True cost of ownership.... reality check! ; )
 

Well, like most of second hand buyers, I found a way of trading up.

Instead of buying a new BMW or Lexus IS that will get the job done + come with the warranty/maintenance, etc.... I decided to opt for a high mileage, base options (only Litronics, premium sound and 18" carrera wheels) 911 carrera.
Test drove the car 4 times and it really impressed me. Power at all revs and coming from a Lexus IS250 (now the wife's) it was a difference!
Bought the car for low 30's and I purchase an extended warranty. I couldn't do a PPI but I had a 5 day, no questions asked, return policy. So the next day of purchase, I have my appointment at The Collection Porsche in Miami. The only thing that came back from the PPI was the RMS (Covered by the X-tended warranty) and I needed a new clutch. I said great. I will get the X-Warr company to pay for the RMS and I will pay for the clutch kit only since they have to remove the clutch and put it back to get the RMS done... Made my appointment 2 days after purchase and took the car in... My Porsche guy called the X-warranty and they say they have a grace period of 30 days after purchase on which any repair need to be performed by the seller dealer's mechanics (non porsche dealership). Now, imagine having $5/hour grease monkeys dealing with your hi-end car RMS fix. They may not have the latest tools and the latest updates in parts for the RMS seal, they may re-use the single use screws, etc... So I said "**** it" just do it and I will pay for it. So instead of paying for $500 clutch kit. I ended paying $3071 for the clutch and RMS. Nice! hilarious. Total days of ownership: 2. Happy wife: not! :eek:

So I waited a month after that, to get my laundry list of thing to do...

Gas flip actuator
Sunroof not working (it was working while test driving)
Plastic clunck on the front suspension
Missfire CEL (Code p0300, p0301, p0303)
CEL code p2098 (fuel trim post cat)

Gas thing, was picked by X-Warr, thanks!
sunroof , was picked by X-Warr, thanks!
Front cluck, front sway bars, arms, etc was picked by X-Warr, thanks!
Missfire... leaking coolant on a $4 hose on top of the coils on cylinder 1 and 3... I have to pay that!
CEL p2098... my cats are bad. $1500 and change/labor/taxes!:mad:

Porsche has a 8 year, 80K mile warranty on the cats... you guessed. I have 84K on the clock.
Do you think that since we are so close to the cut-off time, porsche will give me a break on the cats?

anyway, I decided to get the spark plugs replaced and have them inspect the coils. Michael Armenteros at the Collection is awesome and taking care of me and Joe at the parts is awesome too....

But then, I will pay this tuesday $1200 + the $3070 + the $300 for the PPI.

All the money that I had for mods is really dissappearing in front of my eyes...

I know that at the end, I will have an awesome car with all the services done and all the small things taken care of... but I can't afford a $5000 per year in little things that cost nothing to buy but $1000's to get replaced.

Maybe, if you really can't afford a brand new Porsche, you can't really afford an used Porsche?

I don't want to go back to a boring car again after driving a porsche for almost 2 months... but it's getting hard to swallow at times and the wife is keeping giving me "that" look.

I'm alone in this?

I see people buying Areo RUF kits for $11K and wheels and tires for $8K and I'm *****ing for a $3000 bill? Am I in the wrong audience? Am I not worthy of Porsche ownership? :confused:

I will go to my corner now.... thanks for listening! :D

-joel

welcome to the site. you are a man of great taste-see my avatar

i'm in aventura. my 03 speed yellow 911 has been trouble free for almost ayear. they don't all end up costing a lot of maint. every year!

why even PPI after you bought the car?

Joel,
These types of unplanned costs happened to me also. Clutch, battery, alternator, and tires in 1 year. IMHO i think porsche is a quality challenged high performance vehicle. But it seems to me die hard porsche fanatics will never recognize this quality challenge issue. Get it fixed and drive the hell out of it. It will help you realize if porsche is really a car for you. Good luck.
-D

Hey bruce and D, thanks fo the warm words.... (Love your car Bruce!).
I can take one for the team. No problem. but I can afford these on a regular basis. I don't care if I need to buy tires or stuff but my pockets are not lined with $100.... your typical middle class guy: wife, one kid, 1 full time job and 1.5 freelance/etc job...
I'm letting the car get away with his quirky stuff because of the miles and i try to take a TLC to it.
The reason I did the PPI after the purchase is that the dealer (carmax) didn't agree with a PPI while the vehicle was on their possession (legal stuff and not worried about) but I had the 5 day/money back no questions asked return warranty.

Once the car came back with RMS and clutch, I said: "No problem, I can take care of the clutch and they take care of the RMS..."

