What is up with the 1999 996?

[Rick V]

Originally Posted by nostatic

It's the new SC...

You say that like it is a bad thing

[cbush]

I had a 99 Boxster which was an exceptionally enjoyable and reliable car. I drove the 99 996 also, and really liked it. I can't imagine a better car for the money. As long as the IMS seal problem has been taken care of, I can't imagine how you could go wrong with this car. Heck, at that price it would make a great daily driver and you wouldn't have to worry about it!

[Oh Haha]

My wife saw this thread and gave me the ok to get one.



but I have to sell the SC and the GP to do it.





hmmmmmmmm

[strupgolf]

Whenever I see a 996 on the road, I cant get the movie "Cars" out of my mind. IMO, they need a body kit and some different wheels.

[Halm]

Originally Posted by nostatic

It's the new SC...

Don't insult the SC!

Even so, I would buy a 996 after the price bottoms out. A nice SC will pretty much hold its value. I am not as sure about the 996.

[rick-l]

Two people have referred to IMS failure. What is that? I thought it was rear main seal.

[javadog]

Intermediate shaft. A search of this site will yield plenty of reading material.

I know a bunch of guys with a 996, or similar-era Boxster. None of them have any issues with their cars. One of the guys is an instructor for PCA events and drives the piss out of his car. On our local track, you could get behind him and you wouldn't see which way he went...

For those that think the early cars were bulletproof, let me remind you of rust, and poor case sealants (cars up to about the mid-70's) exploding airboxes, exploding clutches and pulled head studs (SC era) broken case bolts and bad valve guides (Carrera 3.2 era and early cars, for the valve guides) electronic problems (964) plugged air ports (993) twin-mass flywheel problems (various) A/C systems and stereos that were useless (most cars up to the 996) etc., etc., etc.

Pick your favorite era and it had problems. Not all cars were affected by a given problem, just like not all 996s will have bad seals, or whatever. These things should be judged case by case, one car at a time.

JR

[450knotOffice]

My 2000 996 has 102,000 miles on it. I've driven 65,000 of those miles in the last 4 1/2 years. It has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. It's been tracked about half a dozen times on a very fast track out in the desert, sits in rush hour traffic idling (tough on any car), has been autocrossed a few times, and yet it has had exactly one issue - an voltage regulator on the alternator failed. That can happen to any car.

I've had many of the most reliable cars out there and yet this one tops them all. It is also super easy to work on, as mentioned.

Great car!

[speeder]

Originally Posted by javadog

Intermediate shaft. A search of this site will yield plenty of reading material.

I know a bunch of guys with a 996, or similar-era Boxster. None of them have any issues with their cars. One of the guys is an instructor for PCA events and drives the piss out of his car. On our local track, you could get behind him and you wouldn't see which way he went...

For those that think the early cars were bulletproof, let me remind you of rust, and poor case sealants (cars up to about the mid-70's) exploding airboxes, exploding clutches and pulled head studs (SC era) broken case bolts and bad valve guides (Carrera 3.2 era and early cars, for the valve guides) electronic problems (964) plugged air ports (993) twin-mass flywheel problems (various) A/C systems and stereos that were useless (most cars up to the 996) etc., etc., etc.

Pick your favorite era and it had problems. Not all cars were affected by a given problem, just like not all 996s will have bad seals, or whatever. These things should be judged case by case, one car at a time.

JR

The earlier, (air-cooled), cars actually had and have a lot more maintenance and repair issues than the 996/997. That said, an air-cooled car that is properly sorted is absolutely unbreakable. Porsche did not get its reputation from nothing. They made their bones in endurance racing and were just unbeatable because they don't break.

The RMS issue on 996 cars is a big nothing. Catastrophic failures are extremely rare, (about as common as they are on any other Porsche), most "failures" result in oil drips in the garage and it's an easy fix. (See my above post about removing 996 transmissions). My car did not leak a drop, anywhere. I did have a breather apparatus fail, (common fault it turned out), that resulted in oil getting in intake. Not a huge job, ~$100 part.

The IMS issue is THE issue and it's potentially catastrophic. It is not a seal but rather a bearing, (w/ a seal), if it fails it can take the intermediate shaft with it. This is part of the variable cam timing/cam drive system and it's bad news when they fail. I do not know what the actual frequency of failures was/is but Porsche beefed-up that bearing at some point. There is a guy who has designed a stronger bearing and carrier that completely eliminates this fault, it was in the beta stage when I sold my car. Our founder, Wayne, knows more about this guy and his product.

