Hello fellow Porsche fans.

I am in the process of buying the car of my dreams. I have waited several years to do so and my choices are between a 02 911 turbo X50, an 04 911 turbo X50 and an 02 911 turbo. I guess I am looking for any advise that would help me make the best decision. The 04 has more miles (22,000) the 02 has only 6,000 miles, and the single turbo car is less money than the other two cars. This would be my first Porsche. I currently have a 550hp c5 corvette so I am used to a powerful car that I am certain is far less refined than the Porsche.

Can you give me any advise on my purchase? How is the cost of maintaining the car? Are there costs you have experienced that were a real surprise after owning it for a while? What should I look for with regards to options?

Thank you in advance

 

The non x-50 02 turbo, still is a twin turbo, not a single turbo. Porsche hasn't produced a single turbo 911 since 1994. In the non- x-50 package, they are smaller K16 turbos, not the K24's that the x-50 uses to make more hp.

The 996 Turbos are fairly bulletproof, but you need to have a maintenance budget level that is comprible to the car you are buying. Expect maintenance to be significantly more expensive on a car that once went for over $125k, than something you buy for $20k. It is all relative. Brakes, clutches, etc will all be big bills when they come due. Expect around $3000 to do the clutch when it comes time (17 hours labor book time, plus 15-1800 in parts). A full brake job (pads, rotors, etc) will be well over $1k.

 

Oh, and on the turbo, expect to replace spark plugs every 30k miles. 7-8 hours of labor, plus parts. You have to disassemble the entire rear bumper, intercoolers, etc to get to them.