NoPasaran

Hello, everyone!

I've been looking around for a 997 Turbo and found two.

1) 04.2008, 40000km, manual, 1 owner, standard 480HP, PCCB, Sport Chrono

2) 04.2007, 62500km, manual, ? owners, Sportec Stage 2 547hp/798Nm (soft, airfilter, exhaust with sport cats), Big Reds (looks like), rear LSD, 20" HRE wheels, H&R suspension, all service by Porsche, no accidents, just from Service and MOT, including 12month warranty.

Option 2 is 10 grand more expensive than option 1.

I know Sportec very well, my Audi TT RS is tuned by them, as a matter of fact I was at the Sportec HQ just today and saw their SPR1 (that's 920hp, 2.8 to 100kmh, 15/16 to 300kmh, 380+ kmh top and price over 800 grand) , as well as 4 GT2s , GT3 on the rollers (what a noise!), GT2 RSR being prepped (private car, I now know the owner) etc. Last week I was there as well, besides numerous Audis I saw a race 993 GT2, fabulous 964, another two GT2s (996 and 997), 991 being prepped for Geneva Exhibition, GT3RS in Porsche Green. These guys are one of the best Porsche specialists in the world.

Now, all the work done on the Option 2 is worth much more than 10 grand! On the other hand I am a bit apprehensive about the 62500km on the clock. I am driving about 15000km a year. Also, Option 1 has PCCB which can turn out to be very expensive to replace.

What do you think, is Option 2 worth to pursue? What kind of upcoming service can I expect on a 62500km car and how expensive is that?

I am not a rich dude, please consider this in your suggestions, if I were I'd buy Option 2 right now! but I love 997TT, in the end if I buy a stock 997 I will tune it as well.

Hammer911

You got it right about the cost of replacing the ceramic composite brakes. I was talking to a dealer the other day...while it's an $8k upgrade on a new car, cost to replace is $13k per axle..you heard it right...$26k total.
Seems like a lot of them hit the market before brakes are due.

InTheAir

First, I have a '07 997 TT (owned a 993 C4 Cab before that) and absolutely love the car. I have owned it for a little over 4 years and I'm the second owner (first owner had it for one year and put about 4000 miles on it (6400km).

I have since upgraded the ECU (GIAC), exhaust, and clutch. I drive it daily and year-round. I put about 10,000 miles (16000km) per year and am at about 43,000 miles now (69,000km).

I recently had the 40,000 miles major maintenance done on the car, which included new air filters, oil change, brake fluid, and ... the biggy .... replaced spark plugs. Here in the US (at the dealer), that was about $1300 (with a February discount, when the dealer is slow).

I thoroughly enjoy the slight modifications on my car--the added power is really nice.

If you intend to drive the car often (as I can tell from your projected usage), then I would think hard about whether you want the PCCB. They are wonder brakes, with little to no dusting. Although I know many love them here, I personally won't want them due to the potential replacement costs. I'll get flamed for the sentiment, but just think long and hard about if they are worth it to YOU.

I think you'll like either option, but it sounds like Option 2 might be better suited for YOU.

Good luck and enjoy!!

mattyf

PCCBs sound like a non issue to me. I mean say worst case you need to replace them, can't you just put regular pads and rotors on instead?

NoPasaran

Thank you everyone who answered this post. I hope more people answer with their thoughts and suggestions so I can have more meat on the bones, so to speak. I will speak to Sportec, of course, and see what they say about Option 2.

Regarding PCCB. I think the issue is that if one wants to move from PCCB to Big Reds one has to replace not only rotors and pads, but also the calipers, and calipers are the most expensive part.

short video of SPR1 I made (that is the boss of Sportec moving it in place):

http://youtu.be/YL-GO9a7-yg

jhbrennan

The less exoensive option when considering replacing PCCB's is to just change the rotors to steel rotors - no need to go to the red calipers.

Zeus993

Having experience with PCCBs for non-track use, I love them. 100%. Best way to get them is to buy them on a used vehicle and avoid the large upfront costs. Then swap out the rotors to Brembos or some other after market brand later. But there is no stopping like them and there are none of the other cleaning issues you get with the standard steels. For me, vainly enough, the big yellow cals look great especially on a non-red car. My 2 cents CND.

