Help Needed on 996 Purschase

I am a current Pcar owner('88 944 Turbo S Silver Rose) and am looking to purschase a '99-'01 996 to replace it. I have read many negative posts on 996 reliability problems and am becoming quite spooked on the car. I bought my 951S used 6yrs ago with no warranty and had very few problems and no major issues. It seems as though the '99 996 is plagued with more issues than the '00 or '01 is this true? I am looking to spend no more than $42k on a nice example with under 35k miles. That puts me mainly in the '99 MY and some '00 MY's. The problem is both of those years do not have warranties left unless you pay many $'s extra. Should I only consider cars with warranties?? Thanks for the input.

At your price point, you will have a larger selection of 99s and 00s. You may not find an 01 or later unless it is a beater. With that said, I believe you can still find a good early 996. Records are key. I wouldn't necessarily walk away from an early 996 because of certain issues or lack of warranty. All Porsches, including your 951 could be very costly should something go wrong. On the other hand, with some luck, you might find a low maintenance gem of a 996 like your 951. Good luck.

As I always say when people have these concerns --- 99% of the owners drive their cars with few, if any problems. Worth noting is the fact that even the 1% w/ problems love their cars as well !

There were early AND late 99s. The early 99s were essentially 98 models (the car was released in Europe before it was released here). The interior on the older car is a bit different, and there are some other differences too. I don't think there are any specific issue endemic to the 99s, except for maybe a cracked coolant bottle, which actually ends up being a few hundred to fix. The only major issue is RMS, which should be about $800 to fix, and that is pretty much hit or miss. Some people have it happen every few thousand miles, other are up in the 40-50k range without it ever happening. I think the 99s initially had some issues, as all first model runs do, but they should have all been fixed under warranty already.

Alex , I just purchased a MY 01 C2 coupe and absolutely love it. I had a 99 C2 coupe as well and never had any problems with it at all. I think the earlier comments are accurate. If you take your time and find a well documented car, you should be fine. I spent 3 months looking for my current car. Good Luck

I'll take your 944 turbo s.....

I bought my 99 cab in June of 99. RMS seal fixed at 6k miles. No other major problems. It is not for sale as I intend to drive it for at least another 5 years. Still looks and runs like new. 30k miles now. Don't shy away from a 99 or any 996 as most are trouble free. Most of the other 996 people I run into have never heard of this or the FunCars board. Only people with problems post them. I would get flamed if I posted no problems yet! every week.

For piece of mind...see if you can get one from a dealer that is Certified so you get the extended factory warraty.

I had my late 99 cab for 3 years now, essentially trouble free and intend to keep it for a while.

Sorry me=newbie, what is RMS? and what is the issue with it? Thanks.

Rear Main Seal There have been RMS leak problems in all 996's including the current year. There have been numerous fixes and engineering changes from Porsche but still the problem persists in some number of cars. The leak is usally slight just enough to always make a spot on your garage floor. I have never heard of any real damage occuring to the clutch or anything else. I suspect you could drive forever with a RMS leak as long as you checked the oil.