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997.2 - Ownership update so far....

chunkymonkey1982

Well-known member
Joined
19 Jun 2017
Messages
111
Hello everybody, ive been following the forum for some time and absorbing the knowledge from the other members. I thought its about time I shared by 997.2 C2 ownership experience so far in case it might be of interest to others especially to people like me 6 months ago who are considering buying a 911. Lots happened over the last 6 months and if I was to write it down it would be very long and maybe too boring to read in one go so I will share in installments, covering the following topics and more:

Buying Experience
Driving Experience so far.
Bore Scoring (or lack of!)
4 Wheel Alignment
Auxiliary belt tensioner
Minor Service
Windshield Replacement
Heat Shield Replacement

Buying Experience

So the Buying experience, buying a 911 has been a dream of mine for a very long time, I looked into it 4 years ago, and was put off buying the Gen 1 cars because of the IMS and Bore scoring issues, and also I preferred the newer interior of the gen 2. Instead I bought a BMW 335i coupe, which was a great car, fast, great sounding engine, and very practical (space for my bike in the boot). Had it for 3 years, it always had a rattle but I didn't take much notice till one day it started making a awful noise. Took it to BMW who diagnosed the issue to be turbo that had failed. The car was at that point 5 years old, had 40K on it and had full BMW history. I asked the dealership what caused the failure, and their response was that it had been driven short distances without the oil properly warming up that clogged the oil line to the turbo starving the bearings of oil and causing bearing failure. Anyway BMW replaced the turbo through their good will policy but I still had to stump up 1.5K for Labor and some parts. Not happy with the BMW service and sold the car back to BMW.

Bought a Golf 1.4 run around and that's been great, always started and been very reliable. Whilst driving the golf I saved up the pennies to the point where in the summer I had enough to buy a 997.2. Really wanted a convertible because.... I'd always wanted one but they were all 35-40K so I figured I'd try a auction. Cars there seem to be cars traded in by porsche dealerships. Had my eye on a 2010 black 997.2 convertible, auction started above my ceiling price (doh!) but I was drawn into the auction spirit and before you know I was the highest bidder but the car didn't meet its reserve, was 500 short. I was on the verge of agreeing to buy the car anyway, would have been 35K + (1.2k) Auction fees when I looked under the car I could see a dent in the sill and considering it was 5K over my budget, the auction house would not guarantee it having a good engine and gearbox (which I thought all their cars did otherwise I wouldn't have gone) I walked away.

Car was eventually bought by an independent and initially on sale for 40K, but last time I checked, they still had it for 35K so making a loss on it? Anyway glad I walked away and would not recommend going to an auction unless you really know what you are doing.

So now I had all this money sitting in the bank and no car, one day I was looking on auto trader and saw a car that looked interesting, had everything I wanted, PDK, sports design alloys, interesting color (atlas grey), Ok ish mileage at 65K, full PSH, Bose, extended leather, satnav but not a convertible. We went to see it and the second I saw it we had to have it. Did the deal on the day and drove the car home without an inspection. Risky I know, but we took a drive in the car, no squeaks, seem to accelerate well enough, and I'd read that the 997.2 on the whole had a reliable drive train and suspension. In hindsight I probably should have had it inspected for peace of mind but in 6 months of ownership ive not had many issues.

I had a 111 point check after buying completed by Porsche and they have given it the all clear also but highlighted some areas for improvement:

New rear tyres, heat shield replacement, discs and pads, coolant top up, replace condensers but I understand these are typical issues for a 997.2 of this age. If id bought from an independent chances are that I would have paid more and still had the same issues so thought I'd got a fair deal.

