Fuel / Running Costs

[karlj0]

Hi Folks

Im thinking of swapping my Boxster 2.5 for a 993 C2 Tiptronic.
Will i notice a dramatic increase in my fuel bills ? ( i do approx 8k miles per year)
Will a 993 run ok on standard unleaded as opposed to super unleaded ?

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Karl.

 

[Guest]

I would guess that you will notice higher fuel costs. How much I can't say exactly, but I got a shock looking at my fuel bills after 6 months. Longer journeys should give you a better return, but I would guess still not as good as a Boxter. I worked out that a cheapie Polo as a commuting car would pay for itself in fuel savings after about 3 years, so I went for this option. Now the 993's a pleasant "special" drive for the weekends and it doesn't get bashed/abused in car parks, run through the salt etc. in the winter. Also allows you to concentrate on progressively improving the car e.g. paintwork, running gear etc.

I understand that you should run super unleaded only. Certainly you will need this if you want to get the best performance out of the car. Shell V-Max is higher rated than BP Ultimate, so I go for this.

The 993 is a beautiful, very fast enthusiast's car. I wouldn't have anything else (and of course, it's a 911!).

Hope this helps.

 

[Guest]

Reckon on arnd 18 - 22mpg depending on how heavy or light footed you are. Really needs Super unleaded fuel.

 

[day1zero]

Super Unleaded is a requirement.........the 993 is never going to be economic.........its a real drivers car...I also went down the route of buy a 306 Diesel....to do the miles in...... (commute approx 150-250miles a week)...

993 returns 16-23 mph ish......306 42-48 mph.....ish...

But buy the 993... its such an adventure!!!

 

[pike]

As the others have mentioned, 18-24 mpg is typical - the top end only really achievable on long journeys.

This is of course after the first few tanks where you will be lucky to get 16 mpg as you play around!

I cannot detect any noticeable increase in performance with super unleaded fuel but it certainly runs smoother.

 

[simma]

I have been watching my mpg and average 17 around town with 26 on the motorway. I know the car isn't economical and has higher than average running costs, if you buy one then enjoy it everyday.

 

[Mark Elder]

I've not done the calcs because I've lost one vital receipt but I've just done two identical 800 mile-ish round trips (Glasgow - Berkshire), one in the 993 and one in the Toyota RAV4. Almost all motorway. Almost no traffic because of time of day/night. Identical "cruise" speed.

The RAV4's got to go, I can't afford the petrol.

I guess it's down to aerodynamics at speed and the availability of the extra ratio (5th in 993 and 5th in RAV4 are almost exactly same revs)

 

[fergusond]

I get 16-18mpg day to day use, 12mpg during cold winters, 27-28mpg easy long trip to Le Mans recently with some fast sprints and 5-7mpg on track days.
David

 

[karlj0]

Thanks for all of your valuable input. It seems that it will cost me a bit more on fuel bit im sure it will be worth it. Although 'er indoors' might have to get used to holidays in cleethorpes[].

The one im looking at is from an independant dealer but they are only offering 3 months warranty which seems a bit stingy. They have also offered a 3 year warranty option @ £980.00 . Is it worth paying for this or are they so bulletproof that i should take the risk ?

 

[Mark Elder]

Depends on the wording of the warranty - if they have any sense they won't cover the stuff that's likely to break[]
3 months seems fair enough to me on a 10+ year old car. It shows they believe there is nothing major wrong (although it will still exclude stuff they regard as "consumable" - clutch, brakes etc)

Are you getting a PPI done? Better to spend 2-300 on that than 1k on a piece of paper - but it does depend on what the wording is.

 

[karlj0]

Hi Mark sorry for sounding dumb what is a PPI ? The dealer is an independant porsche specialist called 911sport in lincolnshire and they seem like a reputable outfit. PS The 3 year warranty they are offering is genuine Porsche i'm told. Not sure if that makes any difference.

 

[38F3E1]

PS The 3 year warranty they are offering is genuine Porsche i'm told. Not sure if that makes any difference.

Hi.

