The cost of running a 996 Turbo for 2 years

This thread documents my 23.5 months ownership of a 996 Turbo. On May 1st 2014 it was exactly a year since I picked up my 2004 996T and co-incidentally my 6,000th mile clocked up. I thought it timely to post something about my experience. I paid top whack for my car on the basis that it was: (a) a 2004 car (b) had 48k miles and fpsh (c) from a local specialist that I knew well with an in-house 6 month warranty (d) had fairly recent discs, pads and rads and (e) would be fully serviced before collection. My thoughts were that I would make good use of the car in the first 6 months, probably SORN it for four months and take a decision as to whether to keep it beyond a year. As it turns out I've had such great fun driving it every week and after a year I have absolutely no intention of parting with her. In that time I've done two track evenings at Brands Hatch, two runway blasts to 170 mph indicated (162 actual) and have just got back from a short trip to Germany. Many people are starting to realise just what fantastic value for money these cars are but are put off by what they perceive such a car might cost to run. Much has been said about the need to buy the right car in the first place and I would endorse this. If you get it right and/or are very lucky you might be pleasantly surprised. I keep detailed records of every penny the car costs me to run and my 6k miles have worked out at an amazingly low 80p per mile. That 80p includes everything except depreciation. Tax, MOT and insurance cost £683, Petrol (at 20.57 mpg)/ oil cost £1871 and servicing and consumables cost £1818. The rest was spent on cosmetic improvements. The greatest thing is that this expenditure included tyres (still good for another 3k miles) and a recent service so I've, hopefully, got another few months fun before she'll cost me anything more. The 996T truly is the bargain supercar of the moment. :bye: NB: Original post: At 6k miles in 12 months Edit 1: To show cost of 8k miles in 14 months Edit 2: At 10k miles in 18 months Edit 3: At just under 11k miles in 23.5 months The car has now been sold and replaced by a 2007 997 Turbo.

Re: Running a 996 Turbo for 12 months / 6,000 miles. Definitely :thumb: Now that your dealer warranty has expired, are you going to get another warranty of some kind? Being a 997.1 owner, it's de rigeur :wink:

I cannot agree more, had mine for 3 years now and totally hassle free if you take care of them and maintain properly. Nothing pound for pound comes even close :thumbs:

As always Terry, an informative, and enjoyable post :thumb: And at 80P per mile, that's one cheap Taxi! :grin: Scott.

I was getting grief from :thewife: earlier so had to scrimp a bit on details. It's amazing how she can be ready on time when there's a sale on at the local garden centre. The servicing and consumables total of £1818 covered everything that I'd expect to shell out for during the course of a typical year on any car - except the removal of two dead trackers that were causing a battery drain - and includes a recent minor service which will take me into year 2. ie. 4 x tyres and a full GEO set up. Tracker removal Battery Air Con refresh Minor service The only warranty work I had done was to sort out several heat shields which had broken and were rattling like a goodun. The warranty was included in my purchase price but as the job required an engine drop to get to the exhaust shields it ended up being worthwhile. My dealer warranty was for 6 months/6,000 miles. I didn't consider paying for one after that. The cosmetic improvements were a four wheel refurb, new wheel centres and a pair of PIAA wipers totalling £420. Without these my cost per mile would have come down to under 73p but it wouldn't have felt like the same car. Similarly, I'm sure I could have save a few p per mile by driving her a bit more sedately but that would definitely have defeated the object of me buying such a car in the first place. Finally, the biggest single cost involved in running virtually any car is depreciation. I knew I'd get hit by buying at a specialist but I'm pleasantly surprised to note that if I'd waited a year for the same car I probably would have only paid c£2k less. Furthermore if I sold the car privately today I'd probably only have 'lost' £7k in the year. The way things are going it seems possible that values won't fall much in the next year so that particular 'cost per mile' will probably fall. :thumb:

Mine was middle-of-the-road price wise for a 2004 Turbo. Private sale locally to me, PPI'd at the Indy that currently does my servicing. I've had her nearly 2 months: 2000 miles and about 800 quid fixing some minor PPI findings (the best of which was the amp replacement which solved the battery drain and the nasty popping from the bass speakers...and the drivers side dash speaker works now!) I can genuinely echo T8's comments. The car has (thus far!) been far cheaper to insure and maintain than i anticipated. I'm coming from a 350z with 19" alloys so even the tyres for the Turbo are...cheaper than what i was used to. Servicing at my local Indy (major service including plugs and poly belt) is less than 400 quid. Infact, the prices are on a par with (or cheaper than) servicing for my old Nissan. Even discs and pads are cheap when bought thru an Indy/Forum retailer rather than from Porsche. Average MPG is about 24. But that's partly because when im not driving like Chorlton and The Wheelies, I'm normally very relaxed pootling in fifth gear with very little throttle abuse. At this stage i can't see any reason to buy anything else. Indeed, the only reason i might consider selling in the years to come would be because the age of the car starts to worry me (more maintenance and repair bills to prevent rust, replace loads of hoses, suspension etc etc). Even that's not a sound financial reason to let her go...im sure a newer 997 Turbo will lose far more in depreciation alone than my 996T will cost me in age-related maintenance. Hell, I've even got the bonded-hard-pipes factored into my major service at the end of the year! :O) Stunning car all round, and the first that I have owned which has a real Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde personality.

