Your serious about the warranty thing? You really have no faith in Porsche....

Where does this backwards thinking keep coming from. I am referring to the garage queen comment.

Its already been stated in several reputable magazines by reputable shops that letting a 911 (especially one with a M96 or M97 engine) become a garage queen is among one of the worst things you can do in terms of longevity of your engine.

Sorry to hijack.... just shocked

Jason

 

Jellis -I have seen garage queen Porsches that are 15 years old with less than 10K miles and they look and run just as good as 15 years ago .
I agree that one can't just let a car sit but one decent drive per week of at least 10 miles is all that's really needed to keep the car's mojo going .

 

When I referred to longevity it was in reference to miles driven (actual use of the car) rather than time.

In my opinion the engine that is driven 10K over 15 years wont ever see 100K miles before some kind of catastrophic failure, most likely seal related. While the engine that is driven daily with plenty of trips up and down the power band will likely run well past 200K miles.

But lets call a spade a spade. There are basically two groups on this forum. Those that buy a new Porsche every couple of years and carefully avoid that scary 10,000 mile mark due to re-sale value and those that just like to enjoy there Pcar and plan to drive it for a long time. If you are the latter, and hope to have a reliable Porsche with 100K + miles one day then I suggest you drive it, and drive it well. There is a lot of data on the M96, M97, and even the GT1 engines to support this, so I am not simply stating my own opinion.

Furthermore, I own a 11 year old M3 that just ticked over 135,000 miles yesterday. I drive it like I stole it 1800 miles per week. Its taken me across the nation a half dozen times. I have dragged it, auto crossed it, explored its top speed, and overall tried to kill it but it just wont die. When I take it in to get serviced I have to convince the mechs that its not cammed or bored out since its one of the "strongest running E36 M3's" he has ever driven (this at 100K miles). Its never let me down. I love this car and every moment I spent behind the wheel of it. I hope in 11 years I can say the same thing about my 997.

And I hope that I have more to say about my time behind the wheel of the 997 than stories about babied Sunday drives. Mobonic, Gomez, Dag, if you reading this I will see you at the track in September.

Although these cars are fun to look at. Especially in your garage. They are more fun to drive...drive hard...and the car is better for it.

One of my favorite Porsche articles of all time.

http://www.europeancarweb.com/featur...ool/index.html

BTW, this article is basically the straw that broke the camels back when I finally decided to buy a Porsche. I said to myself, Porsche's are always cool.... In 40 years my 997 (hopefully its still running like a top) is going to be that 250K Porsche with a crazy 70 year old behind the wheel!

Jason

 

I have been in both groups . I've owned 8 Porsches and this Turbo is the only car that I made a semi garage queen . It does have 8700 miles so it has been driven a little . Mostly to get mods and yes the occasional drive.

The others were all daily drivers . It was so stressful for me to park those cars at the movies or mall and I can still remember a grocery cart hitting my 993 Turbo.

I want better for my Turbo . I would consider a daily driving Porsche and probably leave it near stock (exhaust , ECU. wheels Suspension) but not the Turbo. Plus I understand why some would pamper his 997S too . It's expensive . Not just to buy , but to maintain, to insure, if body work is needed one can't just slap dash a cheap coat of paint like a Honda .. it requires precision work.

As for 100K miles . I never kept any car that long . My record is 48K miles on my Nissan 300zxtt when I was a younger and lower budget yrralis1.

There is a certain joy of seeing a car's purity preserved too. Drive any car every day and the novelty erodes . Having a garage queen preserves this honeymoon phase of the car's ownership where the driver gets older and the car remains forever young . It's age defiance can keep a certain memory alive within ones heart .. not just of the car itself .. but of that time period in a person's where that car had such significance . That is why people have collector cars . One look at that old car that still looks new is enough to remember the days ....

 

Totally get what your saying!

