Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

For some time now, i have been pondering on why i own a Porsche.. i hardly drive the damn thing and it has turned in to the most pampered garage queen of all time. I have only done 600 miles more in the last year than Seans speedster and that never goes anywhere. i think over the last 18 months i have lost what it is all meant to be about....surely driving the bloody thing??? I calculated i have spent more on wax, machines and polish than on petrol this summer....and that is no joke. I actually garaged it up for a week repairing every stone chip and that was when it was sunny..madness. I find myself trying to find excuses to take it out which is all very well, but dont you get more enjoyment if driving a 911 is the norm not the high day and holiday exception.

So after huge deliberation i am virtually sure i am going to sell the daily Alfa, flog the 993 and buy a good 996 facelift widebody and use it every day. (well about 12k a year in fits and starts) OK lets not get in to the watercooled stuff - i just want a daily 911 a little less agricultural and the 993 is just way way way too good to start blatting up motorways etc. After all the love and attention i just couldnt do it....so dont even suggest it.

It will save 2 MOT headaches, two lots of insurance / servicing (the 993 gets serviced no matter how many miles) etc etc but of course its going to devalue more. But then again all my petrol is paid for the daily driver so who gives a stuff about mpg.

Have i gone mad???? i know all the value calculations etc cant see how i wouldnt be better off in smiles though?

So - unless someone comes up with a damn good reason i cant see,.......who wants to buy a 993. THose who know it seem to think its a good one. Personally i think it is one of the best in the country but i am biased.

After all that i am feeling somewhat nauseous...... i think i had better go on clean the 993, it went to the MOT station this morning a trip of 4 miles, so time for another spruce up. THERE I GO AGAIN damnit.

Hi Clive

DON'T DO IT!!!!

I've just sold mine for financial reasons and am still crying

It was pretty much my daily driver for the last year, over 10,000 miles with plenty of long motorway trips. I guess if you have the sports suspension it could feel tiring on long trips but in std form it was as comfortable as any modern car and far more fun

As for not being able do it after all the love etc.
B******, you're going to sell it to someone who will thrash it, not polish it , leave it outside, not care if a bird sh*ts on it but most of all he/she will be enjoying every minute of it just like i've done in the last year.

Don't let someone ese have all the fun when IT COULD BE YOU !!

I know how you feel - I have had company cars and questioned why I have owned my Porsches in the past... I get annoyed (typical Virgo) that it isn't perfect and have started down the road of spending all of my income on making it perfect. At that point I probably won't want it to leave the garage!!

I've always maintained that there are two kinds of cars: cars for getting from A to B and cars for enjoying. Cars for getting from A to B you will park in a supermarket, multi-storey etc and they *will* get dinged and scratched. They will also get stone chips, get wet, do a lot of mileage and will usually not look their best - it's a tool, not a piece of art. Cars for enjoying however you can keep safer by minimising car parks, only driving in good weather and washing frequently.

It sounds like your 993 is a lovely car, so you certainly don't want to use it as an A to B car. Would you be happy with a slightly rough 996 C2S though? Tough one.

Would it perhaps be better getting a small Japanese car to replace the Alfa? Something really rubbish that would contrast with the 993, but would be ultra-reliable keeping insurance, tax and fuel costs minimal? Plus something like a Nissan Micra really would illustrate how good the Porsche is!!! It sounds like you've spent such a lot of effort on the 993 that you should be able to enjoy it for a couple of years on those great days. A modern Porsche that you pile miles on and has less-than-perfect appearance might just spoil the premium car ownership experience for you.

Hopefully that's vaguely helpful!? On aggregate I'd say don't do it!! I sold my concourse condition 944 and bitterly regretted it. Now I've got another £10k and at least a year to get my 3.2 up to my standard.

Good luck!

Clive
Your car is stunning, if you sell it i am sure you will regret it when you see the depreciation on a 996 in a year or so time.Keep what you have and use it more!!!!
Geoff

996 is a great daily driver and I can't really see where the extra excitement could be in a 993 to be honest.

I'd say do it if it means you are going to drive it more, cars are not for polishing they are for driving.

Depends on what you want, unfortunately only you can decide that one!

996's have plummetted in value, £20k will get you a good example around 2000/01 but anything post march 2000 will cost you loads on car tax, also a 996 would also be more useable as a day to day car, but would you be able to not worry about it getting stonechips, getting wet !! and not getting cleaned and polished after every trip ? the choice is yours

Mar 2001 actually e.g. 51 plate & newer.

I think it's a smart move actually. 993 prices have probably topped out and may well start going south again (?)

996s however - I think the depreciation curve has now levelled off somewhat. They are also much more useable everyday from what I understand.

Adam

I'm with Jason. Your car is beautiful. Use it & enjoy! (Polish hides a lot of stone chips!) Don't much care for car values & don't understand them. My old '44 is a better drive than some of the cars I drive at work that are worth twenty times it's value. I know people who have great cars sitting in heated garages that only come out at service time incase they depreciate. Stuff that. If you can afford to buy it. Use it. You can't take it with you & life is short!

Not sure the 993 has bottomed out. Bearing in mind that it's a relatively small pool of hand made cars unlike the 996 & also they have no real weaknesses unlike the later cars then I can't see it.

You have to have a different attitude for a daily driver, being paranoid about keeping it clean & where you park it doesn't tie up with keeping a car immaculate & you'll be ringing the Samaritans if you try to do 12K with the same outlook.

Don't do it

Flog the Alfa and use the 993 everyday, enjoy it as Dr Porsche intended, don't lock it up in a garage

my opinion for what it's worth... dr porsche intended his cars to be driven, drive the 993 or if you can't face that, drop it for a 996 and drive that instead. either way i would prescribe more driving, less polishing

Well I never.

After all the help and advice you have given me regarding my 993, even recolouring the handbrake for me

I used to have an Alfa (3 litre Lusso 164) and drove it into the ground and then sent it to the great scrap yard in the sky.

So do the same with your Alfa. Engine, like most Alfas was fabulous, end of story.

In addition get the 993 out more often.

Did nearly 5000 miles in mine over the past year through hail, rain and snow, you saw how dirty it was at Silverstone. Couldn't be bothered to wash it for the Sunday.

I still clean it quite regularly though and try to keep the stone chips under control on the bonnet and near side wheel arches

So why not keep it and drive the bl***y thing; that's what it was built for and you can still keep it looking fabulous.

Why do I drive mine, well I love driving it and get withdrawal symptoms if I leave it in the garage.

In addition to this they go rotten if not driven enough, especially the brakes.

Look at the weather Get the bloody thing out of the garage and thrash it within an inch of its life

Better still lend it me and I'll sort it for you

get on ebay buy a bra for it and thrash it. sell the italian pile of crap and keep the pork you have. the bra will stop most stone chips but atleast if you get a couple you got something to do when you get bored. also if you drive it on a regular it will sure as hell give you something to clean damit!

what if you owned a veron? would you not drive it at all incase a fly hit the front or windscreen? nah! you'd be flying up and down motorway's collecting speeding tickets like the front collects flies.

drive the 993