Looking for advice about 996's - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

Hi, I've been looking at cars on Autotrader as you do & relalised how achievable a 996 is. Now I've always loved 911's (especially the 964) and a family member has had a few 997 turbos. As the 997 is still a little out of reach the 996 seems a bit of a better option right now. I'd just like to know what I should be looking for and more importantly what to avoid, ideally I'd like a late model 02/03 carrera 2 or 2s but I also like the early narrow body. What are they like to live with everyday? I currently drive a 57 320d m sport which has quite a few extras which I'm sure a 996 won't have. Also what are the tip tronic boxes like? I'd quite like an auto next. Thanks for the advice.

There's no such thing as a C2S. May be confused with a C2 tiptronic S, which is a C2 with the auto box. Google items such as IMS, and bore scoring on 996's. Great value if you find the right car. Get a PPI, including bore inspection.

You appear to be in the North West so check out Hartech Porsche specialists. Their website has information on the 996 engine and other related topics. The pay monthly labour 'warranty' may be worth a look.

Plenty of good guides on the internet such as the Hartech one mentioned. There are a few 996 around that have had the IMS bearing upgraded and several with engine rebuilds...it's not as big an issue as the forums make out but if you want piece of mind best searching these examples out.

The tiptronic 'box is pretty good. BUT you do need several miles with one to learn how to get the best out of it. Proceed carefully and a 996 could be a very smart purchase.

I'm having the exact same debate at the moment - I want to swap my Chimaera for something a bit more usable whatever the day / weather. My biggest issue at the moment is I can't decide whether I want a C2 manual, a C4 Cab, a C4 cab tip...or a cayman! Love having a convertible for the weekends (the chim replaced an s2000) - but would also like the capacity to take my road bike to europe. Really should go for a manual - but unfortunately I spend more time in my TVR thinking "I wish this was a tip" than I do in my daily wishing it was manual. Really should go for a C2 for purity - but I've had a couple of driver-aid-free rwd sports cars now and actually I quite fancy the security of not having to care when it's raining etc. Maybe I'm just getting lazy...at 31.

keith2.2 said: Really should go for a C2 for purity - but I've had a couple of driver-aid-free rwd sports cars now and actually I quite fancy the security of not having to care when it's raining etc. I have a '99 C2 with no driver aids and it has huge traction, you honestly don't worry about the wet and cold weather.

E30 sam said: What are they like to live with everyday? I currently drive a 57 320d m sport which has quite a few extras which I'm sure a 996 won't have. I use mine every day and have an 07 325i M Sport for family duties. The Porsche is fairly spartan in terms of spec by comparison but nothing that I miss (especially the next to useless auto-wipers in the BM...). The standard headlights aren't up to modern standards but I understand this can be largely addressed with a HID upgrade (on my to-do list). Also seems to take a while for the car to demist at this time of year. Only other mild 'every day' annoyance on the mk1 for me is the manual bonnet release which means you have to open the drivers door before accessing the front boot.

chris_w said: I have a '99 C2 with no driver aids and it has huge traction, you honestly don't worry about the wet and cold weather. My '99 C2 has the optional traction control (and therefore LSD) and 285 section tyres on the rear (on turbo hollowspokes). In either the wet or dry it's practically impossible to get the traction control light to flash on; I could drive around with the TC turned off and never notice. I've driven through some horrendous weather without ever giving it a second thought.

IknowJoseph said: chris_w said: I have a '99 C2 with no driver aids and it has huge traction, you honestly don't worry about the wet and cold weather. My '99 C2 has the optional traction control (and therefore LSD) and 285 section tyres on the rear (on turbo hollowspokes). In either the wet or dry it's practically impossible to get the traction control light to flash on; I could drive around with the TC turned off and never notice. I've driven through some horrendous weather without ever giving it a second thought. However, I'm reasonably confident that, say, Walter Rorhl could quite easily get a Carrera breaking traction...

Probably why Mr Rohl always opts for a Carrera 4! I don't drive mine daily as I cycle to work but I very easily could. It's a nice place to sit.

All good advice thanks, the only reason I thought of the tip is the amount of time I'm stick in traffic and would like one. Before the 996 came into my head I was looking at either a 335d or I DCT with the flappy paddles. It may be worth noting that I am currently commuting 170 miles a day to Stafford and Barack although I do tend to stay over 2 nights a week but I'm still doing 540 miles a week on the M6 which is probably the only reason im not already driving one. From the little reading I've done i think a late model 3.6 is probably best for me and should reduce the the risk of any IMS issues.

The whole engine thing seems to be massively confused - Cmoose - I'm not in any way arguing with your comment, but below is a quote from a 2006 issue of Total 911: ===== First, it’s important to point out that it is the early 3.4- litre engines, made from 1998 to 2000, that are most susceptible to major failure. The later 3.6-litre engine is pretty much problem-free. Also, Porsche made many changes to the 3.4-litre unit over its production life, so the last of these smaller-capacity engines – made in 2001 – tend to be more reliable full article here: http://www.autofarm.co.uk/pdf/Total911_July06.pdf ====== Maybe more has come to light since this was printed?

interesting, thanks cmoose. As I say, I wasn't arguing, just illustrating why there is such confusion. What does seem clear is that - as you say - it's impossible to really know which ones are going to fail. That actually suggests to me (it's the line of work I'm in) that unless they know something we don't (likely), then it's more likely to be a component manufacturing issue - possibly rooted in the design but if it was an inherent design flaw I'd expect ALL IMS' to go (of course, this isn't taking the variances in use into account). Anyway, apologies - drifting off topic, sort of!

yeah as above, from people who seem to know about these things, the dual row bearing does seem to fail less than the initial single, but the 3.4 tended to have more cylinder cracking / d-chunking due to ovalling. The 3.6 had the weaker IMS and doesn't seem to suffer quite as badly in cracking, but appears more susceptible to bore scoring, perhaps from inadequate cooling to one cylinder bank. i bought a reasonable mileage early 3.4, from what i'd read, a lot of IMS seemed to go at around 60k miles, figured if i got one with more than that, i might actually be safer (i.e. if it was ever going to fail, it would have done so by now)! Then again, cylinder issue are probably only gonna get worse with miles. So there's no one 'perfect' 996. If you're set on one, either risk it and hope you're one of the 90% of cars that don't break, get one with the engine work already done, or get one and plan to do some preventative maintenance. Autofarm even fix / futureproof your problems and bore the engine out safely to 3.7l! I've gone with option 1...

