skierlawyer

Hi,
A quick introduction, I am a huge car enthusiast and looking at a 997.1 turbo tiptronic.

My car collection includes a modded 930, a Ferrari F355 and a Lambo Diablo. My daily driver is a Lexus LS 430 and I've got a Subaru Forester as well.

Looking at the 997 tip for a daily driver to replace the Lexus.

2 questions, 1. what do you guys think of the idea of me adding the 997 as a daily driver, including in snow and traffic. 2. the car I'm looking at has 74,000 miles, but the price is cheap and I like the color and options.

Any issues with a high mileage 997? whats a fair price for it?

Thanks,
Brian

Team Plutonium

Skip the tiptronic and go for .2 and PDK.

Turbo is a solid DD, and very capable in the snow, car is basically the winter beater for the folks at St.Moritz in Switzerland.

I'll let others chime in on the price.

skierlawyer

I understand the PDK is "better" but

my reasons for the .1 not .2 are:
PRICE Tip is way cheaper than PDK
Reliability (proven tip vs new and complex PDK)
Mezger engine

Is the tip smoother from a standing start, accelerating normally as in daily use than a PDK?

jem7v

I 2nd the skip the tip turbo. I drove a .2 turbo and .1 turbo before settling on my .2 turbo s. The .2 turbo was worlds ahead. And the turbo s is even better .

With the current cars you have honestly it probably is a waste of money to go .1. If it was your only car I'd say any turbo is better than a lexus.

Now if you want to get the .1 and modify the hell out of it (send it to bbi and let the work their magic), then get the .1 for cheaper cost.

The PDK is better in every way to the .1. It's faster too.

TT Surgeon

The mezger is a true dry sump racing engine with a racing pedigree. The tip is bulletproof and scary fast on the track. You can't go wrong. Re the tt as a dd, I've done it for years, perfect especially with a tip in any and all weather and traffic conditions. C

HkPlinker

I bought my 997.1 TIP CAB this summer and love it. No issues at all for a DD. Leave it in "Normal" mode for average driving, then go SPORT with standard shocks for spirited driving. I do not the like the full SPORT with SPORT shocks for street driving. Way too stiff.

Best $ 60,000 grand car I've bought

Team Plutonium

I'd take the mezger engine with a 6MT. Tiptronic is not my cup of tea. But I agree, that block is legendary - modding potential is unlimited.

MY997

Per your questions, I can only comment on the 997.1 as a DD and not in the snow as I live in Florida ...and not with Tip. I have a 6MT and it was my daily for about 3 months. And my drive (35miles round trip) at least one way a day was in heavy traffic and I still had no problem at all...and when the traffic opened up it was a lot of fun. Mine is no longer a daily but not because of the car (long story) and I still plan to drive it to work from time to time. Good luck with your decision.

Igooz

+1. The engine is proven and TIP has been in production for many years and offered on MB cars as well. So easier to maintain down the road.

As these cars get older and get in the hands of their future second / third / fourth owners who cannot afford to maintain them properly it will be really interesting to see what happens with the complicated PDK...

Chevy V8 conversions?

Macster

The Turbo Tip would be a very nice DD. That Tip in traffic would be a godsend. I think a Tip tends to soften the shocks to the rest of the drivetrain and to the engine too which is a good thing.

74K miles is not bad as long as the car has received good servicing and a test ride then a test drive turns up no issues with the car.

A highe mileage car for a DD means you get the car for less and it will then depreciate less. Depreciation is the biggest expense of owning one of these cars. (For instance, I bought my 03 996 Turbo in 2009 with just 10K miles on it for less than half the car's sticker price. The 1st owner paid about $6/mile in depreciation for his use of the car.)

On the downside the higher miles mean some wear items are closer to needing attention, but if you give the car a good inspection/check out you can note for instance the brakes are close to needing replacement, ditto the tires, perhaps some vital fluid services are due: engine oil and filter; brake fluid flush/bleed; spark plugs might be due on miles and depending upon where the car has spent its time maybe the coils too; I'd do the Tip fluid/filter service even though it is "premature"; and possibly a coolant drain and refill. Oh, be sure you get the engine nice and hot and let it sit then with the engine off while you check the car over. You want to make sure those radiators aren't leaking.

After your test ride and drive and used car check out then get a PPI. Among other things this gets the car -- after you have a good test ride and test drive in the car -- on the rack and every hose, hose fitting, hydraulic line and line fitting, seal, gasket, o-ring gets checked for leak sign. The aforementioned radiators (just replaced 3 at 130K miles on my 996 Turbo: you don't want to know the cost); water pump; Tip seals; rear and front diff axle flange seals and shifter linkage seals; RMS; CV boots; power steering rack boots; spoiler hydraulics; and so on.

For price my general advice is the car is worth -- if it worth owning at all -- is somewhere between its trade in value and how much you want to pay and how low the seller is willing to go on price.

You can use the several web sites that provide use car values/prices and plug in the numbers and see what values you get. You can start out low if you want -- you can always raise your offer if you find you started too low. But remember price is not fact only an opinion. The seller has his but you are entitled to your opinion, too.

tcsracing1

74k mile 997.1TT tippy got to be a bargin. Id say $50's somewhere...

For that money you cant go wrong for a year round 911 beater. it is fast and reliable.

997.2TT PDK has a little more power and shifts super fast but is more money.
The PDK is beautiful and the DFI motor is bulletproof however.

TT Surgeon

Agree w the above, except the part about the dfi being bulletproof. That's yet to be proven, as they don't really race it, at least not in the higher classes and I don't think anyone would call the recent 991gt3 experience bulletproof. But all the other points about the tip and pdk are spot on.
C

eviligloo

Personally if I was going to use a Porsche as a daily driver including snow i'd get a 997.1 or 997.2 4s instead of a turbo. If you're going to rack up the miles at least it's cheaper for plug and coil pack changes and general maintenance. Having twin turbos in the tight engine compartment means you have less access.

I've thought about getting a 997.1 for daily commuting.

CincyScott

These threads always crack me up. Someone comes on and says, what do you guys think of this car, and someone(s) comes on and says, you should go for the X that's twice the price! I'm sure price was never a factor in why they were looking at that car initially

A 997.1TT tip would be a wonderful DD. Have fun!

jem7v

I don't know about that. General maintenance on all porsche pretty much is a flat fee of 500. Or 450 from my dealer.

Now varying indy shops will have different prices but the maintenance on my uncles 991 4s, both my dad's 981 boxster s and new panny GTS (don't know panamera model numbers), and now my 997.2 TTS from my dealer are 450.

Personally I wouldn't want a regular 911 from the 997 generation to get that IMS issue. I don't want a ticking time bomb. For the zo6 it was the guide valves.

For the turbo .2 our ticking time bomb is our spoiler. If it breaks out of warranty so what. I would more than gladly put on a GT2 wing for less money than replacing the hydraulics.

All the 911's I believe (don't quote me) require the engine to be removed for spark plugs and the like. So automatically that means 1000+ from a dealer. Again indy shop can vary wildly.

So to me the only issue would be price. Between a .2 4s and a .1 turbo the depreciation will be the same practically for the same mileage. A .2 that is still yet to be seen what happens with those. There is much more demand for the .2 that I think prices will level out around 70-80k. I think you need to have a TTS over 60k miles to break below that level.


I'm sure the .1 turbo will level out around 60-70k under 60k miles.

For me all of these are really moot since I probably won't keep my car that long. I won't keep mine past when the warranty is up in 4 years.