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My own experience is that the GT3 has proven to be a bargain compared to my previous 01 996. I do about 40 track days a year and in 2 years (04/05) my 996 exploded a motor, destroyed its transmission and had a reoccuring failure in one rear wheel bearing (to say nothing of 2 RMS failures). In all the car depreciated 30K, had 20K spent on upgrades and almost 30K spent on repairs. By comparison the GT3 over a similar period (06/07) has required rotors, pads, tires and fluids and $0 dollars in repairs (touch wood), maybe $10 in depreciation (I bought it 2nd hand 2 years ago for $75K). A bargain.
Maintenance can be divided into consumables and fixing stuff that breaks. Although not an owner (yet, give me a couple years), from what I've read, consumables can be pretty expensive, but the robustness of mechanical stuff on a GT3 outweighs this as the above post indicates. So you end up basically just paying for the consumables. You should especially be fine with only 2 track days/year. I'd like to do more track days and so I've thought about how much cheaper consumables are for a lotus with it's low weight and smaller brake pads and tires. However, I think the GT3 is worth it anyway.
bhill: PCCB would be potentially costly. I had an issue with my fronts. The dealer made it right. No issues since. 50,000 miles of which 40% are track. I use the greens for track and the black for the road. Since the rotors 18 month back nothing but pads,fluid changes, tires. It is a great car.
bhill: PCCB would be potentially costly. I had an issue with my fronts. The dealer made it right. No issues since. 50,000 miles of which 40% are track. I use the greens for track and the black for the road. Since the rotors 18 month back nothing but pads,fluid changes, tires. It is a great car.
You have 20,000 track miles? Damn. That's pretty impressive.
In the first 14 months logged just over 13,000 miles all track was not even registered.
I get motion sickness just thinking about it.
When I had my GT3 at the dealer a couple of weeks ago they said they see no more issues or failures with GT3s that are tracked vs. street only. You're proof.
It continues to run strong. I was thinking about going to a Lotus or something else. Thanks to Mooty and friends up here in Seattle I am going to keep it. I will be a TRG in CA the week of the 18th to buy the car some Christmas bits.
+1. Parts are becoming superseded and the new part numbers can be pricey. Wheel carriers are a good example. 6_3 version was around $300. The 7_3 is over a grand. One thing to keep in mind on this (and all cars actually) - repair costs don't depreciate so owning an old(er) GT3 doesn't get cheaper over time. In fact, the opposite is likely to be true.
What do owners and mechanics think about the subject 9+ years later?
My experience
2005 49k miles bought the car The transmission had been replaced because of frequent track use
........50K miles Power Steering Pump bearing seized
.........55k Miles Struts leaking and sagging, Possibly as a result of PO frequent track use
.........60K miles Differential Gears shatter by owner abuse
........100k Miles Alternator quit (actually only the voltage regulator $35)
........100k Miles Water Pump hose, small leak ( I must have damaged it when I installed the alternator)
2017 101K miles It sounds like the power steering pump bearing is acting up again
Regarding brakes, I have PCCB, and I did replace the pads once. I am convinced after 50K miles and only 4 track days, that the PCCB rotors will only last for 1000 track miles. The wear on the rotors and pads was enormous after I learned how hard one could brake on the straight of The Streets of Willow (not the big track with the real long straight)
OTOH hard street/mountain road use is probably good for 200k miles as Porsche claimed at the time this car was current. Pads less of course. i.e. PCCB are economical, when used on the street, on this car.
So my GT3 is actually fairly reliable and cheap to operate, by german-car standards
Last edited by black04; 03-07-2017 at 10:02 PM.
Reason: clarity and additional information
Let's not forget getting the coolant line fittings pinned/welded and replaced if not already done.
I finally broke down and getting them welded now. Car has 60k miles on it. Primarily street driven but does see the track a couple times/year. Upon tear down two of the lines were starting to come from their fittings so I caught it. Replacing water pump, coils and plugs. Of course "while we're in there" always happens. I checked out the clutch/FW parts yesterday and it's time for new stuff there.
What do owners and mechanics think about the subject 9+ years later?
Originally Posted by black04
My experience
2005 49k miles bought the car The transmission had been replaced because of frequent track use
........50K miles Power Steering Pump bearing seized
.........55k Miles Struts leaking and sagging, Possibly as a result of PO frequent track use
.........60K miles Differential Gears shatter by owner abuse
........100k Miles Alternator quit (actually only the voltage regulator $35)
........100k Miles Water Pump hose, small leak ( I must have damaged it when I installed the alternator)
2017 101K miles It sounds like the power steering pump bearing is acting up again
Regarding brakes, I have PCCB, and I did replace the pads once. I am convinced after 50K miles and only 4 track days, that the PCCB rotors will only last for 1000 track miles. The wear on the rotors and pads was enormous after I learned how hard one could brake on the straight of The Streets of Willow (not the big track with the real long straight)
OTOH hard street/mountain road use is probably good for 200k miles as Porsche claimed at the time this car was current. Pads less of course. i.e. PCCB are economical, when used on the street, on this car.
So my GT3 is actually fairly reliable and cheap to operate, by german-car standards
And
- Headlight Switch
- Ignition switch TWICE (the $8 part behind the switch, not the expensive part you stick the key into)
- Turn Signal cancelling device
LSD, transmission mount, rear toe link, gas filler recirculation pump, fuel pump, syncros, axles. Do a search on any of these, and you will see they are common problems. I also have had problems with my power steering hose, possibly a problem related to when I had the motor pulled for the coolant line welds. Radiator hoses also should be routinely replaced. RMS leaking is a common problem, but not as common as on other motors. I track mine. Isn't that what a GT3 is for?
11-28-2007, 12:44 AM
