cost of owning a 99-00 carrera

hello gents, I'm seriously looking at getting a 99-00 c2 or c4 and was wondering what the basic costs are going to be like once I get the car. I know it's not a honda civic, but around how much will/should I be spending? I'm coming from a 95 m3 which has been very good to me as long as all the maintenance is done/car is up to spec. I'm also looking for a car with the aero kit. It seems that prices don't reflect this kit at all when browsing the classifieds. If i don't find one with the aero kit, how much would getting the aero kit be (parts only)? the majority of the cars that i'm looking at are all coming with a 6year/100k mile warranty. besides wear items like clutch and tires, i'm set right? Thanks all! Dino

The Aero kit will cost you $5k for the porsche parts and a decent paint job. Get the kit on the car if you can because you will not pay that much of a premium when buying and you will never recoup the cost when reselling. Maintenance cost are going to be dependent on a lot of things. Condition (prior maintenance habits of owners) and mileage of the car when you purchase. The parts and labor cost are similar to those of BMW. Scheduled maintenance is also similar to BMW. If you can do some of the work yourself you can reduce much of the cost. Oil changes and filter changes are all relatively easy to do. Spark plug changes are more difficult in the Porsche than in the BMW. The one cost you will want to budget for that is much greater than your experience with the M3 is tire cost. The 996 will eat rear tires for breakfast. Much quicker than your M3. You can expect on average 10k mileage for rear tires and less if you are very aggressive driver (this is assuming you use high performance summer only tires). Reliability wise these car are similar to your M3 in that there many cases of trouble free cars and there are also cases of mechanical nightmares. Good luck in your search.

Porsche parts are expensive and problems are sometimes hard to pinpoint. On my 944 turbo it took a mechanic 8 hours to find out what the problem was when it didn't want to start (plus $600 in parts). On my 996 same story when the convertible top didn't want to work anymore, $1,500 and a lot of frustration (time) later.

I would say that it averages about $2,500 a year if you're lucky.

The maintenance is cheap; it's the mods that kill you.

It really depends how you define 'cheap'. I don't find it cheap, but I wouldn't say that it's outrageous, considering that it's a high-performance vehicle.

I agree, not outrageous. But a suspension mod, alignment, corner balance is several $$K. Makes a $400 oil change "look" cheap. It is all relative. I also do not think that the majority of people take as good of care of their Honda or Toyota compared to P-Car people. i.e. Regular Service intervals, scheduled maintenance. Gas-n-go, drive till it breaks than fix it.

We are talking about the cost of MAINENANCE and not mods. If you are unable to do your own maintenance, then you will be raped and your first investment shoud be in several tubes of K-Y. No matter what car you own, a dealer will always be expensive. Maintaining your 996 is no more expensive than a BMW or other similarly priced vehicle. If you prefer, you can get your oil changed at the dealer for $300 or do it yourself for $70. You can have your plugs changed at the dealer for $800 or do it yourself for $50. ETC ETC ETC. Dealer's service departments are in business because too many people like experiencing an **** probe every once in awhile.

As many already stated, if you're somewhat handy maintenance runs less than it costs to maintain a Civic....

[Image-only post; no author-written text. Original image references:] https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/roflmao.gif https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/roflmao.gif https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/roflmao.gif https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/roflmao.gif https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/roflmao.gif https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/roflmao.gif https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/roflmao.gif

I agree with siberian in that the maintenance gets pretty cheap if you do some yourself (and I am not handy at all). Still I go through tires more often than I emptied my trashcan when I living at college, especially the rears. At about $300/tire to buy the rubber, mount and balance - look out! Ownership still worth it though... Cheers

Plan to spend about $350-500 a year on maint on average if you go to dealers if you drive less than 10k mi/yr. For DIY, that can be done for $100/yr for material costs. This does not include repair costs which could be 1-2x of maint. You'll visit dealer less since service inteval is 15k mi. A Honda needs oil change 2x more often but is less costly.

Not quite, but some dealers DO charge a lot. You can get your oil changed at an independant shop for around $100 (I even had mine changed at Porsche of Downtown L.A. for just over $120). The thing is, your time is worth something too isn't it? Personally, I don't even have a GARAGE, let alone the time to do this stuff myself. I wish I did though, 'cause it gives you a chance to really look over everything and give it the attention that no one else will.

I think this is low. I still say that over the course of ownership, you'll average just over $2,000 a year for a daily driver (including EVERYTHING - oil, tires, repairs, etc). If it's NOT a daily driver, you could end up paying more, as I sense that these cars deteriorate faster when they're left idle.

The fact is, assuming a brand new 996 that is driven 10,000 per year for 10 years will have a maintenace cost of more than 25 cent/miles WITHOUT repair costs, just brakes, clutch, oil, filters, tires, lube, alighnment, gas (based on 22 MPG and $2.40/gal). This assumes that you do the work yourself other than alighnment and clutch. This is before any depreciation in the car's value which could add another 50 cents or more per mile. Now you are looking at 75 cents a mile. Add insurance of around $1000 a year and it increases the per mile cost by 10 cents bring the total cost per mile to 85 cents. That means that the car cost $8500 per year to operate before any necessary repairs. Other than an added 8 cents per miles for tire replaceent on the 996, this cost is in line with any high end car such as BMW or Mercedes.

