2001 C2 coupe, 75k, factory maintenance schedule followed - no issues, daily driver. Porsches have always been intended to be used, after all it's just a car.
I've owned Porsches since 1971 and they have all been daily drivers and quite dependable as well as enjoyable.
Drive - Enjoy!

 

2003 c2 dd. owned 1.5 yrs and 15k miles. total currently @ 55k miles. routine maintenance. oil @10k mile intervals. no problems.
the mpg is great, the a/c is best ever, love using it every day. the bad side is the wear and teAR does add up. and the tires are an additional yearly expense that needs to be budgeted.

no greater luxury than enjoying this car every day.
put another way, no better use of money already spent on insurance, depretiation, and payments, than to actually use the car.

 

i do not enjoy the thought of driving the 911 everday.

i've always had a second truck/suv and recently upgraded the jeep cherokee by picking up a newer body v8 4runner with all the nice extras (modern navi, leather, boomin sound system).

i must say having a daily driver i like (quiet, luxurious, smooth, spacious) has rendered the 911 to garage queen status to date. in fact, it's made the 911 ownership even more special because i only drive it when i really am in the right mindset to DRIVE it and enjoy it. i don't enjoy driving the 911 to do mundane things like commuting to work, picking up groceries, driving downtown on the weekends. i like taking the 911 out kinda like guys do when they take their motorbikes out. it's really an occasion/event kinda thing.

side note, my 4runna got broken into last weekend. passenger window shattered, they jacked all the electronic goodies. so i'm back in the jeep for now. you guys know how life consistently throws you an added layer of complexity that you didn't even begin to consider on initial thought? well, now i'm thinking i should keep the jeep as a beater-beater car for downtown parking at nite.

i do respect guys who say they LOVE driving their 911 everyday.... it just ain't me. i like comfort and i like sport and not necessarily all at the same time. hot or cold baby, don't want none of that lukewarm sedan ****.

 

i have an escape limited for whAT was supposed to be dd duty. but over the past year, it's been the porsche that i use the most. the escape is for the gym, the longer distaance work-related days, and just for variety sake.

 

my runna

 

Too many variables to determine whether driving a 911 is a good thing every day or not. Let's look at factors to determine whether its a good choice for YOU:
1. Do you enjoy driving?
2. When commuting do you get to drive the car, rather than through stop and go traffic or numerous lights/stop signs that are annoying and take the ENJOYMENT (see #1) out of driving?
3. Is it PRACTICAL to drive to work every day (or often enough) without concern for weather, traffic, time (it maybe shorter) being tired, etc. In other words, the preferential venue for getting to work is to drive.
4. Is it COST EFFECTIVE (or not) to drive to work every day? Maybe the most enjoyable venue to get to work, but its too costly, given parking, gas, etc.
There are probably others too, but this hopefully gives a person insight (if they answered "Yes"), to use their car as a daily commuter.
5. Do you need space (other than your seat), to handle books, materials, etc? This may require that you rethink the kind of car.

 

I live in Washington near Seattle. It rains here for 7 months striaght, then we get a week of 80 degree weather followed by 3 months of rain. It the is partly cloudy for 20 of the remaining 60 days and we get (2) 2 week streches of solid sun... I have a suburban.. I have kids and we ski, hike, cycle and have 2 dogs. The p-car doesnt work for any of those things...

That said... I DD my car to work.. I was wondering when I could use my toy, and I found out when.. everyday!! I would drive it 100% of my work days but sometimes it doesnt work out. The P-car makes going to work worth going to. It gives me a smile when I arrive and a reason to get thru the day and have a fun trip home. My escape form the munday everyday... IS my everyday.. its my car and for my height - weight and build it is a perfect fit... Better than the SUV, but I dont get to have coffee or eat or use the phone when I drive it... also why I like it... Its my break time.. my get away from the outside world, get into the car and really just be free to drive...

I know its not the same as some of the nice weekends with the guys on some secluded windy road...but those trips are a differant type of fun... my DD fun is more personal between me, my car and my inner soul....

I wont diss anyone that doesnt enjoy commuting in a 911... I just think you are wound too tight and really could learn to enjoy it for what it is..

PS:
99 C2 6 speed w/ 105k on the clock, original motor. repairs and maintenance and things like that..., just fix it when it needs it, maintain it before its time and enjoy every second you can on something that becomes worth less money everyday rather you drive it or not..when you are done, you wont say.... I wish I had.........
Ed

 

