Barn996

Purchased MY99 Porsche in Sept. 06 with 35k miles. Today I have 59,350.mi., only 24,350 driven in almost 6 years of ownership. Even though I haven't piled on the miles, I have completely enjoyed every mile driven, and have not owned a more dependable or reliable car. Drive it to match your skill level, but don't be afraid to hurt your 911, as long as you follow all service intervals and don't abuse your 911 you should be fine.

SSST

That's exactly how I drive mine in typical street use. I don't see any reason to cruise above 3000 RPM. It wastes gas and puts unnecessary cycles on the motor.

2600 is solidly at the beginning of the power band where there is no lugging

Mark Rindner

I thank you all for your responses. II agree that making the car sing is intoxicating. This is for me the best, most engaging and most gorgeous car I've ever had (64 yrs old). I probably will never hit the red line out of respect for the car's age but, as with myself, the more I exercise, the better my body feels. I find myself shutting the musiic off when getting on the Interstate or Turnpike and enjoying the car. I've got my share of speeding tickets and I'm not proud of it but I don't see the posted speed limits as being sane or even very safe (I remember the double-nickel days with a shudder). People should obey the left lane for passing rule and move right. They should signal their turns and hang up the cell phones and pay some attention to the act of driving their car or truck (am I off topic?). My goal with this car is to "drive it like I own it", spirited and with a focus on staying out of trouble with the laws of physics (on the road and inside the engine). Yeah, the $50 fill-ups are sobering. But a run through the gears to 100 on the Turnpike restores the buzz just right.
I'll try the 20-30 in 2nd, 30-40 in 3rd thing today. RPMs seem a bit low to my driving habits but maybe not. I hardly ever see 6th gear and 4th at 4000 is one of my favorite places in this car.
Thanks again for the insights. All are valuable and appreciated.

Quadcammer

Yes, thank you. Seems common sense lives in NJ.

Porsches are EXACTLY like other cars. Its an internal combustion engine. There is no porsche fairy dust thats sprinkled on these things.

P.S. what sort of oiling of the IMS occurs at 5000rpm that doesn't occur at 3000rpm?

You aren't lugging this motor at 2000rpm, its not a roller bearing 356.

Drive it hard...or don't. It doesn't really make any difference. IN fact, drive it like a normal car...i.e. get on it sometimes and drive it normally the rest of the time.

nick49

Enjoy your car and don't be afraid to kiss the rev limiter, it's set very conservatively. You will not hurt the car in any way if you redline it. These cars are made to run and should handle 8600 RPM safely without exceeding a safe speed for piston travel. I don't think you can run it over 7K. If you are pushing the car you can fee the power building as the RPMs increase and you'll hit the limiter before you feel it's time to shift. Watch the tach and make your shift right at redline to avoid hitting the limiter which will actual slow you down a bit.

Above all, have fun, that's what it's about.

jasper

I don't agree. Porsches are designed for higher output and higher efficiency than "normal" cars and you pay extra for that. You're not just paying for the badge. Besides innovative design like variocam *plus*, components are made to higher tolerances than "normal" and rods pistons cranks etc are balanced with more precision.

Of course it's the same in that it's an internal combustion reciprocating piston engine - I obviously didn't mean they used technology developed in Area 51. Compared to a Toyota or a Chevrolet though the cars are designed and built to perform better. It's not magic Quad - just good old fashioned better engineering and build quality.


The IMS is not specifically designed to be lubrictaed by the engine's oiling system but nevertheless engine oil does get past the seals, and given that this washes the grease away, it means that the bearing relies to some extent on engine oil. Higher rpm means higher oil pressure and at higher pressure it's more likely this oil will find it's way into that bearing. Maybe I'm imagining it, but it works for me.

Below 2000 rpm you're lugging an M96. They don't like it. Hey - run yours how you want, but put on 50,000 miles at 1800 rpm and your car will run for ****.

Drive it too normal and it defeats the purpose. Some of us enjoy our Porsches for reasons other than status and looking good. They're designed to be driven harder than the average car.

But don't beat on it! I'm sure the OP is *mature* enough at 64 to understand the difference between driving it hard and thrashing it.

MiamiC70

I DD drive mine averaging about 12k a year and I drive it hard but don't abuse it. I take it easy while warms up, change oil every 5k miles using synthetic 5-40w but other than that I shift on average at 4k.

Dennis C

It's not BS at all. It's a fact.