Great post.. I am sure turbos can empty your wallet if they feel like it but I have had mine 3 years and have never added up the bills.. A. because there haven't been many B I ran an integrale for 9 years before the 996t and that WAS expensive. This will be the kiss of death but the 996t is nowhere near as exepensive to run. I have had 2 new batteries, 2 front tyres, discs and pads all round and a geo in that time. Each service has been spot on unlike the integrale, you got that restored every year not serviced. The car would feel good for about a week after the service and then you'd notice what needed sorting next. Both cars bought at 9 years old and both "fun" cars, same mileage both garaged. £2k servcies were routine and rust would appear for fun!!

Re: Running a 996 Turbo for 12 months / 6,000 miles. Update 29th June 2014. I've just done 1,300 miles in 3 days without having to spend another penny on her (bar petrol of course) and have now covered a total of 8,061 miles since I bought the car on May 1st 2013. I'll work out a revised cost per mile later but it's obviously going to be less than the 80p reported previously. The next proper use will be at the Goodwood Charity Track Day in July - after which the rear tyres will have done c 7.5k and will probably need changing.

Re: Running a 996 Turbo for 12 months / 6,000 miles. Cost per mile for 8,061 miles in 14 months = only 69p :clap:

Re: Running a 996 Turbo for 12 months / 6,000 miles. Good! You can buy me a cup of tea at Goodwood while we swap Euro tour stories. :thumb:

Re: Running a 996 Turbo for 12 months / 6,000 miles. Update 12th November 2014 - after 10,112 miles of ownership. The 90 miles on track in July went well - apart from the 10.77 mpg - and the rear tyres were changed a few weeks later. I could have eked out another 500 miles or so from them but as I'd booked to do some 150mph+ runway runs at Dunsfold I thought best to err on the side of caution and changed them at 7,556 miles. Fortunately, as anticipated back in May - over 4,000 miles ago-, this has been my only expenditure in the last 6 months apart from the £75 insurance excess incurred by me replacing a cracked windscreen. Trips to the Classics at the Castle in Hedingham, The Porsche Festival at Brands Hatch and a brilliant track day at Snetterton this week have been the highlights of my autumn. Fuel consumption across the whole 10k miles has averaged out at 20.79 mpg and the cost per mile has remained at 69p (excluding depreciation). I don't intend to SORN the car for the winter but can't see I'll drive it much either so although I won't be spending much money the 'cost per mile' will go up as insurance & tax will still be required. The biggest + for me, apart from experiencing such a great car for nearly 18 months, is that it hasn't depreciated at all in that time. Obviously I'll never get back the dealer premium I paid at the start but it's great to know that I'd almost certainly get offered the same for it now as I would have done the day I bought it. If I sold the car tomorrow the whole experience would have cost me a few quid over £14k. For using such a car 'properly' for over 10k miles I reckon that's got to be the best per £ I could have hoped for.

Re: Running a 996 Turbo for 12 months / 6,000 miles. Emphasis on the word using . Couldn't agree more :grin:

i use mine virtually every day. don't bother working out costs per mile but in the six months since i traded the old 996 for this 996 vert i have spent a couple of quids on new wiper blades and swapped the cd holder for a cubby box which came from an old saab 900 and fitted perfectly. its doing around 24 mpg overall and that is including some spirited driving. the plastic end fell off the cruise stalk the other day and it clipped straight back on. under warranty the two tail pipe clips were replaced as they were shot.its not due a service for a good while the tyres are all good and legal and its burned less than a pint of oil and used no water. so far so good. i know its probably tempted fate now but its possible that this will get traded for for a 997 in the spring when vert values rise and be one of the cheapest cars I've ever owned! i really think the secret is not to be too precious about them,use them and enjoy. mine still hasn't been hoovered out since i bought it and it goes through the local eastern european car wash-and they are very good. shame the ash tray isn't bigger is one of my only complaints.

I've owned my turbo since June last year. In that time I had a major service and had plugs and coils changed as well as rads and condensors. that cost around 2.5 grand give or take. I've done around 15000 miles in that time. Tax is 280 and insurance was 450 last year and 350 this year. Average about 21 mpg. It might take me a while to calculate cost/mile. Edit forgot a set of rears for 520. Rough fag paper work out I'd around £1.50 a mile.

Re: Running a 996 Turbo for 12 months / 6,000 miles. great summary for all other drivers owning garage queens