996 Turbo maintenance costs

Hey all, So planning on buying 80k+110k miler 996 Turbo in Manual. What kind of average maintanence could I expect annually if I exclude big items that don’t usually need doing? Such as brake pads / oil changes / and any other maintenance items I might not be aware off? How much should I expect to pay from a reputable Indie? (Instead of Porsche main dealer) And excluding tyres, what would the big maintenance items roughly cost - and what would they be for an older car? I’m excluding non cosmetic items - meaning keeping some mechanically perfect or close to perfect? Thanks all in advance

996T as a daily for last 5 years now. At 93k miles now. Works out about 2500-3000 a year including tyres for me - I’ve found the car extremely reliable. It’s never failed to start or broken down on me Big ticket items are clutch (about 2.5k - 3.5K due to labour and possibility of new flywheel as well, about to do mine), clutch slave and accumulator (6 hours labour, I should have done clutch at same time!!), gearbox (hopefully never need done, but mine was rebuilt about 12 years ago to fix the popping out of second gear problem - possibly a 3-5k job at sport and Classic, THE 911 gearbox specialist), then the turbos which corrode eventually and will cost maybe 5-7k for the pair - I’d be looking for a car that had them done at some point, as mine did in 2015 Other than that usual 911 costs - front radiators, starter and alternator, brake lines, driveshafts (one of my fronts went, 600 quid from Porsche for shaft), frequent coffin and control arms etc but none of them are hard to fit so labour charges aren’t high

I put 250/month into a savings account to cover running costs and I’m still cash positive in it !

The general rule to keep a good condition 996 carrera in tip top mechanical fettle is to budget £1500-2000 a year in servicing and maintenance. Some years will be less, some more. 996TT has all the standard age related issues as the carrera: Brake lines AC lines Coolant lines SO many suspension arms in which the bushes perish. Shocks And then some more big ticket items besides, along with other parts (brakes/tyres etc) being pricier too. So allow £2500/year perhaps? With a bit of a slush fund on hand if you get a ‘vintage’ year of bills

It worked out at £1,500 per year for me - 40,000 miles and 8 years. I put £250/month in and ended up having more than £10k in the slush fund! The car did require some more money spending on it if I was going to keep it for another couple of years, but I got out shy of requiring anything major.

thanks guys, good to know average sounds around 2k a year. Feels reasonable considering 20 year old for £100k car back in the day. Yeh I'm ignoring major issue cost - as I guess that can happen to any car. Didn't realise the turbos themselves are so expensive to replace! Any idea on costs for front radiators / starter / alternator? and how long do they usually survive needs replacing? Same with coolant lines / ac lines / brake lines? ball park? I assume also if I upgraded these with braided lines - they'd last as long as car lasts? Suspensions arms - I'm guessing that's not necessarily a service item - more of a restoration thing? Expensive I'm guessing?

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Can’t speak for everything on that list, but alternators are prone to go at this age. Don’t remember it being horrifically expensive though. Radiators will depend on how lucky you are re damage or random failure. The AC lines & brake lines have corrosion issues, so depends on the life the car has led. Most now need replacing. Perhaps £2k at an Indy to get those both done. The brake lines are hard lines that run front to back under the sill of the car - haven’t heard anyone going braided with those. Coolant lines rot from the inside, so not related to time spent outside and purely age. Some can be changed relatively easily, but on a Carrera at least the main ones to the engine require the engine to be dropped, so it’s an expensive job. I imagine it would be the same on the TT. Lines aren’t expensive but the labour is. £1-2k on this perhaps. Suspension wise you’ve got top mounts and coffin arms at the front that frequently need replacing, then coffin arms, top arms and trailing arms at the back. You don’t tend to press the bushes out, just replace the whole arms. The arms themselves aren’t too punitively expensive, but it’s a big job for labour costs. To do them all, maybe £3-4k all in? Shocks will also be ripe for replacement at this mileage/age if not changed already. Then you’ll obviously want a Geo etc! You’ve also got stuff like toe links and ball joints etc too. It can add up if it all needs doing! The general rule is to buy the best car you can - a vendor who’s already spent £20k in maintenance might only be able to ask £5k more for the car. That’s a bargain for the buyer IMO! (NB I welcome correction on these costs from TT owners who’ve recently had these jobs done )

thanks man

There is other annoy stuff that's turbo specific too - like the hydraulic rams that move the spoiler all fail eventually - make sure your car has had those serviced / replaced in the last few years. Oh, and make sure it's making 0.6-0.7 bar of boost (0.7 if it's cold) and there are no whistles - else you'll need to find a boost leak

yeh for sure I'm aware of the spoiler / transmission pop out / and coolant lines. It's weird normally all these issues would put me off completely, especially when I wasn't convinced by the interior design. But the idea of owning 996 Turbo and putting multiple 100k miles on it sounds fun. I think it now comes down to driving both the 996 TT and a 997.2 and making a call from that. Feels like even though it might be easier to buy into a Turbo, it'll cost much more in the long run.

I've had mine for about 2 years now, if I strip away the cosmetic changes and "upgrades" I've made...it's actually not an expensive car to maintain. It certainly helps if you can do some of the work yourself, they are not hard cars to work on - or at least the routine stuff. They are not really any more expensive than a standard carrera to maintain, there are some issues specific to the turbos - but then there are some other issues that don't effect the turbo's (IMS, RMS, Borescore....)

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I've only owned two Porsches and it was these two. I miss the 997.2 and wish I had bought another. So much more fizzy and interesting for me.

I've had mine 14 years and other than servicing, tyres and brakes this is what has gone wrong, -The f pipe split £80 -2 numberplate lamp holders £60 -Low alternator voltage, new voltage regulator £20 Maf £130 Oil pressure sensor £45 Oh and last year the gearbox broke 9k I have however done quite a bit of preventative maint too -Replaced all the studs,nuts, fixings on manifolds, turbos and exhaust -few heatshields -coil packs -waterpump -wheel arch liners -repainted lots of bits It's not far off needing new front outer cv boots which will be this winters project I've never used it in the salt and rarely in the wet, I'm sure that is the reason I've had very little of the usual stuff, and it obviously helps I can do everything myself (except gearbox) So overall even with the gearbox about £700 a year Bargain of the century as far as I'm concerned! If you can find one that's not been used in the salt and wet it can make a huge difference underneath, as they're all shiny on top!!

Yeh I wish car washes in UK did underbody washes. I find it quite perplexing not more places offer this especially as so many enthusiast cars in UK. Use to live out Middle East and pretty standard over there to wash the underneath of the car

ALSO -do 996 Turbos need all the tyres to changed at the same time? or can be done in pairs? What do people usually do on here?