2004 Porsche 911 Turbo, 1 year in
Discussion
After almost a year of ownership, I thought I should probably put a post on here about my experience with this car, hopefully be a help to someone who was in the same position as I was this time last year.
A little car history first of all:
1st car was a lovely Renault 19 mk1, 1.7TXE resplendent in Jewish Racing Gold with a classy velour interior. This beast was purchased in Paris where I was working at the time and served me well with runs from Paris-Toulouse on a regular basis, then ran it in the UK for a while until it really started to show its age.
Replaced it with a horrible mk Renault 19, I still shudder thinking about it now. Sheared off the rear suspension in an Amsterdam bus lane and chopped it in for:
BMW e36 316 Saloon. I was so proud of this car and its measly 1.6 engine  Served me very well until I had a job change and traded it in for a nicer e46 318ci:
Unfortunately this had a little shunt on the m20 one day so while it was being repaired I bought this lovely e28 M535i:
I had so much fun fooling around in this that when the e46 came back it was such a step down in power/handling that it had to go. I looked around at quite a few models, test drove e46 M3, RX7, TT, Merc etc. and nothing really did it for me until I started looking at Alpinas. Test drove a few and settled on a very nice B3S Cab:
This really was a great car, did everything I wanted it to including the odd track day. It was a heavy beast though so a nicely tuned (but rustier than barnacle Bills rusty rust bucket) e30 325i. This had a lot of work done to it and went like stink, so off to the Nordschleife we went:
Sadly the BMW ownership was to come to an end, the e28 was sold to help with buying my first house, e30 went to help fund the move to the 2nd. The Alpina went when it started to become a bit of a liability with a few failures and electrical gremlins attacking it that BMW just had no clue how to fix. I didn’t have the time to sort it and needed to free up some cash to pay for my wedding so it was replaced with The Worst Car I Have Ever Owned, an Audi A6 2.0 Tdi Le Mans. Shudder.
Can’t even bring myself to post a photo. It was s
t. Fortunately I did not buy it, unfortunately I leased it so was stuck with the fker for 24 months. I actually kept a daily log counting down to the day it was handed back and spent 2 long years looking for something more fun to replace it with. Meanwhile, I had some fun on trackdays having built a couple of track slags with some mates:
E36 325i Saloon:
Replaced with an e36 328i Coupe which is still going strong
Back to the road car: With a sensible budget set of £20k I set about looking for a nice coupe. Criteria were:
1. Fast
2. Handles well
3. Comfortable
4. Interesting and good looking (to me, balls to everyone else)
5. Discreet enough to park in a customer car park
6. Reliable – must start at 5am on an icy morning without having to live on a trickle charger or door handles falling off
Like most PHers, I spent a long time reading about different cars and matching options to my requirements list: Looked at:
E46 M3 – suspension was too crashy for me, too many examples were modified and looking a bit ropey
E92 M3 – (budget creep set in early on in the process)
E46 CSL – still love these, but put off by SMG gearbox/wife compatibility
At this point I got a bit bored of normal looking cars and thought “fk it, I can always park round the corner from customers, or buy a ratty runaround too). This opened up the criteria somewhat so I started looking at:
Maserati 4200 – started to look a bit leftfield and saw some lovely 4200’s, researched issues and some were acceptable, but clutch life was not
Maserati Gransport – again this was at budget creep stage, but when I went to ADG Sevenoaks to see one I fell in love with the Granturismo
Now that I had decided that £20k was not going to cut it, budget crept up quite a bit and I started looking at V8 Vantages too. Whilst I was sold on looks and sound, the overall package had more soul than quality.
Started looking at Porsche, never really been a Porsche fan before so had to start at the beginning as I knew nothing about models, issues etc. Was scared off by doom-mongering stories about chocolate engines, IMS/RMS etc. until I realized the Turbo had a different engine and avoided most of these issues.
