More reliable, a BMW M5 or a 996?

I am selling my car BMW M5 for reliability issues. I really like these cars but I was wondering if Im going from one expensive car that needs plenty of TLC right into another one if I buy a Porsche. I have had to replace the clutch, brakes (rotors), sensors (o2, cam position and a/c unit) fan belts, sway bar brackets, cabin air filters, 3 oil changes and I have an SES light that still needs to be fixed. All that in about 10k miles. Of course I wanted to mod it so I have spent $2000 on an exhaust and $2500 to fix the brake issue I had.

in a few years i put about 30,000 miles on my 2000 996 c2 purchased new. no major problems. none of the problems you cited. sold it reluctantly. bought a 2005 996 GT3. it has been flawless.

Both of my friends have spent allot of money keeping their M5's on the road. They have also been stranded with electrical issues and have had to be flat bedded to a dealership. My 996 just keeps on trucking allong with no major issues in over 30k miles.

Just like any car, there are some 996s that have lots of problems just like your M5. On this forum we had a poster named Bob who had more problems than any 20 owners should have. So anecdotal info isn't going to help you very much. On the other hand all of the quality reports I have read by companies like JD Powers put the 996 near the top of their list for trouble free cars. As a matter of fact if you can afford a 997, it was rated as the best car for quality and even beat out the Lexus LS which typically has the top spot. As added insurance I would highly recommend that you buy a CPO 996, and I would certainly avoid buying a 996 from a non-Porsche Dealer, even though you can buy one there for thousands less. I'm not saying that all cars from these Dealers are garbage, it's just that it seems that a higher percentage of the problem cars were bought there.

I have both cars currently, both have been great. I think any car has potential to generate repairs. Both are expensive to fix and mod. If you get a 996 that needs repairs I doubt it will be much cheaper than the M5. As above, if repairs are a stress factor, only get a car still under warranty, will give you some peace of mind.

I would say that the 996 is one car that you should buy with a few miles on the clock. In my PPI experience, 996s with over 50k miles that have had no major problems will likely never have big issues. The 997 is too new to draw any real conclusions about. There are some very, very good deals on 996s right now. I just picked mine up for a song and it's a great car, well-cared for car with 75k miles and the only issue early in its life was the airbag light.

105,000 miles and no problems to report except for a maf sensor.

Just turned 60k and no problems. 99 996.

Both my Porsche's have been the two most trouble free vehicles I have ever owned. Buy the car from a trustworthy source and have a complete PPI done and you should be fine.

As the owner of a 2000 328i (no M5 obviously) with 101,000 + miles (wife's daily driver) and my 2001 996 with 66,000 miles, from a maintenance/cost point of view my experience is the 996 is the better car. My 996 has been one of the most reliable and trouble free cars i have owned, with really only scheduled maintenance and tires being expense (except for having to replace the iginition switch and the coolant expansion tank). The BMW is a fantastic car also (I we don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon) and I would buy another; but my cost of ownership from a maintenance point of view has been much higher with the BMW (even factoring and mileage as most of my non scheduled issues too place prior to 75k miles) than on any Porsche I have owned (especially my 996). It seems that much of the issues we had with the BMW took place around the 40k through 70k mileage area. I anticipate re-replacing some of the items as the car approaches 120k. My one rant on BMW is they use the absolute crappiest window regulators I have ever seen. I replaced 3 of the 4 on my car so far and 2 on a co-workers (his car has about 45k miles).

I bought my 02 996 based on the research I did that showed it was a very reliable car...

I am one who has had a few problems with my 996. I boughgt it new last year, and have put amost 6k miles on it. It is my daily driver, but I have only about a 2 mile commute to work each day. I had several engine problems, and after the fourth time I took it in they replaced the engine. There have been other things as well like the battery dieing after only 1k miles, ignition switch being replaced, and taking it in almost countless times for rattles, squeeks and cabin noise. So far the new engine is awesome, and really I am not disappointed. I figured many of the things that happened early with this car are simple kinks I would have in a car that sat on a lot for almost 2 years without being driven. It will be interesting to see how it goes long term. I do have a little over 5 years of warranty remaining. I had a BMW 5 series before my 911. It was the old E39 540 which is obviously nowhere near as advanced technologically as the new M5. I must say that 540 was the best car i ever owned. It was bullet proof as have the 4 other BMW's I owned. I have never had an M car, but I did choose this 911 over an M5. I have wondered many times if I chose wisely. I suppose time will tell. I haven't given up yet.

My wife has a '99 Tip Boxster that she has had going on 5 years. She bought it with less than 8k miles and has zero problems other than the battery that I replaced and remote key that is problematic. It has been much more troblefree than her Grand Cherokee. Her car has never been to a shop for repair in 4 years. I have a '99 Cab 996 that I am going on 4 years of owning and other than an issue that Porsche Goodwilled and fixed the car has been very little problem. I did have the MAF sensor go bad and cracked coolant tank issue that are initiation into 996 ownership that I fixed myself! LOL. My highest expenses are tires and oil changes which I do myself.

WOW Thank you very much guys. A few different opinions on the cars. i failed to mention that my M5 has 80k miles on it and some folks say that all the items that have gone wrong with mine are all standard things that go wrong on an m5 with that many miles. I love the look of the car and it sounds like you guys have had good luck with them. I am going to be in the market for a 2000 or a 2001, is there a preference as to what model is the best on here? Are the convertibles worth the extra cash how about the all wheel drive cars? Tip or manual?

Buy the newest you can afford, all else being equal. Mine is an '01 996 with 60k and very few problems fixed under warranty and one that just creeped-up. RMS at 11k, MAF at 20k, rear spoiler at 30k, rattle in the PSE exhaust at 50K (twice and changed under warranty) and leaky rear shock at 60k. PSE rocks

The model preference is getting the best car you can afford. There are many examples of extremely reliable with no real issue cars, built in all the model years of the 996. The convertible usually get a premium over the coupes (as they did when new also) but whether they are worth the premium is indivdual. Personally to me they are not as I like the coupes much better than the convertibles but others swear by the open top. Same goes with the awd vs. 2 wheel drive. It comes down to preference. The awd drive cars offer advantages over the C2's but also feel heavier and not quite as light and tossable as the C2. The handling characteristics are slightly different (supposedly much more pronounced on the track) and it once again boils down to preference. The tip vs. the manual is the same. Personally to me I would have a Porsche in a Tip until I can't drive a manual because I enjoy the involvement of shifting the gears. Go out and drive some examples and determine what is important to you.

If you want to have better performance than the car you are giving up, look at a Turbo. My Turbo has been more reliable than my '98 540.

YA I WISH The turbos are amazing but they are substantially more $$$. I always wondered why. They are a bit out of my price range.

djtroy, are you driving the E39 or E60 M5? I've heard of many E39 M5 owners who have no major problems at all with theirs. Then again, there are some who have been constantly having problems. It's just luck sometimes, overall, the E39 is supposed to be very reliable cars, my 2000 E39 540i was good to me, except for the few common faults that were fixed just once. The E60 5series however, have suffered reliability issues, mainly electronic and hi-tech gadgets. Germans are still behind in electronics compared to the Japanese.

02 would be the year to get if possible.. other than that, the C2 is a very stable car...especially with PSM. Unless you need to drive in the snow, the C2 might be a better choice IMO. As for the tranny, preference obviously but hard for me to buy a automatic unless it for drag racing...

Ya my car is a 2001 E39. Im not saying that the car has had any major breakdowns, its just a whole bunch of little things but it adds up when the repair bills are $500-$1000 every time its in the shop.