In a word, no. You might want to look at this thread though:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

The dfi engines have proved very reliable thus far.

I think IMS issues were largely fixed in 06, but the bore scoring was still an issue until the DFI engines came in on the 09 cars, these engines seem to be very reliable. not sure about RMS improvements but i don't see the RMS as a massive issue anyway so wouldn't worry about that

Right, that's OK then!

The reality is that nobody knows the failure rates, but there's enough anecdotal evidence from things like cars being offered with replacement engines and businesses doing a roaring trade rebuilding engines that have failed to reasonably draw the conclusion that the pre DFI lumps are probably pretty flaky.

Possibly. But there are a stload of pre-DFI M96 and M97 lumps out there across the three models (Box, Cayman, 911). Plenty of work for yers and years to come. DFI gen is only the last three years.

Yeah, if I had to put money on it, I'd say there are problems that haven't surfaced yet. Don't think the problems with the M96 lump we're common knowledge by 1999 / 2000. Probably need a bit more time for this stuff to shake out.

retrofitting PDK's with manual gearboxes ??

the fact that the dfi is in turbos now and with no problems plus we should know soon enough when the dfi goes racing ala gt3.oops it already has in the states in caymans and boxsters with no problems,so problems would have surfaced by now,why,well they raced gen1 caymans when new out early 2006 and problems soon showed up.i agree the pdk may be the weak spot it already had problems early after release

Ownership is irrelevant. I own a Boxster with an M96 lump and that simple fact gives me no insight whatsoever into the failure rates.

Also, the 987 Boxster S does fall into the bore scoring category.

Moreover, what we're talking about here is catastrophic failure leaving the owner with a dead car or a massive bill, not brakes and bushes and suspension, which can add up to a lot, but nothing like a £10k+ bill for a new engine before you've added VAT and labour costs.

Personally, I think it's perfectly obvious these engines suffer from some serious design flaws that cause failure rates much higher than you would expect for this class of car. It's not unusual to read about properly serviced examples that have total engine failure well below 50k miles. That sort of failure should be very rare indeed. But it clearly is not.

You seem to have read the Hartech guides, so you should be well aware of the problems and how real they are.

Anyway, here's hoping the chains don't snap or heads crack on your 3.2, which they have a nasty habit of doing.

TL;DR
The engines in these things are pretty fked, but that didn't stop me from buying one. They're that good it's worth the risk.

As the Cayman is basically a Boxster with a roof, I'd say the engine issues are still ongoing. I'll probably need a new one in a 2009 Cayman model as there's no compression in number six cylinder and I've only done 10300 miles .....