OT: 911 Top Premium Sports Car 2012 for Reliablility

Interesting comments. http://editorial.autos.msn.com/slide...=autos_3016#12

I tend to agree with this theory and think that all of these "most reliable" car rating can be quite misleading to some people.

Test drove one, & now I want a 991. It will eventually replace my 996, maybe 6 years down the road. What a car!

Beautiful car but I don't like the way the fog lights are askew. I need symmetry!

I like the rounder bumpers... very similar to the Mk1 996. Im thinking the next generation will be more boxy at the corners like the Mk2 996... Porsche can be predictable at times.

Great looking car no doubt, but I really don't like how the sunroof opens. It's a little goofy. I would get a Cab anyway.

We are having 100+ degree heat here in the Northeast today, and I have been thrashing my lightly modded 911 all week, disturbing the neighbors. I remembered once again why I bought one. The top end power the 4 cam delivers is the breakthrough the 996 model delivered to mass Porsche production, while retaining the fat, mid range torque curve of the earlier models. I lusted briefly after a Gallardo I saw at a light but then I thought about living with that transmission for a dozen years or more. No thanks. Porsches are dependable enough to play with for a long time.

I wish the 991 were smaller and stuck closer to the roots of what the 911 is about. The 911 started to lose its spirit with the 997 model and the introduction of the new "luxury" interior styling. The 991 is obviously a gorgeous car, but I think the Cayman better embodies the 911 spirit now than the 911 does.

I test-drove the 991 a few weeks ago and this is what I felt. What Porsche is doing is targeting the car to the appropriate client-base who'd buy a new 911. The 996 itself was a big marketing success because Porsche made sure it appealed to the people who can afford to buy it new. Same with the Cayenne. I sure hate the looks, but then its a huge success. I see quite a lot of them here in the NorthEast. With regard to the article - I'm not sure what the writer is trying to achieve when comparing Porsche to Honda and Mercedes (mainstream cars). The top-ranker rating was for premium sports cars. So I guess comparisons should be made with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Maserati etc.. And then, I guess, the numbers will speak for everything..

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I was talking to a Gallardo owner who was on his second clutch - the beefed up carbon fibre one he had installed was meant to be better than the OEM - cost him $10K and it lasted less than 10K miles .... The new 911 looks nice outside, but I don't like the Panamera like interior so much. With the jacked up window sticker, I'd seriously consider the cayman S as my next upgrade ....

I don't want my sports to be described as comfortable and conservative looking. I got to spend half a day in a 991S PDK. It was an amazing car, but not an amazing 911. I felt like I was driving a Jag XK. Or MB SL. I don't think I'm their target market anymore.

@SSST - But don't you feel the air-cooled owners think of the 996+ models as you think of the 991? I guess its the way the car is evolving. Personally, I'd stop with a 997 some day., or even a 996 GT3. I wouldn't go for a 991.

A lot of the uncertainty about Porsche reliability is just inherent with the relatively small # of cars produced. If something has a 1% failure rate, and you have 10,000 cars, you're probably going to have somewhere around 100 cars failing. But when you only have 100 cars, there's about as good a chance as 0 or 2 fail as 1, and that makes a big difference on these surveys. Especially when so many of them aren't driven very much. Which is what I think the author of the article in the first post was talking about. About all we can really glean from the numbers is that reliability is certainly not horrible, and probably on-par with the best of the other mas manufacturers. Still, statistical abberations or not, it's still fantastic that these cars have the performance they do with such a high reliability rating.

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I know I'm a heretic to the air-cooled folks. But the 996 and 997 still have the soul and quirks of a 911. The 991 crossed a line from being a sports car with some GT attributes, to being a luxury GT with a few sports car attributes. It's a great car, but isn't what I think of when I think 911. That's just my .02 and I'm certainly not the last word on the subject.

Oh trust me, most of 'em hate the water-cooled cars. When I let the guys at Powertech Porsche (They're the ones that work on my car here in NJ), that I'd be selling off the '86 3.2 and getting a 996.. they weren't happy about it I agree with you that lately there's been more on the luxury side than raw sportiness.

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It may be more luxury but it isn't heavy like other GT's. 3075 lbs New power kit was just released for it as well as fixed aero. 430 hp. The 997.2 GT3 435hp/3,075 lbs Though I am not a fan of the sun roof which I don't have to option in and I prefer to have real hand brake. The car is still very sporty and the Cayman will always be a stunted engine, suspension and gearing sibling.

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You say that, but it's faster around the 'ring than the 997. So, if it's faster, is it really any less of a sports car? Seems to be the best of both worlds, really.

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The 991 is only ~3k pounds? Wow, impressive, I didn't realize that. That actually changes my perspective on the car quite a bit.

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I get that it is a better car. I even agree with that. But spend half a day with one on the streets and tell me it is as involving and fun to drive on a daily basis as its predecessors. I spent that half day in one. It was superior to my 996 TT in every way except one. Fun factor. But that's huge. To really enjoy the 991 you need to drive it near the limit, but you can't do that on the street. you can't drive a 996 near its limit on the street either, but it's still fun to drive.