My 2005 Coupe has 28000 miles and it drives like brand new. I dont race it but I drive pretty rough. It is truly a joy to drive it each time.

 

i have been very impressed with the reliability!

 

For every complaint I have ever heard from a 997 owner it seems I have heard 100 endorsements praising the car's reliability. I know some of its marketing hype, but the SAME factory has been producing essentially the same design - same engine platform - for over 40 years! Continuity breeds perfection. Also, Porsche has designed, manufactured, prepped and supported rallying the 911 over the years, and this approach requires "overbuilding" the car to a degree. These seem very plausible reasons why the car is made like a tank and exhibits relatively bullet proof reliability.

That said, I have another reason why this may be the first car, since my 2001 740i sport, that I keep for more than 3 years. The reason being that it's cool factor doesn't diminish with age! It's like an italian soft leather briefcase that just looks better as it wears. Older 911s are still cool, and a hoot to drive. In a luxury car, new goodies will entice you to buy. Not really the case with the 911.

I queued up to get the original iphone on day 1 and got the 3G and 3GS as soon as they were available, and I'll get a 4 once they release the white ones (apple code for: correct the antennae issue). But I don't feel that way about the Carrera. I'm hoping this a good high mileage car, because I can see myself putting 60-75k on this one over the next 5 or 6 years.

DRP

 

Well that was my attitude as well after moving from BMW...they have been making this thing forever so they must have it down...right?

Complete replacement for cab rear deck seal, clips and rubber due to mangling from opening and closing the top..."they have a new replacement since the original out of the factory didn't have enough clips"

Vacuum assist or whatever for transmission replaced...car started to die on the return from a trip...did die at the shop when they were giving it back to me while the new part came in so they had to keep it till the part came in

Pump for the gasoline pressure test system replaced as system was failing the pressure test and setting off the "visit workshop" message and red exclamation sign EVERY TIME you start the car

Original PCM replaced

Clips for the exhaust added due to TSB

PCM to universal audio interface still doesn't work right (reboots, lost place in songs, ipod losing power, etc.)...

Constant buzzing out of the pdk shifter base that starts on bad roads at low speeds and most roads at about 50 mph (haven't had the nerve yet to get this fixed as they have to do a tear down to find out why the buzzing is happening and then go from there)

So my answer would be that I like the design concept and engineering implementation (fun to drive and all that) but the parts quality from outside vendors and some of the design (top, pcm, exhaust) and who knows what else should have been better. Absolutely no complaints about the dealer service and they have been champs standing between PNA (who doesn't deal with the customer) and me.

So, unfortunately, I have gotten to the same place I got to with BMW, never own their product out of warranty.

 

Sorry to hear that. You are now the next complaint after which I'll likely hear 100 endorsements...

Seriously, your car sounds like a lemon. Did you ever look into Texas' lemon laws? A friend of mine just pulled off a buyback with BMW on a 2010 M3 because the check engine light wouldn't go off. Essentially, they couldn't diagnose the problem in three trips to the dealer over month, so they swapped him into a 2011.

Better luck ahead.

DRP

 

I am more comfortable with the quality of my Porsche than I was with my previous BMWs and mercs. I think you Can go 200k+ if regular oil changes etc...I will keep mine until I am ready for a turbo

 

Sorry, for any misunderstanding here. I don't see a listing of issues I have had in two years of original ownership as either complaints or a lack of an endorsement of the product. Now if I were sitting down with P design and supply chain there are some things I would say but not in a negative sense. I would recommend P to someone that wants what this car represents much as I would recommend a BMW to a person for what that brand offers in certain model classes. I would not say "stay away" from either brand because there is a model which is so bad that it is toxic. This car is a blast to drive and I haven't had a car that is as much fun to me since an MGB of many years ago. There are some things that I would have thought they could/should have done better and that is what drove my emoticon. But it is what it is and so far there is nothing in my experience that would indicate a dimunition of the car's value on resale. So my financial conclusion is that I simply won't own the car out of warranty--when something goes wrong it is expensive to fix and I don't own a shop or have the tools to DIM.