I have a 2001 C4 with 95,000 miles. Just did the clutch (first time) at 95,000 miles. No problems to date. Although my early 2001 has the double race intermediate shaft bearing assembly (the "ISB"), which rarely fails compared to the single race version, I had the shop install a bullet proof after market ISB by Inengineering, and the newest version of the IRS installed, although I have no IRS leaks - prudent and cheap to do when the clutch is done. In addition, I replaced the 996 shift assembly with the 997 shift assembly and cables. My 996 shift assembly had worn and was sloppy at best when new. The 997 shift assembly fits a 996 and is shorter throw, far more positive in shift feel and is highly recommended. Will soon install the Inengineering lower temperature thermostat (highly recommended by Inengineering, but will hold onto the factory thermostat, just in case). I bought a spin on standard oil filter adaptor which allows me to use a higher flow and better after market oil filter and i bought a magnet oil plug, all of which will be installed at the next oil change. When the shop took the factory double race ISB out, the mechanic told me that it was perfect, but I had it replaced with the Inengineering version anyway, as I believe that replacement of the over-engineered Inengineering version is prudent given the history of 996 engine failures attributable to this poorly designed ISB. The factory ISB is sealed at the engine side so that hot oil will not get into the bearings and mix with the factory installed "permanent" grease". Over time, the engine side seal tends to fail, and thus let in engine oil, which is incompatible with the grease used in the bearing. This mixture causes the grease to freeze up which leads to the steel bearings eventually shattering and their metal fragments shoot into running engine parts. So just because my seal was intact at 95,000 mile does not mean it will remain perfect for much higher mileage. I change the oil every 5K miles and am meticulous about properly warming up the engine by driving it from cold but staying under 3K RPM until the engine and tranny are saturated with heat. My milage is almost all highway miles and I work hard at keeping the RPMs up and never let the engine strain in 6th gear on hills. Owners of 996s on the Continent who typically use their cars for fast autobahn trips on a consistent basis get high milage out of their 996s and do not suffer engine failures with the 996s as we do here - I got this from the service manager of an after market Porsche repair shop in Switzerland. It is my belief that US Porsche drivers who store their Porsches through the Winter and drive it only on dry weekends are the ones who are losing their engines. This car wants to be driven fast on a highway and should not be used as a toy or for short trips to the store. I just had the leather of the interior reconditioned and the plastic and metal parts that are painted to match the color of the leather redone. Porsche leather, at least in my 2001 is "natural" finish without a highly protective coat like MB and other premium cars use and is not deep dyed. Thus, with heavy use, my 2001's leather showed considerable wear and even some tears. The painted parts flaked and easily scratched, which the upholstery shop that did my car said is a big problem with the earlier 996s. Having taken care of those matter, my 10 year old high mileage C4 now drives and looks like new and I will keep it as my daily driver indefinitely. In case any of you think that the cost of the above refurbishments is prohibitive, it is far less than selling a highly used and looking it 2001 with 95,000 miles on it that badly needed a clutch and then buying a newer one, say a 2004 or 2005 and immediately replacing the ISB with the Inengineering version.

 

I live in Portland and we get almost as much rain as Seattle. I DD my Pcar because that's what I purchased it for.

I also own a hummer but I’m sick of the bad looks I get when I drive it so it stays in the garage except for the occasional trip to the mountain for snowboarding or hauling the Christmas tree to the dump after Christmas.

It seems like almost everyone on this thread agrees that the Pcar is a reliable DD with the exception of one person. I feel this is a clear case of majority rules so I will continue to DD my Pcar till the wheels fall off. And when they fall off, I will buy new ones.

 

Stumbled across this place by accident... Nice to see there are other higher mileage cars out there

Mine is a 2000 manual C2 coupe, and has covered 92k as of this morning.

I use it as a daily driver for a mix of long and short trips, and over the three years I've owned it I've added a little over 35k. It gets serviced to schedule, is still on the original clutch/engine/transmission, averages around 23mpg and pulls like a train.

The last year has involved a bit of expense though... replaced both front radiators (after the OS one started leaking quite badly), new front NS wheel bearing, couple of track control arms and also had all 4 bottom arms replaced along with a 4 wheel alignment. In addition, I also had 'new' back boxes fitted last month.

The suspension work really made a huge difference to the feel of the car, and I'm now looking to get the remaining suspension components replaced towards the end of the year (shocks/spring/ARB's and bushes).

But before that the diff needs rebuilding as I have a very noisy pinion bearing whine... at which time I'll have the gearboxes looked over and replace the clutch as a precaution whilst the labour is free.

Looking forward to putting lots more miles on her over the coming years

 

72000 Miles and going strong....WHO IS THE HIGHEST????

 

I posted earlier the preventive maintenance that I did at 95K miles. I now up to 100,700 miles and my engine is smooth and strong and quiet. The installation of the 997 shift gate assembly made a big difference in shifting, being more precise, shorter shifting and much smoother. Highly recommended. When you do it, also do the shift cables, as the originals can break. I drive my C4 every day and commute over 100 miles round trip twice a week, which gives me a lot of highway miles. I drive this C4 through blizzards in the worst of weather and the best of weather. I did have to refinish the interior leather and most of the same color interior painted surfaces due to wear and now the interior looks and feels like new. The head of the Porsche (not a dealer) garage who does my work told me that at 150K miles things in the engine will start breaking. He suggested that 150K is the brick wall for my engine. I have seen no posting on a 996 engine that indicated more than 150K miles. I do know that the later air cooled can go beyond that but they require a lot more high cost maintenance work than the water cooled engines, or so my head Porsche mechanic alleges. Cicerosecundus

 

I might. My 996 (a 2002 C2 coupe) has 182K miles on it. I have had it since new and am on my second engine.

b-man

 

pik of dash................

 

2002 c4s. 81k mi

maintenance has been a series of small things. nothing big, yet.

it is my daily and track driver (see avatar)

JB