Is your 911 a daily driver? What year? How many miles? How long is your commute?

Coming from the bimmer community where even the M's are bullet proof daily drivers. I just sold my 98 M3 Sedan with 174,000 mostly trouble free miles. Not looking for an M comparison I know they are different animals just wanted you guys to know where I coming from. I'm new to the P-car community and will be driving my 2000 996 cab with 28,000 miles on a daily commute of about 32 miles and every other chance I get. The scales seem to lean more toward pleasure drivers, but wanted to do a poll to see how big of daily driver presence there is. I hope there's more than I think! Thanks!

i am in the same boat. I want a DD not a wknd car. Is it practical as a DD...

Mine is my 'city' car, meaning it gets driven four days a week, four seasons of the year, for pretty much everything. It's not a toy at all. I traded my Dinan Z3 for the 996 especially for this reason: room to carry stuff, and its more or less oblivious to weather. I think that the car is actually mechanically happier being driven all the time. The only concessions I made to daily use were a much heavier duty battery, more frequent oil changes to deal with the frequent short trips, and snow tires for winter.

Bruce, Thanks. Now here's the question that when I searched, yielded no real answers - just opinions. And that is - what do you guys think of putting all season tires on a C4 as a DD. I have a 3 mile commute and will really be driving on major highways. I have all seasons on a 530xi and it's great in the snow. I would like to hear opinions from people that actually DRIVE with all seasons vs people who believe religously it is heresy to slap those on and advocate only for dedicated summer/winter setups... I live in the city - have zero storage space. My car will have to sit outside and weather the elements like all the other cars :-)

Sounds worthy of new thread.

You'll have a hard time finding someone who has honestly driven both types of tire on the same car the same way. Every forum I've ever seen in which someone confessed to using all season tires, they got treated as if they'd just announced that they only wore shoes with velcro straps. First off, you will be amazed at how good the car is inherently in the snow. IMHO, you won't miss the AWD of your 530 at all. I wouldn't judge anybody for putting good high performance all season tires on their car, if they were disciplined about adjusting their limits accordingly, and were willing to leave the car at home in extreme weather. I'm a big believer in the right equipment for the conditions, and if your conditions and driving style are always moderate relative to the limits of the car, why not. But I'm just popping off. I'm a 'dedicated summer/winter setup' guy, and tires are the one car related item where I let my ego do the shopping for me. I haven't driven all seasons on a 911. Let's see what else turns up on this thread...

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Are you in the taliban? Easy on the hi-jackin'..... Yes it is. Do a search, this has been talked about over and over again. To answer your question, the car can be DD'd if maintained. Macster has over 200k miles on a Boxster which has the same basic driveline and shares 30% of the 996 pieces.

Every day driver here, 500 miles a week, 114,000 miles on the odo.... 2002 C2, 6 speed. Love it. joel

'99 C4 - 145,000 miles. Happy as a clam with it.

Great as a DD. 2003 with 50K miles; 24 miles one way to work; all year round. I do take an alternative if the snow is too deep (not a lot of clearance) or if temp is below -10F or so.

99c4cab daily driver all year long. 95k miles. Commute = 10 feet in my pajamas, so not sure if I count, but I still manage 1000 mi/month.

2001 C4, 102k miles on the clock and driven through Boston winters. I did a 30 mile round trip commute for the last three years with no problem.

Mine is a most days DD. 2003 C2- 26 mile commute. Gets expensive on the rear tire replacement, but I have had very few problems in the four years I have owned it and none that resulted in the car not getting me where I was going. I do not live where it snows so I can't comment on that.

2003 C4S. Put around 50 miles round trip in the rain, sun, snow and sleet. Can put my hockey bag(passenger seat), sticks, 5yr and 3yr old in the rear and still have room for the umbrella stroller on the rear deck. Who needs a trunk? The child seats also come in handy for holding the milk after I volunteer to go to the store just to drive the car another mile or so.

Mine is a 1999 C4 that gets used 75% as a DD year-round (2000 Rover Disco2 for deep snow and hauling and towing stuff). Summer and Winter tires/wheels. 85K miles, 2K miles on factory reman. engine! Looking forward to drive this one as a DD for a long time. 20 miles commute - from the foothills to the city; good twisting roads in/near my neighborhood, so lots of fun to be had "taking the long way home."

