Total repair cost of 1999, 2000 and 2001 996 over the last three years

I have seen a number of low priced 1999. In fact, there is one for sale near my area. While I can afford the car, I am not certain I can afford the repair cost. Maintenance cost is non-issue. Rather than asking people for reliability or problems, I thought I'll do a poll on repair cost. Tell me your total repair (excluding maintenance) cost of your MY99, 00 or 01 over the last three years. Edit: just to clarify, please excluding wear and tear items such as battery, tires, brake pads/rotors, oil changes, xxK miles service, etc.

60k service & new rotors & brake pads is what I have paid for. The 60k service I had done at a local indy that came recommended. I changed the rotors & pads myself, because I think you come to know/appreciate your car more.

I had my 2000 996 for almost 3 years and the ONLY money I put into it (other than 2 oil changes, wiper blades, new tires, and the 15k service) was about $200 for fixing something with the 3rd brake light, which was found during the PPI when I sold her. PLUS, I had one of the LOW MILEAGE cars that everyone seems to tell you to avoid. FYI, it had 8,200 miles on it when I bought it in 2004 and it had around 16 or 17k on it when I sold it in 2007.

The only thing my 996 has cost me (besides maintenance) is a MAF that needed replacing 2 weeks after I bought it. I'm now 3 years into ownership and have had nothing to deal with. This is the most reliable car I've ever owned.

Agreed. I bought a low mileage 2000 in 2005 (had 5200 miles) and haven't spent a penny more than just for some wear and tear items until just this year when the coolant tank needed to be replaced. It's a good thing that you didn't include mods in the above question because I've gone overboard in that direction.

Had to replace the coolant tank and coolant cap; replaced the air ducts under the front that direct air to the brakes....low cement parking lot stops are death on those. Replaced the CDR220 radio due to the common failure of the buttons peeling and becoming tacky. The rest of the money spent was elective for SSK, Plenum, CAI, PSS9s, brakes and wear items....that sort of thing that guys spend on their cars not because there's anything wrong, just that irrepresible urge to "mod". Less than $750 on actual repairs for failed parts. I won't count the fact that a dash fire totalled the car...that was an unforseen anomaly that doesn't happen very often....falls under the "**** happens" statute.

Chuck, what caused the dash fire? The car I am looking at has 62,000 miles on with Champion 19" rims (235/35 and 315/25). It seems a huge rim size to me considering the OEM was 17 (18 optional). Would you be concern with that size of tires/rim comb? Keep voting on the poll...I am hoping to get to some statistically valid numbers here.

Great thread. This hand wringing obsession about engine failures completely obscures how ridiculously easy to keep these cars are. Here's a sports car that by any reasonable measure, let's say 'semi-exotic' (high performance, limited production, all that) that starts and goes reliably, requires little more than oil changes and tire pressure checks most of the time, for which parts are not ludicrously expensive, and which owners can still work on themselves if they want to. That is a big part of the heritage of this brand, and I think it's impressive they've managed to maintain it into the 21st century. Credit where it's due.

To those who voted cost over $10,000, please post your year or PM me your year. I will keep everything confidential as far as the who.

Radio died ~200 Coilpacks failed (not sure I'd call this maintenance since they only had 50k miles on them) ~300 Alternator died ~200 RMS ~800 (includes labor which other items did not due to DIY) Seat Heater ~100

Car bought with 66K now at 77K - last 10K miles MAF - $400 Belt - $40 Throttle Body = $600 used racing part. 2 oil changes - $240 total rear tires - $700 wiper - $50 PSS9s - old shocks worn out - $2700

Quotes source post: 5380374

Not for those of that, uh...have had complete engine failures. I checked the "over $10k box" for my '99 C4.

Fixed the RMS leak in my '99 - clutch pack wasn't bad but I had them replace it along with the new shift for $1300.00

I punched $1,000-$1,999 mostly due to the having the top separating from the plastic window on my '01 C4 cab. The repair looks to be about $600 although new top with plastic around $1,900. Otherwise in 3+ years had to replace the alternator (+/- $600 at dealer) and coolant resevoir ( +/- $500 at stealer/dealer (both seem to be a trend on the 996). These were both done by the dealer under CPO warranty, although the coolant resevoir wasn't suppose to be covered. Otherwise, just routine maintenance.

