LastMezger

Total them? I don't even KEEP them.

sml

haha .. well written 911Jetta!

Unkle

+1


@ sml
Some chuck figures around like its a badge of honor and it has scared me in the past, now I just think its not my only car, so I never need to worry.

Doug&Julie

Ironically, I'm a Designer. My wife is an accountant.

Metal Guru

Ok, so you've owned 13 Porsches and this one is the only one that's cost you anything substantial? What about the other 12?

Doug&Julie

Overall very reliable. My second Boxster required a new motor. But believe it or not I'm about to surpass that bill. And even then, the car was otherwise perfect and I got a lot of mileage and enjoyment out of it. Plus, when I went to sell it, the new motor actually did increase the value of the car. I paid for the 944 twice, but it took me five years to do it. The next worse car was the SC, but that was just a couple $K for a few fixes to get it running smoothly (WUR in the CIS, etc.). The '72 had some rust issues, but I was able to enjoy it and eventually sell it for what I put into it. All others required regular maintenance, but nothing substantial. The '73 was a damaged car that I parted out and even made money on. (..ok, sorta..)

I don't expect a Pcar to cost nothing. I have no problem with maintenance and upkeep. This 964 has just been particularly painful. I admit that I thought I knew what I was doing, but clearly these cars are very different than the earlier cars to which I'm more familiar. But I'm learning...

Frank 993 C4S

It's all relative and really nothing in comparison with the depreciation you'd experience on a new car. Don't ask how I know, just look at my sig.

So sorry to see what problems you had with the 964. You have to admit that given the condition of the car when you bought it, it was a gamble. I hope you get all of these things fixed and finally enjoy it. If it makes you feel better, a low mileage pristine example is probably less of a bet than what you took but things can go wrong too. In the first two years of ownership of my RSA (70k mile car) I only upgraded, never had anything to fix. In the fist 6 months of my 3.6turbo ownership (18k mile car) I spent the same amount of money just to fix things - frustrating!

race911

Only thing I can say is that this experience seems to be evidence that you don't buy bottom-of-the-market (for their year/model) 911s and send them over to a retail shop for repairs. When I bought RSA #2 to replace the wrecked race car, all I wanted was a clean-titled shell. It had 134K, paid $18K in '04. Now? It's got 140K, probably over half of that is on track. Engine's got a couple of wet spots, doesn't really leak. Been there since I bought it. I have not spent any money, other than oil changes, on repairs. (Don't count brake rotors and pads or tires, those are track consumables.) I'm not even sure if I adjusted the valves when I got the car; I was always of the mind that "I'll be converting it to a race car this spring/summer/fall/winter." And it still doesn't need anything "fixed," but I'm going to do it all so it's a better car to be sold than it is in its present form.

Metal Guru

Amen. DIY is the only way most of us can afford these cars.

etom

Put it this way: Would you rather buy a $20k 964 and spend $20k on it and perfect it, or $100k on a new one and watch it depreciate--perhaps even loose $20k in a couple of years? Which is the cooler car? Do the math.

Doug&Julie

I would have rather spent $12k on a car that needed less than $3k to make it right.
$15k < $20k.
$15k = top end of budget.
$20k > budget.

That's the math I'm dealing with now...

Doug&Julie

I'm in trouble....

Makmov

Ya just gotta do it brother. Especailly on a 964, you gotta be able to do at least some of the medium to minor stuff yourself or you will be bled dry.

Cost of ownership will go from $1-2K a year to well over $5K a year if you have a shop do it.

Not to say shops are dishonest but how are you really going to know if that $1000 repair really needs to be done and if it is really a $1000 repair if you don't do it yourself.

The clutch peddle pin, which was really just a bolt, snapped off and we were joking around how the PO would have had the car towed to the dealer and they would have undoubtedly had the clutch replace, the slave, and the master for about $6K before finding the real problem with the car, which costed me .67 (probably the cheapest Porsche part in the world) and a couple hours labor - free.

mike9186

I bought my 91 964 coupe in May and have done numerous DIY repairs and maintenance projects in the past 3 months and have loved every minute of it. Had I had a shop perform all these small repairs I would easily be in the $2-3k cost range.

I got into the car knowing full well I would be working on it myself and I would be learning and developing my mechanic skills. The support provided by this board is terrific. If you have the garage space and a basic set of tools I say go for it.

Doug&Julie

I'll try where I can, for sure. This is just an unfamiliar car to me. But then again there's no better way to get familiar!