defurr

Never owned a Porsche before, but looking at 997s with 20k to 30k miles on them and manual transmission. What are typical maintenance costs? One hears horror stories. Can anyone speak to:

• Annual maintenance
• Oil changes
• Tires
• Breaks (how often, how much?)
• Milestones, like 60k, 80k, 100k miles

Or if there is some kind of online compendium, by all means...

andrewinla

Well a clutch can start at $1800 and go up per my dealer.
I had to do mine at 34K miles...never done one that early.
Price of entry to buy the car is high and everything else costs more.
But you have to decide if it fits in your budget.

fast1

Please keep one thing in mind: you may puchase a 2005 Porsche for around $50K but its maintenance costs won't be that of a $50K car but of a $100K car. Also, there's routine maintenance which will be high, even if performed by an indy, and there's unexpected repair bills. I purchased my first Porsche over 40 years ago, and I can assure you that all the 911 iterations are extemely well built, but after 6 - 7 years various parts will begin to fail. If you can afford it, I would strongly recommend that you buy a CPO car. That will give you a couple years of worry free ownership, and give you a chance to put together some cash in case you will need it for repairs down the road.

Routine maintenance if performed by a Dealer will be quite high. In my area the charge for major service would average aound $1200. Annual maintemnance is essentially an oil and filter change and that will run around $225. Four tires, balancing and alignment will run in the $1400 - $1600 depending upon the tires selected and where you buy them.

sy308

I haven't owned my 997 long enough to comment accurately. However, I owned a 993 for about 5 years, it needed a new clutch and developed a leaky head gasket. Including maintenance, and tires, spent at least $6500 during ownership. I never skimped on anything though and did a complete service when I bought the car as the previous owner greatly neglected it. My experience with tires was fronts lasted about 10K miles and rears were wearing at 5K and replaced by 7K. I bet the 997 will provide similar tire wear. Hope this helps. (I changed the oil every 3000 miles, which was about 2X a year).

Dave R.

Preventive maintenance:
MY 2005-07, 2008-10

Every 20k/2yrs - oil & filter, cabin air filter, brake fluid flush (oil & filter every 12k/1yr on 2008, every 10k/1yr 09-10)
Every 40k/4yrs - engine air filter
Every 60k/6yrs - spark plugs and serpentine drive belt (spark plugs every 40k/4yrs on 2008 & later)
Every 120k/12 yrs - manual transmission oil

Plus checks/inspections of course.

See, e.g., http://www.porsche.com/usa/accessori...anceintervals/

Tires - can vary greatly by what you put on and how you drive.

Visit Tire Rack's website to get an idea on tire costs, and Pelican Parts' website for parts costs.

If you are willing to DIY even some of the simple things, savings can be significant.

Some parts it makes sense to use Porsche branded - brake rotors, water pump, perhaps serpentine belt.
Other parts, OEM quality can be excellent - Mahle air/oil filters, Textar brake pads, Beru spark coil packs, Bosch spark plugs, etc.

Suns_PSD

I have been asking this same question and what I've gathered is that they are reliable, and standard service and tires are equivalent to any modern sports car.

But it's some of the weird things that concern me. I met a guy at a local car show and his 996 Turbo lost a rear differential. $7,500 used, before shipping or install. That would be pretty unpleasant in my eyes to have to drop $8K in to a used car for a random repair.

Also, can you buy aftermarket rotors and equipment to do the brakes on the 911 or do you have to buy expensive OEM parts? Another guy mentioned $3K for a freakin' brake job on his Nissan GTR to me. Sheesh.

malexgcab

You should consider a CPO or extended warranty to offset with expenses. One of my "must have" in purchasing the car was a CPO.

Edgy01

Since you are buying your car used then you have no idea what the car was subjected to prior to your hands touching the wheel. Many herein have been extremely lucky with no hidden issues that can really knock you for a bill, but then there are the ones that were abused and will just nail you down the road.

Today's 911s are some of the least maintenance heavy cars out of Zuffenhausen. All you have to do is to stay up on things like oil changes, filter changes (air, cabin and oil) and spark plugs and coils if the mileage dictates. Tires are generally the lion's share of the expense--and a sticker shock to non-Porsche people. Many new to Porsche wind up buying crap tires and then don't get to truly experience what is the legendary handling of a 911. Many adjust their alignments to maximize tire life--and lose that handling.

Provided you take reasonable care of the car you should probably do just fine--but keep in mind that these are $100,000 automobiles. If something expensive breaks, then it isn't going to be like fixing a Honda. I elected to get a ten year 100,000 mile warranty when I bought mine and it gives me some peace of mind from the surprises that can lurk out there for any of these cars.

blake

Before purchase, get a DME readout & get a PPI (in that order). If you spend some money on learning more about the used car up front, you will spent far less over the long run... I have owned four 911s in my life, and purchased the first one without a PPI. Huge mistake - spent over $15K to "maintain" an old SC after spending $13k to buy it in 1993. Since then, I have carefully chosen 3 911s that have all been highly reliable. I have also passed on purchasing many 911s that I wanted because the PPI or DME readout didn't meet my expectation...

Porsches are quite unreliable unless mistreated. Buying used, just stay away from the mistreated cars!

My $0.02,
-B

Poshaman

I have 45k miles on mine and so far the car has been trouble free. But, expect to shell out some big bucks for major maintenance services. I paid about $1600 for 40K major service at my stealership. I will be using indy shops for future services and repairs from now on since I am out of CPO warrenty.

JW911

I do my own maintenance and have spent in the neighborhood of only $600 on oil, brake fluid, and parts over the past 6 years and 50K miles. (not including tires) I do oil changes every 10K even though the manual on '05 calls for every 20K. Labor and extreme parts markup by the dealer is what eats you alive on maintenance. It is the most profitable part of the dealership's business. Selling cars is secondary.

yemenmocha

Biggest cost of ownership is DEPRECIATION.

I've had mine 6years and all I've done are the scheduled maintenance services, rear tires every 5-7k miles, fronts every 9-10k miles (approximates here), water pump, cabin filters & A/C fresh smell stuff, plus a very minor repair or two under warranty for squeak/rattle and lumbar support seat issue.

Para82

I found the biggest cost of ownership is the DEALERSHIPS (the shady ones).

My car's value appreciated 3k from 2009 btw so not always the case with depreciation if you pay rock bottom value.

Macster

Second that.

I read some UK published car mags, general car mags and some that cover just Porsches.

Exotic car clubs are popular in the UK and of course these clubs have all sorts of exotic cars, from BMWs to Zondas and everything in between.

Once in a while the club owners/managers talk about the fleet of cars and how the brands in the fleet compare to each other in their cost to keep on the road.

I won't name the bad ones, but Porsches come in at the top of needing the least amount of work to keep in service.

Just oil/filter changes, with air filters, plugs, and of course tires and that's it.

Other cars need clutches (even some models with 'F1' style transmissions), camshaft belts, and so on.

The Porsches, like all the other cars available, even though they driven as hard as allowed by the club rules/bylaws, hold up very well.

Sincerely,

Macster.

BED997

"the scheduled maintenance services, rear tires every 5-7k miles, fronts every 9-10k miles"

Why are you getting so few miles out of a set of tires? Are you driving very hard? I would think you can get way more miles than this.