Used, non-bank-breaking Porsche or similar - what are you experiences?

boogieman · July 2019

A mate ran a Boxster for three or four years with no issues (well apart from him running it off the road and totalling it, but that was his fault not the car’s). His was immaculate with full Porsche service history and cost him £18k.

rlw · July 2019

Budget? If we are taking up to £25k then..

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:

Caymen is a great car
Audi RS4 is faster, smoother, equal handling in the hands of a good driver, more comfortable, more practical and more reliable
oh and did I say 'less girly "

And is also like a bungalow/oil tanker to drive so ignore

rlw · July 2019

And Porsches are generally modestly priced for a reason.

Consider a Caterham 7 which is as impractical as possible but quite remarkable to drive.

TheMarlin · July 2019

996’s are about to go up in value. If you get a good one, you’ll make money on it in a year or two.

Gassage · July 2019

TheMarlin said:

996’s are about to go up in value. If you get a good one, you’ll make money on it in a year or two.

3.4 > 3.6

Fact.

SouthpawMark · July 2019

3.6 > 3.4. Coz it’s faster and sounds better.

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.

goldtop · July 2019

SouthpawMark said:

3.6 > 3.4. Coz it’s faster and sounds better.

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.

Can confirm - it's why I bought an NSX.(Only partially true. I wanted a 911 since I was the spotty schoolkid, but by the time I could afford one, everyone and his dog had one and they were a bit of an obvious choice.)

With interest rates for borrowing at almost zero, any car that's remotely interesting has shot up in value since 2010 or so. So all of those car reviewers who said this or that model of 911 would never be loved were wrong. And the NSX I bought for 28k sold for 45k and the one I had now (bought at 21k) would now be 40k or so. Daft.

TimmyO · July 2019

Cayman looks good. And probably more realistic than 911.

Cols · July 2019

My brother had a Lotus Elise; massive fun to drive and very reasonable running costs. He then got himself a Porsche Boxster which wasn’t as enjoyable to drive and cost a fortune to service.

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.

TTony · July 2019

Cols said:

My brother had a Lotus Elise; massive fun to drive and very reasonable running costs. He then got himself a Porsche Boxster which wasn’t as enjoyable to drive and cost a fortune to service.

It really depends on what you want from the car.

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?

rlw · July 2019

A brief Porsche tale. My GT3 was in for a service and the bill was looking like the cheapest ever at sub £500. But there was a small oil leak at the front of the engine which couldn’t be resolved any better without removing the engine. Did I want to do that - 10 hours out and 10 hours back - and we could also resolve any other issues that were concealed by the engine.
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.

Moe_Zambeek · July 2019

How about a Subaru BRZ / Toyota GT86? Strikes me as a similar sort of thing to an MX-5 in the fun / cost of ownership / practicality stakes.

VimFuego · July 2019

won't it just be cheaper in the long run to buy another posh acoustic?

RaymondLin · July 2019

rlw said:

A brief Porsche tale. My GT3 was in for a service and the bill was looking like the cheapest ever at sub £500. But there was a small oil leak at the front of the engine which couldn’t be resolved any better without removing the engine. Did I want to do that - 10 hours out and 10 hours back - and we could also resolve any other issues that were concealed by the engine.
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.

Have you looked into getting their warranty?

TimmyO · July 2019

I wouldn't be seen dead in an MX5

TTony · July 2019

TimmyO said:

I wouldn't be seen dead in an MX5

To be honest, when you're dead, you'll probably be more of a backseat passenger.

Zoolooter · July 2019

Wrong section. Should be in Friday humour.

strtdv · July 2019

As a left-field choice have you thought of a VX220 (ideally a VX220R)?

Lotus engineering, and largely Vauxhall servicing costs. Generally appreciating and very quick too.

strtdv · July 2019

TTony said:

TimmyO said:

I wouldn't be seen dead in an MX5

To be honest, when you're dead, you'll probably be more of a backseat passenger.

That's the problem with the MX5, no back seats to be seen dead in

Electro_Ham · July 2019

Daily driver 60 mls every day...Cayman 987, smaller, which looks great, but crap info-tainment,

981 Cayman looks great, bigger, should have better infotainment.

Heated seats a must.

Manual..no PDK, Leather.

Or...2019 MX5 which, on paper is faster, more fun, less worry. More fun, less worry, more fun, less worry.

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Used, non-bank-breaking Porsche or similar - what are you experiences?

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