Driving experience has been great, but that's easy considering I'd gone from a 1.4l golf to a 3.6l Porsche. Initially driving the car I could hear the engine making all sorts of noises and the drive train was jerky but I came to realise that's part of its character and nothing was wrong with it. Its has sport and sport plus modes and boy do they change the character of the car. In standard more the car isn't particularly fast, more of a well handling cruiser, but the sport mode changes the speed of gear changes and you can feel the car wanting to go faster, and sport plus mode is the party mode pushing up the revs and making the car sound angry and acceleration is fast! But believe it or not, I'd bought the car more for the looks than the speed and day to day I rarely use the sport or sport plus modes. Maybe once in a while on the motorway to give it a Italian tuneup.

Summary, so far so good – Loving my 997.2 base Carrera coupe! More to follow.
 
Picture speaks a thousand words!
 

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Beautiful car! I really like that colour. Congrats.

I love the story too - that is pretty much exactly the thought process that I'm going through currently (I also have been considering getting a 1.4 Golf as a run around in the mean time whilst I save up)

How do you find the PDK? I'm a life long manual fan... I just don't think I want an auto ever, but perhaps I'm wrong.
 
Great write up.......so far :?:
 
Good write up... and a good lesson on not getting drawn into the excitement of an auction!
 
jkhamler said:
Beautiful car! I really like that colour. Congrats.

I love the story too - that is pretty much exactly the thought process that I'm going through currently (I also have been considering getting a 1.4 Golf as a run around in the mean time whilst I save up)

How do you find the PDK? I'm a life long manual fan... I just don't think I want an auto ever, but perhaps I'm wrong.

Hi, the only reason I went for PDK was because I needed a car that my wife could drive and she can only drive a Automatic. In the 6 months ive owned the car, my wife has driven it once! My BMW was a manual and if I had it my own way I would have bought a manual 911. But I have to say that the PDK transmission is very good. Its worth getting a demo PDK car to try... It was one of the reasons why I went with a Gen 2 as I understand that the PDK transmission is better than the Tiptronic transmission.
 
Excellent work that man! Ballsy with no PPI but looks like you came out clean so hats off.

Atlas Grey is a nice understated colour. It looks particularly pleasing under electric lighting, such as in a showroom or petrol station forecourt, as the blue metallic fleck really gets going. Not so much in natural light; looks kinda black then. So you get two cool colours for the price of one 8)
 
Hi Again,

I thought i'd post a bit about my windshield replacement experience.

I looked on the forum to see the guidance on replacing windshields on Porsche cars and most recommended a specialist. I also contacted my Insurance company who said due to the number of chips they would not recommend repairing and suggested replacement. Quotes for a specialist replacement was in the region of 1.3K so I figured I would try the Insurance company who quoted an excess of 90. They also said that they would use the same OEM manufacturer but it would not be a Porsche genuine part (ie not stamped with the Porsche logo) and that a lifetime warranty would be provided.

I figured going with the Insurance company was worth a punt and I used their recommended windshield replacement company - Autoglass. I booked the car into one of their hubs thinking that they would have the tools to do a proper job readily available since it was a hub.

Took to the car to autoglass the first disappointment was that the windshield they had was not OEM but a Chinese manufacturer. The guy fitting it said that chances are it would fit fine and if it didn't they could try another windshield so I thought why not give it a shot. I was in the waiting area watching the install and I could see that they were struggling to get the windshield to fit, they had to put a 20KG bag one side of the windshield to get the glass to flex enough to bond to the curvature of the windshield aperture - not ideal! Anyway it took a little longer than expected but the windshield was installed and looked fine. I did notice that the rubber gasket on the circumference was made from a different material from the OEM one, was more like neoprene then the rubber in the OEM one. I went on my way thinking that everything was ok till I noticed on the motorway that I could hear a hissing at higher speeds and it turned out that the windshield had not properly bonded and was letting air in.

Took the car back to autoglass a few weeks later and this time they had a genuine windshield that dropped in fine (had the same guy install) and no issues since.

Moral of the story is that Autoglass did do a good job of installing the windshield, the guys I spoke to knew what they were doing but make sure that you use a OEM or genuine windshield.
 
chunkymonkey1982 said:
Hi Again,

I thought i'd post a bit about my windshield replacement experience.