Having settled on a 996 Turbo, I drew up my list of requirements/options etc. and started to look. Wow there are some dogs out there, and some good examples. I viewed a few, walked away from a few, drove a couple and settled on this one at RSJ:
Having spoken to RSJ over the phone and by email covering my main questions I went to take a look. I was declined a test drive but given the history, condition and my (completely non-expert) inspection I put a deposit down and arranged for a Peter Morgan inspection on the basis that RSJ would sort any items that Peter found during his visit. The inspection came back a couple of days later with a few minor points, most importantly tyre condition (inside wear not easily visible when I viewed it), radiator leak, A/C not working etc.
I spoke to Darren at RSJ and they agreed to sort everything out, they were very helpful especially as I left it in the showroom for 6 weeks as I was travelling with work constantly, and took a Z3 I was selling at the time as part-ex. After a long wait, I went back to RSJ one Friday afternoon and off I drove in my new Porsche. It felt great to finally own it and as I got used to it and settled in I went through the usual feelings you have once the honeymoon period is over: “Is this right for me, did I spend too much, is it a bit soul-less etc.” but that soon ended, helped by a few very nice drives and the odd longer trip including a long weekend in Le Mans where I proved my neighbours wrong as they laughed at me trying to pack all this kit including tent, bbq, table, chairs, luggage, lady-luggage, booze, food etc. etc.:
Everything was squeezed in comfortably, and off we went:
So one year in, what can I say?
It’s definitely a very capable, quick and comfortable car. What it misses in “soul”, it makes up for in reliability, usability and outright performance. Costs so far have been reasonable considering the performance.
I do a mixture of A/B and Motorway driving and my trip computer shows an average of 25.x mpg at the moment, this was zeroed when I bought it so not bad in the 10+k miles I have covered. I am no lunatic but I would not say I hang around on the roads.
Insurance is cheaper than the Alpina and A6, currently on an Admiral multicar so can’t really say what the individual cost is but it’s cheaper than the previous year.
Just put new tyres on this morning, £950 for 4 x Michelin PS2 N3 all round plus Geometry adjustments. Could have been slightly cheaper but nobody could deliver in time and my plans to renew them in the next month or 2 were brought forward courtesy of a rather large rusty bit of metal on Sunday afternoon.
The only maintenance I have had to do on top of that has been a clutch slave cylinder and reservoir replacement which was done at Nine Excellence for around £800.
Having said that, MOT is booked for next week and minor service booked at OPC Tonbridge next month so we shall see what costs come up then!
Do I like it? Yes. Do I love it? Well, yeah, it’s great, but I still hanker after a front engine, rear drive v8. Once the Granturismo 4.7 comes down in price I may well make a change, but otherwise I’ll continue to enjoy my Turbo.
Oh, the headlights have never bothered me but yes if I could afford one I would have a Singer 911/2.7RS/4.0GT3RS etc. etc.
A little car history first of all:
1st car was a lovely Renault 19 mk1, 1.7TXE resplendent in Jewish Racing Gold with a classy velour interior. This beast was purchased in Paris where I was working at the time and served me well with runs from Paris-Toulouse on a regular basis, then ran it in the UK for a while until it really started to show its age.
Replaced it with a horrible mk Renault 19, I still shudder thinking about it now. Sheared off the rear suspension in an Amsterdam bus lane and chopped it in for:
BMW e36 316 Saloon. I was so proud of this car and its measly 1.6 engine  Served me very well until I had a job change and traded it in for a nicer e46 318ci:
Unfortunately this had a little shunt on the m20 one day so while it was being repaired I bought this lovely e28 M535i:
I had so much fun fooling around in this that when the e46 came back it was such a step down in power/handling that it had to go. I looked around at quite a few models, test drove e46 M3, RX7, TT, Merc etc. and nothing really did it for me until I started looking at Alpinas. Test drove a few and settled on a very nice B3S Cab:
This really was a great car, did everything I wanted it to including the odd track day. It was a heavy beast though so a nicely tuned (but rustier than barnacle Bills rusty rust bucket) e30 325i. This had a lot of work done to it and went like stink, so off to the Nordschleife we went:
Sadly the BMW ownership was to come to an end, the e28 was sold to help with buying my first house, e30 went to help fund the move to the 2nd. The Alpina went when it started to become a bit of a liability with a few failures and electrical gremlins attacking it that BMW just had no clue how to fix. I didn’t have the time to sort it and needed to free up some cash to pay for my wedding so it was replaced with The Worst Car I Have Ever Owned, an Audi A6 2.0 Tdi Le Mans. Shudder.
