[Perfectlap]

DIY saves money for sure but a quick look recently at my largest bills from my indy seem to show that very rarely is labor half or more of the total bill. Since my indy's hourly rate is a reasonable $85 (cheap considering their experience and specialization), I've only had a few instances where labor exceeded ~$700. Yet parts for Porsches will always be over-priced.

As for as my expectations. This is a tale of two Porsches. My mostly garage kept and weekend only Boxster was by far the most reliable car I'd ever owned... up to the first 70K miles only one unexpected repair and even at the dealer it was less than a $400 fix.
Then came the other Boxster, the one with next 20K miles and it all came home to roost. Big big money (relative to the market value of the car itself). Most everyone I know think I was nuts not to sell but in my mind I didn't see the point until the 9A1 Porsches hit the second-hand market with depreciation all baked in. I knew that was going to take a while so I hunkered down and put some extra pennies in the piggy bank each month. My lesson learned is "in by 20K miles out by 50K miles" when it comes to water-cooled Porsches. Let the first owner take the depreciation hit, let the next owner deal with major maintenance bills. I recently read a 993 owner speaking of the same decision to sell in advance of the "big wave".
Now I don't know if I'm too interested in sticking with Porsche. Sometimes I think that if not for the Boxster I doubt I would have owned a Porsche at all, or no more than a year or two as rear engine cars really aren't my thing. I only wish Porsche had decided to have flagship cars for rear and midengine fans respectively. My "dream" workhorse Porsche would be a 918 Spyder with a conventional engine and a whole lot less carbon fiber and unobtainium.