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My Car Dilemma... help!

TonyC911

Well-known member
Joined
6 Jun 2016
Messages
1,372
Hi Guys, here's my latest car dilemma... I would appreciate some thoughts / opinions, as I can be rather impulsive!

About 26 months ago, I finally realized a boyhood dream and bought a 911 and I am pretty hooked! :D

It is the spec I wanted, it had an engine rebuild and new clutch fitted by an OPC about 8 months before I bought it and I have kept it under warranty. It is a Gen1 2007 997S Manual with a FPSH. It is my weekend toy and I am not interested in using it as my daily driver.

I am expecting to clear my loan on the car next month and now I am contemplating what to do next;

1. Do nothing... just celebrate!
2. Sell the car soon with warranty, take another loan and buy a Gen2
3. Sell the car, take another loan and buy a newer Aston Vantage or Maserati Gran Turismo... life is short!

My heart is saying buy a Gen2 for a few reasons:

1. Better future residuals
2. Less flakey mechanics
3. I would much prefer a PDK gearbox
4. Some more modern improvements and slightly better performance

In my head I am now trying to rationalize spending another circa £14k (my max budget), in order to buy pretty much the same car which is only 2 years newer! Or, do I just move on next year and experience some other petrol fuelled dreams? :?:
 
Buy a Gen 2!

Amazing machine!

I test drove a Gen 1 tip which I thought was decent at the time, I then decided to up my budget and brought a Gen 2 PDK.

Who knows if they will hold their value long term but a Gen 2 has my vote.
 
Ive spent far too much money on my Gen1 to personalise it how i want it including a full engine build, i have a massive list of mods that i have done and only a few left to go before im satisfied.. in honesty yes the gen2 is great and as ive recently changed my rear bumper and lights to a Gen2 and looks like it!! Just the front bumper GT3 Gen2 to do aswell as the lowering and new suspension etc. Could have gone for a Gen2 by now with the money i spent but as for a 997.1 if i decide to upgrade ill go straight for a 991 !! Another year or two maybe and i think ill upgrade but still enjoying my machine for now!! 😀👍 picture below of recent rear transformation!!!
 

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TonyC911 said:
Hi Guys, here's my latest car dilemma... I would appreciate some thoughts / opinions, as I can be rather impulsive!

About 26 months ago, I finally realized a boyhood dream and bought a 911 and I am pretty hooked! :D

It is the spec I wanted, it had an engine rebuild and new clutch fitted by an OPC about 8 months before I bought it and I have kept it under warranty. It is a Gen1 2007 997S Manual with a FPSH. It is my weekend toy and I am not interested in using it as my daily driver.

I am expecting to clear my loan on the car next month and now I am contemplating what to do next;

1. Do nothing... just celebrate!
2. Sell the car soon with warranty, take another loan and buy a Gen2
3. Sell the car, take another loan and buy a newer Aston Vantage or Maserati Gran Turismo... life is short!

My heart is saying buy a Gen2 for a few reasons:

1. Better future residuals
2. Less flakey mechanics
3. I would much prefer a PDK gearbox
4. Some more modern improvements and slightly better performance

In my head I am now trying to rationalize spending another circa £14k (my max budget), in order to buy pretty much the same car which is only 2 years newer! Or, do I just move on next year and experience some other petrol fuelled dreams? :?:

You have the weekend car of your dreams. It's mechanically sound and is soon to cost you nothing. Keep it, Enjoy it, and save what you were paying out for a very rainy day.
Newer, more tech, larger and the latest is not always The brief.
Save, save, save and retire early! :grin:
 
There are too many unknowns such as age, work industry, family, general risk taking, other expenditure etc ... to advise but I will tell you once thing, once you pay off your car and you actually own it you will look at it differently. It's a good place to be if you can and you'll soon experience the feeling. I suspect you'll know what to do then. Best of luck with whatever you decide, any of the options will give you enjoyment.
 
I think enjoy the car for another year at least. Save while you do that. Then go scratch that Aston itch!

Changing what you have for a gen2 seems too small of a step to me, and Astons sound amazing!
 
I was in your position - perfectly content with a 997.1 but curious about the Aston experience. One week after swapping for a V8 Vantage I realised I'd made a horrible mistake. I am now in a 997.2 and couldn't be happier.

However, I think if I had kept the 997.1, I would now be getting a bit tired of the old fashioned GPS etc and the worries about reliability might be getting worse but I would have saved a bundle of cash.

The Aston was beautiful though.....
 
robbie1400 said:
However, I think if I had kept the 997.1, I would now be getting a bit tired of the old fashioned GPS etc and the worries about reliability might be getting worse but I would have saved a bundle of cash.

So Tony, spend £400 on upgrading the stereo unit and keep the 997.1 even longer :D
 
robbie1400 said:
I was in your position - perfectly content with a 997.1 but curious about the Aston experience. One week after swapping for a V8 Vantage I realised I'd made a horrible mistake. I am now in a 997.2 and couldn't be happier.


Thanks for the responses so far guys! Much food for thought :?:

Robbie, can you elaborate on why you didn't like the Aston compared to 911? Strong residuals are also key to any decision for me, are they on a par with the 911?

Thanks again!
 