My 996, affectionately dubbed "the banana" went from 72k to 80k under my stewardship, including a visit to the factory, and was great. 1999 C4 Manual. Never had any problems, servicing was very reasonable (cheaper than an E46 M3) and I loved driving that car. I do regret selling it, but I didn't have a choice at the time. Looking through the history of the car it didn't have any problems either, apart from a leaky couple of pipes once or twice, but that was it. I would say buy one and enjoy it - the internet will persuade you any car is made from chocolate and will explode 30 seconds after your warranty goes. If you do get a car and you want to keep it and you're THAT worried, get it on the hartech plan. Otherwise, just enjoy a fantastic and massively under-rated car!

What he said.... jayemm89 said: My 996, affectionately dubbed "the banana" went from 72k to 80k under my stewardship, including a visit to the factory, and was great. 1999 C4 Manual. Never had any problems, servicing was very reasonable (cheaper than an E46 M3) and I loved driving that car. I do regret selling it, but I didn't have a choice at the time. Looking through the history of the car it didn't have any problems either, apart from a leaky couple of pipes once or twice, but that was it. I would say buy one and enjoy it - the internet will persuade you any car is made from chocolate and will explode 30 seconds after your warranty goes. If you do get a car and you want to keep it and you're THAT worried, get it on the hartech plan. Otherwise, just enjoy a fantastic and massively under-rated car!

IknowJoseph said: chris_w said: I have a '99 C2 with no driver aids and it has huge traction, you honestly don't worry about the wet and cold weather. My '99 C2 has the optional traction control (and therefore LSD) and 285 section tyres on the rear (on turbo hollowspokes). In either the wet or dry it's practically impossible to get the traction control light to flash on; I could drive around with the TC turned off and never notice. I've driven through some horrendous weather without ever giving it a second thought. Had my C2 manual Coupe for over 5yrs, it has the optional PSM (does that mean I have a LSD?), only ever seen it kick in once & that was when I was deliberately being an idiot on a wet, greasy road with a nice off camber section. Driven it in all weathers including snow on summer tyres, as said they have huge traction & I really can't understand why anybody would want a C4. And for the record, mine does get driven as the manufacturer intended

anonymous said: [redacted] This +1 - some early M96s had bad castings so cracked cylinder walls or heads leading to an early bad reputation. Any bad castings should have shown themselves by now. Having said that the 3.4s are all older than 3.6s and so will have higher mileages - miles will wear out any engine so all the other bits may be worn - however there are plenty of examples on 200k+ miles described on US forums with no rebuild. chris_w said: I have a '99 C2 with no driver aids and it has huge traction, you honestly don't worry about the wet and cold weather. Mine too. You have to really be trying to break traction. Amazing car for the price - this was Evo's inaugural car of the year beating all others in 1998 and for many years thereafter a variant won the award.

I'm in a similar situation to keith2.2 in that I am considering changing my Chimaera for a 911. The difference is, I'd want it as a daily driver (the Chimaera isn't), albeit only doing around 2/3 miles a day. My TVR just doesn't get used currently as I have a Fiesta for daily driver duties, but I couldn't live with just a Fiesta. The TVR isn't really an ideal car for the station run, and I'm pretty sure my neighbours will hate me if I started using it every day (I leave home at around 5:10 in the morning) so something a bit quieter but still enjoyable etc is on the cards. Ideally I'd keep the TVR and have the Porsche just for daily duties, but I know that would be; A) stupid, and B) the TVR would really never get used at all at that point unless the weather was glorious (and all the cars that have suddenly appeared down my road went, so I could get her out!), so it would be pointless. I'd prefer a manual, but would be ok with a tip as sometimes the traffic is horrific. Is this a reasonable proposition?

i know they are supposed to be capable as every day cars but personally i'd not use mine for 2-3 mile journeys on a regular basis. i bought a scooter to lighten the load, and my commute is 8 miles each way. when i do take pork into work, i normally take the long way and give it a good half hour run

My commute 3 days a week is 12-15mls, the other 2 days it's 2-3mls each way. Tend to use my 172 Cup & leave the 996 tucked up in the garage on it's C-Tek. Comes out to play at weekends or for longer journeys/hoons.

Hmm. I could change route slightly and hit about 4 miles each way (with no major time loss - slightly quicker roads and less traffic lights), but I guess that still isn't enough. This would be my only car, so would be the do all/go to vehicle and would get driven further on the weekend. So, it being perfect isn't necessary. I am a bit too precious over the Chimaera though, as it has had a recent respray and a few other things done to it, I don't want to ruin it. I wouldn't be looking to buy the perfect 996, just a decent example. This has mainly been driven by the fact I suspect the Fiesta won't pass its next MOT (its also rubbish), and I don't use my fun car enough - once, since October (some extenuating circumstances and the weather isn't helping..). I guess the important question is - Am I likely to encounter more reliability issues if I used a 996 like this? I realise it would be used more than a weekend car, but are the issues likely to increase exponentially due to the low daily mileage?