Charolastra

For Virginia it is 4.57% of the assessed value of the car. Ouch.

Almost makes me want to move to DC. Almost.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dta/cartax_faq.htm#1

sy308

Let me say this about the clutch and "dump $3k"....
At 66k, try to find out when the clutch was replaced. There are rare cars out there that have never had this work done, but don't count on it. Even if the clutch was done 2K ago, it does not necessarily mean you don't need it done now. I would ASSUME a clutch needs to be done whenever I purchase one of these cars. When it is done, the IMS needs to be considered. You can research when the 2006 cars were changed and see if yours is in the good or bad group. My car was a 2005, the engine blew up at 17K and I have a remanufactured motor. In order to test the clutch, start up and do full throttle accelerations in 2nd gear. Find a down hill if you can. The car should rip but the tach should be steady. If it is not, clutch time. I should also point out, that unlike the 993 cars, the standard 997 have a different transmission and are not suitable for factory racing parts. The GT cars have a different arrangement with alternative transmission. Those have more options. I could go on. I am not familiar with higher mileage 997. I do know 993 motors had valve guides start to wear at that level commonly and oil consumption could be an issue. Perhaps someone with more knowledge could expand on this situation if you question it. Depending on how you drive it, the warranty would be a good idea. If your only car, yes, if a secondary car, no. Only my opinion. I don't like extended warranty. Drive the hell out of it before you buy. Make sure you see problems first, not later. Good luck.

mgordon18

All 2006 cars should have the new IMS bearings. They switched over around March of 2005. Late 2005 cars and on have the new bearings, at least according to the research done here on this forum.

jason74

The car makes for a great daily driver. Here's what I've learned in the last 13.5 months with my 07 CPO C2. 26k miles and counting in that time (48k total on car).
1. Summer tires don't last long. Especially the rears.
2. I used discount tire to purchase and mount my 19's. No problems. Also, it goes fine in the snow with all season conti's on it. I also don't feel need to use 'N' rated porsche rubber.
3. Oil change is EASY and when oil is purchased on sale, about $50-60 per change. I bought enough to do 3 changes when I found it for $5/ qt. Does not require jacking car into air.
4. Brakes are very easy to replace DIY. The rotors don't have to be replaced every time, only if warped or damaged. Replacing pads is the easiest car I've changed them on. Pads run about $120 front and $80 rear (Textar-OEM supplier). I'm on original rotors and no plan to change them with next pad change unless they act up. Pelican parts has exhaustive list of parts and competitive prices, and they are very helpful on phone.
5. My clutch is fine, but I'm expecting to need a change in the next few thousand miles. Was quoted around $2k for job at a local indy race shop.
6. You have to get used to all of the compliments at gas stations and kids yelling 'nice car' out of their window at you. Also, having to explain to my 3 year old when it is appropriate to go fast and when it's not is a bit challenging...
7. Stone chips will happen. A lot in my case, but construction season and salt are a fact of life for me... I'm now needing a new front window...
8. When I switched back to summer tires, it had a pull to one direction. Dealer quoted me $500 (gasp) for alignment. Indy race shop quoted $180 but recommended I swap rubber side to side which corrected it...
9. Track day is the most fun you can possibly have. Stongly encouraged!
10. Don't go out of your comfortable budget to have a P-car. Personally, I pay cash for things like this so I don't have a monthly reminder of the cost. I just get in and enjoy. I plan to drive 200k+ miles, barring a drastic change.

twlai

this is where it get confusing.
all 2006 has newer part, but i read that it is stronger part, but still
does not solve the problem completely until 2008+.

twlai

my comment in BOLD

Quadcammer

Lol, 25k miles on tires? How do you drive?

1 alignment on 20 cars in 30 years? Do you ever drive? never replaced suspension parts? WTF

What specifically makes you think that cross drilled rotors need to be replaced?

Palmbeacher

Depends on how much your time is worth. A DIY oil change would have to take me not more than 20 minutes in order to break even.

