jeffrec

I too am a first time Porsche owner, bought a CPO 911 S in August. Aside from the annual maintenance costs does anyone have any recommendations on general upkeep aside from adding the requisite oil periodically and watching the tire pressure? It would be nice to keep the annual service costs as low as possible by maintaining my car properly throughout the year. Thank you.

MyEmily

With 86,000 miles. The only major cost to me are the tires. 4 sets at avg of $2,200. I've been getting 18,000 miles per set of tires. I've been blessed with min oil consumption. Regular manintenance at $500 a year. Brake pads DIY @ $600 a set, 3 time. That's about the cost for me to own my 997 for the past 6 years. That total up to around $13,600 or $0.16 a mile excluding gas and inurance and registration. Factoring that in @ $5k a year. That's another $0.34 per miles. All this equated to 50 cent a blissful happy mile.

PS.

Will be going in for the sparkpluggs and belts services. Brought it in the first time (60,000miles) and they said it still look good. Think it's time, feeling laggy... Let see how much this will cost me... I have to say I've been blessed. No oil leak and very min oil consumption...The only complains I can have is gas mileage. 14 at the city and 21 on the highway. Speeding tickets because it's so smooth. And dings to the rear fenders due to highway debris...

Dave R.

Note also that some options will increase maintenance costs.

For example, 18" rims are less expensive to shoe than 19" rims - for Michelin PS2s on 2006 911, Tirerack.com currently shows $1236 for a set of Michelin PS2s for 18", vs. $1730 for 19".

sandwedge

I don't understand your tire wear. The rears are in the ballpark but how you only get slightly more out of the fronts is strange. Between almost 70K miles on two 997's I've seen a pretty reliable 8-9K on the rears and double that on the fronts.

rotesAuto

very good thread.....
I did no research before buying my Targa with 30K on it.......hell, didn't even do a PPI.....
came in on a Wednesday......drove it........bought it on a Friday!
but it is CPO'ed and I did expect that it would be expensive to maintain.....
granted I have only put about 270 miles on it since the 19th......

gotta pay to play

USMC_DS1

It's very reasonable especially if you DIY... parts cost is in-line with BMW and Lexus. P-dealer labor is where you can pay dearly. I have 54K+ miles on an '08 C2S. I'm the 2nd owner but I have all service records. All standard maintenance items... oil changes, etc. I spent ~$1K in parts over the past 1.5+ yrs. Most expensive parts have been coils($240) and WP($250) which were all preventative maintenance items. The rest was standard fluid change/flush... brakes, coolant, oil, filters, etc. And one TPMS sensor replaced under warranty. Just don't start modifying anything... that gets expensive very quickly.

Mumbles

Being one of my pride and joy's, regular maintenance is a small price to pay for such pleasure !

simsgw

I just traded in my first Porsche for my second one, and I don't believe my squawk list ever got beyond two or maybe three items. And those always were very minor items. When I first bought it, with 11,000 miles, the clutch made a noise halfway between a mockingbird and a bullfrog run over by a motorcycle; the light kept coming on saying the passenger's airbag was off; and leather on the driver's seat bolster was showing cracks.

All of those were easy to solve. The clutch quit squawking after a skilled driver used it long enough to wipe off the glazed portion; the warning light went off as soon as I quit tossing bags of onions and similar floppy grocery items behind my wife's seat; and the seat leather looked like new after the detailer worked on that bolster for six months.

That's the only sort of maintenance item it ever needed. I was impressed, or I wouldn't be buying a new one. The tires never lost pressure, which means the wheels are well manufactured, and I added a sum total of 3/4 of a quart of oil in thirty thousand miles. I do check my oil regularly and I recommend that on any car. Also, I change the oil pretty frequently compare to mfr spec: 7,000 miles or so.

