997, good daily?
Discussion
I did circa 12.5k hard miles a year in one for just under 4 years. In that time it needed front dampers, coil packs, a clutch, and a side muffler, and could have benefitted from a suspension refresh when I sold it. It was a fantastic daily that I knew inside out, and despite it's use it never stopped feeling special. That was 13 years ago, and I still regret selling it. I also had a gen2 a few years later, but it lacked the character and feeling of being slung between all 4 wheels that the the gen1 had (difficult to describe, but get one properly set-up and you'll know). I preferred the gen1.
Despite the relatively inexpensive purchase price these days, it could prove to be an expensive way of covering 10k miles a year, but as long as you allow for the running costs, and keep a contingency fund, you'll be fine, subject to the usual essential pre-purchase checks.
Despite the relatively inexpensive purchase price these days, it could prove to be an expensive way of covering 10k miles a year, but as long as you allow for the running costs, and keep a contingency fund, you'll be fine, subject to the usual essential pre-purchase checks.
silverback mike said:
Hi all. As per really. Just wondering if anyone runs a 997 as a daily driver. Not massively stressful miles and approximately 10,000 a year. Had a bunch of 944’s over the years including a turbo a few years ago so know they are built well. Thank you in advance.
As per another thread, I’m just doing this, jumping from a BMW 650i (not a low risk daily driver I’d readily accept although mine had been trouble free for 8 years/ 100,000 miles) to a 997.1Fingers crossed, but checking one out gave me a good feeling, there’s just something right about the whole package.
Edited by Slippydiff99 on Thursday 31st March 08:38
I'd say the car can take it but it will cost you. Personally I wouldn't as I live in London and for traffic much prefer a modern automatic car.
I've averaged 3k mi & £1500 /yr maintenance alone (plus tax, ins., upgrades, etc.) over 10 years. Your yearly mileage is 3x so you'll easily spend 2x = £3k a year. This will go higher once engine needs work and keeping on top of bodywork, depends how long you plan doing it for.
Weight it up with what you'd spend on running something new/ish and finally "account" for the pleasure / value to you of running a 997 daily.
My main concern would be hassle of upkeep of an older car, you'll need to allow for downtime.
I've averaged 3k mi & £1500 /yr maintenance alone (plus tax, ins., upgrades, etc.) over 10 years. Your yearly mileage is 3x so you'll easily spend 2x = £3k a year. This will go higher once engine needs work and keeping on top of bodywork, depends how long you plan doing it for.
Weight it up with what you'd spend on running something new/ish and finally "account" for the pleasure / value to you of running a 997 daily.
My main concern would be hassle of upkeep of an older car, you'll need to allow for downtime.
Iv been using my 997.1 c2s for 6 months now as a daily and I'm still loving it - no regrets at all. The only thing that is essential is sorting a way to have bt phone connection - at the moment I'm using one of them FM transmitters as I'm still looking into what would be the best for me.
Midasman17 said:
I have been running a 997.1 Turbo for the last 2 years, no real cost apart from servicing. I thoroughly enjoy it, brings a smile to my face every time I get in it.
I did upgrade the music unit to get carplay/phone.
Do you mind telling me which head unit you went for? it's quite hard to buy electronics at the moment, everything seems to be on back order.I did upgrade the music unit to get carplay/phone.
Also where'd you get the fascia panel and adaptor cables from?
Thank you
RiccardoG said:
My main concern would be hassle of upkeep of an older car, you'll need to allow for downtime.
Exactly this. My 997.1 is my only car and I only do 4-6k a year, I often go a couple of weeks without using it. In 2 years and 8000 miles is has been great but it still annoys me when it breaks. So I do think the OP needs to approach it with the right expectations for runnings costs, repair and downtime.There is also going to be a big difference between a 2004 Carrera with 150k miles on the clock and a 2011 Turbo S PDK garage queen.
olv said:
RiccardoG said:
My main concern would be hassle of upkeep of an older car, you'll need to allow for downtime.
Exactly this. My 997.1 is my only car and I only do 4-6k a year, I often go a couple of weeks without using it. In 2 years and 8000 miles is has been great but it still annoys me when it breaks. So I do think the OP needs to approach it with the right expectations for runnings costs, repair and downtime.There is also going to be a big difference between a 2004 Carrera with 150k miles on the clock and a 2011 Turbo S PDK garage queen.
I run a gen 2 as my only car, but I’m often away and whilst it gets a run at least once a week it doesn’t always get that heavily used (6k a year miles probably).
It’s a great car, love the drive, love the feel - realising a long held desire to own my very first 911….but……
It is 12 years old, and as a sole vehicle it left me stranded with a catastrophic failure when the serpentine belt tensioner failed, and took out the water pump. This happened 2 days after moving house, just before Christmas. I had to hire a car, and the parts took a few weeks to arrive. It’s had a couple of minor annoyances like the window regulator failing one side, and the door position switch the other. Each of these is an impact I don’t really have the luxury of time or the patience to fix.
I’m thinking of moving mine on this year, and possibly buying a 991 with some warranty, to avoid the downtime. If it was a Golf I’d let anyone I trust fix it, but with a 911 you want the right people doing the work.
Maybe a bit of food for thought?
