andrewk34

A friend of mine is looking at a 2005 with slightly over 40,000 miles. He wanted me to ask if that is too high to risk it given that:

a) the warranty is a month away from expiring,
b) does the car drive less well (is it less tight structurally) at 40k or a bit beyond that?

I told him that people drive Porsche's with over 100k so it is probably okay even though the car does seem to have many miles for the year, but what do I know....

adfsouth

A few thoughts:

Price is a factor with higher mileage cars......if he's getting a great deal and it is exactly what he wants, I would:

1) Obtain DME scan at dealer to make sure the car was not abused (overrevs, etc)

2) Perform prepurchase inspection at dealer

3) Have it CPO'ed by a dealer.....If it is a private sale, put it through the dealer and pay for CPO.

4) If not a great deal, find something comparable with lower mileage.

Porches can last a long time IF properly taken care of.

Charlie C

As long as you periodically use a good wood preservative and keep the wet leaves off.

tstafford

I wouldn't be particularly concerned about 40K miles. If the deal is right, PPI checks out, it's fine. CPO would take any concerns out as well. I'd happily buy a car with 40K miles and a CPO w/ no worries.

ADias

If the car checks out that is (for me) a better car than an unproven garage queen.

lig

My porch has 40 years on it and is still going strong. My Porsche has 35.5K on it and is still rumbling along beautifully (and being CPOd it'll be warranted up to 100K)

Carrera GT

It's a helluva buyer's market, so I'd be looking for exactly the right car. I'd have no qualms about 20K to 60K mile cars. This car is about average for four years on the road, but might be on the high end of the spectrum of cars in the various classifieds for sale.

Wear and tear will mostly pertain to stone chips and the mediocre quality of materials in the cabin.

The presence of a complete service history is more important than the odometer. Personally, I prefer to find a one-owner car with a steady service history (not a recent "fix up for sale" visit to the dealer where suddenly the car gets brakes, tires, electrics, etc.)

As ever, keep in mind the 997 is a $100K car, even when it's four or five years old, that's the "metric" for its operating costs. In short, get a car with CPO, but shop for the right car and you (more likely) won't be buying the problem car someone else is off-loading.

hoffa

That’s like 10k miles a year. That’s nothing. I had the equivalent of 53k miles (86k KM) on my 996 with only small things needing repair (ball joint and a resistor for the radiator fan)

andrewk34

Cool. Very helpful as always. The buyers market causes issues: the incentive is to wait for the "perfect" car, and since prices are going down every month one might as well wait....

PDQ PDK CAYMAN S

I just bought a warranty for my car as it came out ot of the factory one. I sleep well at night knowing if the big one happens I will be covered. I suggest you might want to do that as well.

KBS911

I seem to remember reading somewhere, maybe Excellence, that 7-9 K miles per year is considered average for a Porsche. That said if the car is tight and has good records as well, then I wouldn't let the mileage concern me, as long as the price is right.

Quadcammer

Could you elaborate on this please?

Thanks!

Chris from Cali

Agreed 100%.

Carrera GT

I've owned 964, 993, 996 and 997 -- and still have 993 and 997 in the garage. I don't think there's much debate that the 964 was a hand built car with high quality materials in the cabin. The 993 was a little "nicer" in the cabin, but the fit and finish of the plastics reflected the efforts to reduce costs (remembering that the 993 was significantly discounted from the 964 prices.) The 996 came along with shiny, hard plastic cabin, wafer-thin leather and tends to look "rid hard and put up wet" unless cared for. The 997, in my opinion, improves upon the aesthetics of the 996 and the quality of the materials is arguably better, but again, if you care about the cabin trim, the "full leather" option saves the 996 and 997 from looking like New York taxis.

I think Porsche needs to give up on painting plastic to look like metal. And it needs to give up on hard plastic trim that never really fits edge to edge with other bits of "snap in" trim. I'm not asking for Aston Martin. I surely don't want the Lexus or Infiniti "faux lux" appearance. I just want to park a current model 911 next to my 993 (admittedly with a lot more leather and faux carbon fiber than I'd ever order from the factory by choice) and feel like Porsche has their eye on the ball. A good example of the right balance of function over form over fashion is the Ferrari F430 Scuderia -- it's not the "fist sized holes and gaps" hard core of the Enzo and it's still prone to production quality issues like wrinkles in the dash leather, but it has numerous points of attention to detail of weight reduction and functional design like replacing padded flammable carpets with thin sheet aluminum floors and the cabin has the feel of being in a serious, purposeful and special car that needs no introduction -- unlike anything I've felt since the F40 (not to purport to have owned one ...)

Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud on the idea of a 3.9% effective lease (until March) on a C4S PDK -- strip the excess weight, drop in some decent coil-overs and you've got a Carrera that can go play with the GT3's plus the novelty of the doppelganger thingamajig 'box. Let Alex tweak the donk for a few extra neddies and it could be a lot of fun. Just thinking (typing?) out loud.

jcnesq

I didn't trade my 05 997S last week because the offer was horrible, so I will be putting it for sale soon. 43K miles. I'm not trying to push the car here at all, please don't take it that way. But for what they offered, I figure I might as well keep it for a cheap spare. It was my DD for the past 4 1/2 years; shows some obvious little wear, it's not a garage queen, but still shines up real nice. I have never abused it and have properly maintained it, so I know it's a damn sound car. I was looking into an aftermarket extended warranty, mainly because I would hate to get stung with a major new engine or new tranny repair, not that I expect that but we've all seen that happen. My wife is bugging me to keep it for her fun car - doubt I will but maybe - in which case I'll get an extended warranty.

If I were buying a used 997S, I'd be leaning to a CPO car, but maybe the aftermarket warranties are close enough (not sure, haven't studied the details).

Overall, I think these cars if properly maintained and not abused can easily run well beyond 100K miles without any major problems.

Also just rambling here.