German Technical Inspection Agency, TÜV, has reported the Porsche 911 was the most trouble-free of any vehicle in its age group for the second year running. Regardless of being seven, nine or eleven years old the 911 registered in general technical inspections the fewest defects among all vehicles.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/11112083...#ixzz1fzrM03zV

I wonder if this applies to the 964

 

Of course! It is the last properly shaped air-cooled classic!

Marc

 

Indeed.

 

964s are as tough as any older Porsche. It's genetics

 

thats awesome!!! I can't wait till mine stops breaking, cuz then it'll probably be reliable! good to know...

 

I justified the purchase of a 964 based on that assumption to some extent. My last all weather GT car was a Legacy GT (2.4T). I bought a cherry '06 with ~70k miles on it from a guy with a lift in his garage whose wife drove it 5 days on a 25 mile highway commute.

Lost the turbo at 71k. Replaced; $1000 plus 15 hours.

Lost the engine at 72k; spun rod bearing. Bought/installed a scrapyard replacement, rebuilt the new turbo (bearings trashed). ~$4500 plus 30 hours.

I drove it for 9 months and put 18,000 miles on it after that, hating it the whole time. Sold for a significant loss.

The Porsche is designed to be maintained. It's not disposable. It won't really lose value, and I believe I will continue to enjoy it. From an economic standpoint, it actually made good sense.

 

IMHO, I think that the older models that are most reliable are SCs and 3.2s Carerras. All of the models have some weaknesses that were addressed during the production run, but I generally think that the 3.6s require quite a bit more attention than the 3.0 or 3.2 variations.

 

But there was no AWD before then

 

The 964 is a much more complicated car than the ones before it. I even think it is much more complicated than what followed after it (looking at the implementation of its systems). It is a car that is still amazing 20 years later. All components have a life in them and after 20 years a good few may need replacing, but does that make a car unreliable?

How many time has a 964 left you stranded?

Things break and wear out. If you address them IMMEDIATELY they will not leave you stranded and just reduce the functionality somewhat.

That's my experience at least. Just don't cheap out on the maintenance.

That being said the 964 is known to be the most maintenance extensive 911 to date according to my sources.

 

As the owner of a very nice 1993 964 C2 since 2007 and having spent more than 25000 US dollars fixing it (with no nice mods and no engine rebuild involved) I can assure that it is a very unreliable car...I love it but I am very tired of it breaking and making me spend money to make right again.

 

It seems like a crap shoot. Some have had good luck but many have dumped large sums of money into their 964's

I have a good friend that has raced his 78SC "Hard" for twelve years and has done very little to the car.

I had a 78SC which was extremely reliable.

All that being said, I absolutely hands down love my 964. Check back with me when I need a engine rebuild--my tone may be a little different

 

I wouldn't jump up and down too much - the article about the TUV is talking about 911s that are 7, 9 & 11 years old = 2004, 2002 and 2000. So it seems that only encompasses the 996 series.

 

I've had my 964 for 5 years and ~45k miles...not a single thing has "broken". Worn out? Yes (tires, bushings, switches, etc). But a fairly decent maintenance schedule has kept it an absolutely rock solid driver. I really feel for those who haven't had the same experience - that must ruin the ownership experience.

 

My old 3.2 did 80 track days and 80,000 miles in five seasons. It had at least 135K when I got it. I missed 2 of 320 run sessions. The only thing I ever did with the engine was change the oil, plugs,filters, and adjust the valves.

Any Porsche can get expensive fast.

 

My 964 is much more reliable than my 951. The 964 is expensive to work on, but an awesome car to drive and own... and gets a lot of attention.