John McM

While back in NZ for two weeks, I looked at selling my car. In the end, 1,200 miles of trouble free cruising with four in the car [yes four people] convinced me to keep it, as it isn't completely impractical to use when visiting home for the two or so years remaining on my expat contract.

Anyway, during conversations with interested buyers, it became obvious that its mileage was a factor, mainly the fact that it has 96,000 km on the clock and will soon reach the magical 100,000 mark. Now in miles that's about 59,000. Logic suggests that a Porsche has an awful lot more mileage than that in it before it causes problems and at an average of 4.5k per year I could possibly be pushing up daisies when it's used up [assuming it can reach SC mileage!].

What mileage does your car have and if it's over 60,000, what, if any, wear problems have you encountered?

FWIW: I ask not from the point of convincing buyers, but for personal interest, as I now plan to keep the car for a considerable period and would like to know what if anything to have looked at while it can be addressed during the storage period, as this will be my daily driver upon repatriation.

911addict

John,
I'm of the opinion its not the mileage (mines also 60,000 miles) its how well the car's been looked after.

My own decision is that with a car as special as the 965, it's worth repairing, updating as necessary as you go along. There's not much else which gives as much sense of 'occasion' for the bucks, even with the repair bills.

Also having sold my 2 previous 911's it didn't take long at all, before I regretted it, and had to buy another one. And every time you have to spend again on making good, leading me to think I should have kept the previous one! Therefore I'm not gonna sell mine (and if you've read my other posts about my repairs so far, you'll see the temptation).

You know it makes sense. if you've a good'un, don't let go.

ralt

I have 106.000 miles on my 91. I have replaced rear wheel bearings, fan bearing and the original clutch which was shot at about 95.000 miles, front rotors. Oil thermostat failed and had to be rebuilt. That is all.

JBH

The car is 15 years old now - I would say there are a lot of things you could do, that perhaps, are not forced on you. Without being a required repair, I replaced clutch/PP/TOB. syncros, shocks, springs, turbo, wastegate, rubber pieces, rear tailights and center reflector. Things I have replaced (at least once) due to wear or failure:
* oil thermostat
* rear air blower
* oil lines
* fan bearing
* auxillary air valve
* some oil seals
* battery
* rotors
* pads
* brake fluid
* 2 rear wheels (bent both)
* filters

My car turned 80,000 miles at the track last weekend.

Miguel

John, 100,000 miles in my 91 965...I have it for 2/3 months ( more or less the same time that Mark 's ). I haven't had to make anything around the car , firstly because I have a one year bumper to bumper warranty ( and want, therefore, every problem to show itself ), secondly because there is only one lag issue that agravates me, nothing else.
Allthough, I would ad, that even without problems, it feels "older" than my 90 000 miles, 93 C4.

Cheers
Miguel

John McM

So far so good. No stories of top-end rebuilds, just pretty much what you'd expect in terms of wear and tear.

I know the 993 crowd consider their shocks shot at about 60,000 miles. My car's bumpstops were replaced about 15,000 miles ago, and seem ok, but would appreciate someone telling me how you would know shocks are shot e.g. the bounce test seems a lot more difficult on these cars when there's little travel to start with, and it's not as if we can drive many peer cars to check the differences.

last toy

As far as the engine goes, I met a German auto technician when i owned my first BMW. When I turned the BMW in at 60,000 miles, I mentioned to him I thought it sounded and ran better now than when I first leased it. He told me that the German auto makers design engines with the mind set that 60,000 miles is the expected break-in period. After that, they expect the engines to run at peak performance with only recommended manitenance, including normal valve adjustment s every 15,000 miles.
As for the shock life, the normal corner bounce test is difficult as you mention. My mechanic friend road test sport car shocks by runing the car at 60mph on a highway with a ligh grip on the steering wheel. If the car jumps or sways left or right when going over slight road bumps than you need new shocks. If the car tends to drift left or right on a straight run without bumps, then you need an alignment.

911addict

I noticed that with my 3.2 at 60K it was as good as new, and still didn't feel run in!

My turbo2 is the same mileage and has that tough unbreakable feel also- I hope it is as 'hewn from granite' as the older 3.2....

lwilkins

As for high mileage cars, I have two.

I have a 1992 Turbo S2 for the street, as well as an 1992 S2 replica for the track.

My S2 for the street broke a head stud in January, so had to have an engine rebuild at 90k miles. The Delivar head studs are great until they break, who knows why? Stock everything on the car at the time.

Got a bit higher compression on the rebuild, as well as installing a Hi-Flow turbo, so it perked up quite a bit as a result. Would have foregone the improvement, to avoid the bill, though. But now it's probably good for another 90-100k miles, maybe more. My mechanic was impressed with the inside of the engine. Other than the head stud, very little wear on anything.

My track car went 114k miles (with 17k miles of dedicated track usage with lots of full throttle) before I unintentionally overboosted it due to some faulty "performance" headers that backed up the wastegate and wouldn't allow the wastegate gases to escape. Other than the detonation caused by that overboost, the engine had little evidence of wear.

So I conclude that these engines are pretty bulletproof, as long as you don't increase boost with them. The trannies are really solid, too, on both cars.

I've never had an issue with emissions on the street car, and it's been inspected 2 or 3 times.

The shocks on my street car seem to still be fine, even at 93k miles.

I drive the street car about 8-10k miles a year as my daily driver, and the race car about 2,000 - 2,500 miles a year.

Both the street car and the track car feel very solid.

Hope this helps.

69COU

About 123,000 Miles now no major problems

Have done the suspension out of choice really, front rotors about 4 years ago.

Had engine closely looked at when i bought it 4 years ago and no signs of wear.

Small oil drips as is common with these cars say about a tea spoon over a month period tends to get on garage floor.

911addict

69/ Miles,
Glad you didn't sell the car!

I also have similar oil drip. is there a common place for this to occur - no, I don't mean the garage floor :-)

Miguel

I have no oil drip.....not even on the garage floor.

911addict

Miguel,
You are lucky,
I understand oil leaks are common on our cars.
By coincidence I was at the garage getting mine looked at and he suggests we do the seals on the power steering (£200) and also replace my oil tank pipes which are leaking (£500 - the pipes are very expensive!).
Hell, I'll have to get it done. These things cost money, don't they?

Boeing 717

132,000 miles, all is good except for that whining alternator, gonna have to get that done and i think the right front wheel bearing and front rotors. Normal wear and tear stuff really. Absolutely not one drop of oil on my garage floor in the 2 months that ive had it now.

JERRY

Miguel

To have a car of ours is as expensive as having a lover...
Wander if i should go back to lovers? Is there a forum for that?