Besides, you know how these cars are... It's a love affair, nobody will understand. I look for an excuse to drive it. I didn't feel like that in a long time, and I like it!

wow! you bought the carmax car!
i saw your car there when my bud was getting an e55 for himself.
btw, the benz also has had "issues" since he bought it. makes me wonder about carmax.
did you buy the carmax extended warranty? or some other warranty?

joel, you're not alone. i certainly stretched the budget to get into my C4S. and, i keep hurting my credit card with mods. :)

however, you should not have to do the clutch again for a long time. the warranty you bought should cover most other big dollar items. your biggest expense besides fuel -- gas will be $5-6 a gallon before you know it -- will be tires which these cars eat like potato chips.

Congrats on the car. Glad you enjoy it.

i think you should have gotten the car checked out. 1/2 of issues you had can be found at purchase.

I'd not buy a 3rd party warranty that limits where to repair it. These are not Hondas and tend to require more experience and special tool to fix.

Actually, just for the first 30 days, carmax has to repair the car, after that, The Collection Porsche is fixing all the things. Since I didn't want carmax to touch the car within the first 30 days, I have to cover the bill from Porsche.

As an example, from the $4500 bill I have on tuesday, I only have to pay $75 deductible (outside carmax, inside carmax network would it been $50 but it's better be taken care at the posrche dealership) So the $2600 3 year/36K miles investment on the X-Warr, just paid itself. and the deductible is per visit, not per item...

I had an isnpection and the only thing they found was a clutch (I knew about it prior to purchase) and the RMS which was part of my evil plan to get the clutch for parts only cost... live and learn. I would not buy and I would recommend not to buy a car without any kind of xtended warranty.

Still love the car, don't get me wrong, you can take it from my dead cold hands but you seriously need to plan ahead for these "incidentals"

there's the rub for exotic cars. like it or not, Porsche is an "exotic" and the costs to maintain can be commensurate. that said, Porsche probably has a much lower cost of ownership than a Ferrari, but coming from a Lexus is an extreme ownership experience stretch. i know, i had a GS and sold for a 911. i took a different route though and bought a low mileage 996 with a warranty til 2011, costs more but the peace of mind for me is worth the extra coin.

Porsche
 

Porsche's are expensive cars to repair and it can be hard to find a qualified mechancic. I wouldnt breath a sigh of relief yet. These cars can be prone to alot of different issues. What would be considered $200-300 repairs can easily get over $1000.

Mnay have learned, as well as I have, it is very worth while to find a low milage garage queen. Yeah they cost a bit more (maybe alot more) but the good care and maintenance that the car had will more than pay for itself.

Good luck I hope you can keep the wife happy!:D

when i bought my car i got the ext warranty from porsche i paid an extra 2,000 for it but im like its good to have. since then the only thing that i had done to the car was one fan for the heater thats it, but from the day that i got my car, a year now i only put 844miles on it. i only drive it on saturdays. mods is a different story!

Welcome, but do understand these are expensive cars to maintain.

Even simple repairs/maintenance add up quick...

I'm not going to go though my littany of things here, but wait till you need a set of rear tires(800-1200 installed) more often than oil changes ($250).

As they say you gota pay to play...

In the end though it is much more fun to drive a porsche than a honda...Except maybe the NSX ;)

I guess when I 1st got my 996 back in 03 and was still under warranty, and put more than 10k a year (don't do that anymore) my costs were a couple of grand in maintenance per year (while I can turn a wrench, I was under warranty and these cars are complicated).

Now that I drive it about 5k a year, I'm about a grand or two depending if I need tires or a major service, but I do all the recommended maintenance...

don't forget some maintenance is time based on the 02+

Plugs 60k or every 4 years...
Belts every 4-5 years...
Brake/clutch flush every 1-2 years....
Coolant flush every 5-6 years (the lifetime coolant rec is stupid)
and a lovely $250 oil change every 7500 miles or yearly (15k rec is also stupid).

You'd think all the above was cheap, but not really it all adds up...

i'm gonna have to disagree with you there man. i bought my car used but with low kms, and i have spent less on it that i have on some sport compacts. my car needs nothing but regular maintenence and fixes for problems that I cause (busted radio wiring, track upgrades etc).

now that people are buying used ones, there will be more and more people running into problems with them because of the sheer amount of 996's out there, lots of them might have been leased beaters that were thrashed, or not owned by car guys who took care of them, like most of the older cars were.

Disagree COMPLETELY. I put 100,000 miles on my C4 Cab in 4 years...I paid for 2 repairs and the normal upkeep. I bought a CPO car and while under warranty alot of things got fixed for free. Once all those issues were ironed out, it was a VERY reliable car. Remember, its the first water cooled 911..EVER. So there will be issues. If you want ultimate reliability buy a Lexus...but other than that ALL upscale brands will have issues of some sort.

well here is my story....

bought my 99 C2 in May 07...

have sinced replaced....

entire suspension ( for my own benefit)
3 X MAFs
clutch
all the rotors and pads
fixed interior water leak
igintion switch
seat belt
3 X oil changes, oil filters
tranny fluid
LSD fluid
coolant overpressure issue/flushed system

and now my sunroof is acting up..


total cost..way to much... but its a dream car that i dont real mind spending on!

Rod