Porsche 997 Carrera: Catch it while you can
Take a brave pill and you could land a big 997 bargain just now...
You'd have to be some sort of uber-ostrich to not know that the water-cooled 996 and 997 Porsches have had their 'issues'. Scored pistons and disintegrating intermediate shaft (IMS) bearings have left owners with huge bills, and the reputation of water-cooled Porsches with a huge pall of burnt oil hanging over them.
As a result, values of 996s are on the floor. We're talking Boxster-level. As in £8K. 997s have rapidly followed the descent of the 996, and early ones are now as cheap as late 996s.
Dodging a bullet
Avoiding huge engine rebuild costs is what we all want. One way to dodge the blown-engine bullet is to buy a post-August 2008 'Gen 2' 997, with its DFI engine that doesn't have an intermediate shaft. But we're talking a minimum of £32K for a 2009 Gen 2 Carrera.
For £10K less, you can have a 2006-model 997 - but don't you run the risk of it costing you at least that much in repairs? Indeed, the price of a new engine could be as much as £15K from a Porsche dealer, maybe £10K from a specialist.
But there's some good news. Word is that those water-cooled woes have been much exaggerated, and engine failures in 'Gen 1' engines are in fact increasingly rare. And if you choose your 997 model wisely, it's perfectly possible to have a reliable 997 for very little outlay.
So which 997 is the best buy, then? I reckon it's the bog-standard Carrera 2 (as opposed to Carrera 2 S or 4/4 S models). So often, simple is best and that's definitely the case with the non-S Carrera. At 3.6 litres, its capacity is more modest than the 3.8 S engine, but it only sacrifices 30hp (325hp versus 355hp). It also revs more freely, and the base Carrera 2 lacks the S model's standard PASM adaptive damping, which many owners don't seem to like very much. The Carrera 2 is, in my view, a purer driving experience - and if the 911 is about anything, it's about driving purity.
Crucially, the 3.6 engine is also seemingly more reliable. It suffers fewer IMS failures than the S, say the people who fix them. Of course, that may be a simple corollary of the fact that the 3.8 S outsold the regular Carrera by three to one...
What about scored bores, which also afflict 'Gen 1' water-cooled 911s? Again, a lot of specialists say this problem is less common with the 3.6 engine than the 3.8 engine - perhaps because it's got thicker cylinder walls and is generally less stressed.
What price for the 997 dream?
I've now seen 997s going as cheaply as £18K. It's hard to argue that's not a huge bargain. A few specialists I've spoken to reckon prices are now starting to firm up for 997s, so I reckon now is definitely the time to buy.
Find a low-mileage early 997 Carrera 2 with manual transmission and a full history for £22K, and you've surely got one of the best current 911 deals of all. There's a 59K-mile 2006 example, for instance, up for £22,995. OK, it's silver (ho hum), but it's got extended leather, PSM sat nav, PASM dampers and S wheels, as well as a full OPC Porsche service history.
Go up to £24,950 and the classifieds yield a black example, with 51K miles, PSM and full black leather. It's also got a 12-month warranty, which if you're of a nervous disposition, will let you sleep easy. Loving the look of this £24,995 Midnight Blue one too.
Surely like everyone else, the Germans put the test cars through hundreds of thousands of miles of testing prior to release? Are we saying that NOT ONCE did anyone pick up on these serious engine issues before the car was released? If so that's either very poor quality control or worse, they were noticed but ignored.
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Cheers
Surely like everyone else, the Germans put the test cars through hundreds of thousands of miles of testing prior to release? Are we saying that NOT ONCE did anyone pick up on these serious engine issues before the car was released? If so that's either very poor quality control or worse, they were noticed but ignored.
Porsche and the other german manufacturers are not making massive profits by building expensive cars - they are selling a product of a perceived higher quality at a higher price, but to make so much money they must have a very strong margin - .i.e. build them cheap sell them at a high price - the bits the customer can touch they spend the money on, making savings on the bits you can't see.
I'm sure it is not just a coincidence that Porsche and other companies like Merc started making lots of money followed by a reduction in quality of their products - even the 996 interior felt cheap, never mind the oily bits.
Perception, not reality - it's all about good marketing, and the marketeers, accountants and the health and safety police design the cars we drive these days - the engineers do the best they can with the limitations they are given.
I think it is not so much complexity of the electronics, but more a combination of poor design or material selection, all cars have had ecu's since the eighties and personally I have never had an electronic issue, its always been mechanical, and a lot of that was down to a previous owners lack of care.
Car ownership has got more common across the social spectrum and genders, it used to be the preserve of the man of the family to fettle the family car fairly often, and they did need attention, plugs, points, condensors, de-cokes and this is where the 100k mental block comes from, in the seventies a car engine that had done 100k before a rebuild was a thing of wonder, but usually the body had rotted to bits before then.
I think I agree with Emeye, penny pinching down to the nth degree is responsible for a lot of the problems modern cars suffer. Materials\components are chosen for their cheapness and to be just good enough rather than with a view to longevity. TVR went down the pan because of engine reliability woes, strange how Porsche got away with it relatively unharmed. I guess that's what having a huge marketing budget does for you.
I'd never get another Porsche without a full OPC warranty.
You may get a good one and have no issues but it's a big and potentially very expensive gamble.
If you are looking at a cheap 911 and have £10K to keep for potential repairs then just buy a more expensive car without an engine made from chocolate.
The porsche racing championships (using Boxsters and a few 996 carreras) seem to have few issues, or, failing that, they keep them very quiet?
I see very few cars in the classifieds that cost as much as a 997 did brand new and have been able to withstand the mileage that these car have?! I had a 997.1 C2S, bought and sold at 55k and 81k. No problems at all. Obviously I could have been lucky, but I haven't seen an Audi R8 with anything like that number of miles on the clock and they have a stellar reputation for reliability.
In terms of other rivals, what have we that is that much more reliable?
The porsche racing championships (using Boxsters and a few 996 carreras) seem to have few issues, or, failing that, they keep them very quiet?
I see very few cars in the classifieds that cost as much as a 997 did brand new and have been able to withstand the mileage that these car have?! I had a 997.1 C2S, bought and sold at 55k and 81k. No problems at all. Obviously I could have been lucky, but I haven't seen an Audi R8 with anything like that number of miles on the clock and they have a stellar reputation for reliability.
In terms of other rivals, what have we that is that much more reliable?
Surely like everyone else, the Germans put the test cars through hundreds of thousands of miles of testing prior to release? Are we saying that NOT ONCE did anyone pick up on these serious engine issues before the car was released? If so that's either very poor quality control or worse, they were noticed but ignored.
Porsche and the other german manufacturers are not making massive profits by making expensive cars - they are selling a product of a perceived higher quality at a higher price, but to make so much money they must have a very strong margin - .i.e. build them cheap sell them at a high price - the bits the customer can touch they spend the money on, making savings on the oily bits.
I'm sure it is not just a coincidence that Porsche and other companies like Merc started making lots of money followed by a reduction in quality of their products - even the 996 interior felt cheap, never mind the oily bits.
Perception, not reality - it's all about good marketing, and the marketeers, accountants and the health and safety police design the cars we drive these days - the engineers do the best they can with the limitations they are given.
Engines in those are apparently pretty bullet proof.
My point is, they may suffer failure rates of 1-5% (made up but I am not sure if anyone can correct me?) but they are brilliant, very fast cars and they are cheap to run compared to rivals.
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