Leggy C4 cab...when is enough enough?

[YPVS]

The flip side of this, is that these specialists charging silly rates for labour, put people off keeping old cars that need a bit of TLC, lowering the price and making them a bargain for people like me who are happy to spanner at home.

In my time, I've owned and driven many hundreds of pounds worthy of cars, for a total cost of well under £20,000. My last car was a BMW 740i Sport, which was bought for £1680, had £1200 spent in parts on a partial rebuild by me, to get it spot on. Was driven for 60,000 miles over 7 years and sold as scrap for parts for £1200, as all the toys still worked.

My latest 98 C2 Cabrio project is now almost sorted for under £8K including purchase price, other than rusty manifold bolts, with one sheared and the early faint whine of gearbox pinion bearings. I'll probably do the bolts myself and look at removing the gearbox to send to Sports and Classics next year for a £1400 rebuild.

Owning is not just the driving part for me, I also enjoy improving it and fixing niggles to get it spot on. :thumb:

 

[berni29]

Hi

I do understand and feel your pain. I think that the simple truth is that these cars do not make financial sense unless you can pretty much do all of the work on them yourself. I include the equivalent Boxster variants in this.

That is not to say they are not great cars.

Berni

 

[fot0]

The only reason I can afford to run Porsche is doing it myself. When I rebuilt my top end a few years ago, I was told by Reading OPC none of their engineers had stripped a m96 in years. Most of the skills go to indies.

I am building a 2nd m96 engine behind the scenes for the inevitable. I expect this will be my last Porsche I will own and present have no intention of parting with it. Modern cars are overly complicated and wouldn't touch them.

There is a point in time when the enjoyment ceases and to cut losses. My view is any car can cost a fortune, especially if you want a performance car from any marque. It's a dilema you have and hope you make the correct decision going forward.

 

[demon]

Best advice is almost certainly to find a good (probably non-Porsche specialist) independent that you trust and have a good relationship with - I've move house twice across the country without changing the garage I've used for nearly 20 years.... Whilst I utilise a lot of second hand and new parts and do a lot of work myself, there are always going to be jobs I either can't or don't want to tackle myself (shearing bolts in a few inches of space on a driveway is no way to spend a weekend!) - those are the ones I would otherwise worry about getting fleeced over, whereas instead they get everything apart and then we have a conversation!

To the OP - at least go and drive the jag, then you'll "know" :?:

 

[cheshire911]

Time to move over to the Jag by the looks of it.
Go for a V6 over a V8 (talk to Jag owners who can tell you why the V6 is the better one to go for).
Your current car is going to consume money - its old and its mileage predicts it. As you don't or can't DIY servicing and repairs, it will continue to suck top ups from your funds fairly regularly.

A doctor might describe it as being at 'end of life stage' falling in and out of bouts of illness with multiple comorbidities and conditions that become challenging to manage. Fix one condition, then another goes wrong and so on. Its probably age and mileage related.

Join the Jag forum and rekindle a new desire.
The F type is lovely. I have a specialist friend who has one - got rid of an old Boxster and treated himself to a nearly new F type.

 

[Paynewright]

To add some perspective a friend is facing a £15-20k rust removal / respray bill on his 964 thats done 166k miles. Also, my new skoda superbs were depreciating £4k p.a.

Currently, I think DIY maintenance is the key to ownership.

Ian

 

[tob_today]

Just think what it will be like (and cost) to own a 20 year old 991 / 992 with all the tech onboard these days. :help:

None of these cars are for the faint-hearted or people without access to emergency funds. There will be some lucky people that get years and miles with virtually no outlay, and others that get so much bad luck it must feel like they are smashing mirrors in their dreams every night.

End of day, the pleasure needs to outbalance the cost. That will always be different person to person. If it doesn't, time for a change.

 

[MisterCorn]

I agree, I won't touch anything newer than a 996, too complicated. As for pleasure, I have had my C4 for nearly three years. I drove it once when I bought it to get it to the garage, since then I have been working on it. It has probably cost more and done fewer miles than pretty much any other 996 Carrera in England in that time, but I have had huge enjoyment out of it. It doesn't all have to be about the driving.

MC

 

[tob_today]

I agree, I won't touch anything newer than a 996, too complicated. As for pleasure, I have had my C4 for nearly three years. I drove it once when I bought it to get it to the garage, since then I have been working on it. It has probably cost more and done fewer miles than pretty much any other 996 Carrera in England in that time, but I have had huge enjoyment out of it. It doesn't all have to be about the driving.

Totally. I would hate to add up £ per mile on any of my cars. But I get huge enjoyment from tinkering & playing. But that's just me (and I don't keep tally of the costs).