997 as a daily

[bosshog]

Hi,

I’m considering getting a 997 4S and using it as my daily which is mainly B and A roads around Norfolk to run the kids about in (not together) and general stuff (I work from home). We have an estate for the more practical stuff aswell. I’d be planning to use it all year round especially in winter (I have another fun car for summer no kids driving). I’ve had a 991.2 S before but I think the 997 will be more engaging and fun (though slower) .

Will be become a bit of maintenance nightmare given the age? I’ll probably do around 6-8k miles a year.

Any thoughts welcome

[AinsleyB]

If its serviced properly by a Porsche specialist it will be fine.
I have a 997 which does 5k miles pa - most of them ragging it up and down the Alps on the way to laps round Corsica. Its been fine for the last 5 years.
Its about 70k miles. 997.2 C2S.

Normal things like tyres and pads, oil and filters. I had the clutch done at 60k, it was worn, but that's when its meant to get worn. Otherwise I think they replaced a fuel pump as it was on its way out. Thats it. Both of these were surprisingly cheap.

Service costs me about £350. No expense spared, done by Autofarm.

Its German engineering, it will last longer than you will

[Discombobulate]

Great car for that sort of daily use. But the ride is firm for B roads.

[bosshog]

Discombobulate said:

Great car for that sort of daily use. But the ride is firm for B roads.

Does the non-S have a better ride?

[AinsleyB]

Not sure, about that. I think its an option but probably one that all cars have fitted. PASM, Porsche Adjustable Suspension Management.

You can turn on / off for firmer suspension.

I leave mine in soft all the time.
Fine for crappy Oxfordshire pot holed roads.

If I'm in Europe on super smooth roads I firm it up, but basically soft is fine unless you are trying to set a track time

[FriedMarsBar]

I think PASM is standard on all S models and an option on Carreras.

A popular upgrade to the PASM equipped cars is a DSC Sports Controller, which replaces the Porsche PASM controller and makes the PASM shocks much more adaptive and uses a larger range of the shock than Porsche does.

I don't think 6-8K is particularly high mileage so it really comes down to a few things, how hard it's driven, the conditions the car is driven in (salty roads?) and what's been sorted previously. As you probably know these cars have mild steel hardware and alloy engines etc so fixings rust/corrode/seize in situ which results in higher repair costs.

Porsche reckon the suspension is good for 100K but most cars will need some suspension/chasis fixes before this point.
My own car has just been into Centre Gravity and only needed to two rear contol arms but NOT as they had failed but rahter the concentric adjustable bolts had seized in the arms and therefore couldn't be adjusted and this meant they had to be cut out and replaced. My car was on 65K at the time and I forget the cost, probably £400 in total.

Other points to consider are the exhaust valves seize, through heat cyles and being exposed to the damp, they're not massively expensive but in an indi they're probably £500 for a pair and a couple of hours of labour so circa £800.

I think HP fuel pumps are now about £600 and again a couple of hours of labour to fit.

I think on a decent car, mid mileage car, it would be advisable to allocate £2K per year for serving and repairs.

I love my gen 2's performance, size and "feel" from the steering AND the PDK box.

I know the PDK isn't the purist's choice but I'm not a purist and it's not an investment car, just a bog standard C2S.

Good luck

Edited to add, I know a few people who have bought 18" wheels and use them with the deeper profile tyres with a less stiff sidewall, which provides a softer ride if the 19" and ultra high performance tyres prove to be too uncomforatable.

Edited by FriedMarsBar on Monday 3rd June 14:55

Edited by FriedMarsBar on Monday 3rd June 14:59

Edited by FriedMarsBar on Wednesday 5th June 16:28

[freedman]

PASM was the default option on an S but you could untick the box and get -10mm (or was it 20mm?) passive instead as a no cost option

[maz8062]

If I was to daily a 997 I’d want an automatic; Tip or PDK. The clutch is heavy on the manuals and the gearbox, mine for sure, need warming up before it is smooth to engage. Plus they’re long geared so the advantage of a manual is a moot point unless you track it.

Good luck.

[dgswk]

maz8062 said:

If I was to daily a 997 I’d want an automatic; Tip or PDK. The clutch is heavy on the manuals and the gearbox, mine for sure, need warming up before it is smooth to engage. Plus they’re long geared so the advantage of a manual is a moot point unless you track it.

Good luck.

Agree, gearbox on mine takes some warming up and the clutch is heavy, but I don't DD mine, I have something else (EV) for the grind.

Depends on the use case though really. For me, if I had to pop out on a couple of 20-30 mile runs every week, then my 997 would be ideal and a joy to use. If it's multiple shorter, 3-5 mile runs around town, into the village, over to the in-laws, kids football on Sat kind of stuff, then no, it would become tiring after a while.

Can't comment on a Tip, never driven one, but assume it would make life a lot easier for the around town stuff.

