So some of the more recent threads in here have me wondering: those of you that have high milage cars, what are your driving styles like? Are you babying them to that kind of milage? Dive it like you stole it? Bit of both etc?

My car has 47k on it (engine has less than 39k) and from what I'm reading I may not be driving it hard enough...

If you've dailyed it to this point what kind of commute do you have and do you feel like its helped or hurt?

 

I have 136k miles. I drive mine every day so it all depends. Sometimes I drive aggressively, other times not so much. I also take it to the track occasionally so there it runs close to redline most of the weekend.

As for my commute. It's a mix of back roads and highway. Some stop and go and some cruising.

I am using a LNE bearing but I didn't make that repair until around 15k miles ago.

 

As an aside, I recall one Boxster owner who's car got stolen by some bank robbers. The car was recovered a few days later across the bay and in good shape. Apparently the bank robbers/car thieves didn't abuse the car.

My Boxster has almost 274K miles on it. My treatment of the engine and car reflects an empathy I have for them both and my treatment of them occur automatically without me having to think about them in order to do them.

After a cold start I give the engine time to warm up. This involves some idling time -- it depends upon the ambient temperature and how in a hurry I am -- and then after whatever idling I continue to drive the car in a reasonably manner avoiding high RPMs (read RPMs above 4K and generally I keep them below 3.5K). I do not lug the engine either however.

After the coolant temperature gage needle reaches the 180 hash mark I know from viewing the coolant temperature using an OBD2 scan tool it is still low -- below what would be considered fully up to temperature -- so I continue to drive the car in a reasonable manner for a few minutes longer in order to give the coolant and the oil time to fully come up to or very near their operating temperature.

Then I just drive the car. Where I live and drive I can' t just drive the car any old way or I'd get a ticket (or tickets) or have an accident so my driving has me adhering to speed limits and avoiding any signs of reckless driving, like hard cornering with any tire slippage or sliding.

Take offs from stop signs/lights is prompt but often my car gets "beat" off the line by other cars.

In short I drive with the traffic.

However, I do use a good portion of the engine's rev range when I safely can and when it is called for, or I can "justify" it for some reason. I'm a car fan as much as the next person and I like to run the engine up the RPMs scale and experience the acceleration of the engine unleashed and the g-forces of a corner taken at something above little old lady speeds.

For instance for the drive in today (approx. 30 miles) a device I have in my car counted 7 RPM events, all above 5K RPMs. The highest one was a bit over 5700. The trip started at 9:10:17 and the 1st RPM event wasn't until 9:51:00. (Usually I'm not so far into a trip when an RPM event occurs but I had to take surface streets part of the way in and then once on the freeway traffic was nearly stop and go for 5 miles or so.)

There were 4 lateral acceleration events from 0.44 g's to 0.596 g's.

My point is while I do not drive the car like I stole it (actually as I mentioned at the outset how an actual stolen car was treated I probably do drive it like I stole the car, just not like what everyone believes this to mean...) I do drive the car.

Beyond how I drive the car I'm a firm believer in regular oil/filter services. For reasons I won't cover here a long time a go -- shortly after I bought the car new -- I decided to ignore the 15K mile oil change and 30K mile filter change interval set forth by the factory and instead change both at 5K miles.

Other vital fluids get changed at least on the factory's schedule if not more often.

Problems are addressed promptly. For instance, a noise that was not present then was had me investigating this and I found a suspected bad water pump (play in the bearings). I had the car flat bedded to a dealer and had the water pump (and T-stat) replaced. The noise was gone. I do not believe in pushing a suspected failing water pump just to see how long I can get by. (I might mention when my Turbo exhibited uncharacteristic overheating sign I had the car in the shop pronto and the tech found the water pump leaking and a non-functioning radiator fan, along with a non-related to the original overheating leaking front diff. All were addressed before I put the car back on the road again.)

