TonyTwoBags

Even though I'm doing more work on mine than I'd like, it's unquestionably the most fun I've had behind the wheel. It fits what's important to me - handling, sound, smooth transmission, excellent pedal placement (pinky toe throttle blips for the win!), etc. My girlfriend occasionally asks for a ride in it & has had no complaints on several long weekend road trips.

There are some deals surfacing in the Turbo & air cooled markets right now, but I don't have any desire to replace what has turned out to be a nearly perfect driving experience.

My dog even fits

Rdrcr

Thanks for posting! Always enjoyable to read a positive 996 thread!

Mike

spruden

Great thread and videos. I'm approaching approximately 10-12k fairly aggressive track miles on my 996 (current total mileage at 91K).

These cars are extremely capable on a road course. They also have near perfect driving ergonomics when on track - having spent some time driving and instructing in other cars, it's always refreshing to get back in a 996.

Keep it up!

Palting

The 996 is also a great GT car. Have driven it from Cleveland to Hilton Head and back, to Watkins Glen, to VIR, to Mosport. Wife was passenger, and she would sleep in the car during the long trips!

Here's another positive for the 996: the glorious sound of the Porsche flat 6 engine, with the PSE mated to Fabspeed 200 cell sport cats.

TonyTwoBags

I've said it before, but your car sounds fantastic. Any tuning needed for those cats to ensure no codes are thrown? Thanks for sharing.

Palting

The Fabspeed cats come with attachment points for the O2 sensor. So, no, there was no need to tune anything. It was a pain to screw in the sensors, though.

TonyTwoBags

Thanks again

Peter_S03

Enjoying my 01 C4 for a few years !!!

MoeMonney

How is it you havent experienced an engine failure on the track? Thats amazing especially with once a year oil changes.

Palting

LOL! That's what I meant when I mentioned the negative posts. The 996 has gotten a falsely negative vibe here at Rennlist, with posts about how to prevent the apparently inevitable failure of the M96 engine or the 996 at the track. This car has 66,000 miles, all trouble free. About half or more of those miles are track miles. So, that means at least 33,000 miles of being pushed hard on the track, 33,000 miles of being driven as a Porsche should be driven. All the upgrades done were of the go-fast kind, none of the better-do-it-or-it-will-fail kind. The people I go on track with have similar stories with their 996, though there are indeed a few who now start showing up with the deep sump etc "upgrades". The failure stories I've personally seen and verified are due to driver error or maintenance errors.

All cars will fail eventually, given enough time and enough miles. The 996 model has been around for almost 20 years, and I'm sure lots of them have more than 100,000 miles. Even my bulletproof C4S will eventually fail. But it will fail because of age and mileage, not of design nor because it is prone to it.

MoeMonney

I say it since I spun a rod bearing at the track driving very carefully. Rod bearing number 6. Its a common problem. Jake said it was due to the oil not being good enough. I had less than 2 thousand miles on the rebuild when it happened.

Palting

Bad things can and do happen, and I'm sorry to hear what happened to your 996. I don't know who or what Jake is or what his basis for his conclusions are, but IME and living the life of a track rat I can honestly say the 996s are as bulletproof as they come. BTW, I use Mobil 1 0W-40, and have used it since I bought the car brand new, replaced just once a year. In 15 years, 66,000 miles, at least 33,000 track miles driven hard, this factory recommended oil has been good enough. Have never used anything else, never even considered anything else as being better than what the engineers and designers of the engine recommend

996AE

Local race shop full of 996 cars. Only oil they use in street and race cars is 0W40 Mobile one.

I like blondes, over brunetts, brunetts over redheads. Not that there is anything wrong with any of the three.

Some oil is better than no oil. I forget which brilliant 996 engine builder told me this.

Mike Murphy

Enough said