This forum is scaring me away from a 997.1
#31
More important is the actual car. My GTS came from a Toyota dealer in Memphis.. when I live in Raleigh. I had a thorough PPI done (at a very highly recommended Porsche race shop) and drove the car 800 miles home. That was 2 years ago (and 25k miles) and so far the only thing I have repaired was a window regulator.
#32
If reading about others' P-car woes diminishes your 997 experience--I suggest you stop visiting this forum or look for an alternative to the 997.
The 997.1 provides a wonderful driving experience, no doubt. After three years I still smile every time I fire mine up (Fister-style exhaust mods) and back out of the garage. I stopped visiting this forum for two years and simply enjoyed the car. Nice. I recently dropped by to see what's new... Next thing I know I am wiping traces black dust off my bumper wondering if my bores are scored
The 997.1 provides a wonderful driving experience, no doubt. After three years I still smile every time I fire mine up (Fister-style exhaust mods) and back out of the garage. I stopped visiting this forum for two years and simply enjoyed the car. Nice. I recently dropped by to see what's new... Next thing I know I am wiping traces black dust off my bumper wondering if my bores are scored
Is that your car in your avatar? If so, that's a clean and happy looking front end.
#33
This forum is scaring me away from a 997.1 Hopefully I am overreacting. I joined to become and educated consumer, but I feel there is too much of a chance I can drop $44k on a nice, low mileage 997.1 and 2 years later spend $7k on a clutch and $25k on an engine. say it aint so. I think I need to talk to humans instead of reading all the horror stories.
#34
#35
[QUOTE=For most, if not all used car purchases, overall condition trumps mileage[/QUOTE]
Fully agree with you. I would be leery of low mileage garage queens that never saw the daylight. High mileage Porsches that are well maintained gets thumbs up for me.
Fully agree with you. I would be leery of low mileage garage queens that never saw the daylight. High mileage Porsches that are well maintained gets thumbs up for me.
#36
these are the things that scare me. I have seen folks say that numerous times. What kind of car craps out because it has low mileage?
#37
I backed away from a 997.1 that was a sweet price and a super, super clean, low mileage car. The deal just wasn't timing out right, though not anyone's fault. I had not fully researched the IMS bearing issue because I had not at that point, considered a car of that age. In the end, I would have been fine with the car, and I would have simply arranged to have the IMS Solution installed as soon as I bought it. Had already budgeted it out and it made sense to do it that way. Only caveat being that it needed to pass the inspection that LN requires for warranting the IMS Solution, though it almost certainly would have. If it had been a higher miles car, I'd have just installed one of the less-expensive IMS bearing upgrades and a new clutch just because it was there.
Or get one that already has the fix installed. They're out there too.
It just happened to work out that I bought a newer vehicle, a 997.2 2S Cabrio more because of how things were timing out and it had PDK and some other stuff that made it a little more ideal as a daily driver.
The pricing of 996 and 997.1 vehicles reflects the issues. You can buy a super, super clean and low mileage car for a low price. Then the choice is yours, drive the snot out of it and hope it does fine, or do the fix and drive the snot out of it and sleep a little easier at night. I mean, it's a LOT of car for the money either way. Buy and drive it or buy, fix and drive it. It only amounts to a small amount of differential dollars.
Or get one that already has the fix installed. They're out there too.
It just happened to work out that I bought a newer vehicle, a 997.2 2S Cabrio more because of how things were timing out and it had PDK and some other stuff that made it a little more ideal as a daily driver.
The pricing of 996 and 997.1 vehicles reflects the issues. You can buy a super, super clean and low mileage car for a low price. Then the choice is yours, drive the snot out of it and hope it does fine, or do the fix and drive the snot out of it and sleep a little easier at night. I mean, it's a LOT of car for the money either way. Buy and drive it or buy, fix and drive it. It only amounts to a small amount of differential dollars.
#39
Never gets driven much and all the mechanics are in long-term dormant state. Out of good intention, the owner starts it once a week believing it does the engine good. The irony is the constant rich fuel that gets dumped into the cylinder never gets a chance to warm up. Hence, whatever lubricants stay put in the engine gets diluted and then during startups, cylinder scoring potentially happens. Not to mention, water pump, coolants, power steering, transmission fluid never gets a chance to work efficiently. The bottom line is that your car is not designed to operate in such environment.
#40
Never gets driven much and all the mechanics are in long-term dormant state. Out of good intention, the owner starts it once a week believing it does the engine good. The irony is the constant rich fuel that gets dumped into the cylinder never gets a chance to warm up. Hence, whatever lubricants stay put in the engine gets diluted and then during startups, cylinder scoring potentially happens. Not to mention, water pump, coolants, power steering, transmission fluid never gets a chance to work efficiently. The bottom line is that your car is not designed to operate in such environment.
#42
Never gets driven much and all the mechanics are in long-term dormant state. Out of good intention, the owner starts it once a week believing it does the engine good. The irony is the constant rich fuel that gets dumped into the cylinder never gets a chance to warm up. Hence, whatever lubricants stay put in the engine gets diluted and then during startups, cylinder scoring potentially happens. Not to mention, water pump, coolants, power steering, transmission fluid never gets a chance to work efficiently. The bottom line is that your car is not designed to operate in such environment.
Was it a garage queen, yes to a certain extent. Is it doomed b/c it sat instead of being driven, unlikely. My 25 yr old 93.5 Supra TT has 66K miles and still has most of the original parts when it left the factory.
I'm going through the car to bring the maintenance up to date. I'm finding some OEM parts (cabin filter, front tires, air filter, rad cap) that have been back dated to 2006 and have never been replaced.
#43
I think we are all conditioned to think all high mileage cars will have some inherent problems. This is just not the case. To put things into perspective, I had a daily driver. Its a BMW E30 and I use it driving from LA to SF once a week back in the 1990s. The day I sold it, it has accumulated 1/2 million miles on the origin engine. As far as maintenance it was all commonsense and I never ever got stuck in the middle of I-5. I put in about 1000 miles every week and oil gets changed every 2 months. Yes I do need to replace tires on a yearly basis.
I'm not to saying high-mileage cars are more reliable. What I am saying is I would rather get a high-mileage car that has been well maintained than a barely driven car by some clueless owner.
I'm not to saying high-mileage cars are more reliable. What I am saying is I would rather get a high-mileage car that has been well maintained than a barely driven car by some clueless owner.
#44
Bought my 06S with 48k.....now has 61k almost 5 years later. Spend about $3k in preventative maintenance and the annual oil change and biannual brake fluid change. Would not hesitate driving it coast to coast. I had a full PPI with borescope....clean bill of health. Its always been a warm weather car with lots of records that it was and now is being treated well.
The most important maintenance is at least 2 or 3 track days....cleans it out and does the owner some good as well.
The most important maintenance is at least 2 or 3 track days....cleans it out and does the owner some good as well.
#45
[...] You can buy a super, super clean and low mileage car for a low price. Then the choice is yours, drive the snot out of it and hope it does fine, or do the fix and drive the snot out of it and sleep a little easier at night. I mean, it's a LOT of car for the money either way. Buy and drive it or buy, fix and drive it. It only amounts to a small amount of differential dollars.
If you can put up with the styling of the 996... a Raby 3.8 in a cheap 996 roller with some techart goodies would make for a fun car.
OP: If it says so on the interwebs, it has to be true. Not.