitome of a dream car in my books.

kstarr719

My friends thought I was crazy when I traded in the family Infiniti monster SUV for an '03 C2 Cab, gave my wife my Daytona Edition S3, and took the Porsche as my DD. This is in the Mid-Atlantic region.

A set of rims/snow tires (not very useful with this weather), brake bleeding, 4-wheel alignment, new headlight bulbs, and a really good, trust-worthy Indy, and I feel very comfortable. As a side-note, I decided to make an investment and PM the IMS with the LN Solution. Whatever, I fell victim to the IMS fever.

This is my first Porsche, it's not an investment, and I love the "S" out of it. DD all the way.