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Counting the costs: my 90,000 mile 987.2

911hillclimber

PCGB Member
Member


90,000 miles feels a huge milestone to me. As a car approaches this position I wonder what awaits me (and the wallet) and over 100,000 miles the car will be worthless..maybe.

We bought the 987.2 from PCT in Coventry in March 2016 @ 33,000 miles. We went there to view a 996 Targa which was simply grey. Everywhere you looked, Grey.
The Boxster was sitting next to it in the showroom in bright white so quite a contrast and looked far more interesting esp when I read it was a Gen2 car, no ims etc, looking good.

Eventually we did a deal over the phone after a short test drive where my only interest was how well it drove over rough tarmac. The BMW Z3 we had bought just 2 months before was simply shocking, it had to go.
The BMW was the only car I bought (from a main dealer) un-driven, lesson learnt.

The 987.2, 2009 and 2.9 seemed really nice by comparison, £20K less £10K for the BMW which they sold within 10 days!

As the Boxster was started for the test drive a plume of smoke (white) erupted, not a good start, but assured it would be sorted before it was sold.
That didn't happen but more on that later.

Week later we were in the Boxster and departed shortly after on a big road trip to 5 European countries, ran great and only engulfed 3 hotel car park early cold starts with white smoke. Those who have suffered this embarrassment with fully understand what it is like.



So, what is the point of this post?

Yesterday I sat down with my thick A4 folder with all the car's details to tot-up the costs of owning this car, keeping it together and really looking at if we can justify keeping it.

A Sports Car is nice to have, hard to Justify.





Here we go with the details by year, Service, miles, and parts

2017
Service £696 Major and a shot to fix the smoke issue.
39,000
Parts in the service cost. (PCT)
2018
Service £199 Minor @ Zuffenhaus
49,000
OPC investigation into smoke, no actual result, £110
Parts: AOS diy fit
2019
Service £328 minor with plugs etc @ Zuffenhaus
59,000
Wipers £38, Clutch pedal switch £27
Action: Zuffenhaus replace the AOS, exhaust bolts and clamps and MoT £335
2 Bridgestone tyres, £468
Spare coil pack in the boot (and then used in Austria, saved the holiday)
Action: Zuffenhaus replace all coil packs, £320
2020
Service £165 @ Zuffenhaus
65.000
Replace front discs and pads (was on originals) £360 diy
Chassis geo reset and MoT £199
Carbon impregnated cabin filter £52 (!)
2021
69,000
Service £597 major with brake fluids etc @ Zuffenhaus
Front coolant hoses to stem local leaks, £130 from OPC, diy fit
2022
71,000
£199 @ Zuffenhaus
71,000
2 tyres £500
Drivers window regulator £117 diy fit
2023
78,000
Service £350 Minor with other parts @ Zuffenhaus
Engine air filter £39 diy
2024
83,000
Service £219 minor @ Zuffenhaus
Actions: Refurbish 19" wheels locally £360
2 tyres £507
2025
87,000
Service £613 major service and belt etc @ Zuffenhaus and car check before a Euro road trip...advised coolant cross pipes failing.
Replace rear discs and pads (was still on the originals) £306 diy
Replace all the front cooling pipes, £1119 @ Zuffenhaus.

Summary:
1
Smoke issues fixed by Laura on here and have the oil level at 2 segments down from maximum! Works.
2
About £8000 over the last 9.5 years
3
I fall in love and out of love regularly, but when in love this car is great.
We bought it to use it, forget the miles, get the experiences and that is what it has really delivered.
4
Find a good indie specialist and stick with them; Zuffenhaus have been great, trustworthy and 100% reliable. Lots of regular stamps in the service book!
5
My wife actually thought this was a reasonable cost for the experiences!

Hope this has not been too boring, but thought some would like to see my real world experiences.



Graham.
 
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A great summary Graham, and I feel as though I’ve been on your journey through your many posts on here, so well done and thanks for sharing. Great pics too!👍

Although you haven’t included add-on costs like insurance, road tax and fuel, £8k for 9.5 years sounds very reasonable for the enjoyment the car’s given you and Mrs. H. I’ve now had my 987.2 CS for just over 16-years from new … but have only covered a third of your mileage!😳 Like you I have all the receipts but have never ventured to work out what it’s cost me over that time. I’m sure that it would be frightening, but then I didn’t expect Porsche motoring to come cheap!😀

Jeff
 
I have the twin of your car and like Motorhead I have done a third of your mileage. I have owned it since 2014 after selling my 997. It has taken me to France and Spain without a beep. They are absolutely fab cars. Only 3 years production as a 2.9 with no IMS etc. Performance is brisk but not license losing. They have held value really well and mine is a keeper. My 718 Spyder would go first.
 
