What year did Porsche get the 996 right?

Hi guys, Im driving a 964 these years. But will soon change to a 996. But as you all properly know, there was some problems with the early models. I can see on various "used sites", that many 996 has been fitted with new engines around 60.000/100.000 km, and my Porsche shop saids the same thing: Engine problem with early models of the 996 was not unusual. My question is: When did Porsche get the 996 engine right?

I dont know if they have ever got it right? However the early 996/boxster engines had problems for sure, however the later engines about 2001 onwards had the problems addressed to some degree, I personally am not quite so confident about any of them. MY INDIE tells me however that of the hundreds he services he has never experienced any with major problems. YOU ARE SAFER TO BUY 2001,2 ONWARDS to reduce your chances of major problems. Hope this is of help Mike

Never. Just make sure any you look at you get properly inspected.

Easy - from day 1 with the 964 engine in the GT models. If we are talking 'normal' 996s, a friend spent a great deal of effort on research - he bought a late 2001 model as the suggestion at the time was that it was the best 996. Each revision has supposed to have introduced improvements into the engine, but AFAIK the intermediate shaft design is still questionable well into the era of the 997. Having said that I know three 996 owners well, two of whom track their cars, and none have had any issues.

1999 - The GT3 MK1. :lock:

LOL....well thats another thread answered and ready to be locked!

Well all 996's seem to be inherently weak in a number of areas (RMS, cylinder liners, cylider heads and intermediate shaft bearing.) There were revisions and developments all the way through production but the basic engineering design remained the same. General wisdom is that the early cars were the worst (3.4s) and that they got better (becuase of revisions and developments, none of which really solved any of the problems completely) from the face lift 3.6 cars. But there are plenty of cases of 3.6 engines going bang also. All that said, its rekoned that only about 5% - 10% of engines have had problems and that if they get up to 80k then they will probably be ok or will have had the engine replaced already.(so 90-95% are fine?) But then mine let go at 85k. This is all from my own research/reading prior to purchase and post disaster. Hartech or Autofarm will be able to give an expert view. And there is a lot of info on both web sites. As said already GT3's, GT2's and turbos are far better as they have a different design based on the old air cooled 964 crankcase. Dont be too put off. A good one (get a PPI from Peter Morgan) is a great drive.

:thumbs: I see your looking for a GT3, MK1 or MK2 ?

! Thanks for all the answers guys - very helpfull Cheers... :worship:

I think the 3.4 is the more 'stripped down'car and more of an old style sports car, the 3.6 facelift and 997 seem 'fatter' and not the same. The 2000 3.4 minor facelift with the smoked lenses was the best version of the 3.4....

Lamb Newbie Joined: 02 Dec 2005 Posts: 7 Location: London/Herts LOL....well thats another thread answered and ready to be locked! 7 x posts in 5 years from a "newbie" - must be a record on here :grin:

Yes mine feels old skool - no traction control fitted makes it interesting in the wet and a few heart stopping moments.

My 1999 (V) 3.4 Carrera 4 was brilliant... I bought it at 42,000 miles and sold it at about 108,000 miles 4 years later. Hardly used a drop of oil or water between services (apart from when the header tank cap failed) and is still running nicely in the hands of a new owner (I think). But then, I never used full throttle or more than 3,500 revs until fully warmed up and I think this is absolutely vital with any high performance engine - especially a boxer, where gravity tries to make the cylinders an oval shape instead of perfectly round in a more upright engine! The problem with a used 911 is that you generally have no idea how it was driven by all the previous owners, so it becomes a bit pot luck! I think this is why people say that if it has lasted to 80k it will probably be OK, but if the person who did the last 20k thrashed it mercilessly every day from cold, it will still probably go pop quite soon! The ideal used 996 is a one owner from new - preferably a mechanical engineer (like me) - but then I seriously doubt such a car exists any more :?