When you’re in a freshly cleaned one on a sunny day, you can’t beat the grin they give you, and they do always feel special in a way an M car or RS variant of a 3 series or A4/A3 never can
It’s a great car, love the drive, love the feel - realising a long held desire to own my very first 911….but……
It is 12 years old, and as a sole vehicle it left me stranded with a catastrophic failure when the serpentine belt tensioner failed, and took out the water pump. This happened 2 days after moving house, just before Christmas. I had to hire a car, and the parts took a few weeks to arrive. It’s had a couple of minor annoyances like the window regulator failing one side, and the door position switch the other. Each of these is an impact I don’t really have the luxury of time or the patience to fix.
I’m thinking of moving mine on this year, and possibly buying a 991 with some warranty, to avoid the downtime. If it was a Golf I’d let anyone I trust fix it, but with a 911 you want the right people doing the work.
Maybe a bit of food for thought?
When you’re in a freshly cleaned one on a sunny day, you can’t beat the grin they give you, and they do always feel special in a way an M car or RS variant of a 3 series or A4/A3 never can
If you go in with your eyes open you’ll be fine. It’ll be expensive one way or the other but the driving experience will offset the costs plus, life’s too short to drive a boring car! If i gets too bad, sell it. It’s a Porsche 911 so it’s not going to be too painful to sell.
I’m echoing what has been said in this thread already but i ran my 996 C4S as a daily for the last year i owned it after i decided that there was no enjoyment keeping it in the garage. This resulted in the joy of using something special everyday and was probably the best year of ownership i had in the 3-years total that i owned it but the list of things that needed to be maintained was massive! Effectively everything needed replacing.
A 997 is a reasonably old car now, so every component will remind you of that; suspension will creak, infotainment will look dated, the interior will rattle and squeak, air con will be knackered, exhausts will rust etc. and while you can fix or improve these bits, they all add up.
In the end, after a year of daily driving it, i traded my 996 C4S in for a 981 Cayman PDK with a Porsche approved warranty. I ran that for two years and it didn’t once need me to use the warranty (perhaps some would see that as a waste of money) and the only expense was one service. It was the exact opposite of the 996 experience, everything worked and it was modern in every way.
Whatever you do, the car was built for daily use and it won’t be fragile. The 997 was designed to be used every day, as was the; 996, 993, 964, 911 etc. that’s the best thing about Porsche.
I’m echoing what has been said in this thread already but i ran my 996 C4S as a daily for the last year i owned it after i decided that there was no enjoyment keeping it in the garage. This resulted in the joy of using something special everyday and was probably the best year of ownership i had in the 3-years total that i owned it but the list of things that needed to be maintained was massive! Effectively everything needed replacing.
A 997 is a reasonably old car now, so every component will remind you of that; suspension will creak, infotainment will look dated, the interior will rattle and squeak, air con will be knackered, exhausts will rust etc. and while you can fix or improve these bits, they all add up.
In the end, after a year of daily driving it, i traded my 996 C4S in for a 981 Cayman PDK with a Porsche approved warranty. I ran that for two years and it didn’t once need me to use the warranty (perhaps some would see that as a waste of money) and the only expense was one service. It was the exact opposite of the 996 experience, everything worked and it was modern in every way.
Whatever you do, the car was built for daily use and it won’t be fragile. The 997 was designed to be used every day, as was the; 996, 993, 964, 911 etc. that’s the best thing about Porsche.
all good info and all comments appreciated. Looks like I’ll look into one a bit more seriously now!!MDL111 said:
currently using a 997.2 RS as my daily, does the job well enough imo.
Back in the day I ended up using 2 of my GT3s as dailies. 996.2 and a 997.1 - Not ideal to be honest and was for a month at most in each case . Wouldn't say that grinding out a commute was a lot of fun , in a GT3 at any rate. Clutch a heavy thing in traffic, ground clearance tricky, rattly dif. But a regular 997 is much more adapted to the job.Always took the fun route there and back so some epic drives nevertheless.
I think there are better cars to cope with commuting and return loads of fun on the weekends though than a 911
Dblue said:
Back in the day I ended up using 2 of my GT3s as dailies. 996.2 and a 997.1 - Not ideal to be honest and was for a month at most in each case . Wouldn't say that grinding out a commute was a lot of fun , in a GT3 at any rate. Clutch a heavy thing in traffic, ground clearance tricky, rattly dif. But a regular 997 is much more adapted to the job.
Always took the fun route there and back so some epic drives nevertheless.
I think there are better cars to cope with commuting and return loads of fun on the weekends though than a 911
Good points made and I have a weekend thing so the Porsche would be my all rounder. I’ll have a ponder! Always took the fun route there and back so some epic drives nevertheless.
I think there are better cars to cope with commuting and return loads of fun on the weekends though than a 911
Slippydiff99 said:
Do you mind telling me which head unit you went for? it's quite hard to buy electronics at the moment, everything seems to be on back order.
Also where'd you get the fascia panel and adaptor cables from?
Thank you
Take a look at NM Automotive, they do setups that upgrade the PCM3.0 system to run Carplay and Android Auto while retaining the OEM kit.Also where'd you get the fascia panel and adaptor cables from?
Thank you
To the OP I run a 997.2 GTS as a daily and its fine.
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