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Thread: Let's Talk 996.

  1. #1
    Guest Quail's Avatar
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    Let's Talk 996.

    They're becoming increasingly affordable, with many decent looking examples around the £15K mark. Is this as low as they'll go before they start appreciating again?

    Reliability worries? Running costs?

    They're not the best looking of the 911s, but I imagine some minor cosmetic tweaks would bring them up to date. This was a really nice one I saw at 14K: CLICK


  2. #2
    Guest Si's Avatar
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    Google RMS/IMS failure: basically seal failure that causes oil loss and can scrap engines. That's the main problem. I've been looking at them more and more, but yesterday the realisation just hit me: they're not a 964 or classic, so I'd always just be settling.

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    Guest frisbee's Avatar
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    The old air cooled cars have no particular attraction to me. It would just be an old unreliable car that would be taking up useful garage space.

    As a car in general, on the road, the 996 is a great experience especially the amazing noise but on track, even as a passenger, I can feel the mass in the tail.

  4. #4
    Guest Quail's Avatar
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    I have to admit, I'm not a massive lover of the air-cooled cars (although some are beautiful) - the 966 Turbo was the first Porsche that really caught my eye.

    With the RR vs MR argument, Caymans are now appearing at a similar pricepoint, but IMO they don't have the same appeal (although I'm sure they're a better all-rounder for day to day use).

  5. #5
    Trade Rep & Great Guy Clint's Avatar
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    The 996 front end is awful looking, but it's a hell of a lot of car for 15k.

    I've driven a couple of variants (Carrera, 4S, turbo, RS) and they are a really nice drive and feel properly special. Can't offer much info in the way of common issues etc though, sorry.

  6. #6
    I <3 BBS LM Actual_Ben_Taylor's Avatar
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    I imagine it'll be a money pit...

    Don't think I'd consider a cheap one without Porsche waranty

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    Brakes are a fortune, servicing is quite expensive, tyres can set you back the best part of £1k a set, high milers (over 80k) can suffer clutch failure if its been a city/town car all it's days as most are with solicitors and the likes driving them, bushes are very expensive (it's generally cheaper to replace them with pre-bushes arms)...

    As a daily driver, they are a very nice place to be and will put a smile on your face every journey. They hold the road fantastically, retain plenty of comfort and you can get a decent spec'd 1 with the Bose system, SatNav Eric for under £18k now.

    I'd be holding out for 1 with dealer history, well branded tyres (it shows whether or not the owner was willing to spend good money on it) and in red, black or silver as they are the 3 colours that seem to sell the easiest. Yellow, navy and blue are more of an acquired taste in them from what I can tell, which could make it hard to shift on...

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    I was looking at these but settled on the beemer just really due to the age of the car I would be buying.
    3.6 mostly sorted out the 3.4 failings but can still munch it self but you can see the price difference. You can get an upgraded IMS bearing for 1k fitted which stops it i think.
    Any decent garage could sort out suspension bushes etc and they cost less to service than an M3. I just did not have the bottle.

    If it was my 14k I'd be trying to get hold of a nice Cayman.

  9. #9
    Guest zeppelin101's Avatar
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    I'd have a Cayman over one I think. Slightly more up to date design, far less awful dashboard and centre console to live with everyday (seriously 996s are ****ing horrendous inside not that Caymans are great mind), much more reasonable servicing and maintenance costs, still a great soundtrack, incredibly rewarding to drive, parts prices more in line with a cockster etc

    Of all the 911s ever made, I genuinely think the 996 is the least desirable of the lot by a long, long way.

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    The Cayman Will be What i go for in a year or two

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    Guest Dave270r's Avatar
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    I wouldn't buy one and I am a big Porsche fan...

