Buying a sub 20k Porsche 997 as a daily - am I mad?

[Sleebagz]

Hi

First post and looking for some advice. I changed jobs recently and cut my commute down from 32 miles on A roads to 2 miles of in-town driving.

Currently using a Honda Civic Diesel, but I'm in my mid 30s and I want something more exciting. I've had a thing for Porsche 911s since I was a kid and I'm considering an early 997.

A Gen II or a Gen 1 with OPC warranty is out of the question as currently the cheapest on Porsche's website is £35k+.

So I'm looking at early 2004/5/6 3.6 or 3.8s, probably high miles, hopefully near £20k. I've seen a few over the past few months that state they've had a Hartech rebuild and IMS upgraded due to the known faults, so my questions are:

1. If it's had a Hartech rebuild is that bore scoring sorted? It won't score its bores again?

2. Is the IMS retro fix a permanent solution and sorts the problem?

3. It'll be my only car, and I work shifts, so it needs to start first time at 4am and be comfortable with 2 miles to work and 2 miles back.

4. I live up north and have no OPC centres or independents near me - so it'd be serviced at a normal run of the mill garage.

Is it a pipe dream and would I be better off just withdrawing my money from the bank and setting light to it in the street?

Any advice from anybody currently enjoying(or not) an early 997 greatly appreciated.

[PTF]

That short distance won't do any car much good.

Cycle or walk. 2 miles is only about 10 mins on a bike, even at a leisurely pace.

[Sleebagz]

PTF said:

That short distance won't do any car much good.

Cycle or walk. 2 miles is only about 10 mins on a bike, even at a leisurely pace.

I sometimes leave the house for work at 3am - trust me when you're up that early for four or five days on the bounce and it's p**sing down or snowing outside the last thing you want to do is walk or cycle anywhere.

[hondansx]

I'd get a rust bucket for that measly commute and something more exciting than the 997 for weekends.

What are you imagining the Porsche to be like?

[Seanseansean]

Micra k11 for work.
997 for the weekends

[Sleebagz]

hondansx said:

I'd get a rust bucket for that measly commute and something more exciting than the 997 for weekends.

What are you imagining the Porsche to be like?

Haven't got the space for 3 cars. And I imagine the Porsche to be more exciting than a 2.2 Diesel Honda Civic.

[RobM77]

I'd say yes, if you buy carefully and go in with your eyes open and keep a rescue fund, but not for such a short journey. I realise you're getting up in all hours and in all weathers, so if you really can't just walk or cycle it, the only car that I'd take on a 2 mile commute would be a cheap one, and a solid reliable one at that!

Edited by RobM77 on Tuesday 30th January 13:57

[ghost83]

I’d say buy yourself the Porsche as a fun car not a commuting car as it won’t egen get warm I’d actually consider a small electric car for work

As for a Porsche and maintainance I think I’d be looking for a specialist at least as when things go wrong they can be expensive and you want a garage that knows what they’re doing imo
Otherwise if it goes wrong you won’t enjoy Porsche ownership at all

[gibbon]

Why buy it and not use it? Non sense.

Do your research, buy one, keep some cash set aside for repairs, use it as much as you want. As usual I would go easy on it until properly warmed up, but thats obvious.

[Sleebagz]

gibbon said:

Why buy it and not use it? Non sense.

Do your research, buy one, keep some cash set aside for repairs, use it as much as you want. As usual I would go easy on it until properly warmed up, but thats obvious.

This was my thoughts - I realise a 10 minute commute isn't great for any car, but hell I see people dropping their kids off at school nearby in Range Rovers so if they can do it why can't a Porsche?

I bet 75% of all commutes done in this country - particularly in my part of the world are 10 minutes / 2/3 miles

[Sleebagz]

md4776 said:

4. You say you live "up north", where is that? - RPM Specialist cars http://www.rpmspecialistcars.co.uk/ are in Yorkshire. I'm Edinburgh and take mine down to yorkshire for the day when major services are due. Servicing at a good, but non-porsche specialist garage whilst observing the service internals I doubt would be the end of the world but it would hurt residual values.

I'm in Cumbria, nearest OPCs are Kendal and Newcastle which are 60 mins away. Not a huge drive I know, but if it needed something doing every 2/3 months it'd get annoying spending my days off getting the car fixed.

[The Selfish Gene]

I have a 997 - it's a lovely car. Is your route twisty? 3, 4am - sounds like the perfect choice to me. :-)

mine on 57k miles (I've done 5k in it) no sign of any issues. Looking at the Hartech website, it's not the end of the world it if develops a problem. It's not ideal, but if the worst happens you'll have a car that'll last !

if you're in the 20k ball park, and it's 7k to fix should the worst happen.......it's still a cheap relative car for the smile factor.

[CaptainSensib1e]

Sleebagz said:

3. It'll be my only car, and I work shifts, so it needs to start first time at 4am and be comfortable with 2 miles to work and 2 miles back.

As long as you go for a good blast on weekend to get everything up to temperature over a decent 30+ minute drive then I wouldn't think this will be a major issue. Or take the scenic route home, guessing you'll be commuting outside of rush hour!

[Sleebagz]

The Selfish Gene said:

if you're in the 20k ball park, and it's 7k to fix should the worst happen.......it's still a cheap relative car for the smile factor.

Thanks for the reply, glad you're enjoying yours. Re: the repair bills, I'm sure I've seen people saying £10-12k, which is more than I could manage, so I was hoping that finding one that had already had a Hartech rebuild would mean I could sleep at night knowing it was all sorted.

[The Selfish Gene]

Sleebagz said:

The Selfish Gene said:

if you're in the 20k ball park, and it's 7k to fix should the worst happen.......it's still a cheap relative car for the smile factor.

