997 Turbo, buying

[jakesmith]

Very good all rounder car. Somehow not aging in my eyes like the normal 997's must be to do with the bumper & its LEDs, the scoops, the wheels.
The 997 platform has a number of niggles but the main issues are the M96 & M97 engines of which this doesn't have
I would take with a pinch of salt the tales of people running them year to year for £360 every 2 years fora service and a few tanks of fuel. It can happen and you have a good year or even a few good years and there are obviously people out there luckier than I but my experience is more like £2000-£3000 a year on this vintage of Porsche for bits n bobs, consumables, all that sort of stuff. Very expensive to run generally.

[Juno]

rabbitstew said:

LaSource said:

For example here is a car at 9e who are a leading turbo platform specialists in the UK (I do not have a connection with the car)

http://www.nineexcellence.com/porsche-sales/sales-...

I was at 9e yesterday and had a look around this very car whilst I was there. It certainly did look in excellent condition. The wheels looked brand new!

My friend has what I think is the mintiest 997 Turbo manual out there and it’s 10k cheaper than that!!!

[e12mat]

Some great comments already in the thread.

I bought privately with a good PPI and the difference from OPC retail was probably £7k-£8k, nothing against them, they're a business at the end of the day. That margin has covered all of the running costs for nearly 3 years.

When you look at the real effective running costs including depreciation of these cars, they are cheaper than M4s, M5s and C63s - trust me, I know. I've never bought a car on PCP so the depreciation in capital is real for me, so I don't begrudge the turbo an occasional rear spring or burst water pipe.

As already mentioned, a good independent will make the whole experience more enjoyable and critically, you need to trust what they say is accurate. My turbo ventured near an OPC for minor work and a substantial list of items was advised as urgent. I took this list to my independent who throughly checked their work and advised less than 10% of the items were required.

When challenged, the OPC advised that the technician was new and had incorrectly operated the IPad they were using. If I'm honest, this slightly undermined my confidence.

In summary, the turbo is a great car, it suffers from age-related wear and tear that any vehicle of this age would suffer but the fundimentals are incredibly solid.

[jakesmith]

e12mat said:

When challenged, the OPC advised that the technician was new and had incorrectly operated the IPad they were using. If I'm honest, this slightly undermined my confidence.

fking hell
I have owned some decent cars in my time and never ever go to main dealers
Stories like this don't exactly make me regret my decision. Tale after tale of incompetence, dishonesty, and reeediculous prices!

[Juno]

rabbitstew said:

LaSource said:

For example here is a car at 9e who are a leading turbo platform specialists in the UK (I do not have a connection with the car)

http://www.nineexcellence.com/porsche-sales/sales-...

I was at 9e yesterday and had a look around this very car whilst I was there. It certainly did look in excellent condition. The wheels looked brand new!

My friend has what I think is the mintiest 997 Turbo manual out there and it’s 10k cheaper than that!!!

[Adam B]

Juno said:

My friend has what I think is the mintiest 997 Turbo manual out there and it’s 10k cheaper than that!!!

if its sale please provide link

[krallicious]

I've had my 1.5 for just shy of 6 years and 55,000 miles. The OPC warrenty has been well worth it for me although the car was in excellent condition when it was bought.

I have had various things done including a 18,000€ bill 4 weeks ago for new turbos plus other things. Add to that a minor service, new brakes, new radiators and a warrenty extension and this has proved to be a bloody expensive couple of months.

They are fantastic cars though.

[Digga]

Yep, turbos generally have two of everything that's expensive to look after; turbos, intercoolers, wastegates, actuators... They can throw up some very big bills from time to time.

[Adam B]

krallicious said:

The OPC warrenty has been well worth it for me

18,000€ bill for new turbos plus other things
new brakes
new radiators.

presumably none of those 3 were covered in warranty

would be interested in what warranty has covered over the years that justified the cost

[Maxym]

Interesting. I'm reminded that I don't know what a Gen 1.5 is. Someone please explain?