Hammer911

Zeus993 - I like it when you throw your weight around with the exchange rate....02 canadian is currently .020174 u.s. So, for us to your south, we're getting more than our money's worth when you throw in!

Zeus993

LOL. I lost a couple hun today exchanging USD to CND. That's enough to buy more oil for crap sake!

gota911

Your dealer is way over priced. Check out this link from Suncoast. PCCB for $15.3K. 997 TT CERAMICS

I just "saved" someone $10.7K! A 10% "savers fee" will gladly be accepted.

NoPasaran

OK, if one can swap ceramic disks to metal while leaving yellow calipers in place than it is a non-issue for me. Thanks everyone.

Still, what do you guys think of Option 2? I am really interested in your IMHO opinions. There are a lot of people here who had their 997TT tuned. Would really be interested in their opinion about reliability/cost of a tuned vehicle with 62500km on the clock.
Option 1 was probably driven by some rich older guy, probably mostly in Switzerland where limit is 120kmh, no track use as well I presume.
Option 2 looks crazy, it is black-on-black, and with this kind of tuning I am pretty sure it was driven hard on unlimited German highways and maybe saw a track or two. The seller states all service is done by Porsche, and that the car passed MOT and just came from service and has 12 month warranty (third party, not Porsche). Would one dare to buy a tuned car like that, without knowing the owner (but I will ask Sportec, maybe they have some info) or is it a big no-no?

user 72902

PCCB's don't have any greater stopping capabilities over conventional Porsche brakes from what I've read. It appears their performance advantage is half the un-sprung weight over steel brakes and extremely long service internals 100K+. I've had a 430+ hp 911 on the track with standard brakes and then upgraded to big reds and if I had to do it over again I would have kept the standard brakes and my money. Not because there was anything wrong with big reds but the standard brakes were just that good and I did not realize a significant improvement. If you can convert the PCCB's for the price of a normal brake job that would be an great solution - wish I could afford 15K for brakes!

fayraree

Unless the tuned car was coming from a trusted source, I wouldn't touch it. The fact that you don't know who the previous driver(s) is, is a red flag for me. See what you can gather from the tuning shop, but details on the previous owner are generally confidential.

Are both options from private sellers or dealers? And Porsche dealer or independant dealer?

My personal strategy is ALWAYS BUY BONE STOCK. Try and get the lowest price in the market that you can (sometimes your favorite options will push the price a little higher, but that's okay, you're paying for those options)...and then when you're ready, load it up with your favorite tuning. I think tuning is highly personal and you get more satisfaction from being the one that initiates the mod for your car. You get to pop your car's mod cherry, so to speak! :P

After modding my Honda Civic and Prelude back in the day ('01) I stopped doing that stuff and saved my money for maintenance, and saving for the next car with higher OEM HP and torque.

NoPasaran

Both options are from private dealers.
Dealer for Option 1 is an enthusiast himself having an F40 in his garage, he's been selling Porsches for a long time (on his shop floor I saw two sold GT3 4.0).
The dealer for Option 2 is a family firm with father selling cars for 40 years, and the two sons starting the firm in 2002. On their floor they have had numerous Porsches. They also have a repair shop in-house.
Option 2 has been serviced by official Porsche dealer and the papers are there (I see a photo on the webpage but cannot see which services were done, but there are three of them). There is a one-year independent warranty on the car that covers engine and drivetrain damages among other things, the warranty provider stands for 70% of the costs, the seller stands for 10% and the buyer for 20% of eventual costs.

If I would buy a stock 997TT and do tuning I'd go to Sportec anyway and do eventually Stage 2 (filter, exhaust with sport cats, optimization), that's 15 grand. HRE 20" wheels look great. H&R suspension I am not sure about, but I had KW V2 on my previous car and enjoyed it.
This is 2007 car.
I've checked the market:
Stock car, same year and 60000km on the clock is 20 grand cheaper.
Stock car, 2008, 40000km is 10 grand cheaper.

Basically I am charged extra for the tuning, I find that a bit questionable, I've always considered tuning a sunk cost not worth much at resale.
Of course, the most questionable is how the driver used the car. That is a big

fayraree

maybe things are diff in europe but thats the weirdest thing i've ever seen. seller covering some of the warranty? and u'd have a variable deducible? stick with #1, option 2 sounds weird.