Personally I wouldn't go for the gen 2 it's too similar to what you've got. Actually I would buy a GTS! Job ✅ done
 
Tony, heres my 2p for you to contemplate. I had an Aston Martin theres no doubt they are pretty but they are much more expensive to maintain and IMO the 911 is a better drivers car.

Now we move on to gen1 or gen2 this comes from someone who had a gen1 and now has a gen2 put aside my issues with the gen2 and lack of issues with the gen1 as thats just indavidual cars. the gen1 is a more focussed drivers car than the gen1 its more linier in the same way as guys with 996 say when compared to a 997.1 the older tech DOES make for a great drivers car less aids etc. theres a ton of stuff you can do easily to upgrade the gen1 tech and also to make it an even more fun driving car eg lowering it semi solid engine mounts etc. its only got another year before you cant warranty it any more so a few mods would then be appropriate. its got a new motor so no reason why it wont go on for years. the gen1 will not owe you a penny soon and that will be a great feeling why bog yourself down with more finance when you already have one of the best driving cars ever made. there are numerious times I regret changing from my gen1 , so much so that when it came up for sale recently at a dealer I went to look at it but just couldnt get my head round paying 6k more for it than I sold it for 18 months ago. but someone else liked it and brought it very quickly. but it just shows that these cars are still holding the price and slowly moving up. the Carreras are holding price better than the flagship cars due the the hugely overinflated prices of the GTs and Turbos when it went mad over the last couple of years and I think we will see an adjustment in the flagship cars whereas the Carreras didnt they just trickled up slowly. So in Summery IMO hang on to the gen1 and enjoy relativly cheap 911 ownership in a car thats done its depreciation :thumb: :thumb:
 
Phil 997 said:
Tony, heres my 2p for you to contemplate. I had an Aston Martin theres no doubt they are pretty but they are much more expensive to maintain and IMO the 911 is a better drivers car.

So in Summery IMO hang on to the gen1 and enjoy relativly cheap 911 ownership in a car thats done its depreciation :thumb: :thumb:

Thanks Phil, that is a really interesting take on my situation!

Wise words! :thumb:

On reflection, I think what does mar my driving experience is that I find my cars gearbox very notchy (especially from cold) and not as slick as I expected. Perhaps I should investigate that further, before I make any rash decisions??
 
Tony that box is indeed notchy from cold, but in my experience at any rate is a work of art once the oil is a bit warmed up. I would echo some of the comments above. You have a debt free machine and one of the best. Enjoy it, at least for another year or two. Then if you feel the need go for something else.

I had an Austin once. It wasn't the Martin (it was a Maestro if memory serves) and it was rubbish. Stick with the Porsche!
Cheers Rick
 
I wouldn't want to run a Gen 1 without warranty and I believe that opc warranty is available for cars up to 15 years old so if that's correct you're good for another 3 years or so. After that it only takes a sooty tailpipe and that's £10k gone, either from your savings or the value of your car.

It might be easier/more profitable to sell your car now with some warranty left :?:

The PDK on the gen 2 is very good, the dfi engine less prone to implode and the PCM3 more modern looking with some good features (sat nav is crap). To the untrained eye it looks identical to your gen 1. Are these differences worth the upgrade costs? Personally, I think so for the PDK, however I must admit that I have never driven a gen 1 tip.

One of the downsides of the gen 2 is that it doesn't sound as good as the gen 1 so you should look for cars that already have PSE and then get a center muffler bypass (approximately £600 fitted) to bring it up to the same as the gen 1 PSE.
 
TonyC911 said:
Phil 997 said:
Tony, heres my 2p for you to contemplate. I had an Aston Martin theres no doubt they are pretty but they are much more expensive to maintain and IMO the 911 is a better drivers car.

So in Summery IMO hang on to the gen1 and enjoy relativly cheap 911 ownership in a car thats done its depreciation :thumb: :thumb:

Thanks Phil, that is a really interesting take on my situation!

Wise words! :thumb:

On reflection, I think what does mar my driving experience is that I find my cars gearbox very notchy (especially from cold) and not as slick as I expected. Perhaps I should investigate that further, before I make any rash decisions??

Tony, the thing with the tip box is it learns your driving style so unless your hooning everywhere it adopts a lazy style ,this can be reset by a quick kickdown but it soon releans the lazy town driving style ,I fitted a sprint booster to my tip gen1 it was the older 3 mode type and the controller was small enought to hide in my unused ashtray but this cheap devise fools the tip into thinking your driving more aggressivly and keeps the tip box in a more alert mode . the other thing to consider is changing the gearbox fluids do a bit of research and look at some of the racing fluids I used a gulf performance fluid this may well remove some of the notchiness as would semi solid engine mounts . and poly transmision mounts (but they do add some NVH) but its a bit of a trade off and does make the car feel more GT like. lastly I did read that you can have the tip box tuned but I didnt do this as the changes I made were enough for me. :thumb: :thumb: if you can't face radical mods just yet then try replacing your engine mounts and maybe transmission mounts with new OE and then report back on the tip box ,I think you will be surprised .dont forget the engine doesnt sit on the mount like most cars it hangs from the mount and its been hanging on those mounts with all that weight since 2007 no wonder they have stretched a bit and perished and as such the gearbox is now not as smooth as it was when new. :thumb:
 

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