Can’t even bring myself to post a photo. It was s
t. Fortunately I did not buy it, unfortunately I leased it so was stuck with the fker for 24 months. I actually kept a daily log counting down to the day it was handed back and spent 2 long years looking for something more fun to replace it with. Meanwhile, I had some fun on trackdays having built a couple of track slags with some mates:E36 325i Saloon:
Replaced with an e36 328i Coupe which is still going strong
Back to the road car: With a sensible budget set of £20k I set about looking for a nice coupe. Criteria were:
1. Fast
2. Handles well
3. Comfortable
4. Interesting and good looking (to me, balls to everyone else)
5. Discreet enough to park in a customer car park
6. Reliable – must start at 5am on an icy morning without having to live on a trickle charger or door handles falling off
Like most PHers, I spent a long time reading about different cars and matching options to my requirements list: Looked at:
E46 M3 – suspension was too crashy for me, too many examples were modified and looking a bit ropey
E92 M3 – (budget creep set in early on in the process)
E46 CSL – still love these, but put off by SMG gearbox/wife compatibility
At this point I got a bit bored of normal looking cars and thought “f
k it, I can always park round the corner from customers, or buy a ratty runaround too). This opened up the criteria somewhat so I started looking at:Maserati 4200 – started to look a bit leftfield and saw some lovely 4200’s, researched issues and some were acceptable, but clutch life was not
Maserati Gransport – again this was at budget creep stage, but when I went to ADG Sevenoaks to see one I fell in love with the Granturismo
Now that I had decided that £20k was not going to cut it, budget crept up quite a bit and I started looking at V8 Vantages too. Whilst I was sold on looks and sound, the overall package had more soul than quality.
Started looking at Porsche, never really been a Porsche fan before so had to start at the beginning as I knew nothing about models, issues etc. Was scared off by doom-mongering stories about chocolate engines, IMS/RMS etc. until I realized the Turbo had a different engine and avoided most of these issues.
Having settled on a 996 Turbo, I drew up my list of requirements/options etc. and started to look. Wow there are some dogs out there, and some good examples. I viewed a few, walked away from a few, drove a couple and settled on this one at RSJ:
Having spoken to RSJ over the phone and by email covering my main questions I went to take a look. I was declined a test drive but given the history, condition and my (completely non-expert) inspection I put a deposit down and arranged for a Peter Morgan inspection on the basis that RSJ would sort any items that Peter found during his visit. The inspection came back a couple of days later with a few minor points, most importantly tyre condition (inside wear not easily visible when I viewed it), radiator leak, A/C not working etc.
I spoke to Darren at RSJ and they agreed to sort everything out, they were very helpful especially as I left it in the showroom for 6 weeks as I was travelling with work constantly, and took a Z3 I was selling at the time as part-ex. After a long wait, I went back to RSJ one Friday afternoon and off I drove in my new Porsche. It felt great to finally own it and as I got used to it and settled in I went through the usual feelings you have once the honeymoon period is over: “Is this right for me, did I spend too much, is it a bit soul-less etc.” but that soon ended, helped by a few very nice drives and the odd longer trip including a long weekend in Le Mans where I proved my neighbours wrong as they laughed at me trying to pack all this kit including tent, bbq, table, chairs, luggage, lady-luggage, booze, food etc. etc.:
Everything was squeezed in comfortably, and off we went:
So one year in, what can I say?
It’s definitely a very capable, quick and comfortable car. What it misses in “soul”, it makes up for in reliability, usability and outright performance. Costs so far have been reasonable considering the performance.
I do a mixture of A/B and Motorway driving and my trip computer shows an average of 25.x mpg at the moment, this was zeroed when I bought it so not bad in the 10+k miles I have covered. I am no lunatic but I would not say I hang around on the roads.
Insurance is cheaper than the Alpina and A6, currently on an Admiral multicar so can’t really say what the individual cost is but it’s cheaper than the previous year.