I looked on the forum to see the guidance on replacing windshields on Porsche cars and most recommended a specialist. I also contacted my Insurance company who said due to the number of chips they would not recommend repairing and suggested replacement. Quotes for a specialist replacement was in the region of 1.3K so I figured I would try the Insurance company who quoted an excess of 90. They also said that they would use the same OEM manufacturer but it would not be a Porsche genuine part (ie not stamped with the Porsche logo) and that a lifetime warranty would be provided.

I figured going with the Insurance company was worth a punt and I used their recommended windshield replacement company - Autoglass. I booked the car into one of their hubs thinking that they would have the tools to do a proper job readily available since it was a hub.

Took to the car to autoglass the first disappointment was that the windshield they had was not OEM but a Chinese manufacturer. The guy fitting it said that chances are it would fit fine and if it didn't they could try another windshield so I thought why not give it a shot. I was in the waiting area watching the install and I could see that they were struggling to get the windshield to fit, they had to put a 20KG bag one side of the windshield to get the glass to flex enough to bond to the curvature of the windshield aperture - not ideal! Anyway it took a little longer than expected but the windshield was installed and looked fine. I did notice that the rubber gasket on the circumference was made from a different material from the OEM one, was more like neoprene then the rubber in the OEM one. I went on my way thinking that everything was ok till I noticed on the motorway that I could hear a hissing at higher speeds and it turned out that the windshield had not properly bonded and was letting air in.

Took the car back to autoglass a few weeks later and this time they had a genuine windshield that dropped in fine (had the same guy install) and no issues since.

Moral of the story is that Autoglass did do a good job of installing the windshield, the guys I spoke to knew what they were doing but make sure that you use a OEM or genuine windshield.

Glad to hear it finally was sorted properly . When my insurer said the same about aftermarket glass , I said to them " the windscreen on a 997 is an integral part of the safety structure of the car, so I would only accept aftermarket glass if they gave me a letter accepting full liability for myself or passengers injuries should I have an accident" ,after a quick chat with his underwriter I was told that OE glass would be ordered from Porsche Germany and fitted. I mention this to try and assist anyone else who's getting fobbed off with aftermarket glass by their insurer . also worth noting that its a two man job to fit 997 glass properly which is why they struggled . I was also told by the fitter that the difference between nasty Chinese aftermarket glass at £170 versus OE glass at £1200 was the reason why they tried to fob people off .
 
Nice car. 8)

Glad you got the screen sorted properly second time. :thumb:
 
Hi All,

Ive owned the car For just over a year, and not driven it much this year.

So far I have replaced:

Windshield, battery, condensers, front disc and pads, front cross over coolant pipes, AC regas, rear tyres, spark plug, Cat/coil pack heat shields, borescope, 4 wheel alignment, Aux Belt tensioner and had a minor service.

Just came back from 9e after getting the front coolant pipes replaced.

I feel like I can start a 997.2 PPI company as ive spent so long on this forum learning about typical issues and addressing the issues with my car.

Feels like a new car, Hopefully no more issues in a while!
 
On the to do list include repairing the chips on the front bumper, there are loads and replacing the rear discs and pads.
 
did you end up doing the heat shields yourself? where did you get the parts?
 
Hi,

I got the Cat and coil pack heat shields from:

DeRoure Trading Ltd
Driving Prestige Parts Forward

Epsom Road, West Horsley,
Leatherhead, Surrey
KT24 6DG, United Kingdom

T: +44 (0) 1483 286 450
W: www.deroure.com

They were genuine Porsche and cheaper than OPC even with the 10% Porsche club discount. Also round the corner from me.

As i had 9e do a borescope and change the spark plugs, they fitted the new heat shields at the same time.

There is a marked difference in the sound of the engine at low rpms. I think the Cat heat shields used to rattle a lot before.
 

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