I think I can answer both the OP and the hijacker. To the OP, my '03 C4 has been a 50% DD for most of the past 3 years. Commute is 20 miles each way but almost entirely interstate or secondary highway with some awesome twisties . Currently @ 65K miles. It started out as a weekend only car but I came to realize there wasn't much point in saving it for the next guy. My tire costs have been lower than many on here have reported. I have Contis and I got about 20K out of my last pair of rears and the fronts were at 50%. My new rears cost $500 from a fellow Rennlister. As my overall frequency of driving has increased so has my winter driving including some foul weather use. Enter the hijacker...My car came with 17" Mich. Pilot Sport All-Seasons. I promptly switched them for the 18"Contis on Sport Designs and the A/S sat in the garage for 2 years. As I said, this past winter I drove the car at least 50% of the time so I put the A/S back on for the cold weather traction. They have been decent. The handling isn't as good as the summer tire but it does ride a bit smoother. The car is pretty sure-footed in 1-3" of snow but I have other options when I know the real snow is coming. I noticed the other day that there has been quite a bit of wear on the rear A/S, more than I would expect for 5k miles. When these are done I'll likely buy some real snow tires (I like the Dunlop M3 Wintersports I have on my SAAB) to replace them. I don't think you could go wrong with the all-seasons but it is a compromise. If you can swing it, I think it's worth having both good summer and good winter tires on a true daily driver. My .02.

i drive a 2002 C4S 12 mi each way, 4 seasons. I have been doing similar things in P-cars for 30 yrs. The only exception was winters in Albany NY (too much snow). the secret is maintence, maintence, maintence. do not be aftaid to change fluids and wear items. lean to DIY if you have a garage. its really isnt that hard. p-cars are great DD. the only problem i have had as years have gone bye, is that the cars tend to get smaller. so, i got my hip replaced 7 weeks ago and the C4S seems bigger.

2005, 82k miles, DD @ 500+ miles/week, damn glad I'm not drivin a BMW.

Daily driver 2002 C4 Cab, 57k miles, daily commute 20 miles round trip, approx 12k miles per year.

My daily driver is a 2002 C4S. It has roughly 84,500 on the clock. My communte is 32 miles each way, although I travel about 50% of the time, and my airport commute is only about 12 miles each way. My Porsche is sitting in an airport parking lot as I type this. I switch to winter tires and wheels.

I only get to drive about 12 miles each way and they're pretty much all city miles unless I go the 'long' way. 02 Cab with ~40k miles which lasts as long as the roads stay clear. Unfortunately they don't plow the residential streets here so the ruts actually get too deep for me to traverse! Love it though, GREAT commuter car!

50/50 daily driver and weekend toy I have a second car for days when I have the dogs, the whole family, work related hauling, or I feel like setting sea sick from excessive body roll 40 miles round trip - it make driving to work and driving home the best part of my working day !!

2001 C2, 50 mile round trip, snows & high perf. summer tires each on their own set of wheels. RPMs about 4K, MPH as fast as the safety, traffic or turns will let me. Do'in it for 2 years in January. We have a 3 Series BMW, drive it the same and see no differences in reliability.

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My GT3 is the only car I own. I added 38,000 miles in just under 3 years to the clock. Drive it every day rain or shine and that's the way I like it.

00 C4 Cab, 103K DD. I average about 18K a year

Thanks for the responses! I'm glad to see some high mileage DDs. That's where I'll be in a couple years.

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OT: Do me a favor and drop by Skoogies for a couple of all the way dogs. I need a fix real bad! Hold the onions though, they give me heartburn. Thanks!

I will! Yet another excuse for a little cruise in the new p-car. I see you're a whisky man. Just got back from touring scotch (water of life) distilleries in Scotland with 9 friends...great time. I like Irish whisky too.

2003 C4S, daily driver. Fifteen mile round-trip commute, about 8,000 miles per year. Max Perf tires in the summer, Blizzaks in the winter. Shift at 4K RPM until it's warm, then at 4 to 5K RPM depending on traffic. The engine sees at least 6K RPM once per day. I go to the occasional autocross or DE but not so much this year due to work. I bought the car used with 15K miles in 2005. My appreciation for it grows with each passing month. What a great car.

Daily Driver and love it. Highly reccommend dedicated snows. Tried all seasons on my '89 C-4 and found them really disappointingin the summer AND winter. No fun at all.

Mine is not a daily but I do drive it once or twice a week to work when the weather is nice. I have a 38 mile (one way commute) and it's more than comfortable during the drive. I could drive it everyday but my last 996 was totaled when a mindless driver hit me. I'm not sure how traffic and the level of driver intelligence is in your area but if you can stomach that, then the car is more than capable as a daily driver. In my area though, people simply can't drive and don't notice anything more than a few feet around them (and sometimes don't even do that). Driver's in my area are way to self absorbed to drive courteously and are usually, doing everything in their car but concentrating on driving, i.e. talking on the phone, reading news papers (my personal favorite) etc... That's why I choose not to drive my car everyday. Especially in stop and go traffic where getting rear ended is so common place.

