[DreamcarFerrari]

It was my childhood dream to own a Ferrari. Growing up, I realised owning a Sports/Super/Hyper car in India is not feasible unless I do something like this.



Cars owned

2006 - As a typical Indian, my 1st car was a Maruti Alto LXI, which was bought new. I used it for 2 years.

2008 - Bought an i10 Sportz. I didn’t have any issue with the car and used it till 2011 after which, I had to shift from AP to Chennai.

2011 - Bought a Ford Figo diesel. This was the 1st car which I enjoyed driving. I got married in 2013 and my wife started using this car.

2013 - As the Figo was being used by my wife, I bought a pre-owned 2007 Honda Civic. I enjoyed driving the revv-happy petrol.

2015 - As an upgraded for my wife’s Figo, I got a pre-owned Honda CR-V. I had some horrid times with this car. I got this car from a dealer in Coimbatore without do a pre-purchase inspection. Later, I came to know that this car was a salvage rebuild. To be on the safer side, I gave the Civic to my wife and took the CR-V. Somehow, I managed to use it till 2018.

2018 - We moved from Chennai to Hyderabad and sold both, the Civic and CR-V. We replaced our Japanese cars with another Japanese car - the Yaris J CVT.

2020 - I moved from Hyderabad to my hometown just before the lockdown.

I had never owned a German car.

Few Other Experiences
I drove my sisters Tesla Model 3 for a month. The torque is unbelievable, but the autopilot still needs to be perfected. I had 2 close calls, but could avoid any issues as I was always attentive.

I also had track experience in an R8 at the Madras Motor Race Track.

Enlightenment
During the COVID-19 lockdown, on a lazy night, I was browsing Team-BHP and saw Namanferrari’s ownership thread. This thread motivated me to chase my dream of owning a sports car. I discussed it with the Home minister, got her approval and the search started.

Why 911?
I didn’t want a 2 seater sports car as my 3 year old daughter loves long drives. I was left with very few choices due to this. The only options were a 911 or a Mustang. The Mustang feels like a muscular sports car rather than a traditional sports car, so I was left with only the 911.

Why 997.2?
No air-cooled Porsche was available for sale.

996 - I hate the looks of 996 with its runny/fried egg headlights, leave aside the infamous IMS bearing issue.

997.1 - The 997.1 also had the infamous IMS bearing issue. There were no manual transmission cars and the automatic was not a PDK.

991.1 - This is when VW started interfering in Porsche engineering, They removed the famed hydraulic power steering, but I was ready to compromise if I got one with a stick shift. I almost got a manual 991.1, but that had a P1433 vacuum system leak code due to an improper sports exhaust installation.

Post 991.1 (991.2 and 992) - These are not proper Porsches in my opinion - downsizing of engines, no NA engines, only turbo variants and EPS. Also the price quoted was very high, so I didn’t consider these.

997.2 - This hits the sweet spot in water-cooled 911 history.

Likes

• No IMS bearing issues
• No runny/fried egg headlights
• Last generation 911 with hydraulic power steering. You can feel every bit of the road on your hands
• Revv-happy, legendary, naturally aspirated Flat 6
• Has the potential to become a future collectable classic

Dislikes - not many

• Interior/plastic quality is not great
• Unreliable PDK

Why Carrera 2? and not S
The S has a PASM and sits 10 mm lower. I was planning to use this as a daily driver and not some weekend showpiece, where one takes the car out on properly planned roads for few kms on a weekend. So, it had to be a Carrera 2 and not S for our Martian craters aka roads.

The search
I started the search in typical fashion - Googled for used 911s. Saw an ad on Droom for a 997.2 manual Carrera S for 55, even though it was slightly over my budget was very interested in that car and after a lot of effort found the ad to be fake..

I was a little sceptical from the beginning about Droom 911s, as most of them had LHD vehicle pics, and this particular 997.2 manual was sporting pics of 991.1. But I thought they were posting representative pics to protect privacy. Later, I found out that all 911s on Droom were fake listings. The search continued on BBT, Autobest Emporio and OLX.

In October, I started negotiations with Circuits99, a luxury used car dealer in Chennai for a black 997.2, listed on OLX for Rs. 60 Lakhs.

Then I came across a 991.1 manual Carrera S. This was sold by BBT in March and the car had an after market sports exhaust causing issues. So, I had to back out of the deal. Have to thank my friendS Bhargav and Sunny from Autobest for steering me away from this 991.1.

