[Deschodt]

This is a bit like politics on PPOT, nobody will change their minds and each side camps on its turf ;-) If you fix'em for a living you may lean towards the alarmist side. If you sell them for a living (or own one, which might be for sale), you lean towards the "it's fine" side! It's pretty natural... And you'd both be right, statistically speaking it's low, but if it hits you it friggin' hurts ! If you are just a buyer (like me) with no skin in the game other than your savings, you go with what makes you comfortable.

You have a set # of failures, which Porsche keeps to themselves. Heck Porsche themselves doesn't even seem to know when in 05 the bearing changed (if you read the boxster lawsuit PDF, it lists a bunch of VIN series which are not sequential, it's a clusterf#ck)... Statistically you (Halm and Matt) are absolutely correct in that the M97 bearing is much better. Yet empirically, in my small circle of acquaintances (I know about 10 people with 997/987s), 2 blew the engine due to the IMS - out of warranty I might add. Both are later M97s: One paid $15K with a partial rebuild deal and some dealer goodwill, the other $30K of his own $ with a RUF 3.8 upgrade for his Cayman S. Again, direct acquaintances, one tracked alot, one not at all.

That's statistically irrelevant, I get it, but it is "proof" the M97 is not "fixed". Halm, you say "I am not ready to lump the M97 into the same heap as the M96" - the irony is that anyone would buy a M96 engine now that we can fix this problem for (relative) peanuts at the next clutch change. Yet the "superior" M97 engine is stuck in limbo since you cannot replace that bearing without splitting the case (save removing the bearing cover, if that's considered a fix). Unless you are lucky with an M96 997 (O irony!)

So it comes down to odds... I don't think I live a particularly charmed life, never won a lottery, so I will try to save the extra $ for a 997.2. Pretty sure Porsche built the 9A1 because they were also tired of dealing with this bearing $hit. (Hans, no more intermediary shaft, ergo no more $%$#% bearing, ya!!) I guess I'm not alone thinking that because the damn 09s are *substantially* more expensive than the 07-08s still... more than a changed tail-light would suggest. Anyway, we all choose what makes us comfortable ;-) nice chat !