I appreciate all the feedback I've gotten from everyone so far, so I'll continue with the noob questions.

As stated in my other post looking to get a new P-car in the next 6 months.

I plan to use it as a daily driver here in L.A. area, with trips to Vegas/Arizona and occasionally West Texas. So in reality I may be putting 16-20K miles on the car a year.

I keep reading conflicting reports concerning reliability, some saying perfect others stating upkeep is a lot but it's worth it to have the car.

I'm planning to keep the car for many years, so what advice or experience can others share with me.

Also curious as what other High Traffic daily drivers think about the Tip vs. Manual debate.

 

just say no to tip!

 

I'd agree if it wasn't your daily drive.

If you spend most of your driving within the city or if your trips to Vegas, Arizona & Texas are open highway routes than the TIP will be just fine. You can play 'racing car' w/ a TIP simply by 'paddling' the steering wheel mounter shifters.

What ever route (tranny-wise) you'll enjoy it.

ps. I have a TIP 997S (duh)

 

Yeah I'm not very taken with having a tip, also hearing that PDK may be available for 09 so that could be an option(but I'm not sure of being a 1st year adopter).

Can I ask why you said no tip? Aside from the "fun"factor. I mean if I was only using the car on the occasional weekend, it would not be a thought at all, but being as I will be using it everyday in some of the worst traffic in the U.S., I am open to hearing others opinions on it.

 

I had tip in my previous '01 Boxster S and it was my daily driver... I just remember every day (even in traffic) being angry at myself for buying my first Porsche in tip... swore I would never do it again...

I know you say it will be your daily driver in traffic but there may be that one day where you have an open road or you decide to make your first track appearance and you will be kicking yourself... tip isn't worth it IMO...

If they offered F1 tranny that would be different... just my 2 cents...

 

You're going to take such a massive hit on depreciation if you get a new 997 and put those miles on, i would buy very lightly used and save a great deal of money, especially with cars sitting on lots these days...

 

If it was me, I would get a low mile 05-06 and with the money saved, I would mod the car nicely. Just my 2cents.

 

or take the money saved and get yourself a daily beater to drive....

 

The high mileage Porsche is reliable . You may have to spend some money on tires and routine wear and tear parts though . My advice is to keep the Porsche pristine and either buy or lease a second car. Not only does it preseve the Porsche but it also can give you the variety of owning your P car in manual and daily in automatic . IE --The cost of leasing a BMW 3 series might eat up half of those expenses incurred with tire replacements and clutch wear after 16K miles a year.

 

Hi mileage might hurt on resale, but then you would have enjoyed the car all that much more. Maintenance will be higher than on say a North American car, but so would it be on most other expensive cars - my benz is not "inexpensive" to service either compared to the Ford Escape my boys drive.
As suggested above you could buy a beater for the "needless" miles.

 

My 997 C2 is driven almost daily. Like others have suggested, I bought a used 2005 and do most of the maintenance myself. Probably the thing I dislike the most is that I have a pretty short commute by SoCal standards (10-15 min) so the car never really warms up. Because of the large amounts of coolant and oil that are in the car it takes longer to warm up. Its a bit balky starting away from lights when its cold so I think my clutch is going to have a relatively short lifespan. Also, I don't like to wring it out until its warmed up so there goes half the fun. I read somewhere that there is a setting in the computer that adjusts the fuel mixture during warmup that might help fix the cold throttle response problem, but I haven't gotten around to taking it in. Other than that I couldn't be happier.
PB

 

i bought a new 2006 C4s cab, and it ended up being my daily driver. So far i have about 34k miles on it and it's been perfect. i just picked up a range rover as my new daily and i really miss the p-car.
yes it probably hurts resale, but i think i've driven my car more in 2 yrs of ownership than most would have in 8yrs! so i think i'm totally getting my monies worth

 

As far as manual or automatic, get what you want it's YOUR car. No need to explain why you chose it either. It still has the Porsche badge on the hood right????????? IMO you will still get the "experience"

 

I guess I should clarify that the Porsche won't be my only vehicle. I'm a truck/SUV guy and will be keeping my current 07 Denali.

The reason I'm finally deciding to get a car is that our son is gonna start driving, and for the 1st time in a long time. I wont always have 2 other people with me(my wife hates to drive). Hence I can justify having a 2 seater(yeah I know it's got those little seats back there).

I love my Denali, but here in L.A. a large vehicle can be a pain sometimes with parking, plus I'm getting tired of 9-12 MPG.

So I'll save that for when I need to tote around the whole Family or going to the store.

 

For people driving $100,000 cars I have never seen so many worried about money. You bought it drive it, right? If you're worried about money then never buy a Porsche or virtually ANY car. They always lose value.

Go buy real estate with your money. If you can part with a buck and would like to enjoy driving buy something within your means. If that means buying a used stripped 996 do so.