[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

All good points.... An agreed on (lack of) testing... My old SC's clutch lasted over 150K miles with many track days. Even if a 996/997 clutch wore faster due to more power (I sold mine before 60K miles so I never got near), seems to me even the replacement bearing would need servicing more often than my clutch !!! Sucks... I guess the "no-intermediate shaft-at all" solution is simpler ;-)

That's why I'm looking at xx7.2 models. Actually the new turbo Boxster is so pretty I cannot wait to see the new Cayman !!

I've had multiple 996s with over 60k on the original clutch and still going strong. My last one had the clutch done at 95k. I had a Boxster that didn't need a clutch until 110k.

Originally Posted by aschen

Yeah I sort of wince when I hear upgrading the IMS bearing on one of the problematic cars is a sure bet. It might be true but im not sure there is enough data to tell that with engineering rigor.

There is zero engineering rigor, just lots of hype and anecdotal evidence. A few cars have cropped up with failed LN bearings, they are usually deflected with something along the lines of "Flat Six innovations didn't do the rebuild so it may have been wrong" or something like that. Jake is a smart guy and I believe does know his stuff on the M96/M97, but most of his "factual" statements are pretty damn self serving.