You ought to check that. Official Porsche warranties are only available for cars up to ten years old (ie the last time you can take one out on a 993 is when it is 9 years old so by my reckoning pretty much all 993s are now too old for a Porsche warranty) plus they are always for a year not 3 years.

What they probably mean is "it's a 3rd party warranty that is especially tailored for Porsches" but again you need to look at stuff like max payout amounts, exclusions etc.

Ian.

 

[Johnny C]

I've tried all the petrols, V-Max, BP Ultimate etc and found that for whatever reason I get better MPH from regular unleaded. I don't think the power's suffered, at least it hasn't suffered enough to notice when I play dodgems on the M62 into Manchester each day.

On the occasions when I get to go play in the mountains of North Wales I would use V-Max though. You need as much grunt as you can get on the twisty mountain roads between Llangynog and Ffestiniog

Here's a question: You can increase the RON by adding toluene - you can get RONs upto 120. A friend who does track days in his souped up Seat was looking into it, he says it's something the professional race teams do and doesn't cause any damage to the engine as long as the engine management can cope with the higher burn rate parameters. Has anyone tried it? Do you know where you can get toluene, or how much to add?

 

[simma]

The way I understand the whole RON bit is the ignition is retarded / advanced from / to TDC to reduce any pinking, and damage to the engine as a result. There is no reason why you shouldn't get any more or less mpg other than not having to put so much petrol in to achieve a certain speed as a result of power loss from reduced octane. I think the timing will go back to say 98 RON setting over time, incrementing the timing gradually. Not sure how many miles or tanks on the 993 but my M used to take a couple of tank fills, so putting in 98 RON for special occasions may not be doing anything unless you stay with it for a while. Know nothing about Toluene but the professional race team will be able to set their ignition depending on fuel grade straight away, and not wait for it to adjust. To achieve max bhp figures some car manufacturers test in countries where higher RON is standard but this was not 120. Sso I doubt the ECU will be able to cope with the more accurate timings required to make full use of 120RON.

 

[MikeP]

I commute in mine 80 miles everyday, mostly motorway - trip computer typically showing around 27mpg when using 97 RON ..drops to about 26mpg on standard unleaded ..

 

[simma]

Hi Maurice, you must be a little sensitive judging by the response but no offence taken. I think you answered Johnny C's question in there, in that it is possible to run with Toluene but you'd have to have the ECU remapped specifically for that RON (not necessarily chipped UK [] ). I couldn't find the article on 993 ECU rules but look forward to reading the article. Dan Reading, Royal County of Berkshire No affiliation to any chip company

 

[RichardLW]

Original query - I just got 28.5 on a trip to and from Cornwall at a 56mph average over 540 miles so not too bad at all. Filled up with V-Max in Bromley and then in Wadebridge and no worries about obscure unleaded tat, probably with added water at the moment!

 

[karlj0]

Thats pretty good MPG and well within my expectations. Ive now missed out on the one i was looking at but truth betold its probably just as well because i think im going to stick with a manual box rather than a tiptronic.
Trouble is there arent many similar priced ones about in the network at the moment.

Although ive always bought from a garage for peace of mind is there any danger in buying from a private seller to save some money ?

 

[RichardLW]

There are many


There are many pros and cons to buying privately. You ought to pay less than you would to a dealer but if you don't know what you're looking at, and if you don't get the car inspected, you could end up with less of a bargain than you thought. If you are OK with forming an opinion on your own, see the car first and then get it inspected by a well knowm source - say Peter Morgan - but if you haven't got a clue what you're looking at, take along someone who does know a bit about these cars, at least to give an opinion as to whether its worth taking the matter further. Where are you based? I'm sure that there's a few of us here who would be happy to go and look at a car with you.

I bought privately last year - from a client and pretty meticulous owner - and saved about £5K over dealer prices. The car had a full history with Guildford OPC but I have still spent about £10K in the past year getting it where I want it. That included new tyres, new discs and new pads, new suspension, a new clutch (at 80K miles), new headlights, refurbed wheels and so on. A dealer prepared car might have dealt with some of those issues - who can say?

 

[RichardF]

IMHO the only consumption you need to worry about in a 911 is the smiles per gallon you get, not the miles []