USAA puts our '99 at about $75/ month for full coverage, can't complain about that.

 

I have been driving my 2002 Carreras 4 convertible as a daily driver year round for 7 years with no problems whatsoever.
I now have 111k on the odometer.
Even drive it when it's snowing etc ( all wheel drive with PSM is fabulous ).
It has been cheaper than my BMW to maintain.
Insurance here in TN with State farm runs me just over $720 a year.
I decided its far cheaper than owning two cars and these cars are now only worth somewhere in the twenties.
It's been great, and look forward to driving every day. It's a manual, but that's my own preference .
Starting to make little changes: red brake calipers, LED rear lights etc.
Love my car ;-)

 

Volkers - Sounds like you sold me on the C4, I was always eying the cab too so that could be a nice combo.

 

I will let you guess my thoughts on the topic of daily driving.

I live in FL, and got a C4S solely for the wide body, as that big booty is just amazingly sexy. The only down side is tires. If you go with OEM replacements you are looking at about $1500 just for the rubber plus install/alignment etc. The rears are a little over $1000 and are typically good for about 10k miles, fronts 18-20k miles. The down side is if you get a flat and your tires have any kind of wear you need to replace them in pairs or possibly even all 4.

Oil changes are ridiculous if you take it to the dealer, but if you have changed the oil on ANYTHING you can do it just as easily on the 996. I picked up the L/N engineering spin on replacement filter and swapped out the OEM cannister for ease of use and slightly better filtration.

Other normal maintenance is slightly higher than any other vehicle but I have not had anything astronomical in 50k miles.

 

I agree with dailydriver,replacing the tires is not cheap on these cars and they don't last long. I drove mine as a daily driver for 2 years before finding a cheap 2002 dodge durango that i drive daily now.

 

Just get all-season tires or something...

You can make it less expensive. It is all about compromise.

 

maintenance costs are a part of owning the car, clearly this wont be as good a daily driver in terms of cost vs. a civic, but it will likely be a much more enjoyable experience. you can get hankooks for relatively cheap and get serviced at an independent, which will reduce costs by A LOT. of course, do some research on independent shops prior to buying a car. i already have places to service my future Ferrari.

 

don't do that

 

Hankook V12's from Discount Tire Direct

90% of the performance of the Michelin's for 1/2 the price. The rears last me about 15 months or so and the fonts about double that. On my 2nd set and make great DD tires and especially rain tires, important in SFL for a DD.

 

I would never put on all season / lower performance tires on the car to save money... I have heard really good things about the Hankooks, and almost went that route on my last tire change, but decided to stick with the Michelin one more time. The Michelin PSS (Pilot Super Sport) have also gotten really good reviews and are much cheaper than the PS2, but are not available yet for the rears on a C4s.

Either way, you just have to know that tires are going to cost more than a "normal" car, and that you will be replacing them more frequently (SO GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH!)

 

I think I can use the 996 as my DD...it gets better mileage than my M5!

 

Why not?

I switched to all-seasons, and my lap times increased by about 2-3 secs per lap. Are you guys racing to work or something, and the few tenths per corner mean that much to you?

I thought I read somewhere (just a few posts ago), that one problem with daily driving the 911 is the cost of tires. So fix it. Less of a problem.

I don't see what you mean...

 

Yearly cost of tires on a 996 = no matter how much still cheaper than stress reduction therapy. So I DD as often as I can and change tires as many times as I need solve two problems for the price of one

I also could care less what gas milage I get.

 

Good. I don't understand why people would willing pay $170k for an optioned out C4S, then complain that their mileage sucks and they have to pay an additional $.03 per mile more than their Prius.

 

ABSOLUTELY possible! I have a 2003 C4S and it's my only car, drive it through rain, sleet, and snow (I live in Switzerland). Tires aren't THAT bad price wise; here in switzerland things are very expensive and a set of the Porsche reccomended Michelin's are about 1200 francs (which is currently about 1270 USD). If I had it to do over again I would do it a thousand times over However, if you live in the snow, go All Wheel Drive and get the 4 or 4S, the all wheel drive is pretty unstoppable. From stop I go up a 20%+ incline COBBLE Stone roads, with a foot of fresh snow, and she climbs like a Nepalese Sherpa! Got for it and enjoy!