Thanks for the reply, glad you're enjoying yours. Re: the repair bills, I'm sure I've seen people saying £10-12k, which is more than I could manage, so I was hoping that finding one that had already had a Hartech rebuild would mean I could sleep at night knowing it was all sorted.

i'm definitely the opposite of expert in this area. I've only just started looking. My car is under warranty. I just had a quick look at the website and it looked to mount up to about 7k.

I think the only caution I would say - and I'm not normally super sensible, however they are reasonably expensive cars to put things right. Mine is under warranty so maybe it's all the main dealer costs - but I have all the receipts for it's life and they do mount up.

Not to be a total party pooper- but for 20k the M3 V8 is also a fabulous option and should have a few less miles etc.

[996TT02]

I would not, if you need a car to depend on, and certainly if maintaining on any sort of budget is important. Look elsewhere, no such thing as a cheap modern Porsche - I would say OK if an older one i.e. anything pre-993 as they are simpler, but unfortunately nowadays over budget.

Hoping I am wrong, but feel confident that your ownership of the car will be a series of fixing this, that and the other, generally rather expensively. I don't mean really major stuff - relatively mundane items, some service items, many not, plus the everyday scrapes and bumps.

Older complicated higher mileage Porsche, not really a dependable daily, just a toy ideally for the hands-on. Believe me, they are built no better than a VW Polo of the same age, and components of no better quality, and VWs have more of a rep for reliability than a track record.

If you must, check what sort of Cayman your budget will get you.

[Sleebagz]

The Selfish Gene said:

i'm definitely the opposite of expert in this area. I've only just started looking. My car is under warranty. I just had a quick look at the website and it looked to mount up to about 7k.

I think the only caution I would say - and I'm not normally super sensible, however they are reasonably expensive cars to put things right. Mine is under warranty so maybe it's all the main dealer costs - but I have all the receipts for it's life and they do mount up.

Not to be a total party pooper- but for 20k the M3 V8 is also a fabulous option and should have a few less miles etc.

To be honest it's only really the 911 I'm thinking of at the minute. If not the Porsche I'll probably swap the civic for something like a new Golf GTi. Like I said I've had a soft spot for 911s since I was a kid, and now the 997s are within touching distance I'm very tempted. Probably like many people, could afford to buy it, could afford to run it, but can't justify spending 20k on a 15 year old car if it's then going to cost me 5k, 10k, or even £12k+ as I've seen some people say they've spent in repair bills.

[The Selfish Gene]

Sleebagz said:

To be honest it's only really the 911 I'm thinking of at the minute. If not the Porsche I'll probably swap the civic for something like a new Golf GTi. Like I said I've had a soft spot for 911s since I was a kid, and now the 997s are within touching distance I'm very tempted. Probably like many people, could afford to buy it, could afford to run it, but can't justify spending 20k on a 15 year old car if it's then going to cost me 5k, 10k, or even £12k+ as I've seen some people say they've spent in repair bills.

again really not trying to party poop - but I have a 9k receipt (including a clutch) for the work the main stealer did on the car before they considered it good enough to sell with a 2 year warranty. Since that it's had 4k in exhaust under warranty......as I said it's on 57k miles.....

so do buy one - but maybe have a really good look through the history of it. Assuming you won't be getting a warranty, make sure it's had everything done at the right time based on the mileage etc.

My car feels totally reliable really - fairly bullet proof - but it only takes a new clutch or something similar for a big bill

[Sleebagz]

The Selfish Gene said:

again really not trying to party poop - but I have a 9k receipt (including a clutch) for the work the main stealer did on the car before they considered it good enough to sell with a 2 year warranty. Since that it's had 4k in exhaust under warranty......as I said it's on 57k miles.....

so do buy one - but maybe have a really good look through the history of it. Assuming you won't be getting a warranty, make sure it's had everything done at the right time based on the mileage etc.

My car feels totally reliable really - fairly bullet proof - but it only takes a new clutch or something similar for a big bill

Ouch, that would hurt. I had thought the perfect solution to sleepless nights during ownership would be to find a car with full Porsche History, get the 111 point check done at an OPC and stick a warranty on it for two years for £2k. I presumed the 111 point check would tell me to get new tyres and a few bits done, but if they said it needed 9k worth of work before they'd offer the warranty it defeats the object of getting a warranty in the first place. Plus clutch etc wouldn't be covered anyways.

That said, how are these bills for thousands actually broken down? A local garage I know charges £40 per hour for labour - a ten hour job over two days would only be £400! Fair enough they're not Porsche or even a Porsche Specialist, but if they can fix whatever needs fixed for a fraction of the cost I don't think I'd be that bothered!

Is it the cost of parts that make these bills so excessive??

[The Selfish Gene]

Sleebagz said:

Ouch, that would hurt. I had thought the perfect solution to sleepless nights during ownership would be to find a car with full Porsche History, get the 111 point check done at an OPC and stick a warranty on it for two years for £2k. I presumed the 111 point check would tell me to get new tyres and a few bits done, but if they said it needed 9k worth of work before they'd offer the warranty it defeats the object of getting a warranty in the first place. Plus clutch etc wouldn't be covered anyways.

That said, how are these bills for thousands actually broken down? A local garage I know charges £40 per hour for labour - a ten hour job over two days would only be £400! Fair enough they're not Porsche or even a Porsche Specialist, but if they can fix whatever needs fixed for a fraction of the cost I don't think I'd be that bothered!

Is it the cost of parts that make these bills so excessive??

if i get a chance i'll check later when i'm home. Suspect Labour is nearer 100 per hour. The invoice was long though. If you're buying a Porsche Warranty then you will have peace of mind for a couple of years. Mine was 1200 per year though, rather than 1k. All in the price of the car , but itemised.