Used Porsche 911 Coupe 2005-2012 review

The Porsche 911 is one of the all-time great sports cars. It has been around since 1963, survived even when company bosses tried to kill it off, and has spawned a vast number of derivatives.

One of the things that’s been key to its success is the way the 911 has evolved to include the latest technology and ever increasing levels of performance while retaining the essence of what made the early cars so great. And so, even though the 997 version featured here was launched more than 40 years after the original, it is still recognisably a 911.

A large part of that comes to having the engine mounted in the rear of the car, which in turn dictates the shape of the bodywork and allows for a 2+2 seating arrangement and a surprisingly large boot in the nose of the car (it’ll swallow a couple of soft weekend bags with ease). True, the rear seats are only really suitable for kids, but even the entry-level 911 can accelerate from 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds, and that means this is one of the most practical cars to offer that sort of performance.

What also makes the 911 stand out is just how easy it is to drive. Visibility is excellent for a sports car, the ride quality is perfectly acceptable (particularly if you have the PASM adaptive dampers), the engines are smooth and the controls are all so precisely weighted that it never feels less than completely intuitive.

However, all this would be for nothing if the 997 had lost the unique driving experience offered by older 911s. Thankfully, that’s not the case in the slightest, for this is a car with steering that is at once delicate, precise, well-weighted and brimming with feedback, while the rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive layout ensures the tyres bite into the road with unbelievable grip. Advanced traction and stability control systems, meanwhile, ensure even novices can drive a 997 quickly.

As with any generation of 911, the 997’s model line-up is fairly complex. To keep things as simple as possible we are only concentrating here on the rear-wheel drive Carrara with 321bhp and more powerful Carrera S with 350bhp, and the four-wheel-drive Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S. Other models, such as the Turbo, GT3, Targa and Convertible are different enough to warrant reviews all of their own.

To complicate matters slightly, the 997 range is also split into pre- and post-facelift, also known as Gen 1 and Gen 2, the first from 2005 to 2009, and the second from 2009 to 2012. As well as the introduction of direct injection for the engines (taking the Carrera to 340bhp and the Carrera S to 380bhp), one of the major differences was the switch of the Tiptronic torque converter automatic gearbox to a much more responsive seven-speed dual-clutch PDK unit.

Prices for early 997s dip under the £20,000 mark, meaning you can buy one for less than most new hot hatches cost. Whether or not you should, however, depends very much on the car in question, because at this end of the market you can expect high mileages and potentially patchy service history. For this kind of money you’ll also see cars advertised with new engines. If this is the case ensure the work has been carried out by a reputable Porsche specialist (there are plenty of Porsche 911 forums online that will help identify which ones are good).

In terms of value for money, Carrera models are generally cheaper than their more powerful S equivalents, and 911s with four-wheel drive and/or automatic gearboxes tend to carry a premium, too. As such, while you can pick up a 50,000-mile rear-wheel drive Carrera manual for £27,000, to buy the same car as a four-wheel-drive auto would be closer to £30,000.

Gen 2 911s cost from about £34,000 on account of being that much newer and also fitted with the better engine and, if applicable, dual-clutch gearbox.

Approved used cars carry a premium (a late Carrera S from a main dealer with less than 40,000 miles on the clock will still fetch upwards of £50,000) but come with a two-year manufacturer-backed warranty, so don’t rule them out.

Running costs are always directly linked to how you drive, and the 911 is a particularly fine example of that. Do lots of motorway miles and these sports cars will return an impressive 30mpg and can make a set of tyres last around 20,000 miles. Start to enjoy the performance on your favourite country road, however, and that figure can fall to less than 20mpg quite quickly, while at the same time you’ll chew through tyres.

Road tax comes in at between £300 and a little over £500 per year depending what engine and gearbox you choose, and due to the car’s value and its high performance don’t expect insurance to be cheap.

You can save a lot on maintenance simply by finding a good Porsche specialist rather than getting the car maintained in the official dealer network. Even then, though, a service is going to be more than £400, and with service intervals running to two years and 20,000 miles it is likely that extras will need doing, too. Changing the brake fluid, for example, is £120, new heat shields for the catalytic converters can add £250 and so on it goes until you’re quite quickly facing a four-figure bill.

Clutches tend to last about 50,000 miles, so if you’re looking at a car approaching that mileage (or indeed one that’s exceeded it, but is still on the original clutch) budget £500 to replace it. Where the 911 claws back ground is that it is very resistant to depreciation, so if you factor in that you’ll get a good chunk of your money back when the time comes to sell the high running costs become much easier to stomach.

The good news is there is no such thing as a bad version of the 997, and so there’s an argument to be made for just opting for the most basic rear-wheel-drive Carrera and saving some money. However, with its increased power output, standard-fit PASM adaptive dampers and the fact there are simply more to choose from, the Carrera S is our 997 of choice, preferably in Gen 2 guise to minimise the possibility of engine problems.

As for optional extras to look out for, any car with a stopwatch on top of the dash will have the Sport Chrono pack fitted, which allows you to sharpen throttle response and relax the stability control system for a sportier drive. There is also a Sport chassis that lowers the suspension and adds a mechanical limited-slip differential, improving handling at the cost of a firmer ride.

A rear windscreen wiper is also a useful option it’s worth looking out for, particularly if you need to reverse out of your driveway first thing in the morning.

Our favourite Porsche 911: Gen 2 997 Carrera S manual

One of the reasons for the 911’s success is that there isn’t much else out there that does so much so well. A Jaguar XK offers a similar amount of space and some fine engines, but is more of a grand tourer than a sports car.

For something that’s as exciting to drive as a 911 you might also be tempted by the gorgeous Aston Martin V8 Vantage, but in doing so you’ll forgo the 911’s useful extra seats, and even then it doesn’t feel quite as polished in dynamic terms.

Then of course there’s the threat from models lower down in the Porsche range, most notably the Cayman, which is superb to drive and cheaper to buy, meaning you can pick up a significantly newer car for the same price as a 911.

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