I converted mine to a DD about a month after I got her a year ago August... my commute is 24 miles one-way, 98% freeway, plus all the weekend fun runs...bought it with just under 50k miles, just rolled up to 72k miles... problem free. Rudy

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Oh man, I feel your pain. I used to live in Fredericksburg, VA and commute to DC every day in my M3. I did that for 10 years and finally moved to Charleston last year and LOVE IT. I have an extra 2 hours a day that I'm not commuting. I used to pick up slugs to commute in, so naturally a car like a 911 was never an option. I finally have a life! I was rear ended once, hit while parked a couple times and at 80 mph my 535i ate a truck tire in the grill and completely hosed the grill and hood. Glad I'm out of there.

103k on 01 c2. got new in 02. 43 miles roundtrip Mon-thurs. a blast

Mine gets driven roughly 80 miles of Highway 80 in and around Sacramento/Roseville/Auburn CA plus the connecting roads to and from my house and the kids school which is city driving of roughly 15 or so miles five days a week. Every other weekend it goes to Lindsay CA which is 560 miles roundtrip plus another 50-60 miles of visiting relatives in surrounding communities. Average 28 MPG driving like a maniac. Full throttle to whatever the posted speedlimits all the time and cruising on the freeway 75-90+. The car is an awesome DD for me. BTW, 6'1" 250 pounds and 44 years old with bad knees!

99 C2 With 65K and building. Bought it with 48k and a factory replacement engine with 11k on it 6 months ago. I drive 600 a week, no snow, although i would. Porsches are the best dd's. I've got 350,000 k on a couple of 944's. I've had Bimmers, they're ok. A dd has to have superior ergonomics for a start and P-cars are the best there is, especially if you taller than the average and not as fat as the average, mine has a cobra suzaka seat, sparco wheel with spacer and it fits my 6' 4" like a car should fit. The more you drive them the less non normal wear problems you'll have.

2000 996 C2. Daily driver - it's driven anywhere from 1200 to 2500 miles per month. I bought it 3 1/2 years ago with 39,000 miles on it. It now has 94,000+ miles and counting. It's been ultra reliable and has even seen about six track days mixed in. I'm super pleased with it.

Bought it as a daily driver. Occasional track and autocross. PSS9 in my shop, but not yet installed 50 miles per day round trip. 81000 miles on the odo. 40000 miles on the installed engine. dedicated snows. Totally spoiled for any other car now - I will be a lifetime Porsche driver.

Not all the time but for the most part it is my DD.. Tho my travel is under 20 miles a day. 40k mi on my 03.

22 miles one way, daily driver, plus its been to the track and has autocrossed a couple of times. Great car that serves many purposes at once!

DD here. Although my comute isn't much (10 mile each way), and I travel a lot internationally - my 2002 C2 has 35K miles. I do about 5K miles per year My first 911 (a 1980 SC) was also a DD and was sold w/178K miles on it. I've had no issues with any P-car, or any of my Bimmers either

DD here in the summer. The car will go in storage in the winter. This is my first 911. Picked it up in April. Since then I have put 6k-7k miles on it. I assume I will put no more than 7k -8k per year on the car. So far the car has 48k-49k on the clock.

My Dad's 1999 996 C2 has 160,000 KM on it and WAS a great daily driver for many years (Aurora to Mississauga for those in the Ontario GTA area) but has been retired to become a quasi-garage Queen (odd having a garage queen with 160K of stone chips on the front bumper...) While the standard interiors of the 1999s are a little basic, it has held up fairly well and short of driving in minus 20C temperature doesn't squeak or rattle at all ever after all these miles and the engine doesn't leak or burn a noticeable drop of oil (yes I'm touching wood). With snows my Dad didn't think it was too bad in the winter, but given that his prior car was a 928 without any modern traction aids, I'd take that with a grain of salt. When I was at University and he went out of town on business, he'd let me use the car instead of risking door dings at the airport and I got caught a few times in the snow and thought it was dreadful!!! I think the biggest issue I had was the fact that you felt EVERYTHING through the front end whether you wanted to or not. I'm sure that overall it's more safe that way as you know what is going on, but when you are used to driving heavy SUVs, it takes some getting used to. I guess my point is that the 996 can be a great daily driver, but depending on how much snow you get and how far you need to go, I'd think hard even with snow tires. My Dad had the luxury of being able to wait until the roads were plowed by working at home - me I take a 6:10am train each day and roads in my area are not normally cleared that early. Also, I don't have enough fingers and toes to recall the number of times we had to back the car out of the "cleared" driveway to build up speed to get the car into the garage... Not trying to knock the 996 (I'm a big fan of all 2 door Porsches) - I'm sure it does better in the winter than our Mercedes do on the track... Jeff