Getting the dream car home
During our initial negotiations in October for the 997.2, we offered Rs. 50 Lakh and the dealer didn’t budge from his asking price of Rs. 60 Lakh. I started renegotiating with the dealer in December. This car didn’t have the Sport Chrono pack and Porsche sports exhaust.

Somehow, my brother-in-law, who is a shrewd negotiator, brought the price down to Rs. 45 lakh. I immediately booked the car with a token advance and asked Raghav from Ignite Garage to do a pre-purchase inspection. Once I got the green signal from Raghav, I completed the formalities and took delivery of the car on 6th December.



Niggles
The switch to release frunk is broken and needs replacement:


Frunk struts are not holding, needs replacement:


C in the Carrera badge is broken. I'm planning to debadge the rear:


The Porsche Communication Management (PCM) is not recognising that the engine is running. This error is being displayed and the PCM switches off after every 10 minutes. Trip details also are not being logged on the PCM:


PCM switches don’t light up. Must be the same issue that is causing it not to recognise the engine running status:


Multi-function steering wheel buttons are not functioning and the left paddle button doesn’t light up:


Left sunroof rail and the drain area are rusted. Will have to get them repaired:




The weather protector/beading of the sunroof is cracked and this along with the blocked drain (drain is on the left) might have caused the rust:


Left-rear wheel arch has a small dent and needs vacuum dent removal:


Left front wheel arch also has a small dent which needs vacuum dent removal:


There is a wrap/sticker on the rear fenders on both sides. Don't know if it is OEM or aftermarket. Needs to be removed:


The dealer misplaced the secure wheel lug socket. So, I had to get all the secure lug bolts removed. I have ordered regular lug bolts from Porsche.

There is a clunking sound coming from the front while driving over potholes. It might be from the front strut mounts, which will need replacement.

Slight damage to the under body panel. I'm not planning to change it at present:


Driving Experience
I got the car on 6th December. The odo was reading 50 kms short of 15,000 kms. I have driven it for 500 kms over these 3 weeks. The hydraulic power steering is awesome and the acceleration in manual mode is an out of the world experience.

The brakes are a little spongy and may require pad replacement and bleeding. The ride quality is also not as bad as I thought it would be, even over bad, cratered roads.

Ground clearance is also very good. I was driving it in town, when a Ciaz scraped the speed breaker, but my 911 cleared it with ease.

Kitna deti hai?
I was surprised to see the mileage. Actually, it is better than my Civic and CR-V. I’m using regular petrol from COCO pumps, no high octane or octane boosters.


Some 911 Quirks

Great German engineering

Porsche engineers put the battery in the frunk and if the battery runs out you cannot open the frunk. They have placed a battery terminal in the fuse box, using which, you have to open the frunk. After opening the frunk, you have to jump start the car. The manual release cable for the frunk is hidden under the left wheel arch lining.

991 and 992 - Imagine ripping out the entire rear bumper and tail-lights for changing the air filter!!




Service
I'm planning to give the car for service at Man and Machine, Hyderabad. Any other recommendations? My place is 415 kms away from Hyderabad and 460 kms away from Bangalore, but the roads to Hyderabad are in much better condition.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[DeathPig]

Congratulations on fulfilling your dream. Though she needs some work, she's a beauty and will be ship-shape in no time.

Keep us updated on how the repairs go.

[Jeroen]

Great to see you fulfilling your dreams.

I must admit, for a car that supposedly has done less than 15.000 km it seems to have quite a few issues. Getting Porsches fixed can be ferociously expensive. Some parts can be very expensive. That PCM not working can be a problem. It probably needs updating at the minimum.

You might want to join one of the (English) Porsche forums to get some advise. The American forums tend to be very good, with lots of guys knowing more than the average Porsche mechanic.

Still, I would check the battery voltage and all connection for corrosion first.
Ran a full OBD scan and check the mileage as registered in the ECU if it matches the ODO.

Not sure, but I thought the 997 was made till 2011/12 or thereabouts? From what year is yours and do you know if the mileage is genuine? Low mileage on Porsches can be a bit of a thing.

https://www.pcarwise.com/local-help/...1-carrera-997/


Good luck and enjoy your car to the max!

Jeroen

[D33-PAC]

Congrats. I've driven everything from the Aventador, a Huracan and the Dodge Viper not least of which the McLaren 720S on track.

Guess what my favorite car of all was ? The 911.

Of course the 911 I tracked was a GT series but I thought it was the most practical car and the steering in high speeds was razor sharp, particularly in the corners.

