Up until now I've been a very protective owner -- washing, waxing, garaged when not driving, etc. This weekend, however, I took a 1,000 mile round trip in various conditions -- backroads, highways, dry roads, heavy rain, etc. It really made me appreciate the car, and forget about all the little problems and things that aren't perfect about the car.

My conclusion is that this car is built to be driven, not sitting in a garage being pampered. Of course I'll continue to pamper the car between driving, but I'll be driving it at every opportunity. Also, even though I've had a little training, I'm not half the driver that this car can handle.

 

Good for you! I agree totally, I buy cars to drive, if I want to look at one I'll cut a pic out of a magazine!

I take superb care of my cars but drive them daily, no major issues either.

I think being a garage queen is not conducive to problem free performance.

They are made to drive!

 

This is what Porsche (the company) has been saying for years. They continue to be amazed at how obcessed we are with these cars.

 

It's a car with an engine and suspension that were meant to be enjoyed. You won't get half of the enjoyment with it sitting in the garage.

The car has high limits, yes, but not so high that you can't learn to master them at a DE.

 

Here in Japan the average mileage for most P car owners (not all) is only about 5,000 - 6,000 KM per year. When I sold my 996 after 15 months of ownership (only 10 months of driving -was on biz trips a lot) I had covered 21,500 KM. The dealership was amazed - to me that was still not a lot of driving.

The dealer told me that with such a high mileage it would be hard to sell the car! In the end I got about USD 2,000 - USD 3,000 less than what people who had driven there cars for only a quarter of the mileage! Boy, if all you lose is USD 2-3K for an extra 15,000 Km why on earth aren't the Japs driving there cars! Tragic!!! I just did a nice road trip over the long weekend in Japan covering about 600 Km -not long enough but fun! The car is FILTHY!!! BUT I love it even more!

 

Fyi, people of Japanese-American heritage consider the term "japs" to be somewhat racist.

 

Right on, I agree:

It is all about DRIVING the CAR. I regret not driving my Boxster S more...I want to look back on my high milage 997S with great experiences, memories and more skill at the rear engine design.

I can't believe that I put more miles on lesser cars...at 20k miles on my 997S I'm looking forward to the next 20k!

 

1999 996 traded it in with 156,000 miles on it. Thats 9 sets of rear tires and 6 sets of fronts.

 

That's awesome! Are they all yours? (the miles that is).

 

I'd love to put 156K miles on my p-car

 

I sold most of my Porsches when they were above 120,000 miles. I have them to drive.

NOW,--get off the computer!

 

Wow, that's cool! Was it mostly 156k of problem-free miles?

Oh, and do you get frequent rubber miles rewards??

 

Think of your Porsche like a Jet Fighter - The more it sits around - the more problems you will have with it.

Drive it - Fly it as much as possible - and it will be VERY happy!!!

My Jet Experience? F/A-18 in the Blue Angels...

 

Its not about just driving it in nice weather either. I have a basalt black C4S that is my daily driver that gets completely brown every 2 days. It is a very well built car to be driven. Thank god they do not enforce driving speeds here so that I enjoy my car to triple digits, I often get a chance to slow down from triple digits to cruise speeds with marvelous standart brakes and I take a chance to explore the handling. I am thinking I can not do these daily with any other sports car other than a Porsche in my living conditions (roads, commute etc..). I went through 3 or 4 puddles that were not so shallow on purpose just to enjoy. I bought my car to drive daliy and I even sacrificed from 6-speed (I wish PDK was available at the time) and sport chassis (which is an option here). The car is no different than a ordinary sedan with less ground clearance.

Everyone should go out and enjoy right now. This car is to good to be a garage queen.

 

holy moly thats nice! curious how did the timing belt hold out?