80?s v. 90?s Build Quality

Hello gents. I will try to explain my question. I�m about to sell my Jaguar XF daily and jump in on a MY99 996.1 coupe. Again as a daily. My only other P car is a late 86 928. I think I acquired it in 2010. It was low miles and well kept. At 25 years old that car was aged. Pod gauge electronics, interior parts, most plastics, and anything in the engine bay not made of metal was brittle. It was a second job to refresh everything. Inversely, The engine and bones are so good it survives to present day as my supercharged DE car. The Carrera will be roughly the same age when I acquire it. I haven�t test driven it yet but is billed as a well maintained example with 77k miles. It seems much better in terms of looking like, and being a contemporary car. Thoughts on what to expect in terms of components aging out? I haven�t seen anything worse than sticky window switches and potential foam from the cabin vents on my first info search. My gut take is that there is a world of difference in terms of quality and reliability of components and materials coming out of the factory late 90�s compared to mid 80�s. I say these things assuming 928�s and 911�s shared components and build quality in 1986�and stepping around any rivalry I�m ready to be educated now. Best Dave H.

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I think your gut is right. Build quality and overall quality improved a lot from a mid 1980s 928 to a 996.1.

My 99 C2 seems very well constructed. The air cooled 88's I owned in the past were also well constructed, just much less complex and less advanced - but also perhaps simpler in many ways, as well. The older cars had fewer things that could break, and when they did they were not too difficult to fix. Some things, like the 1980's electrical systems were pretty basic and need a lot more fuses and relays and separated circuits to be safe imho. The 996 has more parts that can break, like the AOS, the vacuum lines everywhere, on plug coils, cooling system, and the engine design is not as robust or as easily repaired as a 3.2 flat six is. The interior seems to be pretty solid in terms of switch gear, etc. I think the 996 suspension is improved over the 1980's, but there are more parts involved. I prefer my 996 by a long shot and am very happy I own it. It's every day driveable and anywhere driveable without worry, and it's cooler, comfortable and quieter and handles just as well as a 1980's 911. Both 80's 911 and 996.1 weigh within a hundred pounds of each other (curb weight), as well.

FWIW: Whatever 996 you get, it will have some "issues" more than likely. Rubber hoses, clamps, rusted solid bolts, AOS (P AOS=Junk, plan on ~$800 UAOS from Skip), possible IMSB, RMS, and dreaded Bore-scoring, to name a few things. At 25 years old, injectors may be failing, coil packs need replacing, plugs, water pump, LTT, engine coolant tank (996.1=$$$, 996.2=$), and more. A proper PPI is basic requirement to find out both good and bad things about the car. A documented service/parts-replaced history is helpful, and well as service intervals. Miles drive, brake pad/rotor wear, tires newish-old over 6 y.o., and other sort of not obvious things. Is it a C2 or C4? Manual or Tip? Differences in what is there. It won't be new, so has it been taken car of? How many owners? Where did car spend most of it's life? Cold weather places are not friendly to a 996. Do you do some/any of your own DIY wrenching? A Durametric (or similar) diagnostic tool is a must. An engine failure can easily be a $22k+ "issue". Do you want to keep 996 forever, love it, etc? If engine fails or you want it to be "bullet-proof", send it to Slakker. Their engines are amazing. I had a few 911s and last one was a heavily modded 930. Faster than snot, great fun, but still a "widow-maker" even with a LOT of suspension upgrades. My 996 C4S is better, more stable, awesome handling and beats it, hands down for comparison. Anyway, just some thoughts. YMMV

It was a brief relationship gentleman. I couldn�t get my legs under the steering wheel. I�m pretty bummed. Fare thee well.

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There is a trick to getting in without fighting the wheel. Put your right leg over the accelerator and slide in. Both knees clear the wheel. Took me three weeks to find the answer. I was trying to get in it like my other cars. Sliding the right leg as far in as possible before sliding in the seat will resolve the problem. Try it again before it gets away!

Quotes source post: 20727471

They age quite well and interior parts were -as far as my experience- easy to remove and put back without breaking anything. Still 25yo & 77k miles: suspension will be worn, some engine-related parts may not be as reliable as you'd like, etc. General advice is to stay away from seldom driven cars. I wouldn't touch anything that's done less than 10k in the past 5 years unless I had proof of recent work.

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Appreciate it. Getting in was ok. I just can�t get my knees under the wheel to work pedals. Which is weird, I searched and see people taller than me (6�4) who can get it done comfortably. And guess my legs are too long compared to torso (ie genetic freak). I also saw threads on center console deletes, spacers for steering column, and potentially a �sport seat plus� option instead of sports seats. But that�s a lot of conversion work, I assume. I had the same issue with the cayman FWIW.

The lack of height-adjustable steering wheel is a bit of a bummer on these cars. I always found the wheel to be a bit low at 6'2", but not enough to ruin the driving experience. Driving position was a lot better on my Toyota 86 though.

I will remember my three days in the 996 fold fondly Here�s a little pic of the modified 928, just car guy stuff, since we are here: I got tired of point bys at HPDE. Two superchargers running in-line. Plenums bolted together so they don�t blow off. Too much time during COVID. Best Dave

Interesting brace between the cam covers.

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Your best bet without spending 1k US for a flat bottom wheel that only gains you 1/2 ‐ 1 1/4 in. with your hight, you are better served with a deep dish wheel. Starr with several spacers on the steering wheel to move it closer to you. Now you have extra room to slide over with extra room for your knees and steering wheel. Currently, the was it is, can you get in it and drive it? This is the highlight of ownership. If you like it, crawling in and out can be addressed after you buy it. Sounds like this opportunity shouldn't pass by.

Quotes source posts: 20733083, 20734019

The giant pipe organ intake was definitely not engineered to hold boost. This brace was the result of having the side plenum blow loose mid-session DE, creating a WOT situation in a turn and a tow. My ADD kicked in over the weekend and I found a XLR-V languishing on a lot in East St. Louis of all places. My impression thus far is that it is a corvette engine attached to a very intricate convertible top.

No active tech forums for this one you guys. I think the whole production run was like two thousand cars. So I�m just going to post here Oh. And it has a Battlestar Galactica HUD. So I�m feeling it. Second day of ownership I had to tear front end down and replace the thermostat. So the daily driver concept sounds optimistic doesn�t it.