Hi all!
I'm looking to buy a used 996 or 997 as a daily driver, and was wondering how the majority of you fared with your cars.
On various Porsche forums, I've thus far been terrified of the 997 as it seems that hundreds of owners have had their engines replaced at low kms -- two huge problems appear to be an "intermediate shaft failure" requiring complete engine replacement, and also failures of cylinder liner in Cyl 5 or 6...
In comparison I haven't found many other huge issues with the 996?

For reference, I've driven a Lexus for about 5 years and haven't had a single problem, so I'm hesitant to take the plunge!
Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

wouldnt be caught dead in a 996 less its a GT2, TT or GT3/RS...the rest are UGLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

lol i wouldn't mind if it meant not having to pay for a new engine every 10,000km after the warranty is over!

 

I've met quite a few 997 carrera and carrera s owners and haven't heard of major issues. Most of the cars were between 20-50k miles. All DD.

 

 

Mine is at 39k miles and is great. I DD it when I can in the summer. No Probs

 

Love this ass

 

Good lord "tons of 997 owners....".
Just stick with Toyota

 

If you went over to the Lexus forum, I guess you could inquire whether the Lexus models performed on par with the Porsches- of course, they don't. Seriously, apples to oranges.

By and large, the 996 and 997 models have been reliable. Are there lemons? Yep, and I even had one ('05 996 Turbo S).

I don't know what kind of warranties you get in the UK nor what your recourse is if you get a bad car. Here in the US, if we're concerned about a particular car's reliability, we can pull up a service history, and if we're concerned about the model in general, we can protect ourselves by purchasing new or Certified Pre-Owned and we can purchase additional warranty coverage.

Development of the 997 included remedies to issues found in the 996. If I was in the market for a pre-owned Porsche, I'd take the newest 997 with my desired specs that I could afford and I'd check the service history and have the car evaluated by an independent mechanic and body shop.

 

For some reason there seems to be some huge internet myth that 99% of every 997 engine will spontaneously explode upon start up at some point in its life.