With my 997S I am trying to do my best to ride a fine line between worlds. Its an 06 and when I bought it 6 months ago it only had 8500 miles on it. It still only has 11k and is getting close to 3yrs old. While I like the fact that its relatively low on miles, I know I plan on driving this thing about 5000 miles per year for the next 30 or 40 years. Hopefully on the same engine. Apparently there are quite a few M96's out there that have run flawlessly for over 200K miles and are still going strong (makes you think).

Keeping the car looking and running like new is not that hard even beyond 100K miles. Just takes good preventive maintenance and care, something a lot of owners give up on after a while. You can both enjoy the car and cherish it as a time capsule. But, I also understand the novelty issue, but you have three cars, you have plenty to keep you from getting bored with one car. I find this to be true with my two cars.

Jason

 

This is a really well written note and I completely respect your opinion but I'm just not sure I agree on all counts.
As I've noted in previous posts, the 997S Cab that I purchased used (and overpaid - in part because I didn't have the knowledge accrued from reading this forum, and because I wanted a color combination this is surprisingly rare) has created a rare auto love affair with me - approached only once or twice by others I've owned in the past.
But to your point, and perhaps because I never took delivery of a new Porsche, every day is a great day driving my car. I frequently come home and tell my wife, 'that is the best car I've ever driven'. And though I'm quite OCD about my cars, it's a near daily driver (though it rarely sees mall parking lots). I've seen no diminution in the pleasure it affords me and I hope that feeling keeps repeating for the next 10 years or more.
OTOH, I do own a garage queen - a 2005 Ford GT. And, for the life of me, I cannot bring myself to take it out for a spin very often. I worry that gaskets and seals will wither, and will need replacement long before they should, but that future risk feels less than the pain of driving it hard, running up the miles, and putting it at some risk very often.
I'm really glad I bought the Porsche. And although all the talk of GT3's, DFI, PDK, sport suspensions and the like get me excited, I don't want to restart an already great romance.

 

Verde -I can certainly understand that Ford Gt sentiment . There's that push/pull of driving it vs appreciating it as though its preserving an art form and when you do take it for a spin all those feelings come back . Flash forward ten years from now and if that car is preserved you will remember not just the car but that time in your life as a younger person when it meant so much to you .

If there ever comes a day that I sell my Turbo I think it would cost more emotional value than any car I ever sold .Something about this Porsche touched a sentiment so personal and precious to me . It froze a moment in time where so much time and energy was used to create it - a time period where I not only learned so much about customizing it but got in touch with my own innocence in that process . Every childhood dream that I ever had in creating a special car came true with my Turbo .

The drive, the performance , the looks .. those are the tangible things .
The emotional significance is greater .. combined it's just priceless .

 

I completely disagree about the PDK not being NEAR desirable as the 6 speed. As I said on some other post I am blown away about how many of my GT3 buddies have switched to the PDK. I drove it and immediately thought it would solve some problems I had.
In sport mode its great to drive. in sport mode plus its track worthy.
And I never used the GT3 as a daily the 996 or the 7. This C2S can be a daily and a track
car. The best compromise I have seen. AND the GT3 IS a compromis and IS a street car thats not complete FUN to drive on the street. This PDK solves alot of those issues.

 

You can keep the Porsche in the garage as much as you like but unless you drive it on track you'll never know what the car is really meant for nor will you know what it's like to really drive one. Street driving will never let you experience what a Porsche is even more so if it's sitting around doing even less than that. Why not experience what a Porsche IS rather than imagine what it could be? Does that make any sense? lol

 

You've nailed it yrralis. The FGT was 'imprinted' on my mind many many years ago while watching Ford beat Ferrari at LeMans on a little black and white TV. My jaw dropped just looking at it's fuzzy image. Then later, still a young boy, a came across a street-legal original version parked on the side of the road. In New York City no less. White with a blue stripe.
Now, every time I go look in my garage and see that white with blue stripe car, every nerve fires. The art, the history, being a kit again all flash. I needn't drive it to enjoy those feelings.
But my Porsche is a drivers car. It doesn't have the equivalent history, though seeing my middle school science teachers' new early 911 back in the day was a thrill. But it is a supremely amazing car, with a history that is untouchable by almost any other car. I feel very lucky.