18 months with a 3.2 Carrera Sport
Discussion
Well the time has come for it to go, whilst being a great car to drive I simply cannot justify the huge service bills, in the course of 18 months it has cost me in excess of 6k on fixing and servicing. 
So, this Saturday I pick up a shiny 18 months old VX220 Turbo, just in time for the run down to Le Mans.
Things I have learned, when you get the car inspected and he says the HPI report comes up with condition alert but does not matter the car is great, this does matter. The car drove fine and Northway say the car was good, but the HPI alert means potential buyers just run away.
Also if your 3.2 ever has a hesitation when accelerating and you have exhausted all obvious means, check the sender unit off the gear box, mine was just reading a lower voltage and not actually broken but caused this and was a complete bugger to track down.
Overall the car has been great, it turns heads, people come and talk to you in petrol stations and the handling is fantastic but the running costs are not on, so time for something new.
Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice to my questions, I shall carry on lurking though
So, this Saturday I pick up a shiny 18 months old VX220 Turbo, just in time for the run down to Le Mans.
Things I have learned, when you get the car inspected and he says the HPI report comes up with condition alert but does not matter the car is great, this does matter. The car drove fine and Northway say the car was good, but the HPI alert means potential buyers just run away.
Also if your 3.2 ever has a hesitation when accelerating and you have exhausted all obvious means, check the sender unit off the gear box, mine was just reading a lower voltage and not actually broken but caused this and was a complete bugger to track down.
Overall the car has been great, it turns heads, people come and talk to you in petrol stations and the handling is fantastic but the running costs are not on, so time for something new.
Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice to my questions, I shall carry on lurking though
ICSD said:
£6k in 18 months - mate you bought a pup.
Don't blame it on 3.2s in general, they shouldn't cost anywhere near that kind of money.
Don't blame it on 3.2s in general, they shouldn't cost anywhere near that kind of money.
What a load of rubbish I had an MOT and 12k service where they needed to replace the two rear droplinks - parts 240, the rest of the 800 quid bill was labour, these cars cost a fortune to run.
Dakkon said:
Things I have learned, when you get the car inspected and he says the HPI report comes up with condition alert but does not matter the car is great, this does matter. The car drove fine and Northway say the car was good, but the HPI alert means potential buyers just run away.
Most good ones do not cost anywhere near that Paul, you have just been unlucky.
I do however note with interest that your adamant stance that you did not know anything about it being on the register or appearance that you didn't even know what being on the register means... was actually a load of bollx!
I spent a lot of my time getting quite excited about your car Paul and was on the verge of arranging the bank draft and coming down to pick it up, I paid out good money for Northway to do an inspection on the basis that you said it had a good clean report from Peter Morgan. I am very glad that I got my own HPi check done.
Dakkon said:
ICSD said:
£6k in 18 months - mate you bought a pup.
Don't blame it on 3.2s in general, they shouldn't cost anywhere near that kind of money.
Don't blame it on 3.2s in general, they shouldn't cost anywhere near that kind of money.
What a load of rubbish I had an MOT and 12k service where they needed to replace the two rear droplinks - parts 240, the rest of the 800 quid bill was labour, these cars cost a fortune to run.
Funny that! I've had two and they've both ticked along nicely on around £800 per year to maintain and I don't leave anything - if it needs doing then I do it.
What on earth cost £6k in 18 months?
That was me being naive, when I had the inspection done, the report said the car was good and I bought it based on that and promptly then forgot about it, when you were interested I answered your questions, having moved house at the time I could not place my hands on the report, then once you did the HPI I did guenuinly not understand the significance as at the time I did not recall the one line statement in the report.
Northway checked the car over and said it was in good condition for its age, but like yourself, few buyers would touch it and it has taken 6 months to sell.
All I can do is appologise, it was not my intention to deceive, and fundermentally the car was / is in good condition.
Northway checked the car over and said it was in good condition for its age, but like yourself, few buyers would touch it and it has taken 6 months to sell.
All I can do is appologise, it was not my intention to deceive, and fundermentally the car was / is in good condition.
Hmm, fair do's Paul. Must say, you seemed a decent bloke at the time.scruffy101 said:
I had my carrera 10 months, the engine blew up and cost £6,230 to fix ,then the alternater £200 +labour ,brakes £650, and ECU £320.The best was the door handle though £180!I know i was unlucky but they do cost.
Any decent car may have cost this sort of money to fix - imagine an Audi, Merc or BMW. Nobody should expect a blown up Porsche motor to be surprisingly cheap to fix - it's a high tolerance, high spec, high quality motor.
Anyone who has an engine let go is either unlucky or has missed some earlier signals. Either way it's not good news to hear.
