|
London911997
Original Poster
2 posts
12 months
|
Hi pleased to meet you all, I just bought my first 911 at the weekend! A 2005 997 C2 with 60k miles on the clock from an dodgy car lot in London. I paid £23k for it. It's loaded with gadgets and has full correct official Porsche garage service history since 2008 - the last service was a minor service at 55k one year ago. The car seems immaculate inside and out and has had no major work since it was born.
I'm far from a car expert but the motor sounds fine and there's no warning lights flashing! I want to learn and will learn more.
So I jumped in with Porsche dust in my eyes without researching. Now I read the forums and find that 2005 997 seems to be very prone to very expensive engine failure.
The car was supplied in warranty insurance for 3 months but the claim limit is only £1500.
My question is would you drive very few miles until you've owned it for 90 days and can purchase an official Porsche warranty? Or would you say the fact that is done 60k miles proves the engine is fine and not to bother.
Without researching I was thinking a Porsche motor would do at least 100k miles with any major problems. I now see I should have probably paid more for a newer lower millage model but what's done is done - How would you play this?
I know owning a Porsche can be expensive but i just want to play it sensibly.
Thanks a lot!
|
|
|
mollytherocker
6,875 posts
78 months
|
You say its had no major work since it was born in 2005? What has it had done and where?
MTR
|
|
|
London911997
Original Poster
2 posts
12 months
|
Thanks for your reply, it has just had normal service schedule work done. Minor service at 2k miles, Major at 26k and Minor again at 55k with brakes discs and pads. That's it - so no real work has been done on it.
|
|
|
thegoose
6,596 posts
79 months
|
Nearly 30k between oil changes would concern me a little.
It also means that as you don't have a correct history you will need a major service doing in order to buy a Porsche warranty, as well as any work doing that they deem necessary upon inspection and anything non-standard (including bluetooth or tracker equipment) will have to be removed. This will push the cost of getting the warranty well over £2k, likely £3k or more. That's half way towards the cost of a typical engine rebuild after failure (which is not that likely to happen anyway in reality).
If you haven't done so already, I'd get the car to a decent specialist for an inspection (an hour's labour on a ramp should do it) and go from there, but perhaps incorporate with this any service work that needs doing i.e. Brake fluid change (due every 2 years), spark plug change (every 4 years/40k) - if the plugs are getting done ask them to use a boroscope to do an internal inspection of the engine.
Once you've had that done you've got a bit more information to base any decisions on. If you're keeping it long term and it's in good order then you may just want to accept the risk (it is very small, it's just that if it does fail the costs are very high), as in the long term this should be the lowest cost route. If you don't intend to have it forever (or just want some form of insurance from big costs) then consider getting it on one of the specialists' maintenance schemes (e.g. Hartech or Sports & Classic).
|
|
|
matc
4,279 posts
76 months
|
thegoose said: Nearly 30k between oil changes would concern me a little.
It also means that as you don't have a correct history you will need a major service doing in order to buy a Porsche warranty, as well as any work doing that they deem necessary upon inspection and anything non-standard (including bluetooth or tracker equipment) will have to be removed. This will push the cost of getting the warranty well over £2k, likely £3k or more. That's half way towards the cost of a typical engine rebuild after failure (which is not that likely to happen anyway in reality).
If you haven't done so already, I'd get the car to a decent specialist for an inspection (an hour's labour on a ramp should do it) and go from there, but perhaps incorporate with this any service work that needs doing i.e. Brake fluid change (due every 2 years), spark plug change (every 4 years/40k) - if the plugs are getting done ask them to use a boroscope to do an internal inspection of the engine.
Once you've had that done you've got a bit more information to base any decisions on. If you're keeping it long term and it's in good order then you may just want to accept the risk (it is very small, it's just that if it does fail the costs are very high), as in the long term this should be the lowest cost route. If you don't intend to have it forever (or just want some form of insurance from big costs) then consider getting it on one of the specialists' maintenance schemes (e.g. Hartech or Sports & Classic). This post is exactly what you should do. Get the inspection and just get on and enjoy it - as stated above the risk of engine faliure is, in reality very small, just make sure you're aware of the tell-tale signs.
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
Ian_UK1
1,034 posts
63 months
|
+ another 1 for the advice above.
I'd also add that I used to have a '54-plate C2S (that I bought used from a non-official-Porsche source). I kept the car for 2 1/2 years, put getting-on for 30,000 miles on it - including some ferociously-punishing mountain work on a PN driving tour - and the engine was just fine. In fact, it definitely ran better at the end of my ownership than when I first got the car. 2 years on from when I sold it and I still see the car around Manchester regularly - still going strong. This was also the 3rd 911 I'd owned with the 'chocolate' M96/7 engine (as the doom mongers would call it). None of the engines ever gave any major trouble over 7 1/2 years and about 110,000 miles in total. Yes, engine failures do occur, but they're a small percentage. Thanks to independents like Hartech, they can now be rebuilt relatively economically too, with any known weaknesses eradicated as part of the rebuild process.
Have a full service done by a reputable indy, then make sure the car never goes more than about 10,000 miles between oil changes (Porsche's recommended intervals are a joke). Keep on top of any minor maintenance and enjoy your car.
|
|
