Unleashed?
In February 2007 I bought a Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet. This page details the events and highlights of my ownership of the car including maintenance and repair issues. If you're just looking for photos, there's a 911 gallery too.
One of the lessons I've learned during my life is that it's often difficult to tell ahead of time which issues and events in your life will grow into major ordeals. Accordingly, I think it's wise to pay attention to the details for everything since you just never know when the details might become important in the future. It is with this archival spirit that the page you are reading was created.
If you are considering purchasing a Porsche of your own then I hope that the information available here is useful to your decision making. While the plural of "anecdote" is not "data", it's often nice to be able to see what another person's experiences have been.
Why a 911 and not a Boxster? It was a tough call and I don't think there is a single right answer. I posted to Rennteam.com some of my thoughts on the matter.
I no longer own this car. I sold it on 31-Aug-2009. See my other cars for more information.
Summary of Costs
MSRP was $102,040 and I traded it in for $47,000.
Maintenance cost an average of $325 per month in hard costs.
Depreciation added $1,835 in soft cost each month for a total ownership expense of $2,159 a month.
The car depreciated 53% during the 30 months I owned it. It was a trade-in sale, so presumbly depreciation would have been less grim with a private party sale (but not by much).
Fuel and insurance is not included in these figures.
Maintenance cost per mile:
$0.26
Repair cost per mile:
$0.08
Depreciation cost per mile:
$1.50
Total ownership cost per mile: $1.84
Repair/Maintenance History
| Date | Mileage | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31-Aug-2009 | 36,400 | Sold Car. | |
| 25-Jun-2009 | 34,416 | Terrible buzzing from exhaust. Replaced Porsche Sport Exhaust (PSE) driver side resonator under warranty. | $0.00 |
| 16-Jun-2009 | 34,371 | Oil change, check brake condition (they were fine). | $192.38 |
| 5-May-2009 | 33,607 | Four new tires, all around. Stayed with P Zero Rossos. | $1,934.89 |
| 2-May-2009 | 33,583 | Tech inspection for The Driver's Edge track event participation. Brake fluid flush and fill. | $319.39 |
| 3-Mar-2009 | 31,034 | PCM stopped seeing the aftermarket Dension iPod adapter. Dealer hooked up the diagnostics computer and "re-added" the CD Changer to the MOST loop. Problem solved. | $125.00 |
| 7-Jan-2009 | 28,360 | Check engine light came on. Turned out to be operator error -- I'd left the oil filler cap loose. | $0.00 |
| 26-Sep-2008 | 25,199 | Had an "off" at Harris Hill Road (CCW, coming out of turn 4) and banged up the right rear wheel. Needed new tire, wheel hub and bearing, lower control arm, and a full balance+alignment to get things back to normal. Thankfully the tires were pretty new so I could get away with just replacing one and not both rears. | $2,237.00 |
| 11-Aug-2008 | 23,450 | Four new tires all around and PCM Navigation update. I also blogged my thoughts about tire wear. [receipt] | $2,754.32 |
| 16-May-2008 | 19,035 | Oil change and 20K service performed. [receipt] | $598 |
| 14-Apr-2008 | 16,962 | Got the car checked out for the track and brake fluid flush & fill. [receipt] | $466 |
| 11-Apr-2008 | 16,789 | Time for new rear tires. [receipt] | $1,067 |
| 6-Feb-2008 | 13,999 | Also took the car to jcautospec and got an alignment. [specs] | $20 |
| 6-Feb-2008 | 13,999 | Replaced horn under warranty. Monica spotted a scary bubble on the front left tire, so it was time for two new fronts even through the tread wear was still pretty decent. [receipt] | $958 |
| 14-Nov-2007 | 10,504 | My top started making a distinct rattling noise, coming from somewhere above the driver's side window. It sounded like a baby's rattle whenever I drove over a bump. Eventually the culprit showed itself -- The middle trim piece above the window lost a bolt and popped loose, interfering with top operation. Warranty repair. The passenger-side piece was also loose and headed for the same fate, so they tightened them all up. | $0 |
| 12-Nov-2007 | 10,377 | Two days of hard driving at the track and the car was thirsty for another quart of oil. I fed it from the case I bought in July. | $0 |
| 18-Oct-2007 | 9,100 | Took a nail to the left rear tire, on the sidewall. Replaced both rears. Front tires still had plenty of tread, but the rears were pretty far gone and needed replacing anyway. Went with 305/30ZR19 instead of the stock 295/30ZR19. [receipt] | $1,165 |
| 9-Jul-2007 | 6,275 | Had the rock chip in the windshield repaired. You can still see a scuff if you know where to look but it's not bad at all. Probably not worth the expense of a new windshield to eliminate it entirely. | $60 |
| 9-Jul-2007 | 6,275 | Low on oil again (eats oil like a BMW when you run it hard, I guess) and I didn't want to put another quart of 10W40 in. Decided to just get a full oil change at the dealership well in advance of the first scheduled change. Figure it's cheap insurance for engine longevity. Picked up a case of 0W40 for future topoffs. [receipt] | $264 |
| 27-Jun-2007 | 5,334 | Oops. I forgot that my car has a big, fat ass. Didn't pull into the garage far enough and closed the garage door on the engine lid. Nice gouge down to the metal. Dang. [receipt] | $676 |
| 25-Jun-2007 | 5,153 | Topped off with 1qt of oil, Mobil1 10W40 (best I could find at Wal*Mart). | $6 |
| 9-Jun-2007 | 4,500 | Installed a SmartTop to make the convertible top less annoying to operate. I took a bunch of pictures and took notes during the install. | $479 |
| 25-Apr-2007 | 2,377 | Rock chip in my windshield while driving to Houston. Dang. | |
| 15-Apr-2007 | 1,531 | Installed a Dension IceLink Gateway 500 iPod interface from BumperPlugs and wired my iPod into the stereo. It's not great but it's the best thing going for Porsche iPod interfaces. | $516 |
| 24-Feb-2007 | 600 | Installing the valentine one radar detector seemed prudent. I hard-wired it into the overhead light by following the directons on RennTech (requires login) and it went off without a hitch. | ~$10 |
| 17-Feb-2007 | 397 | Had (and solved) a little trouble programming the HomeLink® garage door opener. | |
| 13-Feb-2007 | 32 | Bought car. 32 miles may seem high, but at least 20 of them were Monica and me on the test drive. |
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