biggreek

Hello all, greetings from the 991 side. Early last year I bought a 991.2 4GTS, my first Porsche and I absolutely love it. Because of my job and time away I can't enjoy it as much as I want to and theres no chance of me dailying it. (Centerlock 20s with quick wearing 305 tires) I currently have 2015 Audi allroad as one of my daily's, it's a good fun car, it's quick (APR Ko4 tuned), plenty of room..but it's not a 911.

To make a long story short, what is the feasibility of buying a 997.1 as a commuter? Not too expensive to buy into, old enough and not desirable enough to worry about front bumper/frunk rock chips (Im open to any submodel), but modern enough to keep me comfortable. My drive is almost 190 miles roundtrip, averaging 3-4 days a week. Is it a dumb idea, probably.

I want to hear from those who do daily long commutes and tell me what your thoughts are. Thanks in advance.

PS. Sorry if this is a topic that's been brought up, I've searched, but maybe not enough to look in the pits of Rennlist.

MDA1234

I commute with my 997.1 S every day and don't mind it at all. My commute isn't particularly long, but it is pretty much stop-and-go, city traffic the whole way. The ride is just decent enough that it's not a problem. Road noise is a bit higher than I'd like (big tires), but it's made up for by the lovely engine noise. Seats are plenty comfortable. "Infotainment" (if you can call it that) sucks, but I just listen to podcasts on my phone until the day that Porsche makes a replacement head unit for the 997.

In all honesty though, it's going to be hard to get answers here since individual tastes vary so much. Some people can't stand stop-and-go in a manual, some people daily things that are damn near race cars. To help you judge my comments here, the cars I've used as daily transportation in recent years include a Mercedes C63S and an E46 M3 manual, so somewhat similar in their rough position on the sporty----comfortable spectrum.

Bwoy1981

So, I can't comment on such long daily trips in the 911 (997.1) currently BUT I did daily my 911 for 2 years. It was great, and easy to use.

I then did buy a 2014 Audi Allroad (APR Stage 2, RS5 20x9 wheels, Koni Coilovers) and that is my daily right now.

I drive my 911 on a Friday and weekends to get my "fix" but you cant go wrong with those two in your stable. Good luck!

biggreek

Thanks for the reply, if I may add, I go into DC from the east. I have 75% no traffic highway and 25% stop and go nonsense. I used to have a 2000 TDI Jetta and a 2008 Rabbit, both manual, and I didn't mind commuting them at all. Two different ends of the car spectrum, but still the repeated foot and hand motions.

biggreek

Oh crap, it sounds like we're opposites! Haha So you were in the boat I'm trying to get into. My allroad has given me no troubles and lots of happiness, I hope yours is too.

Bwoy1981

Lol, Yes I went the opposite way because now my commute is 80 miles round trip and wanted to put less miles on the 911. The Allroad is such a great car, and yes she's been trouble free. Still a head turner!

997ajk

I daily my S5 and it makes 997.2 seem extremely impractical and tiring on most drives. The roads suck around here, need to constantly be on a look out for road imperfections not to smack the oil pan or rip something off gets me tired, add being low in the sea of SUVs in high volume traffic. Additionally the level of comfort is not overly great, power comes with revs unlike boosted cars.

991.2 compared to driving 997.1 is like going from a Buick v6 to a base Cavalier!

ATX_Native

For your needs and given your Audi/VW background I’d consider a B8.5 S4 Manual with a Sport Diff or a MK7 Golf R manual over a 997.1 for daily duty since you already have a 991.

I would also consider just YOLO’ing your 991.2 daily.

No one ever sat on their deathbed wishing they drove their 911 less.

jamesinger

I am in SoCal, so take this with a grain of salt but anytime I have a fun car and a daily, I drive the daily 90% of the time or more and the fun car sits. If I were you, and if weather permits, I would put PS4S on and daily the 991. In bad weather, If I still had my B8 Avant, I would take that but I sold the Avant to get my 911 because I knew I would never drive a 2.0T with tip over a 3.8 NA motor and a 6sp. manual. It has been 5 years and in that time, I think I have taken my wife's Bolt less than 10% of trips I make. That is just my opinion though. I also have the adjustable sports seats and extended leather and bose and all the other dentist pack options, so the inside is smaller but just as nice as my B8 Prestige pack with all the special sauces and etc.

veloaudio2

Drive my 997.1 C2S 6spd daily with no problems. New B4 ahock/struts and Techart springs installed right after I bought it (DSC controller on the way). Love it. My daily commute is around 30 miles (50/50 city/highway).

David Berry

My 997.2 has been my daily driver since I purchased.
Love it every time I go anywhere

8KaboveMSL

For starters, that is a great driving pattern for a 997.1. It’s long and the engine should do well (from a risk of bore scoring perspective) as it will be driven at temp and will spend less time in cold start mode.

From a comfort perspective, I would not hesitate driving my 997.1 if I had a commute like that. Heck I’d even relish it!

The big practical thing for me is whether or not you need to be on calls during your commute. I have a cab and it is noisier than the coupe. I’ve added an aftermarket Bluetooth unit (MR12Volt) and a proper MagSafe phone mount/charger and the setup works great for playing music, podcasts, navigation, etc. Making calls is OK. The integration with the PCM is awesome but I would definitely need to upgrade my mic and it’s location if I needed to take calls regularly from the car.

Mine is also a 6MT and a 4 as well so I don’t sweat it in bad weather (which is probably not as big of an issue as if you were driving into DC from the north/west side of town). There are good options for tires that would be optimized for the commute (price, noise w/o compromising performance too much) and despite being smaller than the 991, there is plenty of room to stick stuff in the trunk/back seat.

My issue today is that I live in town and do more walking than driving g these days and really miss being able to drive my 997.

Carreralicious

I’ll be the dissenter here. I had a 50 mile round trip commute (in northern NJ) which I no longer deal with now because I’ve been working from home all this time since Covid but when I was commuting, I would never want to drive my 997 and took my APR Stage 1 tuned A4 instead which was quick enough, gobbled the bumps and was decent on gas. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had dump trucks in front of me kick up rocks and chip my windshield or put chips on my paintwork. Add to that once I was coming home when dark and hit a big *** pothole at speed that I didn’t see and got a total flat when it was friggen like 20F outside. Thank goodness I had a full spare tire in the trunk as a can of goo would not have helped.

If your commute was significantly shorter, I’d consider using a 997 for fun. But IMO, a 997 for a 190 round trip commute for you is not a good idea. It is not super comfortable over bumps and crap roads, is a pain in bad traffic if you have a manual like I do, and if stranded due to any breakdown. I’d stick with your Audi or get a performance coupe/sedan like an M3/M4 and call it a day. Drive the 911 on weekends in backroads or the track.

Petza914

There's really it much difference incommution in a 997 vs a 991 and 997 values are closing in on 991.1 values already so saving the 991 I'm not sure is valid. Having said that, you can probably find a 997.1, Tiptronic, cab for low dollars to make the scenario work.

Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S 179K miles

I commuted Philly to Newark NJ for two years.... Up on Monday, back on Thursday.

I don't really understand these kinds of 911 use questions... ok I guess when talking about a sports car... but one of Porsche's go-to-market strategies was to build a multi-use car. They did it. I have driven Philly-Pitts-NC-Atlanta and back many times... snow tires in Philly winters... my only driver.... on and on.

I don't get it. If I were to criticize the 911, it is too comfortable and not really a sports car. It is really a grand tourer (GT). Heck, my Becker/Bose audio system is 5.1 surround and plays DVD A discs!

Peace
Bruce in Philly (now Atlanta)