Which model do you guys recommend? Which is the most reliable? Whats your experience?
Financial ruin for anyone who tries it without CPO?

 

Shop or DIY home maintenance? That’s the difference between financial value or calamity. If I had to pay someone to keep it reliable, I can’t say it would be a good value. But, my 970.1 PTT has never left me stranded or been towed in the past 6 years and almost 140K miles (223K+ on car). Dependable as hell though.

 

I’ve done simple to medium jobs, I enjoy it unless it’s tedious. Such as removing the front bumper and that sort of thing. Why I’m leaning towards a V6 turbo model despite my love of V8s.
I think I’ve heard that most of these engines don’t blow up or have major issues, but things can go wrong.

I’d also ask, is this like the M96/7 situation where the 986 and the 997 C2S really cost the same to keep going so the trim doesn’t matter? Or are there clear indications one variant is better than the others.

 

if you go v6 make sure cooling tubes have been replaced with updated version. They all fail in 60k range. Other wise engine is very reliable, at least my S has been with 112k on it (hope I haven’t jinxed myself). Reputably the v8’s have more issues, but not having owned one I may be wrong.

 

Havent owned any other Panameras for comparison, but your 911 analogy I would say is probably pretty accurate for the 970s. I say that because I also have a 996 C4S that I daily drove for 4yrs/120K miles before the PTT. Another extremely dependable car in my personal experience cause I’ve had it 10yrs and with 244K+ miles and it still runs amazing.
There are horror stories to be found everywhere about both of those Porsches, but if you pay attention to the car with proper maintenance, quality parts, and quality fluid changes then they can be fantastically dependable daily drivers.
Im kinda already bought into the long term ownership on both. Im one of those weird people that has lots of parts on the shelf for when I will eventually need them, not because I do right now. My reality that I had to come to terms with is that to really drive and use them means then at some point they become worth less than the sum of their parts. Neither car is any less enjoyable or dependable then when I got them, I just don’t have to stress over the little things like scuffs and chips anymore. It’s called patina right…

 

I guess for me the engine is less important than the options. I didn’t realize that S isn’t coming with the lsd standard and all the options are there for all trims.