snaphappy

While considering the 997.1 TT I've come across a few issues that caused me to pause. I think the maintenance on the TT might be out of my league. At the same time, I'm giddy at the whole notion of dropping the engine and playing - but reality is telling me "you don't have a lot of free time for that."

So here are some real facts I'm looking at on a car with 30-50,000 miles:

1) The coolant lines. New ones from sharkwerks welded in, right? That's how it goes? I could do this myself since I have a lift, but it's a 10-20 hour job and at least $5000 if I hire out. I don't know if I could wait for them to fail.

2) Clutch. No experience repairing a clutch. $5000. But with 30-50,000 miles it will need to be done at some point.

3) Plugs - cost is not the issue - as I'd do it myself, but goodness, a lot of work for what is a small job on other cars.

4) Fuel filter, fuel pump, and o2 sensors, all big jobs.

4) Belt, brakes, fluids, mass air flow, all look incredibly easy! Yay!

Am I missing other "known" issues or are there other things I should handle before they go bad?

Honestly, how long does it take to drop the engine down to get started on a lot of these jobs?

Finally, in full disclosure, I rarely have more than $10,000 laying around at any one time. That's what really bothers me. Many of you are far more wealthy. I worry these big repair bills will come my way and really wipe me out. And the fact is, there are other, less lovely cars, that won't give me these repair bills. Sigh. So I'm perfectly willing to accept this is not the car for me and move on. But hopefully I'm overreacting and some of you can encourage me

snaphappy

PS - I thought I might find piece of mind from a CPO or extended warranty...But Goodness, I've found a number of cases where Porsche denied catastrophic claims. I don't think Fidelity was mentioned by name, but I read a 30 page thread where people mentioned their extended warranties were denied. Yikes. So I'm thinking it's best to keep cash on hand and work with an indy for the jobs I don't feel comfortable doing, like the clutch for example. Thanks for any and all feedback, especially the brutal and honest sort

993MAN

I don't get it?

Nothing has actually gone wrong with the car yet. You seem to assume you'll have to do all this work, where you probably won't.

You're painting a picture that is scaring the crap out of yourself before you even give it a chance!

If you were on a Ferrari forum you might be right, but Porsche?
My last car was a Ferrari, and let me tell you, $10K would go nowhere.

I say you should relax a little and buy a well sorted car and enjoy it. If stuff happens, well, tend to it then. That's even if it happens.

Quadcammer

Honestly it doesn't sound like you're ready yet for a turbo 911. If you rarely ever have 10k sitting around, I'm not sure your financial position is such that you can drive the car worry free, and really if you cant, what fun is it?

And if you've never removed engines before, I'm not sure I'd want to start on a 7tt

Dstutler

There's no doubt that the TT needs maintenance and some situations you mention, if they happen can be expensive. But I took a family of four to the UK a few years back and dropped $15k. My point is, that things in life that make you happy do cost $$$. Just prioritize and ask yourself if this is a priority and how high up on your list it lands. You then will have your answer.

Terry Adams

If your company has a matching 401(k) plan and you are not contributing the max to it, do that and wait till you can afford trips with family as well. The Porsche will always be there. Did not buy my first one till I was mid forties.

You can have fast, reliable and cheap. Pick any two.

The maintenance and failure rates you mention are not nearly that. My last car before the '87 Cab was a MB 300 SEL 6.3 torque monster, air bag suspension, driven hard by previous owner ( wife's Bro) and I paid little accordingly, but the maintenance drove me to the Porsche, so much less to maintain.

Dennis C

My 997 turbo has roughly 46,000 miles on the odometer. It has been reliable. As I recall, the only repair that I've had in the last two years was a leaking coolant line to one of my turbos.

HkPlinker

I have three suggestions for you,

C P O

zirrah

Tough get there. 4 currently for sale.

Ibanezgod

OP i've had a scare with the camshaft, but turned out to be OK. I did O2 sensors this weekend and it wasn't too difficult. Just took some time. I don't have loads of dough lying around for a rainy day. But I bit the bullet and leap of faith that the turbo will be reliable. Shop for a warranty and put the money there to give you comfort.

jotaking

997tt isn't going to be the cheapest car to maintain, however 2 year service intervals, rock solid engineering and low to zero depreciation is safe bet (as long as your not racking up 20k miles per year).

If you apply the worst case scenario (as per op) to a VW Passat then you wouldn't see much change from 10k?


Make sure you get a PPI or better still buy from OPC and get a warranty!

Good luck with your search!

Kevin

Buy a car from a Porsche dealer and have them provide you with a Easycare or Fidelity aftermarket warranty. Enjoy the car.. Make sure that you have the car inspected. Ask them to inspect "other" components. Ask them to bore-scope the coolant fittings. They can do that. Make them replace the fittings if leaking. Have them look at camshaft deviation between banks.

Craig T.

Snappy, I've owned my 997.1 TT for a year now and drive it like I stole it. It had 28,000 miles at purchase and has 35,900 now....Including four track days at Laguna Seca and Auto Club Speedway. The ONLY thing that's gone wrong is a leaky master cylinder...after I spent three 30 minute run sessions racing an M5 at Laguna (LS is hard on brakes). I boiled my brake fluid, which didn't help. I think the entire repair was less than $1,000.

I have a friend with 135,000 on his 996TT. Other than the usual stuff, brakes, water pump, and a leaky radiator, it's been bulletproof.

If you want to spend some money...Go buy a 2007-09 500 class Mercedes.

vettenomore

I don't have the advantage of experience like many members here but I just purchased a 2008 tt last week after many years of corvette ownership and I can tell you the thought process I went through.


First, I have wanted a 911 for many years but got scared-off by the RMS IMS failures in the 996, so bought a couple corvettes over the last 8-9 years. My 2005 and 2010 vets have been essentially trouble free. Why do I mention this? Because by most accounts, the 997 is rated much higher in reliability than the vettes. Yes, it will cost more to fix when something does go wrong, but the chances of something going wrong are far less.


Do I have $10k to spend on repairs if something does go wrong? Yes. Is that the way I would prefer to spend $10k? No, but things happen and I want the car bad enough that I'm willing to take that risk


Extended warranties - I would like to have purchased a CPO'd car but the 2008 isn't eligible due to age and the research I've done shows that there is great risk that most third-party companies will actually pay out. I chose to mentally set aside $5k-$7k that I would have spent on the warranty for repairs should that need arise. If it doesn't, I still have my money.


Lastly, after a few days of driving this car, I can tell you that I will never again own anything other than a 911 tt. The build quality is incredible, the styling is ageless. My car has some mods where it is putting out approx. 560 hp - it is exhilarating. I worried I would miss the torque after owning vettes - no worries now! Buy - you won't regret it!

snaphappy

This is all 100% exactly how I feel and what I plan on doing. If I need to accept that this car is out of my league, I'm prepared to let it go and move on. But the payment will only be $100 more a month than my current car - so that part I can afford no problem. And as long as I keep a nice savings in place the big jobs won't overwhelm me. And thankfully I can do most of the small jobs myself!

I would love to see a youtube tutorial of dropping the engine down if anyone knows of one!

But thank you all so much for the encouragement (and the warnings) I really appreciate it!