997.1 Turbo buying advice

[TurboSandGT4]

If you buy a 15 year old performance car, you will definitely get issues and big ones at that

My advice
1. Have an alternative means of daily transport
2. Have enough in the bank to at least cover a turbo and engine rebuild
3. Be ready to refurbish suspension and cooling system /ac rads
4. Choose a car that's been looked after
5. Have an independent garage/mechanic on standby to do fix stuff

for the price of a 997 Turbo you can have a Nissan GTR and they have plenty of issues

You will get super car performance and eventually bills to match

Good luck!

 

[darkhorse]

If you buy a 15 year old performance car, you will definitely get issues and big ones at that

My advice
1. Have an alternative means of daily transport
2. Have enough in the bank to at least cover a turbo and engine rebuild
3. Be ready to refurbish suspension and cooling system /ac rads
4. Choose a car that's been looked after
5. Have an independent garage/mechanic on standby to do fix stuff

for the price of a 997 Turbo you can have a Nissan GTR and they have plenty of issues

You will get super car performance and eventually bills to match

Good luck!

Great advice

 

[Desert Dragon]

If you buy a 15 year old performance car, you will definitely get issues and big ones at that

My advice
1. Have an alternative means of daily transport
2. Have enough in the bank to at least cover a turbo and engine rebuild
3. Be ready to refurbish suspension and cooling system /ac rads
4. Choose a car that's been looked after
5. Have an independent garage/mechanic on standby to do fix stuff

for the price of a 997 Turbo you can have a Nissan GTR and they have plenty of issues

You will get super car performance and eventually bills to match

Good luck!

Great advice

+2

 

[easternjets]

If you buy a 15 year old performance car, you will definitely get issues and big ones at that

My advice
1. Have an alternative means of daily transport
2. Have enough in the bank to at least cover a turbo and engine rebuild
3. Be ready to refurbish suspension and cooling system /ac rads
4. Choose a car that's been looked after
5. Have an independent garage/mechanic on standby to do fix stuff

for the price of a 997 Turbo you can have a Nissan GTR and they have plenty of issues

You will get super car performance and eventually bills to match

Good luck!

Great advice

+2

Just seen this and I'm a bit puzzled.

Who heads out to buy a car with the idea in their heads that I'm paying in the region of £55k plus for my, new to me car and I need to have probably an extra 30k in reserve to possibly rebuild the engine and turbo units.

I'm on my 4th turbo and touch wood my outlays have been minimal.
997.1 was the worst offender. Water pump, coil packs and other serviceable items plus a set of tyres and a service/
997.2 nothing needed replacing just a service.
991.1 Nothing needed in the short time I owned it.
991.2 So far nothing.

I think nearly everyone on this forum has their Porsche as a second or third car. A lot of people, myself included use their cars on a regular basis.

One of the main reasons I stick with the turbo model is for there reliability, although I have heard of the 991's having turbo unit problems but never engine issues and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having to involuntarily having to strip their engines down.

 

[keendean]

If you buy a 15 year old performance car, you will definitely get issues and big ones at that

My advice
1. Have an alternative means of daily transport
2. Have enough in the bank to at least cover a turbo and engine rebuild
3. Be ready to refurbish suspension and cooling system /ac rads
4. Choose a car that's been looked after
5. Have an independent garage/mechanic on standby to do fix stuff

for the price of a 997 Turbo you can have a Nissan GTR and they have plenty of issues

You will get super car performance and eventually bills to match

Good luck!

+3

 

[andy996c4s]

If you buy a 15 year old performance car, you will definitely get issues and big ones at that

My advice
1. Have an alternative means of daily transport
2. Have enough in the bank to at least cover a turbo and engine rebuild
3. Be ready to refurbish suspension and cooling system /ac rads
4. Choose a car that's been looked after
5. Have an independent garage/mechanic on standby to do fix stuff

for the price of a 997 Turbo you can have a Nissan GTR and they have plenty of issues

You will get super car performance and eventually bills to match

Good luck!

Great advice

+2

Just seen this and I'm a bit puzzled.

Who heads out to buy a car with the idea in their heads that I'm paying in the region of £55k plus for my, new to me car and I need to have probably an extra 30k in reserve to possibly rebuild the engine and turbo units.

I'm on my 4th turbo and touch wood my outlays have been minimal.
997.1 was the worst offender. Water pump, coil packs and other serviceable items plus a set of tyres and a service/
997.2 nothing needed replacing just a service.
991.1 Nothing needed in the short time I owned it.
991.2 So far nothing.

I think nearly everyone on this forum has their Porsche as a second or third car. A lot of people, myself included use their cars on a regular basis.

One of the main reasons I stick with the turbo model is for there reliability, although I have heard of the 991's having turbo unit problems but never engine issues and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having to involuntarily having to strip their engines down.

+1 for this view. Have had my 997.1 turbo for 9.5 years and nothing major required; a dodgy window micro switch being the most recent issue. I shelled out for the extended warranty for much of that time and would probably have been better off putting the money in the bank. The car has recently had underbody protection applied and it was noted that it was in excellent condition. It's in for a geo and suspension service at the end of the month; I know one bump stop needs replacing but wanted the entire suspension given the once over given that the car is 2007.

 

[easternjets]

If you buy a 15 year old performance car, you will definitely get issues and big ones at that

My advice
1. Have an alternative means of daily transport
2. Have enough in the bank to at least cover a turbo and engine rebuild
3. Be ready to refurbish suspension and cooling system /ac rads
4. Choose a car that's been looked after
5. Have an independent garage/mechanic on standby to do fix stuff

for the price of a 997 Turbo you can have a Nissan GTR and they have plenty of issues

You will get super car performance and eventually bills to match

Good luck!

Great advice

+2

Just seen this and I'm a bit puzzled.

