Yeah - thats going to be an interesting decision.
I am leaning toward 991 but if a deal of a life time was to present itself I would probably go for it.

 

Great input. Thanks you!
The 9 cent(s)/mile maintenance cost does not sound too bad either.

Cheers!

 

I hear ya about the HPFP. I will keep my eyes/ears open on the forums.

About the kids and back seats, I guess 991 will be slightly better, 1 inch more leg room in the back. So that will help. At the moment I have an Infiniti G37 convertible and I have learned how to deal with this. My kids seem to enjoy it and always want to travel in the convertible over our other sedan. Fact that I am 5'8'' and wife is 5'4" is also to our benefit as it leaves a bit more space for the dudes (3yr and 10yr old) in the back.

 

Thanks for the link.

"Among premium brands one to 25 years old, Porsche ranked the highest with 96.8 per cent of its cars still on the road, against an industry average of 54.2 per cent."

96.8 to 54.2 percent - now that is remarkable. I presume other premium brands would include (atleast in North America) Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Jaguar, Range Rover, Cadillac. Now 1-2 of those bring down the average disproportionately but still 96.8% is excellent.

 

3 out of the 4 911's I have owned have been daily drivers, however 45K miles is all I have recorded on one of the little cars. Drove them all like I stole them and only once did one put me walking. I have found them to be very dependable as well as fun to drive and care for.

 

I am a 2nd owner and have DD my 06 997.1 C2 for over 2 years now without any issues at all. I take it on road trips often from Houston to Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas in 110 degree heat and have never had an issue. 2 oil changes and a new set of tires are the only expenses I have incurred. We have had a 99 boxster in the family since it was brand new and now my little sister drives it in college… Never had an issue. When my sister took the boxster to college my dad decided to upgrade to the 997.2C2S and will probably have that for another 10 years. Porsche makes a very reliable car. Go treat yourself and don’t look back.

 

What was the root cause of that unfortunate walk?

 

I'd be doing that 100 degree (hopefully not 110 like this year) driving myself. Good to hear that you are driving trouble free.

 

The high-pressure fuel pump is really a non-issue. The 997 dot twos use a technique of injecting the fuel directly into the combustion chamber instead of injecting it upstream in the intake manifold. We developed this technique back in the forties for aircraft but the component cost is a little greater so cars haven't gone that way until recently when they needed the efficiency to combine performance with higher fuel economy and lower emissions. Engines designed this way are designated 'DFI' for "direct fuel injection" in the automotive world. I don't remember ever seeing an acronym in the aircraft industry.

The first attempts to go this way "on the cheap", relatively speaking, led to problems in some driving patterns with the gaseous fuel hitting the 'cold' intake valve and not completely combusting. This has implications for emissions as well as causing carbon build-up on the intake valves. Those were not Porsche engines, though their engineers doubtless helped solve the problem for VW and Audi. (Porsche are a small firm as automobile manufacturing goes. Their core business always was consulting and it still is a mainstay.)

Porsche engines run their valves a lot hotter than VW and Audi and their DFI engines for the dot twos were designed after those others, so the intake valve seems not to be a problem for us. I could speculate about several small changes I would make in such a situation, but I don't really know which were used. All the internet kerfluffle has yet to surface one owner who claims to have the same problem as those earlier VW and Audi examples, and even in those cars it was nothing universal. (Owners of earlier Porsche engines keep hoping we'll have this problem as a surrogate of their own preoccupation with IMS I suspect, but so far, no signs of it.) However, getting back to the one 'issue' we have had, the high pressure fuel pump refers to creating the really high pressure stream of fuel it takes to stuff it directly into the combustion chamber against all that internal pressure already there. Porsche uses this capability to inject at several points in the cycle, and up to three times in a particular cycle, depending on the engine operating pattern at any given moment. Obviously, the pressure inside the combustion chamber is very high. (That's really the whole point of the piston and all that other stuff.) As a result Porsche need a pump able to raise the pressure sky high from the routine levels of the ordinary fuel pump that brings the fuel up to the engine from the tank. This second pump has much stiffer spec's than the delivery pump.

That is the high pressure fuel pump or HPFP. The only problem it has caused us owners is really a non-issue as I say. Porsche found that the early pumps provided (maybe by only one supplier, but we aren't sure) did not furnish the high pressure fuel flow required in all circumstances. For example, my own car would occasionally stall at low speeds, in parking lots or pulling away from a light behind a soccer van. To be honest, the effect was so mild I considered it my problem to learn a driving style that suited such a high-performance car. I've had that same 'drivability' issue with every car of this performance I've ever driven. But Porsche did not see it that way. They issued a maintenance 'campaign' to replace all our pumps in those early cars.

It isn't a 'recall' because it isn't fixing anything governments worry about. Nor is it really noticeable unless someone calls your attention to it. Some of us got letters or phone calls from our dealer, but most did not. Mine was from the sales department and they invited me to come in, get the service bulletin completed, and relax in the showroom while that was being done. In other words, "Can we show you a new Porsche?" I figured, "Sure, why not?"

I did that and had a pleasant drive in a Cabriolet with PDK, and afterward they ferried me to a local country club for lunch while the work was completed. No cost, no issue really. But it did cure that occasional stall in parking lots.

That's the HPFP.

Gary

 

Anyone have the coolent leak under the car towards the passenger side it kinda looks like a elbow? Mine poped off and i threw the car on a lift and put the hose back on anyone know if somthing like that would be coverd under extended warrenty? The indi said its a pretty big job

 

I can't say I've ever seen that, but it certainly sounds like it would fall under the usual areas an extended warranty covers. Usually they exclude trim and fripperies like... oh, radios and sometimes air conditioning. But coolant is part of the drive train. If the drive train isn't covered, what the deuce are you paying for?

Gary

 

Gary thanks for the input. Would they have to flush the whole coolant system in the process of changing hoses?

 

Not necessarily, but it makes life easier for the mechanic if you allow that. And it's a good thing to do periodically in any case.

Gary

 

My friend passed away last June with liver cancer. Doctor gave him 3 months and surly by the end of 3 months he passed away. He was mid 40s and my wife said life is short; go buy yourself a nice car. Of course, I’ve been dreaming about Porsche ever since I was a child.
Early July, I went out and bought the car 2006, C4S. I’m the 5th owner and ran 3000 miles on it. It just turned 32,000. Very solid, no problem! I was like what da heck why so many owners but I remember someone mention to do MMI, so I did. Clean result. I live in Chicago NW suburb but found this car in Birmingham, Alabama. I bought one way flight to AL and drove back with the P. I took a seat cushion thinking my butt might hurt driving 13 hours. Na da, very comfortable seat for a long drive. I drove straight only 2 pits stop and took me 10 hours. Not a problem with the car!
Anyways, the car is amazing even though I’m the 5th owner! You will love it!!!
I’m thinking of driving this car over 100k!

Sadly it will be garaged during the winter… time to dream about mods.

 

So I started this thread about 2.75 years ago and just wanted to share that I finally got my first Porsche on Friday.

Its a Basalt Black C4S cabriolet.
CPO with 6.5K miles on it, so I'll have about 4.5 years and ~93.5K mile of warranty to drive to my hearts content.

I really like the coupe, the way it looks with the beautiful curves. Cabriolet can't match the coupe's look (in my opinion). But I bought the cab, because I believe I will enjoy the cabriolet more, previously owning and missing a convertible. And for me its more about the enjoyment.

I am so very fortunate.