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I'm back on the market for a 911 - I sold my 997.2 four years ago to buy a house and have literally missed it every day since then.
I'm going to focus my search on 991S models in the $55-65k range and will be taking my time to find the right car - this one is going to be a keeper. I figure that skews my search to the 2012-2015 years and I'm not afraid of mileage if the car has been well cared for. These cars seem pretty solid, but what I did want to ask is whether or not there is a good reason to avoid the early cars i.e. 2012/2013 model years? I couldn't find anything specific to this with searching, so want to ask the collective for advice/experience.
FWIW - The car will be a back roads toy and weekend cruiser and not a hardcore trackday car.
There was a thread here recently about someone asking the same questions since they were looking at a 2012, and from what I recall if the car was taken care of there should be no issues. Search this forum for that thread to read more replies, and good luck since there are more of the cars you are looking for than you might think!
Only thing to "worry" about would be they have older versions of COV's that might be more susceptible to failing (most are easy to swap DIY), and 2012's and early 13's have an older PCM which can't integrate most aftermarket back-up cams or Apple CarPlay solutions.
I have had a 2013 S Cab for the last three years. The only issue I have had is the drivers side door panel delamination which was replaced under CPO warranty. I love this car!
I have a 2012 1/2 991.1 which I purchased new, it has been the most reliable car I ever purchased ... I think I posted on here the only minor issues I’ve had ...
I’ve never kept a car this long in my life typically keep them 2 years but the 991 is just an amazing car ... maybe I should add I only have 15k miles on it to keep things in perspective so being low mileage might add to the reliability factor.
I have 42K miles on a "launch edition" (Jan. 2012) 991. It has a variety of factory recalls in the first year for COVs, software updates and other stuff and no problems ever since. I did not intend to hang on to it so long, but It is a hard car to part with.
Only issue so far is door panels but there is now a guy in florida repairing them for $250 so thats a non issue (mine were replaced under cpo for 6k). Only other failure point is minor cost COV valves. There are 7 or 8 plastic valves around the car and the first version was crap. There was a recall. To replace all of them at once at an indy should be sub 1K but since you are buying a car with mileage these have already been done. Very reliable platform. Pre 2014 does not have rev matching on manual (which I like, others dont). As with any porsche sunroofs and cabs present several additional points of failure to inspect.
Another 2012.5 launch owner, mine had quite a few owners and was always CPO'd. I had an alarm module go bad and the door panels replaced due to the delamination issue noted by others above. Otherwise it's been very solid. We'll see how my last year of CPO goes but not worried at this point about holding onto it.
Only thing to "worry" about would be they have older versions of COV's that might be more susceptible to failing (most are easy to swap DIY), and 2012's and early 13's have an older PCM which can't integrate most aftermarket back-up cams or Apple CarPlay solutions.
2012.5 here with aftermarket Apple Car Play solution, no issues... and backup cam can be done using the same aftermarket system.
Older PCM doesn’t have Jukebox to save your library on the HDD.
We purchased a launch edition 991S Cab last October. Beautiful car, one owner, only 17k miles. We had some annoying door rattles due to delaminating door panels which were replaced under CPO warranty. We also had some fairly loud clunking noises from the rear suspension on bumpy roads. After a couple of days of troubleshooting, the dealer discovered that the strut mount plates had not been torqued to spec at the factory. So far, the clunk has not returned. Great car. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a good example.
I just bought a 2012 991.1 and absolutely love it. It's got about 50,000 miles on it and has obviously been well cared for. No regrets here! I paid $76K (CAD) for it, which is $56,650USD. Looks, drives, and feels brand new. 2 Year Porsche warranty. No regrets!!!
I have a 2013 C2S. No problem at all. The door panels are fine. No COV problems yet. In sport plus mode my car has rev matching.
The manual transmission seems to be fine. early on I did replace some switch in the clutch Pedal which was very minor. The PCM works fine with an iPhone using Bluetooth or USB plug. I DIY upgraded the tweeters with musicar tweeters and it sounds excellent.
24,000 miles and going strong.
02-28-2020, 04:57 PM
"Early" 991's?
