Is owning a Porsche normally a PITA?

Gottans · 27 May 2016

Owned the car for nearly 6 months, 6 year old 997.2 C4S and I am rapidly concluding it is a major pain the rear. Had a lot of trouble with interior rattles which got improved but are not gone just muted a lot, then hit with service plus 6 year maintenance and 2 new tyres.

Now we have damage to the bodywork, lots of small marks in the leading face of the rear arch, was only on the passenger side but has now appeared on the drivers side including a dent through the paint down to the primer. There is a scrape on the edge of the drivers door to boot, sort of thing that happens when the door is open and you sit in the car and crunch the door on a low wall.

I am starting to wonder why I bought the car in the first place, ownership definitely falls under the marmite category.

Scholester · 27 May 2016

Gottans said:
Owned the car for nearly 6 months, 6 year old 997.2 C4S and I am rapidly concluding it is a major pain the rear. Had a lot of trouble with interior rattles which got improved but are not gone just muted a lot, then hit with service plus 6 year maintenance and 2 new tyres.

Now we have damage to the bodywork, lots of small marks in the leading face of the rear arch, was only on the passenger side but has now appeared on the drivers side including a dent through the paint down to the primer. There is a scrape on the edge of the drivers door to boot, sort of thing that happens when the door is open and you sit in the car and crunch the door on a low wall.

I am starting to wonder why I bought the car in the first place, ownership definitely falls under the marmite category.

It sounds like only the interior rattles are the fault of the car. Did your previous car 'develop' the other similar issues during your tenure?

Kimbo · 27 May 2016

Bodywork damage - is that stuff you've picked up along the way which could happen to any car?

Rattles are awful I agree. Don't ever buy a Targa!

Gottans · 27 May 2016

Nope, other car fine and free of marks bar the odd stone chip in 10 years and over 100k miles.

MNC911 · 27 May 2016

It's mostly luck, and it goes for everything in life. If it's taken the shine from owning it then sell it, move on & hope something better comes along. It's the fine line between caring for & being attached to.

Gottans · 27 May 2016

As the marks were in the passenger side it was a possibility but the same type of marks appeared on the other arch plus a dent through the paint after the car was away for some work, this points a finger in my opinion.

Really trying to understand if my experience so far is the norm?

T8 · 27 May 2016

Gottans said:
I am starting to wonder why I bought the car in the first place, ownership definitely falls under the marmite category.

I don't know about marmite ........ it sounds to me that you want jam on it. :lol:

6 year old 911s do tend to creak and rattle a bit but everything else you mention would happen just the same if you were driving any other marque.

Kimbo · 27 May 2016

T8 said:
6 year old 911s do tend to creak and rattle a bit

Really?

Sell it and get a Cayman. Much more fun.

Rob325114 · 27 May 2016

This car (997.1 C2S Cab) has been my most emotional ownership yet. Niggling rattles that I eventually got to the bottom of (most related to loose fittings on the convertible roof). Then it flew through it's MOT and Service in March before needing a full Hartech Engine rebuild by April.

I've gone through periods where I vow to own nothing but a 911 ever again, and periods where I can't even look at it.

But who wants a boring car?

FRZ 911 · 27 May 2016

Gottans said:
As the marks were in the passenger side it was a possibility but the same type of marks appeared on the other arch plus a dent through the paint after the car was away for some work, this points a finger in my opinion.

Really trying to understand if my experience so far is the norm?

Stone chips around the wheel arches can come with territory - there's a lot of tyre making contact with the cr@p on our roads.

I think you need to have a chat with whoever did your work regarding the cause of the dent by the looks of it.

Regarding 911s being a PITA, well mine has had its moments with a failed oil pump, coils, camshaft solenoids and water pump (on Christmas Eve evening no less) all in the space of a few months but, that's what you get when you buy a nine year old car and a sports car to boot. Servicing, tyres, MoTs, tax, Insurance are all known 'hits' and mine are coming next month!

All of the above pales into insignificance however when I get the chance to stretch the car's legs on decent A/B roads.........

pcat · 27 May 2016

Nothing like my experience, almost 3 years into ownership and its a 2009 gen 2. Cant say i,ve noticed rattles certainly not louder than the road noise or the bose, although sometimes the passenger seat belt rattles on the door if theres no passenger. Fast cars eat tyres and all cars need servicing so not sure what the problem is there. After 30k miles i have many stone chips and a few scratches but some chipex paint, patience and good polish does wonders

DucatiRob · 27 May 2016

Rattles in a 6 year old 'premium' car is not good, not good on my 9 year old car. They annoy the hell out of me! My 10 year old Merc with 110k on the clock has never had one singe rattle, the same for my TT I sold years ago, 7 yeas old when I sold it and was as tight as the day I bought it.

For me it's part of the ownership, mine is an old car so to some degree bumps, rattles and general wear and tear I can live with, or sort out. The build quality in some areas is very poor. Having dismantled lots of he car to do various work you can see where the corners have been cut in the build quality! I am surprised the Gen 2 suffers too, I thought much of this would have been fixed.

In saying all that, it's the best car I have ever owned and love it to bits :thumb:

plavix · 27 May 2016

Those appear to be perfectly normal car ownership troubles unless they were already issues masked when you purchased. Buy some sturdy shoes or buy new.

GT4 · 27 May 2016

Phil 997 · 27 May 2016

If you think a Porsche is a pain try owning a DB9 after 3 years I was 50k out of pocket. In 3 years of owning the 997.1 it has had £1800/2000 spent on issues and £6000ish spent on adding fun bits to make is " go good".
It cost a third of the Aston ,is worth the same as I paid for it . and makes me grin when I drive it like no other car I have owned.
I feel I am at the complete other end of the spectrum to you on this.
I have always owned sports cars and they do rattle and clunk the doors are longer and hit things even the premium marques do, so if your not used to owning a sports car these things might annoy but it is part of owning a sports car.
The damage done while having work done needs to be addressed with whoever did the work and see if they allowed one of their careless monkey's ooops sorry young trainees work on it.

You can't be too ***** about the knocks etc. we live in a world where people don't give a crap about other peoples property and if you stress about it you will go to an early grave. so enjoy it drive it and if the odd panel needs a respray now and again it's a couple of hundred quid.

:bandit: :grin: :thumb:

Is owning a Porsche normally a PITA?

Gottans

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Scholester

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Kimbo

Paul Ricard

Gottans

Spa-Francorchamps

MNC911

Sao Paulo

Gottans

Spa-Francorchamps

T8

Super Moderator

Kimbo

Paul Ricard

Rob325114

Spa-Francorchamps

FRZ 911

Sao Paulo

pcat

Spa-Francorchamps

DucatiRob

Mugello

plavix

Mugello

GT4

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Phil 997

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