newby needs advise on a early 996

I'm looking at changing to a 996 from a 968. Please could i have some advise. I use my car daily but not loads of miles. I like comfort and the modern look of the 996 vs the 993. My 968 has been a great car with good build quality. Am i wrong to go for an early 996 with some of the engine problems and can anyone tell me what i need to look out for. What are the must haves? thanks for the help Chris

Hi Chris, Welcome to 911uk.. I think it was somehting like 5% of the early 996's that had problems with the engines.. One of our members on here has a near on 100,000 miles 996 and has had no problems (wattie, will be along to confirm) The must have are - A good colour inside and out- MUST have a good history- Mosts of the toys will be down to what you want- PPI - Please please please don't buy one without ! More advise will be along soon, feel free to post up any links of the cars your looking at and we will give advise where needed.. Again welcome to 911uk.

i was looking for an early 996 recently and was apprehensive about the problems but looked up every buyers' guide in the various porsche magazines then settled on a car with good history, colour and everything else was a bonus... bought a 60k mile 1999 ocean blue 996 c2 tip which i love to bits... got an independent inspection for peace of mind...

Thanks to you both, my 968 is midnight blue with grey leather. I like silver with red leather and a tip box. I saw one for sale at £18k i rang but it had gone, the guy was good enought to have a chat and confirmed the car had good history and was a cherished car. I normaly go for a car with a full stamped book and a wallet of receipts to back it up. I'm a cleaning nut and my cars must be mint. Milage doesn't normaly worry me but should it with a 996? Am i expecting too much for £18k or should i wait 6 months and hope prices have fallen again, i'd rather buy now and enjoy but i won't rush. Cheers :wink:

i'm obviously not an expert but rms issues are really not major... more an inconvenience... there are small numbers of cracked bores but they are rare and tended to occur under 40k miles... also intermediate shafts can give problems but tiptronics are less prone and the theory is less stress from the torque converter... i think the thinking is to go for a car that is driven by a mechanically sympathetic owner i.e driven as they should be but not abused... read the total 911, 911 and porsche and gt purely porsche buyers' guides... they really do clarify things a little... my 60k mile '99 ocean blue c2 tip with full history was £21500

RMS isn't much of an issue but intermediate shaft seal failure can be. The visual characteristics are the same. My old Targa was having the RMS done when they found the inter seal had gone. It only costs a few quid for the part but the colateral damage could be very expensive.

You called... :roll: yep, 93,400 miles so far (I bought it 3 years ago at 42k) and going well... In fact haven't had to put a drop of oil in since last service just over 12,000 miles ago. I've trawled through most of the threads about early 996 engine failures and spoken to a few experts and it seems that about 3% are affected - which is about the same as 993s (and out of interest a significantly lower % than BMW VANOS failures, with a not dissimilar repair cost!) Cars most at risk are ones with very occasional use and then for short journeys and/or not warmed up properly before using full throttle / high revs. This is what makes it tricky, as they will often be 4-8 owner cars and you will have no way of knowing how they were used (or abused) in their early life. Reported failures seem to have mostly occurred either up to about 25,000 miles, or at around 50-70k, although that's not a guarantee of course! Personally, if I was buying now, I would avoid ultra low mileage cars, or ones that went two or more years with very low mileage (e.g. 3,000 miles or less between annual services). The problem is these are the ones that are most likely to be in better external condition :? I do have some concerns about full-blown PPIs on a sub-£20k 996 to be honest... You have to remember you are looking at a 9-10 year-old car and it ain't going to be perfect. You could end up spending thousands on PPIs and never owning a car, or having no money left to do some inevitable maintenance. The sort of car that will 'pass' a PPI without needing any work will be well over £20k, unless the owner has no idea of its value. And the seller of a sub-£20k car is hardly likely to spend a few thousand to make it perfect for you. Whatever you do, factor in at least £2,000 a year for maintenance on top of routine servicing and tyres.

Hi Chris I believe you should look for the Facelift version circa 2003 and also for the 3596cc Engine. The trim durability is better in the later cars, and the 3.6 Engine was cured of the faults re leaks etc that were evident on some 3.4 litre cars. Regards Big Bob

You can still buy official Porsche warranty up and until the cars 9th birthday (up to a maximum of 125,000 miles). I would agree that a good colour combo is essential and I would definitely suggest PSM (stability control). Personally, I would avoid the orange light 996 and go for a 99 (clear light) model....statistically they have better reliability, but have no reason why this is because I though the 3.4 engine was identical. That said, I would always avoid anything that is less than 6 months into a major engineering change....let someone else be the beta tester!!!

that's what i did, went for the clear light... rumour is that porsche did do some modifications for the my99 engine therefore less prone to failure although still recognised

All good advise, many thanks, one minute i think just go for it the next i look at my mint 968 and think i'll wait another year ans pay off a chunk of the morgage. If i do go for it i'll definately take the advice of getting the clear light update car. My ideal would be silver with red hard backed seats and tiptronic. Again thanks for all the help, watch this space for the dream to be realised. Cheers Chris. :wink:

Chris, for £18k you are looking at a fairly high mileage car 90+K Miles - that said as long as its been serviced regularly and looked after it will be fine to use on a daily basis. Don't be put off by all the scare mongering about the engines blowing etc if its been treated right it will be OK but make sure you get a PPI and service history. there are plenty of indy warranties and repairers out there which which IMHO are far better value for money than OPC. as has been said many times before buy on feel and condition Simon

Another option... buy an early one that's got an engine issue (which you will get cheap) and then get an exchange Silsleeve engine from Autofarm-cost about 4-6k, with rebuilt cylinder walls, inter shaft mods etc. This will be guaranteed to give no problems and all in hopefully within budget. The fact is sadly that at £18k, you will be lucky to find a minty one, though you do get nice ones come up, but you need to be patient and look at loads. IMO better spend a bit more and get a good one for about 21-24k.

IMO you'd be better off waiting for the minty one than having an exchange engine. When it comes to resale time, the non matching numbers will count against you - unless you get one and have Autofarm rebuild your engine.....

Funny you should say that Robert... Where are all these hundreds of cars that are meant to have blown engines? Can't say as I can ever recall seeing one advertised anywhere... :wink: makes you wonder really? :?