The oil starvation issue was slightly over-blown. There was a potential for oil starvation in stock 996s with racing slicks only in racing or track situations. (If you were really fast). On street tires at the track, no problem. On the street, impossible to occur. There is an extremely easy and cheap factory fix that involves installing the later (997 part#) lower sump cover w/ better baffles. You can then run racing rubber and let Cort Wagner or Tyson Schmidt do a ringer lap at big Willow in your car w/o frying the motor in turn 8 @ 140 mph. There are an absolutely huge number of great drivers doing club racing in 996s and Boxsters around the country and the world. They are phenomenal cars and real Porsches down to the lug nuts, regardless of what you think of the styling.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by 450knotOffice

My 2000 996 has 102,000 miles on it. I've driven 65,000 of those miles in the last 4 1/2 years. It has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. It's been tracked about half a dozen times on a very fast track out in the desert, sits in rush hour traffic idling (tough on any car), has been autocrossed a few times, and yet it has had exactly one issue - an voltage regulator on the alternator failed. That can happen to any car.

I've had many of the most reliable cars out there and yet this one tops them all. It is also super easy to work on, as mentioned.

Great car!

I treated mine exactly the same w/ same results. Every couple months, I'd open the rear hood and say, "yup, the engine is still there", then close it up.

Didn't even have to open hood to check oil. The little dash gauge was dead-nuts reliable.

[speeder]

I didn't even think it was ugly.

[88-diamondblue]

There is a nice 996 over on Rennlist right now for $20k. Engine has been replaced by Porsche under warranty at 52,000. Car looked very nice, At 20K or little less it makes for an attractive daily driver. Not the most stellar looking car but for that kind of money. Would be interesting

[nostatic]

Not sure where you guys are seeing the "dirt cheap" 996s, but a quick craigslist scan shows plenty of Boxsters down below $10K. It is the 914...

[speeder]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Not sure where you guys are seeing the "dirt cheap" 996s, but a quick craigslist scan shows plenty of Boxsters down below $10K. It is the 914...

Don't know what your definition of "dirt cheap" is but here is your answer: (Only numbers in green are relevant):

EDIT: Check out the early 996 turbo prices

http://motors.completed.shop.ebay.com/Cars-Trucks-/6001/i.html?Make=Porsche&Model=911&Body%2520Type=Coupe&Transmission=Manual&Model%2520Year=2004%7C2003%7C2002%7C2001%7C2000%7C 1999&LH_Complete=1&_dmpt=US_Cars_Trucks&_fln=1&_flso=0&_fpos=90005&_fspt=0&_myi=1999-2004&_pcats=6013%2C6001%2C6000&_qfkw=1&_sop=Year29fc5d_ASC&_trksid=p4506.c0.m283&_rdc=1

[javadog]

Yes, but eBay has to be the worst place to get top dollar for a car. Lot's of people, myself included, wouldn't buy a car on ebay, even if we used your money.

Carry on,

JR

[porsche4life]

JR I would like for you to explain your hatred of eBay.... Just not good enough for you rich boys?


We have bought several vehicles off ebay with no incident.... My 944 included....

[speeder]

For every person with *eBay phobia* like you, there are about 10 million, (yes 10 million), who don't share the affliction. It is the largest vehicle marketplace in the world by a wide margin and the only place, (other than dealer/wholesale auctions), where you can tell what items actually sold for. You have to factor in the percentage of incompleted sales, etc., but it's not hard to get a feel for real world values are if you know how to read it.

And eBay is the absolute best place to get top dollar for a car, if it's actually worth top dollar. Not many are, other than in their owner's wet dreams.

[speeder]

eBay brings up a lot of fear in people who cannot figure out how it works, (a surprising number of people here, for instance), it is of course an online auction. And long-distance purchases can be dicey under any circumstances. I've traveled far to pick-up vehicles won on eBay only to find them misrepresented, for sure. (And did not complete the deal). I stick mostly to local or close-by stuff these days.

[speeder]

And of course, as the experts here will tell you, there's nothing but crap on eBay. Check out this POS:

BMW : M3 : eBay Motors (item 320502763822 end time Mar-22-10 21:47:01 PDT)

[javadog]

For those of you still paying attention, let me say that over the last year I have purchased several hundred things from auctions all over the world. They have their place. And, I have been doing this since online auctions began, so I think I have it figured out. However, once you have played around in the deep end of the collector car market for a while, you'll find that the truly exceptional cars never make it to the market. They trade hands in a fairly small circle of buyers. The cars just below that are better sold one-on-one, as there is not much opportunity to do any due diligence in an auction environment. I'll spend more money on something I can see in person, examine thoroughly and drive, than I will on something I can only see in a 800x600 photoshopped digital picture, from 2,000 miles away. There may be people that blow their last dollar on an eBay auction but I'll guarantee you that experienced collectors prefer to deal in cars the old-fashioned way.

One last thing. An auction result can often be vastly higher than market price, if you get two idiots trying to outdo each other. That has more to do with stupidity, than the relative worth of something.

JR

PS. to Sid. Get burned a few times by a deadbeat seller, experience first-hand eBay's astonishingly inneffective dispute resolution process, get hosed by Paypal and then report back to me.