I've run a 3.2 everyday for 10 months now and complete 50 miles each weekday. It was an ex litttle used car and I've spent 2K recommissioning, including service, alarm + partial ss exaust.
When I accumulate enough to get a 997 Gt3, I won't sell the 3.2 - it's one of the finest drivers cars of all time.
Edited by crbox on Tuesday 6th June 22:40
Dakkon said:
POORCARDEALER said:
Buy a good un and a grand a year should run it...........who says the 220 wont cost a few quid to run?
You are right, but the VX has almost 2 years warranty left, a bit difference to the cost of ownership.
I have no idea how a VZ220 depreciates but in general the above is a massive misunderstanding of how a car costs you money.
You buy a brand new BMW/Merc/Saab etc with you 3yr warranty. You tell everyone how cheap it is to run - "I had this done under warranty and that done under warranry" and at the end of the 3 years it's worth £15k less than you paid for it! Now the guy who buys it from you might have to spend a few quid on maintenance now that the warranty's finished but that's extremely unlikely to add up to £15k in 3 years.
And you still haven't told us how you managed to spend £6k in 18 months - there must have been a lot go wrong with it!
Just my experience:
I had 2 3.3's as daily runners over a period of 6 years and they cost me £1000-£1500 a year to run inc. tyres. Everyone was impressed, as was I at how economical these can be.
Now I have a 964 Turbo... now that does cost more money to run! Mind you I have had a lot of teething problems due to the dealer who sold it to me (but that's another story). Hopefully once all the initial repairs are sorted it will settle down.
And it drinks twice as much petrol!
The bottom line is there are good examples and bad ones)
I had 2 3.3's as daily runners over a period of 6 years and they cost me £1000-£1500 a year to run inc. tyres. Everyone was impressed, as was I at how economical these can be.
Now I have a 964 Turbo... now that does cost more money to run! Mind you I have had a lot of teething problems due to the dealer who sold it to me (but that's another story). Hopefully once all the initial repairs are sorted it will settle down.
And it drinks twice as much petrol!
The bottom line is there are good examples and bad ones)
Edited by 911addict on Wednesday 7th June 09:39
I really don't think mine was that bad, the only known issue when I bought the car was the exhaust, and I put on a full stainless steel sports exhaust including heat exchangers which was 1600 quid including fitting.
What has surprised me is just the general service, like the last one before I just sold it of 800 quid and apart from the standard 12k service they replaced the two rear drop links and some oil hoses which ad started to perish.
That was just one example though, in Feb it needed a new clutch another 1000 quid, then it had a service last November, another 900 quid.
It's these general service bills tat are close or over 4 figures that I think is not reasonable.
That was my point really, now I could have changed the garage that works on the car, but then who else do you try as there are not that many trusted places that can work on old Porsches and despite loving sports cars I am not that mechanically minded.
So all in all I chose to sell it as with a new house I simply cannot afford to put that kind of money into a car.
I realise the argument on depreciation, but the 3.2 have not finished bottoming out yet on that curve either yet, overall I think a 3.2 Carrera is an expensive car to run, all my own experiences and opinions of course.
What has surprised me is just the general service, like the last one before I just sold it of 800 quid and apart from the standard 12k service they replaced the two rear drop links and some oil hoses which ad started to perish.
That was just one example though, in Feb it needed a new clutch another 1000 quid, then it had a service last November, another 900 quid.
It's these general service bills tat are close or over 4 figures that I think is not reasonable.
That was my point really, now I could have changed the garage that works on the car, but then who else do you try as there are not that many trusted places that can work on old Porsches and despite loving sports cars I am not that mechanically minded.
So all in all I chose to sell it as with a new house I simply cannot afford to put that kind of money into a car.
I realise the argument on depreciation, but the 3.2 have not finished bottoming out yet on that curve either yet, overall I think a 3.2 Carrera is an expensive car to run, all my own experiences and opinions of course.
I had the things go wrong in the first month.It never let me down again but by then i hated it.The syncro started to go on first and second,fuel tank split then i was advised at the MOT the bushes were worn so that was enough for me.I had the car reprayed and new leather on the seats but i still hated it,£12,000 in ten months i spent on it.The guy who bought it likes it though!
I've spent about 6k on depreciation AND servicing for 3 993s (including a turbo) and 50k miles!
Let's hope my 4th 993 is as inexpensive to run (service my cars at Northways too). Dak, think you were just unlucky, and has been said think you may have just sold on a well sorted car.
Mind you, a VX220T sounds good fun too
Let's hope my 4th 993 is as inexpensive to run (service my cars at Northways too). Dak, think you were just unlucky, and has been said think you may have just sold on a well sorted car.
Mind you, a VX220T sounds good fun too
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