bought my first porsche

[RandallNeighbour]

As someone who bought a 97 years ago and started modding it like it crazy (new headlamps, tail lamps, seats, steering wheel, center console, exhaust, 18 inch Carrera light aftermarket wheels, etc), I offer this advice:

- Porsches are expensive to own. Parts are a LOT more money and the 98 you've purchased will no doubt need a grand in repairs in the next year or two at a bare minimum unless the previous owner was as idiotic as ME and replaced most everything on the car even if it wasn't worn out. It's an old Porsche that was built in an era where the bean counters were in charge of quality control and all the plastic crap on the car is now brittle and the bushings are all worn out, etc. Save your money for repairs. They'll be plentiful and not simple to fix like your American cars due to parts sourcing at affordable prices.

- Arrest the desire to stuff big tires and wheels under the car. You've got a 200hp car that will be substantially hurt performance wise if you put heavier wheels and tires on it. It doesn't need them for traction, that's for sure. It will also wear out your suspension and wheel bearings rapidly. Learn from my mistake. When I put my factory 17's back on the car there was a noticeable bump in off-the-line performance.

- If you join the local PCA chapter and sign up for a high speed driver's education course, you'll quickly discover you have far more car than you are capable of handling on a track (where it really shines. After all, it's not a Turbo with gobs of HP for straight-line performance). If you do this, the desire to mod the car will go away and all you'll think about is becoming a much better driver... a far more worthy use of your time and money in our opinion here on this forum.

- Every dollar you put into your 1998 beyond keeping it running well is a complete waste of money. You will not recoup any of it when you get tired of the car (or very little of it if you keep your factory parts and sell the improvement stuff). Dumping money into a depreciating asset is insanity. Took me 10+ years to figure this out about my 97, but I've got it in my head now and it's final... no more mods. It just wastes money you have saved for retirement or to retire debt in your world.

Check out my web site for all I have done and been forced to do to keep my 97 on the road and looking good... you'll see I was addicted to modding the car before I came to my senses.

Final advice: Drive the car for a year before you do a thing to it or argue with me on my points. Bookmark this thread for re-reading in November of 2016!

[JayG]

Originally Posted by randallneighbour

as someone who bought a 97 years ago and started modding it like it crazy (new headlamps, tail lamps, seats, steering wheel, center console, exhaust, etc), i offer this advice:

- porsches are expensive to own. Parts are a lot more money and the 98 you've purchased will no doubt need a grand in repairs in the next year or two at a bare minimum unless the previous owner was as idiotic as me and replaced most everything on the car even if it wasn't worn out. It's an old porsche that was built in an era where the bean counters were in charge of quality control and all the plastic crap on the car is now brittle and the bushings are all worn out, etc. Save your money for repairs. They'll be plentiful and not simple to fix like your american cars due to parts sourcing at affordable prices.

- arrest the desire to stuff big tires and wheels under the car. You've got a 200hp car that will be substantially hurt performance wise if you put heavier wheels and tires on it. It doesn't need them for traction, that's for sure. It will also wear out your suspension and wheel bearings rapidly. Learn from my mistake. When i put my factory 17's back on the car there was a noticeable bump in off-the-line performance.

- if you join the local pca chapter and sign up for a high speed driver's education course, you'll quickly discover you have far more car than you are capable of handling on a track (where it really shines. After all, it's not a turbo with gobs of hp for straight-line performance). If you do this, the desire to mod the car will go away and all you'll think about is becoming a much better driver... A far more worthy use of your time and money in our opinion here on this forum.

- every dollar you put into your 1998 beyond keeping it running well is a complete waste of money. You will not recoup any of it when you get tired of the car (or very little of it if you keep your factory parts and sell the aftermarket stuff). Dumping money into a depreciating asset is insanity. Took me 10+ years to figure this out about my 97, but i've got it in my head now and it's final... No more mods. It just wastes money you should have saved for retirement or to retire debt in your world.

Check out my web site for all i have done and been forced to do to keep my 97 on the road and looking good... You'll see i was addicted to modding the car before i came to my senses.

Final advice: Drive the car for a year before you do a thing to it or argue with me on my points. Bookmark this thread for re-reading in november of 2016!

+986! .

[Retroman1969]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

As someone who bought a 97 years ago and started modding it like it crazy (new headlamps, tail lamps, seats, steering wheel, center console, exhaust, 18 inch Carrera light aftermarket wheels, etc), I offer this advice:

- Porsches are expensive to own. Parts are a LOT more money and the 98 you've purchased will no doubt need a grand in repairs in the next year or two at a bare minimum unless the previous owner was as idiotic as ME and replaced most everything on the car even if it wasn't worn out. It's an old Porsche that was built in an era where the bean counters were in charge of quality control and all the plastic crap on the car is now brittle and the bushings are all worn out, etc. Save your money for repairs. They'll be plentiful and not simple to fix like your American cars due to parts sourcing at affordable prices.

- Arrest the desire to stuff big tires and wheels under the car. You've got a 200hp car that will be substantially hurt performance wise if you put heavier wheels and tires on it. It doesn't need them for traction, that's for sure. It will also wear out your suspension and wheel bearings rapidly. Learn from my mistake. When I put my factory 17's back on the car there was a noticeable bump in off-the-line performance.

- If you join the local PCA chapter and sign up for a high speed driver's education course, you'll quickly discover you have far more car than you are capable of handling on a track (where it really shines. After all, it's not a Turbo with gobs of HP for straight-line performance). If you do this, the desire to mod the car will go away and all you'll think about is becoming a much better driver... a far more worthy use of your time and money in our opinion here on this forum.

- Every dollar you put into your 1998 beyond keeping it running well is a complete waste of money. You will not recoup any of it when you get tired of the car (or very little of it if you keep your factory parts and sell the improvement stuff). Dumping money into a depreciating asset is insanity. Took me 10+ years to figure this out about my 97, but I've got it in my head now and it's final... no more mods. It just wastes money you have saved for retirement or to retire debt in your world.

Check out my web site for all I have done and been forced to do to keep my 97 on the road and looking good... you'll see I was addicted to modding the car before I came to my senses.

Final advice: Drive the car for a year before you do a thing to it or argue with me on my points. Bookmark this thread for re-reading in November of 2016!

This is so true.
I've had two 986s and if you didn't have a PPI done, the pessimistic side of me wouldn't be a bit surprised if you ended up spending the $3,000 right off the bat in overdue maintenance and repairs alone. You certainly don't want to be putting your money on expensive wheels and tires only to bolt them to worn out struts, control arms, brakes, and bearings. Same is true for the rest of the car.

Still totally worth it, and once the initial needs of these aging sports cars are met, they can be really reliable and more fun than should be legal!

[thstone]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

If you join the local PCA chapter and sign up for a high speed driver's education course, you'll quickly discover you have far more car than you are capable of handling on a track (where it really shines. After all, it's not a Turbo with gobs of HP for straight-line performance). If you do this, the desire to mod the car will go away and all you'll think about is becoming a much better driver... a far more worthy use of your time and money in our opinion here on this forum.

This is excellent advice! I couldn't have said it better.