Am I the only one thinking this about the first 996's
 

Everyone seems to slam the 1999 and 2000 996 911's. Many say to stay away etc. So my thinking is that these are the very first water cooled Porsches made. Let's say 30 years from now many have blown up due to seal or bearing issues. Less 1999 and 2000 996's make it more rare to find and have? So my thinking is let everyone keep on thinking these are terrible years and see how it all plays out in 30+ years. Just sayin...

To paraphrase Yogi Berra - 90% of people are 50% mental. 1999's and 2000's are either the worst years or the best years, depending on who's doing the talking. You can safely disregard everything you hear about anything on the Internet. The facts rarely get in the way of people who make authoritative posts.

30 years from now, MOST gasoline fueled vehicles will probably be dinosaurs or white elephants anyway, so the question is kind of moot. Additionally, Porsches such as the 993, 996, 997, etc are not like the ones built in the early 70's and prior which were relatively simple machines that one could do much of the work of repair and rebuild in a home shop if skilled and motivated enough.

It's great that you love your 996 (and I think the early ones are alright with a few easy tweaks to keep them running), but 30 years from now? Who knows?

"Everyone" doesn't agree with anything. They are wonderful cars and many of us who own them do so for exactly what they are - perfect. I have the 1999 because it is the first water-cooled model and love it. I just bought a new Cayenne (2nd one) , and if I thought there was ANYTHING lacking in the car, I would have traded it in instead and bought a new Carrera.

I have a 2003 C4S and love it, she's been good to me. Most people buy Porsche's because they love the "Porsche" it's history etc... 30 years from now is mute at this point.
If you look at things from a logical view, a car, no matter what brand/type, is nothing more than a ton of parts assembled to give you the end result. That said, things go wrong, shall I say Gremlin, Corvair, Yugo....:D

You're going to find naysayers for everything. There's no difference when it comes to cars, especially the 996's. In the 3 yrs I've owned mine, it has given me no problems and it's practically a daily driver. When it was first introduced, Porsche afficiandos bad mouthed it because it was liquid cooled. Now they're all liquid cooled. Go figure.

Interesting point about 30 years from now. Will gasoline still be available, not that I'll be around to worry about it? I wonder if some company will come out with a one-size-fits-all electric replacement engine or an E-M96.

Pebble Beach Report, circa 2043
Not.

It's a really great sports car. They made lots of them. Buy 'em for reasonable prices, enjoy the hell out of it, sell it down the road and try something else...

I have a 99 with 132k miles and it's my daily driver, my autox and track car and no major issue whatsoever...it's still on its original clutch and drives great..my experience is that if you buy one that has been regularly driven and serviced, your chances of having issues is probably a lot lower...I would not be intimidated by early 996s as long as you take your time to find the right one...good luck!

I figure my '99 C4 might be worth something someday, so I'm going to try to avoid destroying it. However, I'm still going to drive the snot out of it.