I would recommend a clear bra on relevant parts. My drives were in the US and I can't imagine how much damage driving a low slung car like this would do on Indian roads.

[GTO]

Beautiful car, thanks for sharing man! All these threads about used Porsches are really, really tempting me. My next car is almost certainly going to be a pre-worshipped 2-door coupe, but I haven't decided which one yet.

Please, please, please share more pics! The opening pictures are like appetizers, and we now want the main course . Also loads more details on the driving experience + fun please.

These cars are built to be run, so take it for long highway drives. Considering its age, the issues & niggles are expected. What matters is that it is a fundamentally sorted platform. Akshay1234 once told me that "Porsches are like the Innovas of the sports car world", so get an expert mechanic to tie up all the loose ends and you're sorted for a long time.

Sharing two magical videos I recently came across:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh9c_V9ocyg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZdomsUrLr0

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Not sure, but I thought the 997 was made till 2011/12 or thereabouts? From what year is yours and do you know if the mileage is genuine? Low mileage on Porsches can be a bit of a thing.

Very typical of a sports car in India, bud. In fact, very typical of niche vehicles & weekend toys. I know of several supercars, superbikes, classic cars that do just 500 - 2000 km a year. My own '97 Jeep used to once do 15,000 - 20,000 km / year as it was my daily driver. Now, it is also part of the 2000 km / year gang as its just a fun weekend toy. Usage is further reduced due to the fact that I drive new media vehicles on most weekends (last weekend was an XUV300 AT, this coming weekend is filled up by the Safari & Citroen C5 Aircross).

[Eshan Joshi]

Hey DreamcarFerrari,

You have a lovely 911. I am happy to see that you have achieved your dream of owning a sports car. Enjoy and drive safe.

Anyways this is a bit off topic . I have been a member of this amazing forum for about a year now. In this period , we have had 5 Porsche ownership reviews. It makes me fell happy that fellow members are fulfilling their dreams of owning a super/sports car. And it's amazing that DreamcarFerrari, got inspired to buy a Porsche after reading Namanferrari’s review. Shows the power of ownership reviews.

[androdev]

@DreamcarFerrari, congratulations on your fabulous purchase. I would consider doing road trips when kids are young to be the highlight of my driving experiences - so it's a great decision and worth all the trouble you are prepared to take.

I was waiting for your ownership thread. Thanks for sharing, enjoyed reading it. It's a very good deal given the very poor availability of these cars in our market. I hope the problems you mentioned are superficial and you can have them fixed very soon.

[DreamcarFerrari]

Originally Posted by DeathPig

Keep us updated on how the repairs go.

Thank you, will definitely keep the Thread active.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Great to see you fulfilling your dreams.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I must admit, for a car that supposedly has done less than 15.000 km it seems to have quite a few issues. Getting Porsches fixed can be ferociously expensive. Some parts can be very expensive. That PCM not working can be a problem. It probably needs updating at the minimum.

Not sure, but I thought the 997 was made till 2011/12 or thereabouts? From what year is yours and do you know if the mileage is genuine? Low mileage on Porsches can be a bit of a thing.

This car was owned by kilburn engineering, and the last insurance was also done by them, last service records also matched with the mileage. It's a 2010 manufactured car.

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Congrats.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by GTO

Beautiful car, thanks for sharing man! All these threads about used Porsches are really, really tempting me. My next car is almost certainly going to be a pre-worshipped 2-door coupe, but I haven't decided which one yet.

Thanks GTO. Sorry for not updating the review inline with the high standards of the forum, will share lots of pictures and will keep the thread updated. I was sitting idle all the while before I bought the car, but am tied down due to some commitments.

Originally Posted by Eshan Joshi

Hey DreamcarFerrari,
You have a lovely 911. I am happy to see that you have achieved your dream of owning a sports car. Enjoy and drive safe.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by androdev

@DreamcarFerrari, congratulations on your fabulous purchase. I would consider doing road trips when kids are young to be the highlight of my driving experiences - so it's a great decision and worth all the trouble you are prepared to take.

Thank you androdev for all the help.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by DreamcarFerrari

[

There is a wrap/sticker on the rear fenders on both sides. Don't know if it is OEM or aftermarket. Needs to be removed

This is to prevent stone chips, comes standard on certain paints. You can keep or change with a newer PPF.

I'm planning to give the car for service at Man and Machine, Hyderabad.

