LBCs are in my blood and while it will be nice to have a sports car my wife will ride in, I will stay the course. The 911 is a car that I can change the oil on, but I’ve got a lot to learn about it. Jim, is a 2011 911, it’s what’s known as a 997.2 in the Porsche manufacturers lingo. From 1999 to 2005 the 911s (996) had some teething problems with an intermediate shaft bushing in the engine. Not a real high failure rate, but if the bushing had issues a catastrophic engine failure would most likely occur. In mid 2005 the 997 was introduced and it used the same engine with the intermediate shaft, but a somewhat better bushing. This car was known as the 997.1 and production ran until the 997.2 came out in 2009. The 997.2 ran from 2009 to 2012 and introduced several nice features that I was interested in...a PDK dual clutch transmission, no intermediate shaft, and a host of electronic nanny devices that could be turned off. In 2013 the 911 (991) became bigger and heavier, more expensive and luxurious and they are very nice, but I like the smaller and lighter 911 at about 3000#. Porsche will build whatever you want and I got what one would consider a base model, decent options, PDK, 345 hp, and it’s a CPO (certified period owned) that gives me a factory 2 year, unlimited mileage warranty, no deductible thru Porsche. These cars new are stupid money ranging from $100k to well over $500k depending on how fast you want to spend. Needless to say I was a whole lot less $ than that or this would not have happened. At 70 with several of my body parts needing replacement/repair and getting in and out of an LBC becoming very difficult, my choices were my wife’s Toyota Venza or my GMC pickem up truck, neither is very inspiring to drive although both are very comfortable. My best friend is a car guy with an MGB, ALFA GTV, 2 911s, 2 miatas, one of which is a race car AND he’s a PCA driving instructor!
Rut