Or, maybe I'm just getting old and heavy, cold, grumpy, recalcitrant manual gearboxes are actually fine around town in traffic

[Billy_Whizzzz]

My 997.2 C4s went rusty as anything used as an occasional daily alongside several other more sensible cars. And I don’t live by the sea. No way would I run one again and ever expose it to mud salt or moisture

Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Monday 3rd June 15:52

Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Monday 3rd June 19:02

[FriedMarsBar]

dgswk said:

If it's multiple shorter, 3-5 mile runs around town, into the village, over to the in-laws, kids football on Sat kind of stuff, then no, it would become tiring after a while.

This driving is really bad for 996/7/1s and I assume 992s, they need to get hot when driven or it can lead to fuel dilution of the oil, I think it's something to do with flat piston design.

[FriedMarsBar]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

My 992.2 C4s went rusty as anything used as an occasional daily alongside several other more sensible cars. And I don’t live by the sea. No way would I run one again and ever expose it to mud salt or moisture

Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Monday 3rd June 15:52

This is pretty bad for such a new car!
My car lived fairly near the sea for a year prior to me buying it and despite being 13 years old it had no rust underneath at all. The alloy components had aged but all the steel parts had survived fairly well.

I'm intending to get my car on the stands soon and coat the underside with a protective coating like Bilt Hamber UC wax

Edited by FriedMarsBar on Monday 3rd June 20:27

[Slippydiff]

FriedMarsBar said:

This driving is really bad for 996/7/1s and I assume 992s, they need to get hot when driven or it can lead to fuel dilution of the oil, I think it's something to do with flat piston design.

The 992 DFi engines should be more than equal to the task, especially if you shorten the interval between oil changes to be on the safe side.
But numerous short journeys in a 997.1 and 996.2 whereby the warm up cycle is prolonged due to sitting in traffic and driving at low rpm, are a surefire way to encourage bore score issues. Tips worse still.

[FriedMarsBar]

Slippydiff said:

The 992 DFi engines should be more than equal to the task, especially if you shorten the interval between oil changes to be on the safe side.
But numerous short journeys in a 997.1 and 996.2 whereby the warm up cycle is prolonged due to sitting in traffic and driving at low rpm, are a surefire way to encourage bore score issues. Tips worse still.

Thanks for that. Can I ask you do you think the 997.2 DFI is at risk from fuel dilution from short journeys? I don't do this in my 997.2 but I'm curious and it might help the op.

[maz8062]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

My 992.2 C4s went rusty as anything used as an occasional daily alongside several other more sensible cars. And I don’t live by the sea. No way would I run one again and ever expose it to mud salt or moisture

Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Monday 3rd June 15:52

I’m guessing you mean 997.2 as 992.2’s are not out yet?

[Billy_Whizzzz]

maz8062 said:

I’m guessing you mean 997.2 as 992.2’s are not out yet?

Sorry yes butter fingers - 997.2

[Billy_Whizzzz]

maz8062 said:

Billy_Whizzzz said:

My 992.2 C4s went rusty as anything used as an occasional daily alongside several other more sensible cars. And I don’t live by the sea. No way would I run one again and ever expose it to mud salt or moisture

Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Monday 3rd June 15:52

I’m guessing you mean 997.2 as 992.2’s are not out yet?

Sorry yes I meant 997.2

[Slippydiff]

FriedMarsBar said:

Thanks for that. Can I ask you do you think the 997.2 DFI is at risk from fuel dilution from short journeys? I don't do this in my 997.2 but I'm curious and it might help the op.

They'll be no worse than any other DFi car in my estimation.

Ultimately you've got two options in this scenario, do at least one decent, longish journey of at least an hour at full operating temperature every couple of weeks (but ideally every week in the Winter) and reduce the mileage between oil changes to 5,000 miles, though if you're doing really short daily journeys, I'd change the oil every 6 months irrespective of the mileage. Try and time oil changes so you do one midway through the Winter

Also, in the Winter don't start the car up to de-ice/ warm the interior through, for 5-10 minutes before driving off. Rather clear the screens by your chosen method : tepid water, de-icer, scraper, then get in start the engine, and drive off immediately, as the sooner the engine is under load, the quicker it will warm up.

[Wills2]

I had daily 997.2 C2S for two years doing 50k miles I then got another daily and did just 5k in the last 12 months in 997 and to be honest it didn't like it, drove badly and stuff went wrong, for me they need driving as mine didn't like being stood on the driveway all week.

[Discombobulate]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

My 997.2 C4s went rusty as anything used as an occasional daily alongside several other more sensible cars. And I don’t live by the sea. No way would I run one again and ever expose it to mud salt or moisture

Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Monday 3rd June 15:52

Edited by Billy_Whizzzz on Monday 3rd June 19:02

Wow! My 08 looks like new underneath (exhaust fittings, tandem pump and cross bars under the engine aside). So much so, that when I removed the arch protectors and under trays to add rustproofing I asked myself why I bothered.
Yours look like it was used to pull boats out the sea...