[Adam B]

Maxym said:

Interesting. I'm reminded that I don't know what a Gen 1.5 is. Someone please explain?

its a Gen 1 with more up to date PCM and a proper BT option (so nice but nothing major really), existed for about 6 months (late 2008) until full gen 2 came in

Edited by Adam B on Wednesday 31st October 12:30

[jakesmith]

Adam B said:

its a Gen 1 with more up to date PCM and a proper BT option (so nice but nothing major really), existed for about 6 months (late 2008) until full gen 2 came in

Edited by Adam B on Wednesday 31st October 12:30

It’s worth noting that the whole centre console (ie the bit that houses the pcm, climate, and the switch panel for spoiler / pasm / chrono / PSM are finished in a satin black in the gen 1.5 not the horrendous volcanic grey of the gen 1. Whilst the pcm3 update is good, this mild interior facelift is a massive improvement in look and makes the interior look far more modern in my opinion

[Adam B]

jakesmith said:

It’s worth noting that the whole centre console (ie the bit that houses the pcm, climate, and the switch panel for spoiler / pasm / chrono / PSM are finished in a satin black in the gen 1.5 not the horrendous volcanic grey of the gen 1. Whilst the pcm3 update is good, this mild interior facelift is a massive improvement in look and makes the interior look far more modern in my opinion

true although I like the silver panels to contrast with the black interior (although materials are a bit low rent plastic) - assume you could switch panels over if you so desired (think switches in same place)

[AndrewO]

I would recommend buying one with a Porsche warranty, there’s plenty of things to go wrong and did on mine. Warranty can run to a15yr old car now. The warranty check will highlight any issues....overRev bands for instance

Other than the usual items the front hoses need replacing on older cars, front subframe has to come off for this and it’s a big job. Aluminium inserts blow and start to leak.

TPM units last about 5yrs....these are about £1k to replace. Mine had all the optional maintenance done, it’s listed in the service book. If you find one with that done it includes things like replacing the coil packs.

What are you wanting ? Manual, tiptronic or Pdk ?

[Younez]

If looking for a tiptronic, 911Virgin have the best example I have ever seen. Good company to deal with as well.

[krallicious]

Adam B said:

krallicious said:

The OPC warrenty has been well worth it for me

18,000€ bill for new turbos plus other things
new brakes
new radiators.

presumably none of those 3 were covered in warranty

would be interested in what warranty has covered over the years that justified the cost

The new turbos! Both actuators, some rattling behind the PCM, a hose that broke after a service and couple of things that I can't remember now.

Brakes and rads I had to pay for

[IMI A]

If using as a daily driver OPC warranty is a no brainer. I must have had circa £40,000 in OPC warranty claims over first 7 years and 60,000 miles of ownership whilst using as a daily driver which included a new engine, turbos, clutch accumulator and slave cyl, and 5 rads. So when you see a 60,000 mile 996 or 997 turbo for £50,000 and think its really cheap think again! Two year OPC warranty a must

[jakesmith]

Adam B said:

true although I like the silver panels to contrast with the black interior (although materials are a bit low rent plastic) - assume you could switch panels over if you so desired (think switches in same place)

There are still silver accents on the car
Not an easy swap actually as the pcm unit itself has to be completely dismantled to remove the grey bezel

If you’re a skilled electronics engineer it is easy enough

The climate and lower switch panel dismantle easily in about 5 mins each and then you’re into spray painting them black

It would look a lot better but would be non original which isn’t the way to preserve a £70k car’s value. Ok on a £10k Boxster

The PCM 3.0 unit can be retrofitted to the earlier car but it would cost you a lot of money

You’re better off buying it how you want it

[luigisayshello]

Juno said:

My friend has what I think is the mintiest 997 Turbo manual out there and it’s 10k cheaper than that!!!

Might appear, but cars that come out of nineexcellence are actually mint, I would expect pinned coolant lines, cam bolts checkex and all those very small and obscure problems being checked or sorted, plus they are the guys anyone with a mezger would take to fix, so their warranty (if present) to me is even better than a Porsche one.

[Digga]

luigisayshello said:

Might appear, but cars that come out of nineexcellence are actually mint, I would expect pinned coolant lines, cam bolts checkex and all those very small and obscure problems being checked or sorted, plus they are the guys anyone with a mezger would take to fix, so their warranty (if present) to me is even better than a Porsche one.

For sure. Them or, further north, Sports & Classic in Cheshire, especially for gearbox repairs.