And last but not least I seek to avoid accidents. An accident can take an otherwise perfectly fine car off the road in no time. (Case in point: I lost a 4 week old new Cayman S to an accident -- not my fault and believe me I would have avoided it if I could have -- when it was plowed into and totaled.)

 

My wife drives our '01 C4 to work a couple days a week and it is only 3 miles each way. There is really no way for her to drive aggressively on this commute even if she wanted (she doesn't want to).
So, one or twice a week I take it out for a longer drive and I do wind it out to 5K RPMs or more several times. I believe these engines need some revs, though it's not necessary to drive that way all the time. We don't have high miles on the car though, so cant speak to that issue.

 

This may seen obvious, but high mileage cars get driven. That is it.

I got my car this July with 117k, now it is at 127k. M1 oil changes at the dealer all its life every 10k per Carfax.

Driving on the highway at 3k RPM puts virtually no stress on the engine with good oil and proper cooling system. Low mileage 996s are much more stressed from sitting for weeks and than going for "spirited" drives once a month compared to the commuter cars.

If 996s were driving like normal cars, there should be no 996s with less than 100k miles at this point. Take a look at honda, toyota, mitsubishi boards for the cars from same period as 996. Most of those cars will have 150k+ on them, some with over 300k.

 

from the owners manual 99 c2

"do not let the engine idle to warm up. After starting drive the vehicle at moderate speeds and avoid
engine speeds above 4200 rpm during the first 5 minutes"

 

Pretty much thrash any opportunity seriously drive to drive sensibly when cold but its my daily driver and gets used as a car not a baby, as Porsche intended. 125k 2000 C4 Cab tiptronic

 

I try to get over 4000 RPM once engine is slightly warm, I imagine the IMSB spinning dry, and I want it misted if the seal is shot. Car is '03 C4S and has 97K miles and was driven long distances by original owner, a doctor in TX. Having lived there myself, a short commute in TX is at least 45 minutes in 100 degree heat. Only engine related maintenance was new alternator, clutch and RMS. No doubt original IMSB. I do use Castrol Edge Full Synthetic 5W-50 after reading about shear thinning on the L N site. My concerns are the usual; IMSB, AOS, water pump and coolant tank. None stop me from driving hard, with 2 DE's this past summer, long road trips, etc.

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Only 3k mi. on a 66k mi. car but I wait until the idle drops to normal before leaving the driveway but then drive it conservatively (2k-3.5k rpm's). Driving it daily other than 12-15 days a month when I'm out of town. I run it up to 5k at least once a day.

Moderation in everything...











Except moderation.

TC

 

My 2000 C4 has 135K miles and it is my daily driver. I am an aggressive driver and I enjoy my car. Each time I take it to the mechanic for oil change (3K to 5Kmiles), he does a complete PM check throughout the car to see if there is anything that needs attention and if there is, we take care of it right away. I always say, "The secret to keeping it running is Preventative Maintenance"

 

While my car is somewhat high-miles, I've only put 45k miles on in the last 6 years. Most of my driving is commute to the train station 3 days a week, which is 12 miles each way. I usually start it and go; warmup is minimal. I wait for it to warm up a few miles before revving it over 4500 RPM, though.

I never cruise with the RPM under 3k. I usually try to extend the spoiler, but, because of traffic, might only succeed 50% of the time. Once in a while, when I get the chance, I run it up to redline in 2nd gear just so I can have a sh*t-eating grin on my face.

I take it to the track about once per year, and do some autocrosses with it, too.

I certainly don't baby it, but, like Macster said, I'm empathetic with equipment. I don't treat it unnecessarily roughly and I'm aware of its condition and the feedback its telling me.

 

+1 on Macster's advice.

 

This is all good stuff, I try to drive the car as often as I can. So far since march I've put about 5k on it. I had not heard about the "lugging" issue before the other day, I typically drive the car in the 2-3k range so bumping it up 500 rpms should be an easy adjustment. Other than that my driving habits seems to be in line with most of you, so it should be fine.