How much I've spent on my 996.2 C4 in 13 months

I will be making a proper thread at some point soon, perhaps to celebrate the car's 25th birthday, but wanted to quickly share some top line figures as I've mustered the courage to make a list. The total comes out to more than I was expecting (considering I have more to spend over the next year): Acquisition & Fees £12,568.00 47.5% Suspension & Geometry £6,739.00 25.5% Exhaust System £2,077.00 7.9% Engine, Drivetrain & Cooling £1,596.40 6.0% Brakes & Clutch £307.00 1.2% Interior & Trim £620.67 2.3% Audio & Infotainment £367.00 1.4% Lighting (LED upgrades) £112.33 0.4% Exterior & Body £272.50 1.0% Wheels (£130.00) -0.5% Diagnostics & Tools £197.65 0.7% Servicing, Fluids & Consumables £768.00 2.9% Admin & Running Costs £945.00 3.6% TOTAL £26,440.55 100.0% By type (parts vs labour vs running) Type ​ Cost (£) ​ % of total ​ Acquisition £12,488.00 47.2% Parts £7,129.90 27.0% Labour £4,420.00 16.7% Service £1,390.00 5.3% Tool £47.65 0.2% Admin £1,095.00 4.1% Credit (£130.00) -0.5% So I've already spent more on parts+labour than what I originally paid for the car. The works carried out have resulted in a car with a fully new exhaust system, fully new suspension, sorted cooling system, working AC, and an interior that's a lovely place to be in. What remains is: Brake system - pads, rotors and refurbishment sometime soon (have already bought 997 GT3 BMC) Gearbox - have done all I can on the shifter side of things but there is still a lot of play/muddiness plus the synchros are worn, perfectly driveable but it does let the car down and will bite the rebuild bullet in the next year. At the same time I'll replace all clutch hydraulics, the leaking RMS, and depending on the boy math I do might opt for a new clutch + LFW upgrade Coachworks/Bodywork - Car needs a respray overall, and the arches need sorting (can probably get away without cutting/welding if I act quickly). For the underside and interior of the arches I've booked with ARP in Slough which will take care of that aspect at least. The total figure did catch me off-guard a little bit, while I had claude work the numbers I was hoping/expecting it would be closer to 20 than 25, but alas. If I had undertaken the exhaust and suspension work myself it would've been quite a bit cheaper, but similarly if I hadn't done mostly everything else myself a lot more expensive. How do these numbers look to you?

@Dovoda75 that is a really insightful analysis when did you buy the car ? need to probably do the same

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Thanks, got it last May via pistonheads auction. Talked to yet another painter yesterday, I'm getting really sick of them tbh. The only car-related professionals that when you tell them you've talked to other bodyshops ask you how much you've been quoted, then after a lot of explaining how they are the dogs bollocks manage to come in at slightly under whatever quote you told them you got. Oh and they are booked for the next 6 months. Can't wait for robot painters to be more widespread. Seriously considering travelling to mainland Europe for a respray.

rest assured you have the best colour and a euro trip might be worth while, but gotta be someone ? what's the range of quotes ?

Adding up how much cars cost is crazy talk! Well done for being brave enough to record it and to post it here! Who will you get to rebuild the box? Sport and classic is the goto - Mike does loads of these. Not cheap, but proper job

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9k for a non bare metal non glass out respray not including the hardtop is the cheapest, all the way to "we'll start from 12-13+VAT and see how it goes" for glass out I also got a quote just to tidy up the front arches at 1200+VAT but that seems even worse value as it doesn't include the rear arches and it's unlikely the colour match will be good (speed yellow fades)

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I did this on my old 993 Targa, wasn't too bad but when i did this on my 996.2 GT3, it swiss cheesed my brain !

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I'm in London so it's a bit difficult to justify sending it to him. One option is removal + refit from local specialist (4hrs labour) and sending it to Helical Gearboxes who have had good reviews here, the other is to talk to JAZ and see if they do gearbox work in-house and how much a turnkey job with them would cost

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yes, speed yellow is a tough colour to match but has value when done right

Brilliant breakdown I’m probably in a similar position a lot of the labour saved due to doing work myself but if I wrote it down and the wife found it I’d be in trouble lol

Your a braver man then me….. really don’t want to know what I’ve spent as I think I would throw up

In the two years I have owned my 996.2 Carrera 2 I have spent an average of £4000 a year on it! Arguably, most of the work has not been essential. However, I take the view that if its been mentioned on an MOT/service I get the work attended to asap. Included in this amount is new Porsche roofbars, full set of N rated tyres etc I don't ever hope to make a profit on value of my 996, although I hope and believe that I will come out around even if I ever decide to sell. Keeping it in top fettle will help with that obviously.

I owned my 2002 996C4 for 3.5 years. 2009 -2013. Here's my summary of ownership costs over that time. It obviously helped that it was only 7-11 years old. Thread 'My first year in a 996 - updated for years 2 & 3' 19 Oct 2010 After a long wait I finally bought my first 911 last October and after not enjoying the first 5 months - partly due to the weather but also due to having to wait that long for my supplying dealer to return the PCM he took out for repair - I have now recorded an immensely enjoyable 3348 miles. I broke the cardinal rule and bought without a PPI (although I did pay £600 for a WMS warranty and did buy from a trader) but I've got over the paranoia only for it to be replaced a new one brought about by not renewing the warranty. My beloved is only used on days when I feel like driving rather... T8 Replies: 20 Forum: Porsche 911 996 (1997-2005)

Around £22k in 14 years of servicing/maintenance spent on my C2, ~£8k was spent in 2025 on new fuel rails (Engine & Gearbox out) and ‘whilst we’re in there’ + other jobs I didn’t want to do over Winter. I could post up my long service/mods list if anyone is interested? At the end of 2025 it averaged just under £2k p/a on maintenance (including the big £8k spend) which is the general budget that seems to get mentioned for a regularly used car (5000m+ p/a).

I try not to do the maths. Engine out for AOS, oil cooler and a raft of other stuff after the filler neck o ring failed and it leaked oil onto the top of the engine, new suspension, new brakes, set at Center Gravity, new tyres, seat retrim, various other interior bits, new drift shaft, I reckon in three years I'm stood at £10k in with probably half that as 'must do', the rest as 'nice to do'. Sometimes I think about the maths and think it's too expensive. Then I drive it again and I seem to forget all about the cost. It'll be completely new in a few years at this rate anyway