TD in DC

I think you are mistaken. An RMS leak can be fixed for 750 - 1.5 K, which is far less than 12k. Even if you have a catastrophic engine failure, you can get a new crate motor from Porsche with a 2 year warranty for 12K or less, which is extremely cheap and less than the cost to rebuild or replace many other engines out there. You could easily drop 12K in just routine maintenance in Ferrari land, and if you did have a catastrohpic failure good luck in getting a crate motor from Ferrari for 12K from the factory with a 2 year warranty. It will not happen . . . period. So, it don't think it is fair at all to say that driving a Porsche is like driving a time-bomb. That seems to me to be a gross exaggeration. Under that logic, nearly every performance car out there is a little time bomb. (e.g., M3, Gallardo, Ferrari . . . )

NNH

I've put 15,000 miles on my daily driver 996 since May, taking it up to 65k. It hasn't been perfectly reliable, but the CPO warranty has covered the expensive stuff. The warranty covers up to 2 years/100k, and will probably expire on both counts simultaneously. At that point I'll decide whether the reliability is acceptable for continued heavy daily driving.
From other posts and the feeling of solidity of my own car, I currently think that a well maintained 996 will go well past 150k without putting the driver at a high risk of being stranded - just don't expect good maintenance to be very cheap!

2000wrx

My intentions would be to get a nice 1999 996, and slowly mod over the years and keep it for a very long while... I guess all I can do is what you would do with any car. Be well researched, look for a well sorted car and PPI it... then just drive and enjoy.


PS: I hope I haven't been to big of a pain in the ****.

TD in DC

No, it is normal to be concerned about any purchase of this magnitude. A lot of us are just trying to give you good advice without making claims that we can't substantiate.

2000wrx

Oh yea, the darn internet and no emotion in the delivery is hard at times..

I do appreciate all the help that I get hear, I try to play "worse case" but feel that I may come off poorly at times. Working in automotive for 12 years may have helped make me a little synical as well

99firehawk

rms leak is just a leak, few oil spots in the drive way, in way will a rms leak make your engine blow up. unless you just never put oil back in it, typical rms leak though would take 100k trackj miles to leak out all 9i qts

JJB236

How many of you guys leased your 996 vs bought one?

When I get my 997 probably next year, I 'm planning on leasing one. I read that with expensive cars, it is more sensible to lease while it's new and under a bumper-to-bumper factory warranty. Of course you could get an extended warranty later on, but less mileage cars have less problems. Has this been you experience? Besides, selling the car after ownership is such a waste of time. I had tough time gettinig rid of my 1999 740iL at a wholesale price, and I finally sold it to a used car lot at $2K below wholesale. Should I lease or buy a 997?

NNH

With Pcar depreciation starting to become more like mainstream cars' depreciation, I don't think I'd buy a new one even if I could afford it. The CPO warranty covers most of the really expensive stuff, and the $20k+ you save over a new car should compensate for any other repair bills

lic265

Here is my take on this:
Buy a low mileage, 2-3 year old car with records. Save on the depreciation/sales tax/excise tax, and play with it on the balance of the factory warrenty. Perhaps, as stated above, you have a low financial threshold for repairs, get an extended warrenty for a few years. The warrenty may even help you sell it in the future if you want to change

rroobbcc

I had 160,000 miles on my '91 C2. With enough items needing repair I decided to take it off the road for a ground up rebuild (it will become my track car), and after some patient searching bought an '03 C2. I will drive the '03 until it reaches the point of the '91. It will then give up its position as daily driver to another P-car, and the cycle will start over again. I will probably never buy brand new (let the other sucker absorb all of the initial depreciation), and will hopefully never have to sell one of the P-cars. Of course at some point I will need more garage space.

Gretch

My 2000 C4 TIP has 93,000 miles on it, but just 1,000 miles on the rebuilt ZF Tip S tranny. I still love the car and plan on driving it for several more years. I was a lot happier with it 2 months ago, when it was the most reliable car I had ever had. But I cannot really complain. Over a 7 year period and 92,000 miles, the only money I put into that car was oil, filters, one set of plugs, one set of front brake pads, several sets of tires and gasoline. My 928 has 101,000 miles on it, and I put over 90,000 of them on it. It has its 4th clutch in it, its third water pump and timing belt rebuild. All in all I probably spent the same maintenance money for the same miles, on both cars.

I like the C4 a lot. But I an disappointed that the tranny only lasted 92,000 miles.

Just one person's experience......

washington dc porsche

I'm at 58K Miles.

washington dc porsche

I've been reading your post lately and I pretty much agree with you 100%, yet I ended up purchasing a 996 and love it, 2 RMS's and 1 coolant tank later.