Tires last a long time if you treat them right, as racing drivers normally do. (Much more annoying to have tires that don't last the race than you might suppose.) Ditto clutches. I usually get 90,000 between clutches, so it didn't surprise me that the clutch in that first Porsche was still fine after 40,700 miles. If there had been a problem, I'd have privately blamed the first owner (who we already know glazes his clutches), and publicly I'd have insisted on replacement under warranty asserting "early failure."

When I traded it in, the Michelin Pilot Super Sports had 12,000 miles both front and rear. Neither end looked ready to be replaced. They looked like the rears might go 18,000 and anything sooner than 15,000 would be a crime. That is at least fifty percent more mileage than the original PS2 tires, and the performance on track or public roads is better. I recommend MPSS tires to keep the cost down and the fun level up.

Overall, I found dealer maintenance costs to be quite reasonable, but then I'm not scrimping on the maintenance budget to get into a Porsche in the first place. There just isn't that much maintenance whoever is doing it. If you do need to cut back on cost in this area, I strongly recommend doing at least as much as the factory recommends plus shortening the oil intervals to 10,000 miles or less. Then substitute your own labor for the professional mechanics wherever possible. That's how we managed to afford our first sports car.

Gary

fatfat

hi all, I purchased my 06C2 with 65304km in 2012. the p-car dealer in Ontario gave me over 10k$ in service receipts as they serviced the vehicle for sale. since then I have done most of the work other than rebuilding the alternator.

since then,

65651km air filter

76900km spark plugs are coil set, program on pc to reset dash lights and oil/filter

77175km cabin filter and rebuilt alternator due to noisy clutch pulley

84900km shifter cable and cap on expansion tank

85131km water pump, i almost install a low temp thermo, but decide to stay with the old one.

I also stock up on 4 jugs of p antifreeze, and p manual tranny oil. Please note that I had to purchase tools for every service since not really a diy guy until now. almost 2 years of ownership and around 2k$ in parts include alternator service.

imho, the upkeep for Carrera is high but is sure fun to drive!

Sniff

I will second the notion that DIY maintenance on these cars can save you big time. The great thing about the 997 (and really all models of the 911) is the community of owners. The Porsche forums (Rennlist, Renntech, 6speedonline, Pelican Parts, etc.) are loaded with very useful information that pretty much explains in detail how to do the routine maintenance items required for these cars. And you can shop around on Amazon, eBay, and dealerships like Suncoast to get the best prices on parts. For example, I was able to purchase my X-51 air filters for $4.97 each on Amazon (made by Mahle), and the dealership here in DC wanted nearly $60 each.

I got out of a 1989 911 Turbo last summer and contemplated going to another brand (Aston Martin and the "F" word). However in the end what brought me back was the outstanding support network of Porsche owners. For me there is great value and peace of mind knowing all I have to do is post my question or problem and a dozen guys who I don't even know will eagerly come to my aide.

Sean

A790

As someone just getting into Porsches, I have to say that I completely agree with this. The amount of knowledge and community these forums have and build is second to none.

Tier1Terrier

I had the same question in mind as the OP as well as others. Are there any major differences with DIY-ability between the 997.1 vs 997.2? I'm not super skilled but I'm very comfortable doing oil & fluid changes, filters, brakes (rotors, pads, fluids) and other common maintenance items on my wife's BMW. I realize the Porsche 911 is a completely different species, but I know I'd like to do my own maintenance if and whenever possible - I actually enjoy doing it. I also have no problem taking my car in to a mechanic when it's something I'm not so familiar with.

chris.hanle

From everything I have read the 997.2 is just as easy to work on as a .1 (easy being your own judgement). But very similar. Different than a BMW but too much. Matter if fact the motiv power bleeder will hook up to both without changing attachments (bleeding breaks).

larrytrk

I don't think you can find an easier car to do an oil change on than a 997 .2.
Hardest part is waiting for all the oil to drain!!
Biggest pain is waiting till it's hot to check level!

Sniff

If you can change brake pads and do a brake fluid flush on a BMW, you are mechanically inclined enough to handle all the minor maintenance requirements of a 997.2. This is especially true considering all the great DIY threads out there for these cars.

Sean