I currently have an 05 Mercedes E55 with a few mods. It's been a great car, very fast in a straight line. But I've always wanted a 911. I've had several Mercedes and I spare no expense with maintenance and yes, they can be expensive to own. All of the Mercedes I've had have been paid for with cash. I'm now considering buying a 2013 or 2014 911 Carerra S PDK. I haven't located a particular car but I'm thinking about spending 70K which will mean a car payment. This will be a weekend car, but I'm wondering if this will nickle and dime me like some of these Benz's do. I don't expect Honda Accord maintenance costs, but I also don't want to get bled dry. Any input regarding typical ownership costs would be appreciated.

 

I've had my 997.2 C2 for 6 years and only have spent for yearly maintenance and some minor mods - and extended warranty. I don't drive it a lot - 23K miles so far, but it doesn't seem like trouble. I hope that continues to be the case. It's a great car - very satisfying.

 

I say go for it. I have a supercharged '04 clk55 AMG that I keep at a second home and I know what you mean. It seems like there is always something little going wrong with the car and it always costs a small fortune to have it fixed even if I do it myself. My daily driver until very recently was a Boxster. I never drove it once the snow would start to fly so I did not put a lot of miles on it. But I tracked it 4 times a year. The track beats the he!! out of a car and I replaced a lot of wear items like drop links, control arms and things of this nature but other than oil changes that was about it. Nothing close to major and it wasn't at the shop every other month like the Benz.

I just traded the Boxster for a very low milage 2010 C4S and I couldn't be happier. The Benz is super fast in a straight line but the C4S is faster and definitely much more agile. Better looking too, nothing beats the wide body for a sexy head turning car. Even though I'll take a big hit on the mods, i'm seriously thinking about dumping the Benz for a 996 C4S as well.

 

This is what I was suspecting. If you've owned one then you know that by nickel and dime I'm really talking $1000 for pretty much whatever fails...and that's if it's small.

I've heard that Porsche makes a really reliable car. I don't expect it to be trouble free, as long as it's not "Ferrari expensive" to own I should be fine. I'm a nit picker with maintenance and I want everything working properly all the time.

Thanks for the input!

 

Ha! Yes-$1000.00 for just about every repair has been my experience as well. I could never understand why every repair came to the same figure. Porsches are not without their problems I am sure but you only hear about the ones that have problems. When you look at the numbers of cars that they sell I think that the rate of problems is pretty small.

Porsche is consistently rated at the top of JD powers in customer satisfaction if I am not mistaken.

 

It is not even close to Ferrari cost. As a second car it will cost you even less. Get a CPO car and not worry for years. Do some of the simple services yourself and that will also lower the cost greatly. Def not as cheap for service as others but then again they are not Porsches! In three years with 5K a year (20K now) the rear spoiler motor was making noise and the CPO covered it but it was $1700. I do all my own service so the only cost I ve had was tires.
Staying away from the dealer will lower cost too, LOL.

 

Good to hear! I just went out for a quick spin in the 55...SC pulley is starting to make noise. Always something...

 

I have owned my 2009 C2S since August 2012, it has 33K miles on the clock, and aside from the annual maintenance, two new rear tires, and some exhaust modifications I have spent nothing else. Mine is not my DD and I put about 4500 miles on her annually. It is a 6 speed manual transmission. Oh and BTW my CPO warranty expired on 8/31/15 and I do not plan to purchase an extended warranty. I have spoken with several Porsche dealerships service technicians as well as my Indy shop, the 9A1 redesigned engine in 2009 and beyond has proven to be pretty reliable thus far.

Good luck with your decision.

 

I recently purchased my first 911 just a few months ago. I was apprehensive at the cost of ownership like you so here's my experience so far.

I purchased a 2011 997.2 C2S fully loaded (with 33k miles). It is absolutely worth every penny. One of the first things I did was to assure that the car was well taken care of and took it to a dealer prior and Porsche gave it a clean bill of health. Only thing I had to do after purchasing it was to do a wheel alignment. Took it to Porsche and they quoted me for around $250. Drives perfectly after that. Since then, I've had a major service done (full inspection, oil, spark plugs, filters, etc.), car is perfectly healthy and that ran me around $1200.

Bottom line is you have to expect to pay a premium for any work done on the car. And if you think that once you purchase it you won't have to drop cash here and there, you'll likely be wrong. Don't let yourself be taken by surprise. But in my case it's been negligible in comparison to the experience to drive and own a 911.

 

I have a 2008: a 997.1.

997.1s are supposed to be slightly riskier than 2009+ so I think that my experience applies somewhat to what you are considering.

These cars are reliable. In about three years of ownership, I spent about $500 for aftermarket TPMS installed, and my usual $300/y on fluid changes: not nickeling and diming on quality oil. It is a weekend car, I drive 3-4000 miles a year or so. My station car, until I bought a range rover last month, was a Toyota with 100K miles on it. I was literally spending about the same amount per year a my Porsche in maintenance and small repairs.

This is if everything goes fine, which means do the best PPI you can before buying. With that in mind, if something breaks, you should have a rainy day fund of $5K just in case of clutch repairs, real seal etc.

If the engine "explodes", than you may be in for $18K+ but we all hope to never have main engine problems.

All in all, as a weekend car, you should be fine with basic precautions (e.g. keep batter up, they are a pain in the neck if the go) . Just set aside a rainy day fund for major repairs and enjoy it. The total cost of ownership is nothing near like a true exotic, Lambos and especially Ferraris. These cars can be daily drivers and will not bankrupt you.

 

Thanks, there are quite a few 09-12 C2 & C2S CPO cars out there. I'm thinking either manual C2 or PDK C2S w/sport chrono. I'm not yet sure about the 991.

 

Thanks for sharing, your expenses sound great. My E55 is approximately $4,000-$6,000 per year between very pro-active maintenance and repairs. Sounds like an NA 911 should be a breath of fresh air!

 

Thanks for your input, and yes, having a rainy day fund with these toys is a must. Is it $5K to replace a clutch in a 911?

 

You can check the forum but I think that it is less than that. But usually when people do clutch work, they get other "fixes". 5K is conservative, it would ensure that you do not regret the purchase at first signs of problems. You may in fact need only an oil change here and there for a few years.

Extended warranties are very expensive on these cars. But if you can stomach the silliness, no-haggle price, etc. I know of a couple of people who bought used from Carmax for their "cheap" extended warranty (3K or so for 5 years). I cannot speak from experience though and I do not know how good their warranty really is.

 

It makes sense to do everything that's needed or could be needed while the car is apart...I'm sure there are plenty of components that cannot be reached without pulling the transmission.

I would only be interested in a CPO warranty, I've had nothing but negative experiences with aftermarket warranties. I've not had a carmax warranty though.