tincanman99

I have been on the boards for a while and I generally dont see a lot of complaints about stuff breaking on the 997. The 996 seems like a whole other animal though - lots of problems.

Is the 997 more reliable than the 996? It seems to be on the surface.

It also seems to have less issues than the Boxster/Cayman as well. If you go on the popular Boxster/Cayman boards they are always talking about some kind or problem be it the engine, transmission, interior, roof, etc....

Edgy01

Without a doubt the 997 benefited from the 996 years. Porsche never made a water cooled 911 before so the 996 bore the brunt of that experiment. As such, the 997 crowd was able to benefit in a variety of areas. First, the engine problems of the 996 have been largely addressed (997.1) and even eliminated (997.2). Second, the manufacturing/assembly process that dictates the reliability of a vehicle has benefitted from the maturation of their Zuffenhausen JIT assembly processes. That element is largely the result of staying on top of things regarding (1) engineering/design and (2) assembly.

jumper5836

My 02 996 is more reliable then my 04 Cayenne S. It goes everyday rain, shine or snow, hits red line more then a couple times a day and gets tracked twice a month. Only issue I've ever had was ignition coils causing misfires but they are wear items and didn't get noticed when the spark plug were changed which I blame the dealer for not seeing at the time.
I think also you see more people complain about their car then people who aren't having problems.

ADias

The 996 is a perfectly reliable car. My 2000 C4 never gave me any trouble in 54k+ miles, when I sold it. The last I heard it's still going strong.

spiderv6

Is an 11 year old car more likely to break than a 5 year old one? Yes.

ADias

Not necessarily. A well driven and properly maintained car can last 200k miles. An abused car can fail very quickly.

Ahmet

Porsche didn't make a water cooled 911 before the 996, but they certainly made such cars in the past, many of them decades before the first 996, not to mention the M96 motor found in the Boxster. I've owned multiple 996s, each of them has been great, thankfully.

mdrobc1213

the 997 sure does look alot better than the 996 from an asthetic standpoint (i.e. the return to the old style headlamps and coke-bottle shape) and definately the interior. I still remember my 1st 996 getting inside and wondering whether they were joking with all the cheap looking plastics and buttons...was definately NOT what I thought of a $75k car! IMHO the 997 is a definate upgrade and Porsche learned from their mistakes.