FWIW, here is what I did. Sorry it is a little long.

Had a PPI done at a Dealer (Napleton Porsche in Westmont, IL). A PPI is required for an extended warranty. Napleton Porsche sold me a 30 month 30,000 mile warranty ($100 deductable) from Easy Care Total Care for 3,000 + $275 for the inspection. My car had 39,000 miles on it when I bought it. The car had ALL maintance records (the only reason I considered it). My warranty is up in Jan, car has 59,000 miles. I am renewing the warranty for 3,300 3 year 36,000 miles 250 deductable. After 60,000 you pay for inspection and other tests that total about $1,500. I would not buy an extended warranty from anyone but the dealer who will service your car and I would only buy Easy Care. When I take my car to the dealer who sold me the warranty, they know what to say to get things covered, approved and back with my a$$ in seat very quickly. When I take it to an indy it is a whole different story.

What has been covered:
$4,000 Air Bar light - seat belt sensor - 1/16 inch wiggle in drivers seat
$2,400 replaced all rear control arms
$1,100 replaces accululator and slave
$250 seat belt adjustment
$150 sun sensor
$400 vacum leak
$500 1 rear Yokohama tire with a nail in it. replaced, mounted and balanced.
$800 replaced leaky coolant resovior.
$600 (?) replaced faulty oil pressure gauge
$1000 Misc other stuff

What has not been covered:
Oil changes every 5,000 miles or once a year $225 (I think you can get it done a lot cheaper)
$600 Brake work (boiled my fluid at the track and glazed my pads)
$1,300 Spark Plugs (I know you can get this done cheaper, but the dealer was already $590 into diagnosing the problem i.e. had a misfire.
$1,600 45,000 mile service I think was
$2,000 60,000 mile service is over (don't know exactly), but it includes plugs which I already did)
New tires $1300-1500 for something like Yokohama's, $700 for Sumitomo's
$200 or $300 MAF don't remember of the top of my head.
$1000 other stuff.

 

Also, I would invest in a Durametric - even before I bought the car. Hook it up to every car you look at and learn how to read it. The enthusiast model can only clear codes on the 1st 3 cars you hook it up to, but they will reset your cabel 1 time after you find the car you want.

http://www.durametric.com/default.aspx

A must have. 2 trips to the dealer to tell you that is your CEL is a lose gas cap and the price of one is covered.

Also, I leverage the knowledge on this board by pulling code, seat of the pants diagnosis by someone knowledgable, take that info to the dealer and complain about the specific problem and it will be covered under warranty. If you don't complain about the specific problem they will not fix - even if they know about it.

That is why this board is DA BOMB. More knowledge on this board about these cars than anywhere IMO.

 

mods

 

LOL...thats where the budgets get blown...

I am looking at PSS10, flash, and Europipe Stage 2 quite, GT2 front and its approaching 10g quickly (if it hasn't exceeded it already)....and that is chump change around here.

And when I bought my car I literally said "Why would anyone want to change this beast"

 

Other usual suspects (wear and tear items)

Front and Center Radiators
Topmounts and Suspension Bushes
Clutch
Discs and Pads
Coil Packs
Turbo Wastegate Spindles
Tyres
Turbo Heat Sheilds
MAF
RMS (the GT1 block has been known to have issues like the M96)

 

Track time
tickets
reeckless driving lawyers
divorce attorney assuming your wife just doesn't get it
the list goes on.

 

i'm convinced this board helped me get my transmission repaired under warranty. knowledge is power, no doubt.

 

My issues. I fixed them all myself so I can only speak to parts prices...

Front strut bearing,
Slave/Accumulator,
Fuel Pump. I'm on my 2nd replacement,
Rear wing malfunction light has come on a couple of times. I stop the car, cycle it through it's movement with the manual button, and it seems good again. No leaks yet, just sticks sometimes (3 times so far).

The fuel pump failures make me uneasy, but the new part ending in -02 should solve it.
Otherwise, I'd be comfortable driving it cross country. Probably the most reliable superperformance car there is.

 

Totally agree. Rock solid if you do the maintanence. Just a tank. Love it. Would not consider getting rid of it. Puts a smile on my face everyday...even in the Chicago winters.

 

That would be assuming that I will let anyone else drive the car.

Actually, very solid info throughout this thread and has been helpful in how I approach my search. Thanks to all. I think that I found "the one".

 

Oh, quick question... how are the Tiptronics in these things? Any known issues with them?

 

I bought mine (996TT 2001) from a respected Porsche dealer, CPO. Having CPO is really important for peace of mind. Several books laud the undestructible engine (block from the GT1), and I have to say so far so good. Oil level and quality, warm up and also cool down of the turbos (1 minute) after a hard ride are paramount to your engine longevity... I still have this darn Spoiler failure message, that the dealer said is not covered by CPO and wants to charge me an insane 2500$... but spolier operation and behavior looks fine to me, seems no problem, so it might just be some bad contact in the little potentiometer on the spoiler. apart from this, I had to change (CPO ok) the capacitor that lowers slightly the window before opening the door... small details, but without this functionning correctly, one cannot close/open the door without damaging the seal...
now it is due for its 60K service that I was told is rather ¨steep¨, so i am kind of getting ready for sticker shock...
overall, as someone commented, it is still as cheap a maintenance a supercar can get... all other ones have operating expenses at least 3 times as high...

 

In two years:

1. Clutch accumulator
2. Front diff
3. Passenger side door unit (window dip/return problem)
4. Oil sender unit

 

Sooooo, about those tiptronic cars? Any major issues/concerns? Thanks.