Mine's a daily driver, and has been for years. On most outings, I do run it up to redline. Obviously I wait until it's properly warmed up, and I only do it when the opportunity presents itself, such as a freeway onramp. For me, that's virtually every day. I'm not saying it's a requirement to run it up to redline every time you drive it.

The OP asked a question, and I gave him my honest answer. I don't drive the car at redline all the time, and I don't think there's anything wrong with driving it up to redline everytime you take it out. I'm sure you've had yours at the redline before...

If you're concerned about the cost to fill up the tank, then a Porsche might not be the right car for you!

wyovino

I've never heard this mentioned before. Is this commonly accepted? I do this a lot of the time when driving my Tip in manual. Should I stop?

rpm's S2

One think I take care on is making sure the car is fully up to oil temperature before going over about 3000 rpm. I try to take it easy for the first five minutes or so and let the water temp gauge get over 180.

Then I push hard, shifting at 4-5k whenever possible and getting into the 6k range when I can.

jasper

The tip is a different story.

The wear and tear on a manual car occurs at the clutch and at the synchronizers. The wear and tear can be alleviated by double clutching and rev matching and, theoretically, if your double clutch and rev matching technique is *perfect* then there's little downside to gearing down to slow down. This isn't practial on the street though....not all the time anyway.

On your tip, there must be some system that is stressed when the gear changes happen, but I don't know enough about autoboxes to tell you if this is significant or not.

Mark Rindner

[QUOTE=
As posted in another thread here many months ago, I select my daily street driving gears based on a simple method:
0-20 MPH 1st
20-30 2nd
30-40 3rd
40-50 4th
50-60 5th
60+ 6th unless I am NOT on the Interstate.

.[/QUOTE]

I tried this shifting guideline around town today. Interesting. Very smooth on the drive train, no lugging, etc. Not bad for getting to the Interstate from my driveway. 5th at 50 seems a little too relaxed, 6th at 60?..not practical for maneuvering through traffic. It's very rare that I'm doing 60 on the Interstate unless I'm stuck in traffic or a cop in front of me is doing 60.

That being said, I learned a lot from this post. I do know the dif between driving and beating, I don't downshift to brake, I do the warm-up to 180 on the guage, I don't pop the clutch or slam the gears and I definately don't want to break my car for lack of knowledge about the machinery (ie, driving too hard and fast or too slow and luggy).

I love having this car and I'm very glad that this forum exists. Thanks again.

Marine Blue

Just drive it however you want and make sure the car is maintained per Porsche recommendations.

Mechanically if the car has a deficiency due to mileage (bad clutch or other wear items like bushings) it will definitely become more evident when you are pushing the car but honestly if there is a problem then let it crop up and then repair it. Realistically the odds that you will harm your major components like the engine or transmission due to more aggressive driving are unlikely unless the car has been seriously neglected.

Me personally, at times I may be doing 45 in 6th gear and just enjoying the air and music and other times I'm banging off shifts near redline accelerating into triple digits.

Porsches can and will handle both.

Enjoy the car.

Capt. Obvious

Just drive it how you feel comfortable driving it. Yeah, "it's a Porsche", but it's still just a car at the end of the day. Stay up on the maintenance, keep it clean and just drive it. The placebo effect of driving the car the way YOU think it should be driven will do more for how well you think the car runs and how long it lasts than listening to any of us.

Sue Esponte

When you bought your car you had to have some thought in your mind about how you were going to drive it. I'm also assuming you knew something about Porsches....but, maybe not. I've always found Porsche's engineering to be part of enthusiasts attraction for the cars.

I know you said you tend to have a lead foot but are you really a "drive it like you stole it" kind of guy every time you get behind the wheel? Or, are you the kind of person who enjoys a spirited drive, even if its every time you're behind the wheel? I think some people miss the fact that it's possible enjoy your car and drive it quickly but not abuse it.

You bought a car with high mileage and I'm assuming you knew the inherent risks of buying any car with high mileage. 100K tends to be a breaking point for a lot of things here and there. Does it mean that the engine is going to blow? No.

These cars aren't fragile, high strung one-offs. They're production cars that, like most cars out there today, were driven millions of miles at all kinds of extremes before they ever saw a showroom floor. Sure, they've been engineered with a different purpose in mind than an econobox sedan that was designed to simply take someone from point A to point B but, as with most modern vehicles (from Kias to Bugattis), if you maintain your car and don't abuse the hell out of it, the engine should last a long time.

Drive it, enjoy it and maintain it but, as with any high mileage vehicle, don't be surprised when you have to start replacing stuff.

Agreed.

-Eric