Thanks both.

I feel it is good to express some 'real-life' facts!
I did this because I was considering selling the car after the last French road trip a few weeks ago, but somehow Mrs hillclimber seems reluctant to part with it.(?)

I would certainly miss the car; as said, it is a great all-rounder, esp for long Euro/Scottish etc trips.

Over time I had lost the thread about costs, but it has felt recently it has been hungry for the cash!

I ponder the fate of a new clutch (original in the car and perfect) and the suspension as a whole, but all original 2009 parts except the brakes, and not a noise from any of it.

I guess it's worth around £10K tops but it has the Gen 2 halo of no IMS etc, and now the cross over pipe set has been done (the most expensive single cost bar the purchase) the car has few faults.

I took the car to Zuffenhaus on Monday to see if they felt the wheel bearings were weakening, (another £1000 bill or there abouts ) at their suggestion.

Unsurprisingly, "nothing wrong" but come back if you are not happy. No charge.

It needs some cosmetics, stone chips on the bonnet etc, but that is the cost of using the car, but any car.

Soon I hope to get to a point that all 4 tyres need replacing at the same time so I can ditch the Bridgestones for another brand.

It is VERY hard to find anything else to match the Boxster but the Toyota GT85 is close to the mark, a GR would be 'Cayman-perfect'.



 
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I remember your "angst" with the white smoke!

My 2013 981S has now done 72,500 miles (50k of them by me in the last 5 years; 2k escorting the factory trippers last month for the third time - every time without missing a beat) and has been relatively unproblematic except for - the roof! It has a gremlin which prevents it opening or shutting in one go. I know it's not the main control unit by the latch so it is going for further investigation by my indie next month. Oh, and I destroyed the cd drive while trying to update the maps but I can only blame myself for that and, so far, I haven't bothered to do anything about it.
I drove a 718GTS at Leipzig as I had it in mind for a dream future purchase. That told me it was no better than my trusty 981S which goes so well and sounds beautiful so I shall spend the £70k I would have had to find for that on building a new garage for what I have! I'll keep her and love her.

... and Graham, the Toyota is probably a very good car but won't be as sparky as your 987.2 2.9 - keep her and love her!
 
I remember your "angst" with the white smoke!

My 2013 981S has now done 72,500 miles (50k of them by me in the last 5 years; 2k escorting the factory trippers last month for the third time - every time without missing a beat) and has been relatively unproblematic except for - the roof! It has a gremlin which prevents it opening or shutting in one go. I know it's not the main control unit by the latch so it is going for further investigation by my indie next month. Oh, and I destroyed the cd drive while trying to update the maps but I can only blame myself for that and, so far, I haven't bothered to do anything about it.
I drove a 718GTS at Leipzig as I had it in mind for a dream future purchase. That told me it was no better than my trusty 981S which goes so well and sounds beautiful so I shall spend the £70k I would have had to find for that on building a new garage for what I have! I'll keep her and love her.

... and Graham, the Toyota is probably a very good car but won't be as sparky as your 987.2 2.9 - keep her and love her!
Laura,
I also have a 2013 981S and have only done 39,000 miles, even after a 3,000 mile European road trip this year, which like yours different miss a beat and stayed with RS and GT cars on the alpine roads. I drove a 4.0 GTS at the PEC at Silverstone and loved it but find it difficult to spend over double on a car for such small gains! However, my 981 is now 13 years old and I will have to upgrade at some point.
Decisions decisions!!
Steve
 
Original poster - the costs for so many years and miles has been modest. Add that to keeping your wife happy it's wonderful !
 
Ha! My oldest petrol-head friends say the exact same!
Some Man-Maths:
£8000 in 9.5 years = £842 per year.
Per week: 842 / 52 = £16.19 per week
Per day: 16.19 / 7 = £2.31 which is about 1/2 a cup of coffee or 2/3rds of a piece of cake.

A Happy Wife?
Priceless as we all know.
Super rare pic of the 987.2 with it's roof down no less, stopped off for the '1/2 a cup of coffee' and 'Fabulous' indeed.
What a chance of a picture from the vault.

 
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I suppose the equation is incomplete…

The car cost 20,000 in 2016.
Today it might be worth 10,000 max

Thus the 10k depreciation should be added.

So, roughly the cost per day must be close to a nice coffee and a small cake!
 

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