Making the plunge for a second time and debating between the 996tt and 997tt... My first experience was a disaster; '01 996tt where everything that could go wrong did. I was burned on my PPI by GMG, not even sure they looked at the car and it cost me a lot; 2nd gear pop-out, turbo-boost problems, electronics etc. Horrible experience.

So from that, I was writing off 996's but I'm really thinking I just had a bad first shake at it as I see a lot of examples w/ high miles and little problems. I don't need a DD, just a part time 'fun car'... I know I can get a good example for ~$40k and have more than enough money for a few immediate fixes but I don't want to be in the same situation as last time where every month I was dropping G's on stupid stuff. This time I know what to look for too but I'm looking at you guys and honestly asking how much annual maintenance you are putting into these, and I know that will vary by use.

Any help is appreciated and thanks

 

well, from my own experience i can tell you is this:-: people say here that they have not one single problem with the car, which is cool. maybe because they dont drive at all, some people say they beat the crap out of the car, track it, whatever, well maybe, maybe their car is one of the kind, or people lie about it - I dont know, i don't care. BUT from what I can tell is one day: you may run into same problems: I bought my car, and i'm not very happy with few things, but, I can deal with it- because, I dreamed about the car since 2000 and it was on my wanted list and the car that i always wanted, i'm sitting at 49k, even my dad is telling me that, this is the first car i owned that had so many problems: well maybe Porsche should do better design, i dont know. maybe if the car is brand new you never run into any problems. I can see this problem with 996's. I know 996s are getting old but some of the things that are designed, makes no sense to me: and some people say is do to age:

1) second gear pop (never happened to me, yet)
2) slipping clutch, weak clutch
3) ripped front outer boots
4) clutch accumulator
5) leaking plenum
6) crap blowing at out the front dash board (must be bad design, because i can show you cars that are 10-20 years old and never had that issue. *maybe because if the car stays outside in the sun for so long, dashboard gets soaked..
7) coolant leak, either front, or rear, this should be a damn recall - talking about coolant hoses going off (dangerous)
8) boost leaks - well, thats where you play the doctor role to look for them,

I think you better off buying 997tt even if you had to wait a little longer.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't expect a 12-15 year old supercar to be a Honda Accord, I just want other feedback telling me that I shouldn't expect monthly bills of $1000 for all kinds of non-sense. Is a realistic budget for maintenance on this thing $3k/year or is it $7-10k? I'll do some autocross but not a ton, and no real racing... probably 500-700 miles per month.

 

If you buy a good car you will not waste money. That's the key.

 

I would ( if you have the coinage ) a late model 997.1 ( only.1 ) and get it with a cpo for the 3 extra K in cost for the two extra years of warranty coverage.


the means ( I think? ) you can still pick up a later model 07/08? with full CPO.


but I'm on my 2nd 96t also and I bought a mid level modded one that had neen tracked mercilessly and I drive the dog sh*t out of it daily and other than cosmetic ( cos idgaf ) it's a stung mule and hit's 1.3 anyday, anytime, at 127,800 miles nothing major yet. just regular maint.


5k a year min maint if you run hard even if you don't hit stuff! my tire spend is 2.5k a year min.


knocks wood

 

well, what im trying to say is, you never know what you getting yourself into, the car may check PERFECT and everything and you may run into a problem 2-3 months from buying one. having full history of the car will help a ton. Tires get bold fast

You have to decide yourself. its hard to say how much you need yearly. I think i have around 7k dumped allready , over a year and now i have coolant leak from the front, yey.

I dont track my car and i dont beat on it.

 

Not always but most of the time you get what you pay for, buy a well sorted car with solid maintenance records and you'll have a better chance of being happy. The 997.1 is a nice car and would have bought one if there weren't so many things about it I didn't personally care for. Marks cpo idea is a great one. Not trying to be a jerk but any of these cars are not the ticket if money is an issue what so ever= these are wants not needs that should be paid for with disposable income, just sound financial advice.

 

"leaking plenum"?!? that ain't a common complaint at all. scratch that lol

 

...only to add that folks are often fooled and fall for the lower possibly even artificially depressed cost of these, relative to their real "value"..


THEN come the repair and mod costs. it ain't cheap, seriously.

 

I think you will be in a much better position to pick a good 996tt the second go around. There is only so much research you can do online before buying a car and there is no substitute for actually owning and getting intimately familiar with a car. You will be much better prepared to weed out bad cars after having already owned one.

The question of reliability and repair costs of a 996tt has been beaten to death. I think the real question here is which is more reliable, a 996tt or a 997.1tt?

 

That is good living right there, exactly what I'm looking for.... I don't consider standard maintenance and tires/brakes into 'extra' budget those are expected, I was getting dinged monthly for random failures that cost an arm and a leg.

On the 07/08, the other idea I have and I am searching, is to buy one from Carmax and pay the $2500 for their MaxCare plan; 5 years and 60k miles and it's a rock solid warranty... I might overpay 2-3k buying there but you are protected.

All good options.

 

100%, I know what to look for now, at least a lot more than I did the first go. I will say that it looks like prices have bottomed and are heading back up, either that or our faux recovery has people feeling much more confident about buying toys... either way there isn't nearly as many to choose from this go around.

 

Never heard of the CarMax/maxcare but sounds like something that may be good for you.

 

Commenting on my car seems to be one of those "knock on wood situations" as so far so good with mine. I had a minor issue with my throttle body, but got that sorted out myself through the help of this forum. I made sure I found a well maintained, low mileage car that could pass a ppi before I handed over any cash. The what ifs with this car can drive you mad, so I just drive it and stay up with the maintenance. This car more than any other has made me enjoy the hobby aspect of owning cars. I can understand you're hesitations cause you're previous experience sound less than ideal. At this spoint i say you are even more qualified to be a discerning buyer. So take you're time the right car will pop up.

 

It's always "knock on wood" in life when things are good, you don't want to jinx fate man!