Who heads out to buy a car with the idea in their heads that I'm paying in the region of £55k plus for my, new to me car and I need to have probably an extra 30k in reserve to possibly rebuild the engine and turbo units.

I'm on my 4th turbo and touch wood my outlays have been minimal.
997.1 was the worst offender. Water pump, coil packs and other serviceable items plus a set of tyres and a service/
997.2 nothing needed replacing just a service.
991.1 Nothing needed in the short time I owned it.
991.2 So far nothing.

I think nearly everyone on this forum has their Porsche as a second or third car. A lot of people, myself included use their cars on a regular basis.

One of the main reasons I stick with the turbo model is for there reliability, although I have heard of the 991's having turbo unit problems but never engine issues and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having to involuntarily having to strip their engines down.

+1 for this view. Have had my 997.1 turbo for 9.5 years and nothing major required; a dodgy window micro switch being the most recent issue. I shelled out for the extended warranty for much of that time and would probably have been better off putting the money in the bank. The car has recently had underbody protection applied and it was noted that it was in excellent condition. It's in for a geo and suspension service at the end of the month; I know one bump stop needs replacing but wanted the entire suspension given the once over given that the car is 2007.

I just wonder how many of these contributors who've '+1/+2/+3 the original comment, re the engine and turbo units would happily hand over a chunk of cash for a new or second hand car if the seller turned round and said 'Oh by the way you'll need to do an engine or turbo rebuild in a few years time and it'll cost you 50% of the cars value!'
It also reflects very negatively on the Porsche brand itself, we have enough people being put off with IMS and bore scoring issues without this.

 

[T8]

The market already seems to factor in the perception that higher mileage Turbos might cost money in the future.

There's a £20k 'spread' in asking prices for cars of the same age and even more if you factor in the perceived value of a very low mileage car.

My car's done 88k miles and if I was buying it now I'd be happy to have it and £20k in the bank over a car with 50k miles.

 

[easternjets]

The market already seems to factor in the perception that higher mileage Turbos might cost money in the future.

There's a £20k 'spread' in asking prices for cars of the same age and even more if you factor in the perceived value of a very low mileage car.

My car's done 88k miles and if I was buying it now I'd be happy to have it and £20k in the bank over a car with 50k miles.

Yes T8 but the point I'm trying to make is would 'you' buy a car if you knew that there was a good chance it was going to 'pop' in a few years time.
Also I've not heard of anyone with a Mezger engined car having to do a full rebuild on it.
If the car had done a 150k miles or been a track car then maybe it would but I don't think the OP was looking at a high miles/thrashed car.

 

[MaxA]

Just an observation, but it seems that with just 5 posts, 997fanboi has started a couple of threads, but never goes back to read or respond to them...

But for what it's worth, I would have thought that for an older performance car, a 9971 Turbo is one of the most robust you can actually find; and while it might have a couple of niggles, these are well known and resolvable, it won't have any actual 'issues', there are no fundamental flaws, and the design and engineering are very good.

If you choose to stash 15k in the bank for a rainy day, then fine by me, but it's no prerequisite to the ownership and enjoyment of a well sorted 997-generation 911.

 

[T8]

.... for what it's worth, I would have thought that for an older performance car, a 9971 Turbo is one of the most robust you can actually find; and while it might have a couple of niggles, these are well known and resolvable, it won't have any actual 'issues', there are no fundamental flaws, and the design and engineering are very good.

If you choose to stash 15k in the bank for a rainy day, then fine by me, but it's no prerequisite to the ownership and enjoyment of a well sorted 997-generation 911.

I agree entirely.

My earlier point about having £20k in the bank referred to the fact that potential buyers have a choice between spending £60k on a car that's got relatively low mileage or £40k on one that has done a fair bit more.

I've always been surprised that 'above average' mileage on both 996 and 997 Turbos is seen as a bigger deal than on Carreras, especially given the well documented issues associated with the normally aspirated cars.

It means that higher mileage cars can be real bargains for those that are enlightened.

 

[MaxA]

I suppose there is an obsession with mileage as a proxy for condition, or health, but we all know that some miles are harder than others. Ideally we would record the number of heat-cycles or starts and stops.

In boats, we measure engine running hours, not nautical miles (even if at some point a sea-water cooled engine is going to need a cooling system overhaul whatever the engine hours).

 

[easternjets]

It's all down to due diligence and being lucky enough to find a good car that you might know the provenance of.
My first car was a bit of a lemon, it hadn't been looked after properly and corners had been cut on the servicing, it had also had the mileage tampered with and I was lucky to get out of it without a big loss.
My second car was the total opposite and I speak to the guy I sold it to and he's over the moon with it as it's needed nothing other than an inter service.
I'd buy that car back in a heart beat and it's 11 years old now.

There's a gen 1 turbo for sale near me and it's a lovely car, really well looked after and the owner has a documented spend of thousands on it. I've been tempted to buy it but I do like the one I have but if someone was looking for a gen 1 turbo I think it would be a safe buy.

Service history and provenance are everything.

 

[Desert Dragon]

I have but if someone was looking for a gen 1 turbo I think it would be a safe buy.

Service history and provenance are everything.

I think you hit nail on head. You "think" would be a safe car. I do wonder how may indies you pop into as i see 996 and 997 mezger turbo engines in bits at Porsche Torque, 9e, JZM, RPM, Fearnsport and Jazz. Use them all for bits and pieces from time to time. Loads of mezger turbo engines nowadays just so you are aware. Probably still a very low percentage but if they're used as intended and not garage queens there is wear and tear

Funnily enough barely see a gen 2 engine. Perhaps still too new but I think ubiquitous PDK has saved lots of 997.2 turbos from bum gear changes.

 

[T8]

What % are being fixed and what % are being tuned. :?: