Should I drive my 996 less?

I am using my 2003 996 to drive to work every day, 25 miles a day roughly 4 days a week. I will probably sell the car in 4 years time with the odo sitting at around 50K. If I stop using it as my daily driver that odo will probably read 30k. My question is, should I spend say 7K on a car that can do the 25miles a day for me and save the porsche. Would I get my money back in four years in terms of resale in the Porsche (and assuming my daily driver has depreciated at that point to an effective zero). Of course it means I don't get to drive the Porsche every day, which is of course why I bought it, but I also don't have to worry about it sitting down in the office parking lot, and adding those miles on My gut feeling is just to stick with the Porsche............!

Drive it more. That way my 2002 w/ 6500 miles will more more valuable, more desirable.

It's a no brainer from every perspective. From the financial perspective the greater amount that you'll get for your car will easily be offset by the extra costs you incur: initial purchase price, depreciation, extra insurance, and maintenance. You don't spend 1.5X to save X. Also why drive around in a beater every day unless you had to. It makes no sense at all.

By the time you buy another car, drive it for 4 years, and spend money on MX, then sell it at a loss; after four years you just spent more money than if you just drove the **** out of your p-car Don't do it... Also your neighbors will be pissed looking at a POS sitting on the street

I had the saw question a week ago as I am on 35k miles on a 2004 and if I sell now maybe the hit will not be as big in a year when it will be closer to 55. In the end I decided just to drive it and not think about the value as TBH I have enough cash at the moment anyway for a load more porsches. If money is important to you then maybe but you will end up spending 7k on a crap car that you are only driving because you are too stingy ot take a hit on the p car. 7k would probably amount to more than the depreciation anyway IMO.

I drive 2000 miles a month... don't save your car for the next buyer. Enjoy it, or sell it and buy a Honda.

I agree with Riad. I have tried buying beater cars to "... save" my nicer ones... I always ended up spending a ton of money keeping them running when the car wasn't worth a damn to begin with. Then every second in the car was a toss up between being miserable or being embarassed. I concluded that cars were meant to be bought, driven, enjoyed and then sold. (Even if you were a collector, a 996 hardly qualifies). I also concluded that if you enjoy cars, buy a nice one while you are young enough to enjoy it. All of this is within reason, but I'm glad I drive a 996 now... It is a little bit of a stretch for me, but that's OK. JKC

I'm thinking exactly the same thing but it will probably make more financial sense for me to continue to use mine as a daily drive as oppose to buying a �7k mileage muncher. A possible difference however is that my 911's value has probably bottomed out as it's a 1999 with 57k and in the UK there are more ageing 996's than the market demands. The price difference between a '99 996 in 12 months time with 60k instead of 70k will not make up the depreciation and annual running costs of a �7k hack. In plain English the 7k hack will cost more to run but you will be driving a hack, not a Porsche.

I do not understand the mentality of questioning whether or not to drive a car based on what would amount to less than $5k. Seriously will that extra $5k change anyone's life who has a car that was sold at 80k+ when new? No. Drive the car and enjoy it as much as possible. The pittance you get from fewer miles when you sell is worth far less than the smile on your face as you rack up those miles.

I couldn't agree more. Purposely trying to drive less in order to preserve the eventual resale value? Heck, just sell it now because the resale value in 4 years won't be higher than it is now. If you're having to scale back your enjoyment out of fear of its depreciation, then what's the point of getting and keeping a Porsche in the first place?

Even if you could save 7K, you have to make a choice between: 1) 7K in cash 2) 4 years seat time behind the wheel of a 911. Now some guys will walk away with the 7K. I'm not among those. Are you?

Man does that nail it on the head or what! Nice post... And im taking door #2 on that one!

Just drive it as much as you can. The Happiness is more than $7K.

I drive it like Riad approx 2000 km/month, and approaching the big 80k km fast in a 2000. While I'll most likely upgrade to a C4S cab very soon, I say like everyone else - drive the heck out of it. I'm only changing because I would like a cab instead of coupe - else I would drive my baby till it has 300k km on the odometer!

OK, then I will go with my gut feeling and forget that idea!! Interesting to see 13 responses in the space of one hour.....certainly stirred up some strong opinions!!

I would guess you'll take a bigger hit on depreciation from the all the used 997's on the market come 4 years from now, then from the miles on your current ride. Just a guess. I say drive it and enjoy it.

"drive it as much as you can" is the right answer. if you cant afford to drive this car you shouldnt buy it (this is my opinion). this is not a ferrari. i drive my 911 every day about 50 miles round trip to work.

This is a very active site, most people take the time to respond... stick around.

I have 4 and half years and 53,000 miles on my C2 and it still feels like the first time I drove it! I have other cars, and I drive them when it makes sense, and I drive the Porsche when I want!

To me a porsche is a "Drivers Car". The more you drive it, the more enjoyment you get out of it, and thus the more you get for that monthly payment. I drive about 100-150mi a day, 5 days a week, and sure, my car will depreciate faster, but thats alot of time to be spending in a car, and you should be enjoying yourself and driving

OK, I'll stick up for the beater. I just dropped 10 grand on a 1995 BMW 5 series, and keep the Porsche in the garage during the week. My work parking lot is like a demolition derby, and I only drive like 4 miles each way anyway, so it's hardly worth the effort. Plus, I have to drop the kids at school AND coach soccer. The e34 BMW is a classic German ride, and no worries. Besides, in 3 years I can sell the Bimmer for 7 grand, that's only 3 grand worth of depreciation and a lot fewer miles on the Porsche. I don't drive the Porsche every day BECAUSE it's not a Honda. When I get in it on a Saturday afternoon to take it for a drive, it's a treat. When I get in it to run to the grocery store, it's a pain in the ***.