Just put new tyres on this morning, £950 for 4 x Michelin PS2 N3 all round plus Geometry adjustments. Could have been slightly cheaper but nobody could deliver in time and my plans to renew them in the next month or 2 were brought forward courtesy of a rather large rusty bit of metal on Sunday afternoon.
The only maintenance I have had to do on top of that has been a clutch slave cylinder and reservoir replacement which was done at Nine Excellence for around £800.
Having said that, MOT is booked for next week and minor service booked at OPC Tonbridge next month so we shall see what costs come up then!
Do I like it? Yes. Do I love it? Well, yeah, it’s great, but I still hanker after a front engine, rear drive v8. Once the Granturismo 4.7 comes down in price I may well make a change, but otherwise I’ll continue to enjoy my Turbo.
Oh, the headlights have never bothered me but yes if I could afford one I would have a Singer 911/2.7RS/4.0GT3RS etc. etc.
Porsche offer fixed price servicing at the moment and for the Turbo it is £375 on their website, however they told me £350 over the phone. This includes VAT and a Boxster courtesy car which I am weirdly excited about trying 
However, it's an 8.5 year old car with 56k on the clock and despite my best efforts I am sure there will be other things to pick up on in the service. I do expect to renew the brakes in the next few months and supposedly the clutch should explode any day now and suspension fall off according to the interweb but there's a (limited) slush fund for this kind of thing.
However, it's an 8.5 year old car with 56k on the clock and despite my best efforts I am sure there will be other things to pick up on in the service. I do expect to renew the brakes in the next few months and supposedly the clutch should explode any day now and suspension fall off according to the interweb but there's a (limited) slush fund for this kind of thing.
WCZ said:
great car! how many points has it contributed to your license ? 
(Touch daft dog as no wood around) No points yet, I did buy a Road Angel the day after I bought the car though, that's been pretty handy. As I said above, I don't drive like a cock (ish), but it's just too easy to build license losing speed in this car even with the smalling ankle flex, so having a large readout of your current speed beeping and flashing away at you if you overstep the mark can be quite handy.There may have been a few "oh s
t" moments and subsequent 2 week waits with pregnant pauses every time a brown envelope came through the door. I can only assume the scamera operators see my shocked face staring back at them and take pity on me.Lovely car, thanks for sharing.
I drove one a couple of years ago albeit briefly but its the only car that has left such a lasting impression on me.
I have driven many a AMG, M, RS and even the odd prancing horse but what impressed me about the porka was the confidense it gave me and the staggering accelaration, there was a private road that I would 'test' these cars on and the record was 125 in a SL55, I was blown away when the Turbo ran up to over 130 as I had approached the run quite gently as it was the first time driving a Porsche.
Amazing car
I drove one a couple of years ago albeit briefly but its the only car that has left such a lasting impression on me.
I have driven many a AMG, M, RS and even the odd prancing horse but what impressed me about the porka was the confidense it gave me and the staggering accelaration, there was a private road that I would 'test' these cars on and the record was 125 in a SL55, I was blown away when the Turbo ran up to over 130 as I had approached the run quite gently as it was the first time driving a Porsche.
Amazing car
Nice car mate. I too ran a 996 Turbo for 3 years which I bought from Joel and Darren at RSJ. Top fellas and really looked after me throughout my ownership. Not that it needed anything other than a rad from stone damage.
We've obviously got the same taste when it comes to Pork as mine was black on black with sports seats : )
It went like stink and took a real beating ( when warmed through obviously ) and never let me down. In the end though I defected to the dark side as I had an itch I needed to scratch lol. However I would certainly go back if I ever got bored ( unlikely at the mo ; ) and my first visit would be RSJ ; )
Oh, and it was the cheapest performance car I have ever insured. The first two years only cost me £390 aged 30!!
We've obviously got the same taste when it comes to Pork as mine was black on black with sports seats : )
It went like stink and took a real beating ( when warmed through obviously ) and never let me down. In the end though I defected to the dark side as I had an itch I needed to scratch lol. However I would certainly go back if I ever got bored ( unlikely at the mo ; ) and my first visit would be RSJ ; )
Oh, and it was the cheapest performance car I have ever insured. The first two years only cost me £390 aged 30!!
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