As some other members have shared, cost of regular service at Porsche Dealership vs independent is not very different, so you can get the regular maintenance jobs done at the dealership. Added benefit will be, If there are any recalls or software updates, dealerships will do these without charge or at reasonable costs.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

a car that supposedly has done less than 15.000 km it seems to have quite a few issues.

This car was owned by kilburn engineering

I will agree with Jeroen, the car has too many issues for the mileage. These can be due to carelessness by the previous owner/ company or the mileage is higher.

Either way, since you have already got the car and have managed at a reasonable price, take your time to get it to a good shape. It will be worth to have an initial service at dealership and let them prepare a cost estimate with part numbers to rectify the problems. Thereafter, you may import these directly and get changed at your preferred garage.

Good luck

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Either way, since you have already got the car and have managed at a reasonable price, take your time to get it to a good shape. It will be worth to have an initial service at dealership and let them prepare a cost estimate with part numbers to rectify the problems. Thereafter, you can import directly these and get changed at your preferred garage.

The problem with buying Porsches second hand is never the initial purchase price. It is how much you need to pay to get it fixed and whether it has any outstanding maintenance that needs sorting.

A new exhaust on some Porsche cost more than I paid for my second hand Jaguar, I kid you not! And those are the easy fixes! Some stuff is simple, but still expensive; e.g. tyres, these are N-rated tyres. The price of a single tyre will easily buy you a set of four for your average family saloon.

Actually, they are by and large pretty robust cars and engines and actually do wear well. Providing you stick to all the maintenance religiously and don’t skimp on anything.

You really need to do a full OBD read out with a proper Porsche reader. Because the ECU on these models store a wealth of engine performance data! So you will know exactly what to expect. You will know how the car was driven and if it was over revved how much how often.

I would not even touch a Porsche without this data. You could end up spending more in catching up in overdue maintenance than the purchase price of the car. This is one car where a good paper service/maintenance trail is not enough.

The key to happy Porsche motoring is not a low attractive purchase price. It is how well you managed to assess the maintenance state. Can't be done without the proper scanner.

Fingers crossed!

Jeroen

[ShortShifter]

Congratulations on the purchase DreamcarFerrari ! The Porsche 997 911 seems to be amongst the most desirable sports car to own for the Enthusiasts, 997.2 particularly. I wish you a lot of miles and smiles ahead with it.

Originally Posted by DreamcarFerrari

Service
I'm planning to give the car for service at Man and Machine, Hyderabad. Any other recommendations? My place is 415 kms away from Hyderabad and 460 kms away from Bangalore, but the roads to Hyderabad are in much better condition.

I would vouch for Man & Machine, Hyderabad for getting your maintenance done, the professionalism and the honesty shown by the Dinesh (Shop Owner) is unparalleled and I get my Volvo maintained with him personally, they seem to be maintaining many Porsches in Hyderabad and would recommend you to speak to him once.

For OEM parts i would recommend you to bookmark FCP Euro, Link: They are based out of USA and stock many hard to find parts for European cars, they ship Internationally as well, or you can use Parcel services like MYUS or Stackry to ship them directly to India.

[DreamcarFerrari]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

As some other members have shared, cost of regular service at Porsche Dealership vs independent is not very different, so you can get the regular maintenance jobs done at the dealership. Added benefit will be, If there are any recalls or software updates, dealerships will do these without charge or at reasonable costs.

Thank you Turbanator, I thought of getting my car serviced at Porsche Dealership but they don’t have a proper setup in Chennai or Hyderabad. I heard Kochi Porsche service is good but is too far. Hence opting for a FNG. Porsche Bangalore is an option. I’m open to any suggestions.

[kiku007]

Congratulations and wish you many more happy miles with the car!

Love your handle and I'm sure your thread might be an inspiration for many.

I hope you are able to fix the niggles/issues with the car without it costing a bomb. TBH it was actually sad to see a Porsche being maintained like this. It has just too many issues for a ten years (?) and 15K Kms. Either the previous Owners didn't care or didn't have the time/money to care. This certainly not one of those pre-worshipped ones.

Like others have said, I'd certainly ask for the car to be completely checked inside out by Porsche at least for the first time.

Enjoy!

[123.rishabh]

Many congratulations on the amazing ride ! Is this the WB registered car ?

Seems like someone has wrapped the faded stone guard with a matte wrap, you can get it carefully removed and replace it with a new one

Regarding service, You can order parts from Design911 or Suncoast Porsche websites, they ship to India to nominal costs.
Do not buy parts outside from unknown sources as Chinese copies even for basic parts like Oil filters exist for such exotic cars also

Wishing you happy miles ahead !