I agree entirely with the overwhelming majority opinon -- if you like your 911, then drive it to work (unless it's inner city parking). I drive mine 16 miles round trip to work, and even less than a mile to the grocery store sometimes (I know, really short drives are bad for the engine). If this were a question on a Ferrari board, the overwhelming opinion would be the opposite!

I bought mine specifically to use as a daily driver (AND as a fun car, of course) and it's driven 1,000 to 1,500 miles per month. Use it as it was intended. Drive it.

I initially bought my factory slant with 48K on it...and fell into the trap of "preserving it" for resale...then one morning I was driving it over to my Starbuck's coffee shop and several folks came over and remarked how beautiful it was, and how they wished they had something like this to drive...and my perspective suddenly changed. All these folks who went out of their way to come over and appreciate it and commented on it wouldn't have had the opportunity to even see it had it been ratholed in a garage hoping that when I eventually sold it to someone else, that I could get a few thousand more for it. How many thousands of dollars worth of sheer pleasure will I get from it over the next few years that I'll drive it until I eventually sell it for something else? Maybe the Sultan of Somewhere (?) can afford to buy six of a particular model and stick them in an environmentally controlled warehouse for eventual resale...but that's not my take on it....can't afford it...and won't do it anyway. What pleasure is there in keeping a car all covered up in a garage? As some of the other Rennlist folks have said...there's a factor of diminishing returns for buying an alternative mundane mode of transport in order to keep the beauty under wraps for someone else???....sort of like putting Bo Derek in a burka. chuck

I sold a 94 3.6 turbo in 2002 with 18K on the odo. I really, really regret not driving that car more. Bottom line for me is that I plan to drive my current car and enjoy it.

I certainly didn't buy the car to preserve value for the next owner. Cars like this are destined to lose value in the time frames you're dealing with so why even think about it? If this concerns you I'd probably just sell it now and start looking for the replacement since you'll recoup more money that way. I've had mine for almost 3 years now and it's about 63,000 miles, so a few months ago I had been kicking around the idea of getting something else before it tripped 60k....but the weird thing is that I find myself enjoying the car more and more, since it's not 'new' I've started doing some minor mods on it (a couple of friends saw the dash and steering wheel apart in the garage and couldn't believe I had taken wrenches to it) and I'm thinking about doing a few more now that the car is paid for and I've just basically stopped worrying about it and just drive the crap out of it and have fun. When it breaks I fix it, when it needs maintenance it gets maintenance and when its no longer fun to own or cost-effective to repair I'll sell it. Beyond that I agree with the guy who said it's a no brainer financially, if you buy another car (depreciating asset) that you have to fuel, maintain, and insure in addition to the Porsche. There's just no way I can imagine that being cheaper than just the Porsche depreciation alone. That's my take anyway.

Just buy yourselve another P car... now you have two, twice the fun and only half the miles on the odometer if you switch cars daily!! Have fun!

LOL The best solution yet.

i am with riad - easily 20K miles a year on my 01 C2. Why would you not drive it anytime you get the chance??

Unless you're Charlie Babbitt, the car shouldn't be an investment. Good job Riad. Dont save your car for another driver.

Enjoy the car and just drive a beater on the rain days and winter. I also drive into NYC quite a bit so I take my 91 accord. Bought it for $2000 last year, spent less than $500 on maintaince items like radiator, alternator, thermostat and the car is a champ. Driven it from NY to MD and back with no issues and used to make trips every 2 weeks from NY to PA.

Chuck, it's great to see that your dog also enjoys the slant nose. Now that's a great way to enjoy a Porsche... Man and Man's best friend.

Its threads/questions like this that give 996 owners a bad name!!!! The 996 is a fully modern car intended to be driven in ALL weather conditions (except, perhaps, off road or through snow banks). That's why Porsche engineers spend so much time and effort engineering and testing the car all over the globe! It is a car, not an investment. Drive the freakin thing. You bought it to drive it, not store it away in a vault. It will take another 25-30 years until a 996 is thought of as a "classic", and "worth restoring". The moment you pulled off the lot was the biggest "ka-ching" of depreciation anyway. You also didn't buy it so you could drive it less. Who are you "saving" it for? C'mon now.. pull your head out of wherever you placed it and enjoy driving your Porsche everyday if you can

My commute is 50 miles each way... I bought a Porsche because I drive 100 miles each day. I figure anything I spend 10 hours a week doing, might as well be fun. Pilots say the two most useless things in the world are runway behind you and altitude above you. For a Porsche owner the most useless thing in life is unused miles on the odometer, saved for the next owner.

Good grief, such drama. There's one thing to driving it less to preserve it's resale - that is dubious reasoning at best. It's another thing entirely to not drive it every day BECAUSE it's a small, six-speed sports car. For some people, the P-car is enough, for others we need more than one car. No big deal.

Drive it, and keep it.

Haha, that's a great idea that I thought would solve this problem. However, I bought a 944 as a beater, being a fun car in its own right I still find myself putting miles on the 911 and watching the 944 gain cobwebs in the lot.

Drive it until th e wheels falls off....which incidently should be in many many many years from now.

Drive it like you stole it.....................