Now in the case of one of my BMWs, there was ONE problem which led to stalls that they could never fix so they did take the car back. However, if I were in the market for a sports sedan I would still look at BMW.

 

This thread has taken a tiny twist so I'll throw my relatively new $0.02 in on reliability and usage. My 08 997.1 C4 Cab was bought as a leftover in spring of 09 in an effort to help our economy along. (In other words, were it not for the recessionary discount, I couldn't have pulled it off.) I was replacing a BMW 3 Convertible that had 105k and was about as new as a 12 year old car could possibly be. As I detailed the BMW up for sale, I realized how great it looked, how well it still road and handled and how reliable it had been and mused whether I was making a mistake straying from the brand which I recommended to so many friends. My only regret, and it was a big one, was that I only had 105k and wish I had used it a lot more. Every mile was great and I was convinced that the car would be worth nearly as much if it 150k. At some point - it's just an older used car and so preserving it doesn't really have much value. I've also had plenty of lesser cars that we ran well into the upper 100's in mileage.

I vowed not to make that mistake with this one and I've put 24k, trouble free miles in the last 16 months. (Got 19k miles out of PS2 rears but swapped out all 4 for Hankook to save a few $ - separate thread on this. The rest of the mileage is on my snows.) I added a 996 hard top and I use it every day in all weather.

So far, there have been a couple of very minor warranty items like a broken cup holder, a couple of gas caps and a sticky one-touch window. My only concern now is that I'm getting a fair bit of groaning from the windshield frame going over bumps so I need to look into this.

It's early but if feels as solid and trouble free as my BMW. I'll be disappointed if I don't get 200k out of it and I'm really hoping for 250k. I'm sure that will come at some maintenance cost but thus far it seems like it is built for it. I guess my principal concern over the long term (that I didn't have with the BMW) is that the it transmits the bumps so much harder through the vehicle that eventually things will rattle loose and I'll have more issues than I would with a softer suspension. I hope I'm wrong about that.

I had also looked at one and two year old 997's but this deal was too compelling. In some respects, I'm sorry I didn't do that as I suspect I may itch for something newer before this one celebrates its tenth birthday.

I also agree with the usage point. Up to a point, too little mileage is just letting things sit and dry rot and not really preserving value anyway. Really, how much would you pay for a 10 year old car? Certainly almost nothing for mine if it has 200k on it but if it had 50k, how much more would it be worth? I'd rather have the lower residual and the extra 150k of fun.

 

So I turned over 165k this week. Since last summer I've had an issue with fouling on the #6. After an air cleaner and plug replacement, "The air cleaner clog was confusing the DME and didn't know how much fuel..." and then a coil pack replacement, "It was causing weak spark, building oil on the plug" it was determined to not be an electrical problem. "Sell it."

So, no. Though likely mechanical--I saw the PWIS code for variocam failure--and possibly the rings or valve guide, I'm fixing/keeping The '05 Cab.

My (former) mechanic says he just doesn't tear down the vasser boxers. He has a line of air/oil cooled cars with which to make his boat payments. I've (hopefully) found a mechanic passionate about keeping newer/older P-cars alive. I'll report back how it is going. But the Former Mechanic says that he's seeing major failures--blown pistons, broken conrods, to say nothing of IMS failures (and let's not, okay?)--of the M96/7 engines at...wait for it...165k miles. He almost had me convinced to go get an M91 car, but my wife is wiser than me and she told me to fix this one. So I will.

But back to the point of the thread: here's a data point. I'll reply again once I find out what is The Cause, but 2x replacements of the control unit under the driver's seat aside, it ain't electrical. I'm leaning toward the pin in the VarioCam being stuck in the high-lift position, since it is one cylinder and not the bank. Consistent with plug fouling in 2-300 miles & the code.

Stay tuned.