Insurance of $1,000 per year? Where do you live? Shangrila? Gas for $2.40 a gallon? Dude, you've got it good!!! My insurance is around $3,000/year (with good driver discount) and gas is now $2.65 if you're LUCKY.

Some assumptions had to be made. Obviously you can calculate the changes based on your costs. Where do you buy your insurance from? I don't pay $3000/ year for my Gt3, 996, 740 IL and Toyota SUV combined. I can almost squeeze one of my boats in there and just be around $3,000. 500/500 coverage, 500 deductable. medical,towing and rental. I guess that's the premium you pay for living in California. Shiitty 91 octane for premium prices and high insurance rates. Oh, and also, since you refer to me as "DUDE" I suspect I have at least 20 years on you.

Actually, I'm 42. Does that make you 62? My deductible is $1,000! I don't recall my coverage; It's high but not as high as a standard policy used to be for me when I lived in Canada. I think there are a lot more claims in California (or Los Angeles anyway) due to the amount of traffic and theft etc. Plus, I drive about 17,000 miles a year. Doesn't really justify the premium in my eyes.... The gas quality is definitely bad too, but then again, the weather is probably the best on the planet for driving and we have about four great race-tracks within a two hour drive.

No WAY!!! Thank God I AM NOT 20 years your senior. I am only 49. I haee had State Farm for almost 15 years and have both houses, boats and 6 cars underthe policy. There are 4 drivers in the house including an 18 and 19 year old. My agent has been real good at helping me shuffle the kids around on their assigned cars in order to get a better rate. Also, since I have more cars than drivers, the extra can be designated as "luxury" which help keep the rates down. I agree with you on the weather. You probably get alot more days you can drive your car without having to give it a bath. (or turn the heater on).

Insurance coverage is hard to gauge because it varies so much from location to location and person to person. My 996 is not any more to insure than the wife's 328i. Truthfully if you factor out the tire wear on the 996 the BMW and Porsche have very similar "hard" costs of ownership (no consideration of depreciation schedules). With the BMW being only slightly less expensive because it gets better gas mileage. Interesting enough at the independent shop in town the labor rate is $5/hr more on the BMW. Porshce and BMW labor rates are the dealership.

Yeah, I'm sure the number of vehicles insured helps, as does the fact that the house is with them too. The fact that I'm single DOESN'T help me at all. They may even penalize me for being divorced, I'm not sure. Regardless, insurance is a racket - especially in California. I have heard good things about State Farm though, so I'm going to look into a quote soon. Thanks....

Insurance on MY 2000 996 is about 1k per year, but less than 94 968 and 97 Boxster. I can't figure it. I too have 6 cars, house, umbrella policy etc with State Farm. Maintenace costs have been much less on the 996 than any other Porsche I've had.....so far in about 18 months. I do all my own oil changes and other easy stuff, but it's time for the 15k and I can't decide whether to tackle it or not. Looking at changing the plugs appears daunting. My hands hurt just thinking about it. I must drive like a weanie though, because I have about 15k on Conti Sports and still have usable tread left. Most of my driving is on the interstate, but I head to mtns every few weeks to test my nerve. For comparison, the same 18 months has cost me 4k for the 968 and my wife has put <5k miles on it.

Paul: I don't think you're penalized for being single. I'm married, have my home auto &umbrella insurance under AAA, get all the good driver & etc discounts, and it still costs me a ******** and a half to pay for insurance here in sunny LA.

I have owned my 2000 996 for over three years now, and drive about 12k miles per year. My only maintenance expenses have been tires, oil changes and 15k services. My insurance is about the same as my wife's Lexus. Porsches do eat tires more often than most cars, though I get more than the 10k miles mentioned earlier. I have the oil changed every 5k miles at about $100 per change. I think my 15k services have averaged about $500 each. I do believe it is important to perform scheduled maintenance faithfully, and to drive the car regularly. Having done so, each of my three 911s has been a very reliable daily driver. This one, in particular, has been flawless.

40th - the "still costs me a ********" was bad enough... but when you added the "and a half" it really made me flinch! I could have gone all day without THAT visual!

Gota911: Sorry for the visual... Life's tough in the big city!

OK, here is my first hand experience since I own a 96 M3 (110k miles) and a 99 C2 cab (45k miles). For DIY maintenance, the oil change on a 996 is more expensive, e.g., 12 qts of oil vs. 7 qts, $12 vs. $5 for oil filter, charcoal filter - about the same, tires - about the same since I get 10-12K on the rears for both cars. However, with the 996, I have had RMS ($800) and cracked coolant reservoir ($130). With the M3, it has been pretty rock solid except for idle control valve ($150). As for mods, the net cost is much cheaper on the M3 since I was able to sell the M3 parts to the non-M e36 crowd, e.g., exhaust, shocks, sways, shifter, etc. With the 996, I'm pretty much stuck with the stock parts.

My insurance at age 27 in Nashville TN is $850 a year for my '99 996 Much less than I paid in the Uk for my boxster, gas is also currently $2.29 a gallon

I have had incredibly good luck with my string of Porsches. All have been under warranty, but never had any significant warranty repairs. Normal maintenance is not all that expensive. Just had oil and filter changed today on my 997S (10k miles) for about $150 at the dealer (Downtown L.A.). I'm paying about $2,100/yr for insurance in L.A. However, if you intend to frequent rennlist, I recommend you budget about $1,000 per month for the first year, and about $500 per month thereafter, for mods.