Mike Mullins

Wow, I thought you had bought a Jeep until I got to the RMS and Scored Cylinders....

Funny Story about Jeeps, My brother has sold cars for 40 +years, his dealership owner also has a large jeep dealership that he worked the Finance/Business Mgr desk for 6 months until they found right person. One of the sales guys sold this customer a loaded C7 to a first time buyer. It turns out it was in the shop almost every week for 2 months. He tried invoking the States lemon law, but it wasn't same thing every time. The customer came in so angry one time to service dept to the point his rants spilled over to sales area and let new customers know his displeasure with purchase. He came into my brothers office and started yelling at him because, he had financed it for him. (like it was his fault he needed it financed ) Then it became combative, as my brother is pretty even tempered , but can make a person look like a dick if challenged. Customer turned into Volcano mode. It was first time he had ever been "threatened" all because they wouldn't take back the Jeep, because it was a POS. 2 days later guy drove it through front Window of dealership to "return it". Needless to say, he was wearing a new Tennessee orange jumpsuit for a while.

AWDGuy

same here. I actually forgot the front brake job I just did in my list.

and that's just parts for the most part as I do the labor myself. So that $500/month could actually be closer to $800-$1000/month

AWDGuy

I get winters off since I don't winter drive it.

lol.

ugh.

AWDGuy

a jeep is reliable when compared to my car.

and these are pretty common issues. Pelican pretty much has a how-to for all of those issues

gnat

Personally I never include wear items in my "maintenance" numbers as not only can they vary wildly based on usage, but any car needs those things.

Interestingly our first oil change (from a Porsche specific Indy) for the 996 cost $75 and the first set of PS2s cost almost $4k. Now oil changes are about $300 and we pay $1200 for a set of PS2s. Kinda funny to think 18" wheels aren't a large and uncommon size any more...

AWDGuy

it's not like I use a different way to calculate my running costs on each of my cars. It's consistent.

Cost me money? It gets recorded. Gas even gets recorded but on a different tab on the spreadsheet

Dennis C

+1

It's easy to convince yourself that you're coming out ahead if you don't have a loan on your car. I paid cash for my 996 when I bought it, so maintenance and repairs were my only expenses associated with the car. I felt like I was ahead because I had no car payment. I don't record my spending for fuel, but pretty much everything else gets recorded.

Dennis C

Yes! That's why there's a 991 in my garage now.

gnat

Sorry, I meant for discussions like the OP asked about how much it costs to maintain.

Yes I can quote you of the top of my head to within a few hundred of what we have spent on the 996 since new for everything but gas. It's not a pretty number and it's even worse when I include that original check I wrote for it

The key for me sleeping well at night is that I don't regret a single penny and even 16.5 years in it is still absolutely worth it!

ejdoherty911

Rockpoint, are you high? Based on what you state you want to do with the car this 140,000 mile 996 is not a good choice.

"700+ mile drives across the rocky mountains with potential to be in major snowstorms."

You can only have one car and you are "deciding" between a 17 year old 140,000 mile sports car and a 2015 WRX? WRX all day long for the reliability, resale, 4wd, ground clearance. Most 996s are toys, second or third cars. Sure some are perfectly suitable for daily driving, but not this one, not based on how you will use it.

AWDGuy

I have many regrets but what helps me sleep at night is knowing I don't have monthly payment for the actual car.

ZuffenZeus

My Volvo is boring. It never breaks. Without a 996 in my life, what am I going to do with my spare time on the weekends?

On a different note... With all this new AWD/Jeep/Subaru talk, I guess I'm not such a d!ck (as Gnat mentioned) for suggesting it in the first place.

Back to lunch.

strathconaman

A 3 year old WRX will keep up with a C4 996 on the highway.

If I was looking for something that will gobble up highway miles in any weather, that would be my pick.

The 996 isn't a Toyota Camry. On average, it will not give you 300,000 trouble free miles with just basic maintenance.

I have many friends who have blown up their STIs and EVOs. The difference is that a new STI motor won't set you back $20K.

AWDGuy

I blew up the HG on my WRX. This was after doubling it's horsepower with modifications.

The cost of a new HG and weekend in the garage, I was back at collecting doors in no time. You can buy an entire drive train for $6k

gnat

I said "bit of" and I stand by that