Front tyres perhaps, but if you replace the rear tyres at 20-25K miles you'll have been driving on the rims for 10K. From Tirerack or Costco, a full set of Bridgestone 50s or AS970s will run you roughly $1400. Costco will do mount/balance for $14/tyre.

My indie replaced front brakes and rotors for ~$800 all in, rears they said would be the same. That's $1600 for both, including labour and tax (FL 6.5% on parts and labour). I should expect DIY to be significantly less than that, unless perhaps you're including the cost of the beer you drink whilst at the task.

Bollocks. Rotors need replacing because of wear, not design. If the rotors aren't worn below a certain thickness, a good shop can turn them. My indie does it all the time.

Mobil 1 is a decent lubricant, but not necessarily the best, just the best-marketed. My dealership (Champion) uses Penzoil, my indie uses some German brand whose name escapes me at the moment (they have a racing team and use it in their track cars). They all recommend 5W-40 vs 0W-40, but we are in the tropics and it almost never goes below 40F.

Bollocks as well. The only way to positively check the IMS bearing condition is by dropping the transmission and clutch and pulling the bearing (a rather expensive proposition and hardly the stuff of a PPI), and even that would not be possible with a MY06 or newer.

If you can get an EXCLUSIONARY type warranty, it's probably well-worth the money (mine's already paid me back a third of its cost and has five more years to go). Named-item warranties are less likely to be as rewarding with a Porsche, as there will be many highly-specific parts (IMS, AOS, coil packs as some examples) which will undoubtedly not be named amongst covered items.

jason74

I used the Conti DWS to lengthen the 'winter' season on tires. ie, I run them from early Oct to late Apr and they perform fine in warmer conditions, unlike dedicated snow tires. They are also around $100 per tire cheaper. I put about 10k miles on them. I would guess that i'll get 25-30k miles on them! Will be a year to year decision when I feel they aren't enough for snow. But second season won't be any issue at this point. I wouldn't use them on track, hence my summer tire swap. I imagine the DWS on track would be a let down after using dedicated summer tires. You could, concievably, keep the DWS on year round and purchase dedicated track rim/tire setup! That would be pretty sweet. Also, the tread pattern doesn't look appropriate in the summer...but they are quieter and softer.

This is my opinion on the DWS. I personally love everything snow and have since a child. So, car control is something I learned a long time ago on the farm. Many will disagree with all seasons, but the car goes fine in Chicago snow.

The tires are asymmetric, but bidirectional. Meaning that the outside shoulder has to always be on the outside of the car, but the tire can spin either direction. I'm not sure that swapping L-R would lengthen the life.

The PCA HPDE is really a great bargain. I've done one and am repeating it this year. As a novice, they provide you with an instructor. Mine really pushed me and helped me explore the limits of the car! Breathtaking.

Buy it, drive it, repeat!

mgordon18

The IMS problem goes away not in 2008, but in 2009 with the 997.2 DFI engine which has no IMS to fail. Porsche designed that part out.

Even so, you'll be hard-pressed to find a proven IMS failure on a MY2006+ car.

Renners: Let's please not rehash all this here.
twlai: If you are so inclined, do your IMS homework by searching this forum. It's been discussed ad-nauseum.

twlai

ok... back to the topic of quirks...

where do you guys go for car wash? especially underbody flush?
in new england, so much salt in winter, we have to flush the underbody...

fast1

10. Don't go out of your comfortable budget to have a P-car. Personally, I pay cash for things like this so I don't have a monthly reminder of the cost...

Couldn't agree more. Lots of first time buyers of a used Porsche may pay $50K for a car which originally stickered for over $100K, and they expect maintenance costs to be similar to new cars in the $50K range. They are in for a rude surprise. That's why it's important to have either an extended warranty or enough cash for a significant repair bill because regardless of what was paid for the car, the owner is maintaining a $100K car.