My new purchase (911 content) *final update p9*

[ioneabee]

Just saw a white Panamera with your Martini stripes - reminded me of you

[Ekona]

Some will read this as showing off. Some will read this as car geekery in the extreme. Some will read this as a story of someone who dared to live their motoring dream. There’s nothing I can really do for the first two, but for the last group I hope you appreciate these words.

 

 

I’ll get straight to the figures first, get them out of the way. Invoice cost of the car was £62K. Finance was £933pcm with a GFV of £27K. My first service was a major one at £1200. Second one was a minor at £867. I’ve done two sets of rear tyres at £700 for the pair fitted, and a pair of fronts at £550 fitted. Fuel is sitting at 28mpg average, but I’ve seen 40mpg on a light cruise and 8mpg on track. The exhaust and sport mode retrofit was £3K. Insurance is roughly £700 a year. VED is £500. I extended the warranty once, at a cost of £1100. The Center Gravity geo cost me £300. Oil changes are around £100 including OEM filter parts and 9L of oil. She uses roughly 1L of oil every couple of thousand miles, normal for a DFI 911 engine. I’ve done 25K miles, so that’s a fair amount of the black stuff. I’ve spent hundreds of pounds on detailing stuff, not least of all £120 for a tub of Swissvax Zuffenhousen wax. I’ve also had two condensers replaced, one in warranty and one outside at the cost of £630.

 

 

Ignoring the cost of the car itself, overall its cost me about the same as my 350Z did. What I’ve saved on mods I’ve spent on maintenance. Worth every penny? Yes. I have no hesitation in saying that.

 

 

Owning a 911 has totally changed what I now view sports car ownership to be. Coming from a history of convertibles, this was my first ever coupe, and I’d never really appreciated the difference to dynamics that having a roof can have. The fact it’s just so pretty from every angle doesn’t hurt at all.

 

I’d always had cars you could mod, cars that pretty much always needed modifying to get them to where a keen driver would want them, as opposed to Joe Bloggs off the street. Not so with the 911: It’s stunning right out of the box. Sure, you could add various bits like rose-jointed suspension or high flow cats, but really the package is so incredibly well engineered that you’re gaining increases in single digit percentages. For some it’s worth it, for me I never felt the urge on this like I did with previous cars.

 

In terms of the drive, I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: No-one gets into their first 911 and understands the handling straight away. For me, it took a year, and I only had the supreme confidence of being able to hang the back end out on the final drive four years later at Bedford. Yes, the chassis is wonderful, but it still feels unnatural with the pendulum effect going on. That’s such a boon when exiting corners though, as the ability to get the power down before you’ve touched the apex is sublime. Getting the nose to settle is a challenge, and it’s one that many people wouldn’t be happy with, but if you’re committed to improving your skills then the rewards are like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Better than an Elise? It’s bang up there, for me.

 

The brand, the history, the racing. Again, you either love it or you don’t. For every typical Porsche driver who cares little for the engineering, there’s two that are so passionate about it that they have Stuttgart dripping from their veins. Fortunately I found fellow owners to be of the latter type, and being able to banter with like-minded individuals makes the ownership a special experience. Of course, being able to buy/beg/blag trips to corporate driving events and visits to factories and race meets is all part of the charm, as there’s just such a huge performance ethos throughout the brand you can’t help but get swept up in it. Going to the launches of the new models was always a great evening, with free nibbles and champagne, but in the company of race drivers (Josh Webster at the Macan launch) and race cars (a 935 and the LMP1 prototype) made it more than just a posh lads jolly. Truth is, I’m as much a Porsche fan as I am of other essentials, like air or water.

 

Sadly my ownership has now ended, but my passion will never die. I will get another one at some point, purely because I have to. Not want, not need, but have to.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ekona

[GMballistic]

Stop showing off Dan we get it you're considerably richer than us.

 

 

Seriously though good write up and glad you enjoyed your 911 experience.

 

It's definitely a car I'd like to own but for me I do get some strange enjoyment from owning a car that is modified for better performance than it was as standard and as you say the 911 is just great right out of the box so maybe it's a car I'll never end up with for that reason. Who knows. Thanks for sharing.

[Ekona]

I'm not richer any more, that was a bloody expensive way of owning a car!

[gsexr]

An honest write up from someone who you can tell has a genuine passion for the brand. Yes its another price bracket but look beyond that and they are great cars.

 

As a young mechanic back in about 1988 i put a clutch in a 1983 911 SC and have never forgotten the road test. Been a 911 fan ever since just never had deep enough pockets to own one but will always want one.

[GMballistic]

I'm not richer any more, that was a bloody expensive way of owning a car!

S*d it, ..it's only money and you only live once. Might as well enjoy it while you can.

[gangzoom]

Thanks for the info!! Very helpful for those of us that can only dream about owing such a car

 

So all in including fuel it works out at roughly £1300/month (assuming 3 years of ownership?), which for such a second I could nearly justify but than I realise that's nearly double what my 335i has cost me to run/mod/repair for the few years....so sadly I much like a GTR, I don't think I'll ever be able to own/run a 911

[Sarnie]

Did you put a deposit down??

 

If you did it was surely tiny given that £933 x 48 = £44,784 + £27k GFV = £71,784 plus any deposit

[Ekona]

Just shy of four years, but still horrendous money if you count depreciation.

 

there's a reason I tend not to keep calculators nearby anymore...

[Ekona]

Deposit was about £8k I think, as I still had finance owed on the Zed at the time.

[Sarnie]

[Ekona]

Yup

 

You can't take it with you, and all that. What price living a dream?

[Sarnie]

When it's YOUR dream, the price is irrelevant, if it makes you happy and you can afford it.

 

It's when it's NOT your dream and you look at cold hard figures that probably creep over £1500 a month, its a little harder to digest.

 

I'm considering a brand new purchase of a car that is more than you car was but as I work from home and have done hardly any mileage in my M3, and given that a new car will tank in value, everyone is telling me what other sensible stuff I could be doing with the money but I just WANT it!!! haha

Edited September 26, 2014 by Sarnie

[Flex]

Did you put a deposit down??

 

If you did it was surely tiny given that £933 x 48 = £44,784 + £27k GFV = £71,784 plus any deposit

 

Holy sh1te!!!!

[Ekona]

It's a hell of a lot of money, but I've had adventures in that car that are pretty much priceless.

 

LEJOG in the one day

My Spain trip

LM on Porsche's return to LMP1

 

Things like that give me memories that I wouldn't swap for anything. For me, cars are my life and my passion, and as long as I'm still having fun then I'm going to spend every penny I have on them. Some people have nice houses, some have nice holidays, I have nice cars

 

Some lucky buggers get the lot!

 

 

Seriously, for me it's been a fantastic journey owning something I never, ever thought I'd get the chance to.

[Sarnie]

It's a hell of a lot of money, but I've had adventures in that car that are pretty much priceless.

 

LEJOG in the one day

My Spain trip

LM on Porsche's return to LMP1

 

For me, cars are my life and my passion, and as long as I'm still having fun then I'm going to spend every penny I have on them. Some people have nice houses, some have nice holidays, I have nice cars

 

 

That contradicts you selling it to buy a house

[Ekona]

I may have left the part out where sometimes the woman gets the last word

[Sarnie]

I knew it, just the bravado wasn't saying it

[gangzoom]

I may have left the part out where sometimes the woman gets the last word

 

LOL I think for most of us you should replace the words 'sometimes' with 'all the time'

 

Good luck house hunting, if you end up spending the same per month on a house as you did on the 911, around my area your be living very very comfortably!!

Edited September 27, 2014 by gangzoom