I drive my 99 daily..fast and hard.. like the pretty bitch she is. Sweet fast stable most reliable dependable best Porsche out of the 9 I have owned.

 

What 1999Porsche911 said.
The blown engine issue is overblown, IMHO (and no pun intended).
There's advantages to the 1999 (weight and a little less electronics, to name a couple).
Personally, I love mine! Bought 4-21-07 w/59,000 miles. It now has 77,000 miles and going strong!!

 

I have had my 99 for about 4 years. Had 22,000 miles the day I bought it and 24,000 miles two days later after driving it home. I now have 55,000 miles. A couple of oil changes as part of the 30,000 mile service, 45,000 mile service, rear tires (about to replace all four) and replaced the switch for the back up lights (about $15.00). Like it as much now as the day I bought it and looks almost new outside and just like new inside. I would just make sure it is in good shape and checks out on inspection. I would also make a list of the options you want and hold out until you find one that has the options you want. The must have options for me were the 18" Sport Classic Wheels, full leather interior, sport seats, litronic lights, 3 spoke leather wheel and heated seats. Mine also came with the hard top (I believe it was standard for 99), audio upgrade, back up sensors and rear wind screen.

Good luck!

 

I have a 1999 with 62K. No problems. You could probably do better on the price.

 

So OP...what do you think of '99's now?

You have a lot of responses and all of them positive, you must tell us what you think, or you would not have asked in the first place.

 

What ever your opinion, there are design issues with a '99 M96 block, that were later designed out, based on the failures that did occur in the field.

Neither you or I know the numbers or percentages - but we do know that Porsche changed a number of features and manufacturing methodologies to reduce the failure rate - what ever it was.

I had a '97 986 fail, my wife's '99 986 failed too (both M96 blocks with under 10,000 miles each) - so I have a different experience to the happy folks that have posted here - not statistically significant of course, just my personal experience. Both were handled under warranty.

So when it came time to buy a 996 - my personal preference was to by a 2003 - a model year which had had the engine redesigns applied, as well as more HP etc etc..

Fool me once Shame on you Fool me twice Shame on me - or should that be

Fool me twice Shame on you Fool me thrice Shame on me...

 

this article speculates that the failure rate of the early '99 996 motors are possibly in the 5% to 10% range--while they're willing to gamble that 90% to 95% of the 996es are fine--many of us in the market for used 996es find those numbers bitter pills to swallow--especially if I'm the poor sap to get a bad one.

I've read that most higher mileage 996es probably had their engine issues worked out, with many having had their motors replaced under warranty.

The 2002+ MkII 996es are great except they're heavier, less mechanical, and no LSD option at all ("please save me" is standard).

2004 40th anniversary 996 is the ticket--except at this point they're out of my price bracket--and probably always will b/c of their "anniversary" status...

so I guess the '87 to '89 Carreras truly are the bullet-proof 911s--so many of them get flipped for a profit, or no net loss--that it's becoming difficult and time-consuming to find a lower-mileage, 2-/3-owner G50 3.2 Carrera

 

I bought a '99 996 in January 2004 with 76K and a new engine. Now have 94K on it and NO problems. Daily driver/ creampuff!!

 

99 are a great deal right now.... but if you can afford something newer go with that....

 

thanks everyone for the input. i made an offer on the blue cab but the seller declined. i'm not in a hurry as there's still snow on the ground. i'll definitely be picking up a '99 cab before summer.

 

I have a 99 C4 with 146000Km on it.

I have had it since 2005, winter driven to -35 Celcius in the Canadian prairies often. No problems other than clutch that needed replacing. That, and my wireless door thing stopped working last month. But that's nothing.

Other than that it's darn near perfect - it doesn't even have any squeaks, and well, it looks like new.

I'm holding out for a late model Targa 4 for my next car, but I'd really hate to part with this one, it's so good, and wow, you can get a 99 996 for dirt cheap these days - you won't regret getting a 99.

 

I bought my '99 C4 a couple of months ago, with 153,000 km on the clock. It seems much like yours - no squeaks, looks and drives like new, and my remote door lock/unlock does not work either! I bought it in Ottawa, Ontario for 29K, which I thought was an excellent price, before reading threads on this forum. It seems that Canadian selling prices for 996s are about 5 to 10K higher than in the US.

BTW, everyone has been saying how low 996 selling prices are, and what great buys are available. I would like to know WHY are 996 prices so low? Any comments on this?

...Rickker
Kingston, ON

 

That is an easy one. Porsche ramped up production for the 996 and since the 99 was the first year and now the oldest of the 996, it is thus a good deal since there are so many of them out there. Basically, Porsche produced a crap load of them and they are not that exclusive like other years.

I am sure that the same will happen to the 997 after a few more years since I read on this forum that the 997 production was even increased more than the 996. But from I heard directly from a dealer, 2008 production was actually throttled down a bit to make the 997 a bit harder to get.

 

I'm about to hit 100,000 on my 99 C2 daily driver. No issues other than replacing cracked plastic coolant tank and cleaning alternator electrical connectors.

 

99C2. 40k

oil pan leak fixed under warranty. Passenger window regulator same. Redline it daily.