Total repair costs... $30 for a broken console hinge. The year before that $280 for a leaky coolant tank... the rest were normal maintenance and wear and tear stuff, oil, tires etc...

Opus: I forgot to include the 2 oil changes I did while i had it, so add those in. The dash fire (I surmise) was caused by the PO who might have put in an aftermarket radio, then took it out and replaced it with the stock CDR220. The fire started directly behind the radio....which is why I think that is what happened. AAA was going to pay an expert to chase it down, but then decided that they had to pay me for the car anyway, so they opted not to bother with the forensics. I guess they figured that most guys who torch their own cars don't do it while they're actually driving them.

Very Interesting post. This post can give us a good indication of older 996 3.4 engine replacements. Assuming that the over $10,000 represents engine replacement and not a laundry list of waterpumps, transmissions etc... As of my post, we have 3 people out of 52 responses that checked the 10,000 or more. Indicating a 6% failure rate, again with the assumption that they are engine replacements. Don't intend to turn this thread into that or hijack it, just mining some data.

Bought new - nothing spent on repairs ( some were made under warranty - RMS, MAF ). Mods, well that's another story...

Don't let Mark Fletch respond to this thread...it will skew the results... He completely rebuilt a few 996's...one burnt and what was wrong with the first one he had...was it burnt too?

Bought my 2000 Cab with 30K miles, just out of warranty. 3.5 years, and 50K miles later, the ONLY repair costs have been for the coolant tank that I recently replaced myself. During this time I also adjusted my front lid latch, and cleaned out the cab water drain lines .... each at no cost. Never leaks or uses oil between changes. All other expenditure has been for scheduled maintenance. WHAT A GREAT CAR!!

Bump... we need more sample data to make this statistically meaningful... keep the voting coming.

I hit the $2K button, but I feel that's a little misleading. I purchased my '99 in December 2006 and spent most all of the dollars repairing common items such as: Coolant tank..$500, water pump..$750 (two weeks apart!), oil separator...$1000, all done over a year ago. The only issue I've had since then was a MAF sensor. Once everything was sorted out, it's been a fantastic car. Just turned 89,000 last week.

Rember not to post oil changes, pads, tires, normal maintance per OP's direction. Mine: Water pump $500 Trailing arm bent before I bought the car, but I found it $500. Window regulator that was bad when I bought the car $400 (the 2nd regulator was a DYI for $223). I've only had the car a year, but have put 24,000 miles on it, so I figured I qualified for the poll. It's been a pretty, no very reliable car.

I bought my MY00 C2 with 84K miles. It has slight RMS dampness when I bought it. A month after ownership, it threw a CEL for a bad Vario Cam Solenoid. To replace the solenoid and actuator would have cost (IIRC) about $2500 in parts and labor. I was also going to do the clutch and flywheel and RMS, and have a few spark plug tubes replaced, new plugs and tranny flushed for a total of just under $5K. Long story later I got a new engine. However, I guess my cost would have been $5K in the first month of ownership. Except for the solenoid, I knew what I was getting into as a result of the PPI. Stefan

$10K for me. 99 M/Y 53K miles Ugly & painful.

Let me summarized the results after 72 votes... 1) 6 or 8% voted $10,000 or more (at least 2 of those votes came from 1999, don't know where the others came from) 2) 46 voted in 1999 15 in 2000 9 in 2001 Did Porsche really sell 3x as much in 1999 versus 2000? When I am looking at the ads, most of the 996 I see are for 1999. 3) Based on the small sample size, it seems that the 2000 and 2001 model year had the least issues. I don't know if this is just because the cars are a year and two years newer, or if the 1999 is the case of avoiding a first year redesigned car. Any thoughts?

This poll needs a box for mods. Costs goes up dramatically for a lot of us

How many of those 10,000+ had an engine replacement or was it a string of things that went wrong and accumulated to over 10,000?