  12. #12
    Guest Si's Avatar
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    The main problem with a 996 is that things like this exist


  13. #13
    Guest frisbee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zeppelin101 View Post
    I'd have a Cayman over one I think. Slightly more up to date design, far less awful dashboard and centre console to live with everyday (seriously 996s are ****ing horrendous inside not that Caymans are great mind), much more reasonable servicing and maintenance costs, still a great soundtrack, incredibly rewarding to drive, parts prices more in line with a cockster etc

    Of all the 911s ever made, I genuinely think the 996 is the least desirable of the lot by a long, long way.
    The ones I've been in have been fine, I'm not sure what you've been driving if you think they are especially bad. Its an upmarket late 90s interior...

    Why would a Cayman be much cheaper to maintain? Its basically the same car with the engine in a less accessible place. And is going to have all the same potential engine issues.

  14. #14
    Trade Rep & Great Guy Clint's Avatar
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    I don't see a problem with the interior personally. It's typical German fare of black plastics, straight lines and orange lights. Nicer than the equivalent Mercs or Beemers of the same year though in my opinion, and much nicer seats.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Si View Post
    The main problem with a 996 is that things like this exist

    How many of those do you get for £15k?

  16. #16
    Guest zeppelin101's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by frisbee View Post
    The ones I've been in have been fine, I'm not sure what you've been driving if you think they are especially bad. Its an upmarket late 90s interior...

    Why would a Cayman be much cheaper to maintain? Its basically the same car with the engine in a less accessible place. And is going to have all the same potential engine issues.
    Because when I looked into buying one 4 months ago, most independents were half the price or less for servicing compared to a 911 or even my M3. It was something like £290 at a garage in Lutterworth for a major service and the intervals are 20k with a major every 40k.

    Also as far as I'm aware the Cayman engines are a slightly updated version of the 911 items and don't suffer with the seal failure common on the 911s. Only really issues seems to be oil pullover during track work and PAS pump failure again, during track work.
    Last edited by zeppelin101; 13-05-2013 at 08:02.

  17. #17
    Flamethrower Pablo13's Avatar
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    Driven and worked on a few now. They ain't going to get much cheaper on a good day you may find one closer to 10 rather than 15. Its just them headlights. You can get a facelift to make them look like a 997 but again your just settling for a 996. Servicing can be expensive, but not that hard to do yourself if you handy with the spanners, or should I say torx bits As mention brakes are expensive and silly things can go on them, but the worst thing to look out for that is quite common is piston slap from the top end especially on start up. apparently if they have done 70k or more before they need a rebuild due to it they have done well! Can you say rotary? lol
    bstmeetbllk

  18. #18
    Guest Si's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by voodoo_melon View Post
    How many of those do you get for £15k?
    More than half and that's the thing: to me 15k is a lot for a car, but if its something I want as much as that, I'd always regret I didn't scrimp another 10k or so to get what I really wanted.
    Then again, I could use a 996 every day, as opposed to as a fun car.

  19. #19
    Guest R3K1355's Avatar
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    I agree, because one day you'll be watching telly and this will come on - and you'll know what Si means.


  20. #20
    Guest Jonny's Avatar
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    RMS / IMS failure is a very divisive subject on 911 (and Boxster/Cayman forums) - if you believe the stories on the forums, there should be no 996's (or anything related, boxster etc) about because they all die mechanical death due to the main shaft failure. My interpretation is that it is a real problem, but pissed off owners rant about it a lot because it causes a horrendous bill if it goes... Porsche said that something like 10% of all 996's had to have replacement engines, and of that 10% only 1% were caused by IMS failure... (the rest being oval bores, liner slippage, and other serious engine related defects that aren't talked about so much )

    If you are buying one as a long term proposition you can get them updated to the later IMS bearing and carrier which makes failure a lot less likely... If you give a specialist like Hartech or Autofarm a call they can prob give you some unbiased advice

    For running costs, they aren't hugely cheap - but there's a few specialists that do cheaper parts - Design911, even GSF/ECP.. Things like brake disks don't last that long and are a couple of hundred quid a set, and as said tyres are very expensive (and should be porsche rated).

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