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Air cooled 911? If you use it anything like God intended, reckon on £1k minimum but probably closer to £2k in servicing costs alone. Also factor in the unexpected which could easily be another £2k+ for stuff like oil lines, rads, disks and pads, a/c pump and so on.
996 - as above but be wary regards engine life/rebuilds
997 - as above but be wary regards engine life/rebuilds
Cayman and Boxster - as above yet again unless very late models
Dominic said:
And is also like a bungalow/oil tanker to drive so ignore
Consider a Caterham 7 which is as impractical as possible but quite remarkable to drive.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
if you’re buying a Porsche of any description, running costs shouldn’t be an issue. If they are an issue, then a Porsche isn’t for you.
Although Porsches have a reputation for being the ‘sensible’ supercar, remember that’s in relative terms in that they can be used as an everyday car without worrying too much about reliability. They are still expensive to run.
Caterhams are probably the best bet for a weekend treat car; ultimately faster and more fun than a Porsche and cheaper to run. Not practical for day to day use though.
As a final alternative, I had a Mazda MX-5 which was an absolute hoot to drive. It doesn’t have rocket ship acceleration and grip like the others, but it’s nimble, perfectly balanced and can be slid around corners like nobody’s business. Just make sure to get one with a larger engine.
I took an Elise for a test drive. It was "interesting" getting in & out, basic once you were in, you had to be focused to drive it, and you don't want to be anywhere near anything bigger (ie everything) on the road. That said, I know someone who's still running round in a pre-prod mk1 Elise with ~150k on the clock and he loves it (he was an engineer on the original project). A good one will only need a couple of trips a year to the garage. A not-so-good one will get a couple of trips a year out of the garage.
Another good friend had a Boxster for a good few years. Much more comfortable to get in and out of, drive, and with the mod cons that you might expect (ie a roof that keeps the rain out, aircon, music, comfortable seats, etc). Engine was noisy - it's just behind your ear - but then you probably buy a Boxster because you want that noise. Everyone else on the road, often wearing a baseball cap and driving something "tuned", wants to race you though. But a cheap one *will* be expensive - it's being sold cheap because the owner knows how big the bill is and wants rid.
I had a TT (mk2, V6 Quattro) for many years. It was fun when you want it to be fun, but also totally Audi to drive when you just wanted to get from A to B without being exhausted at the end of the drive - whether that was a trip into town, or a trip to another country. And generally a pleasant place to be when driving - comfortable with as many mod cons as you want to tick from the Audi options list. The mk1s are tired now, and generally high tax. The mk2s are available from £5k upwards and one with stamps in the book should be OK. £10k would buy a nice one that'll keep you going for years.
An MX5 seems to be the commonly accepted 2-seater fun car nowadays. My mate who had the Boxster now has an MX5. It has a lot of the basic fun of the Elise, but with Mazda reliability thrown in and a few of the car comforts. Plentiful, cheap to buy and run, and is gaining respect as a "driving" car.
So - how much do you want to spend, and what type of driving do you want?
Long story short, the bill for that service was £5.5k plus vat and included a new subframe which just fell apart when removed, oil pipes and rads and loads more shit.
I had a couple of empty credit cards so just swallowed heavily and paid up. And that was on a FPSH car with low miles and little track use.
And that’s what you need to be aware of. Every Porsche I owned - 4x911 and a 944t cost a fucking fortune to run, easily eating up any short term price growth.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
Lotus engineering, and largely Vauxhall servicing costs. Generally appreciating and very quick too.