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997...engine..Porsche ... and Annoyed

"I am wondering why such a brand as Porsche has these issues with engines? Afteral it is a £65k car, german build... sure it should be rock solid? "

Might be wrong here but I thought the engines were built in Spain. Only the GT3 and Turbos are built in Germany so that would make it a spanish build.
 
bigfish, that really is a pain. I would feel so gutted if any car i owned needed a rebuild at 30,000 miles (apart from Nobles and TVRs.. you would expect that anyway).

Hopefully Porshy GB can help but if the chap above is right it might be little help. Figures crossed.

Quite surprised it is built in Spain, i suppose that means very little. The factory would have high standards.. right?

I spoke via email to the editor in chief of Total 911 mag, i put forward this same question and also asked if they are putting together a buyers guide for the 997 and they are currently working on it.. About these engine failures he said and i quote "From what I understand, engine failures on 997s are very rare, and instances have been exaggerated on Internet forums. I'd certainly have no worries in buying a 997."

Okay, so they are rare but i see 2 chaps with similar issues.... so not so rare? It is really a shame. just hope as its a manufacturing fault P. GB help you out.

I remember some GCSE business law and the words 'Merchantable quality' and 'not fit for use' come to mind...

damn... this is an essay.. cutting out now!
 
ameer said:
Okay, so they are rare but i see 2 chaps with similar issues.... so not so rare?

Two people with similar issues......how many 997 owners didn't report this same issue? I would say Phil Raby (editor of Total 911) knows what he's talking about. Of course it's a rare issue - it's the only two the rest of the forum have seen reported on these pages. Perhaps you are not doing it deliberately, but it does sound you are making a mountain out of a molehill here. Why don't I personally invite you one of our next meets where you will have the chance to meet with some 997 drivers? Even come along in your S2000 or TT for the drive afterwards and try to keep up?

~ Maxie
 
Maxie, fair point. 100,000 or so 997 sold only a few cases on this site out of the 100,000 997 members on here ;-P

i spoke to a really nice chap from here a few days ago. he bought a lovely 2004 911S with low mileage. We discussed the rebuild issue... best thing is to put aside about £2k pa just incase but he seemed unworried by the issue. Also he mentioned an RMS leak with the car which he got sorted before collection. Apart from that he loves it.. esp around country roads. Defo a good chat and helped me understand the ownership experience a bit better. Maxie it would be nice to come along to your meets. Defo good to talk to other 911 owners. thanks for the offer. I will take you up on that!

As for keeping up... my vehicle can reach the UK speed limits without any issues, on route we can always stop over at the OPC so you can have your rebuild done and then we can set off again. should be fun.
 
If it is so rare...how come the dealership has another car in the garage with the same fault ... and no its not the other guy on this site

And the billl.....£8,700

If Porsche GB dont pay this...I will never touch the brand again...its a joke on a 30k mile car.


So...lets see what they can do - and dealership are trrying to be helpful
 
You could always PDF the whole of this thread and e-mail it to Porsche....?
 
Bigfish makes a valid point... as do I. Its not rare.. clearly...! Furthermore the editor of a 911 mag would play it down.. its his job to ensure high numbers..!

also i have seen a few 997 advertised with low mileage with engines replaced.

This is a forum, as with most forums, is a place to learn/share stuff about something you are interested in... best to be open and frank!? No one is slating 911's as we all here seem to love cars and the 911!

Post moderated by Wattie
 
adrian996 said:
You could always PDF the whole of this thread and e-mail it to Porsche....?

now theres a plan! and get them to give me a discount... ;-)
 
ameer said:
This is a forum, as with most forums, is a place to learn/share stuff about something you are interested in... best to be open and frank!? No one is slating 911's as we all here seem to love cars and the 911!

Correct, and how do most people come upon forums? When they are researching potential purchases or when they have a problem... :?:
Look at Pistonheads, 6speed and PCGB forums, all problem related. There are thousands of 997 and 996 owners who don't use forums until that moment when they have a problem and need advice. Using them as a gauge for % of car problems is highly misleading. No one wants engine trouble, hell my CEL flashed on briefly and I almost had a heart attack. It's very rare that I go online and actually post how much I love my 911 but as soon as I have a problem I'll be straight online asking for help...
 
Stuart... agreed and i see your point ;-)
 
Stuart said:
ameer said:
This is a forum, as with most forums, is a place to learn/share stuff about something you are interested in... best to be open and frank!? No one is slating 911's as we all here seem to love cars and the 911!

Correct, and how do most people come upon forums? When they are researching potential purchases or when they have a problem... :?:
Look at Pistonheads, 6speed and PCGB forums, all problem related. There are thousands of 997 and 996 owners who don't use forums until that moment when they have a problem and need advice. Using them as a gauge for % of car problems is highly misleading. No one wants engine trouble, hell my CEL flashed on briefly and I almost had a heart attack. It's very rare that I go online and actually post how much I love my 911 but as soon as I have a problem I'll be straight online asking for help...

This is something I've wondered for s while: it would be interesting to know what percentage of 997 (or any 911 really) owners use forums like this one? I'd bet it's less than 20%...? It just makes you wonder how the rest are getting on with theirs..?

Forums do seem to be largely used to get information and solve problems - but it does worry you when you hear such catastrophic stories concerning such expensive cars. My Indi recently told me a woeful tale about a guy in his twenties who had saved up for ages to buy a 2.7 Boxter. He'd bought it with 53K miles on it and was never happier - until a pin that goes through the main shaft (?) let go and blitzed his engine at 60K.

Now I know that there will be some who'll not be that surprised at this from a 2.7 Boxter with 60K miles but this in itself proves what we've come to accept from this manufacturer(?).

This poor guy now has a four wheeled white elephant on his drive which (at best) he'd get about £8k for in its current state.

Let's not beat around the bush here: Porsche launched the 3.4 996 well over ten years ago and have still not sorted the RMS issue!!! This is unforgivable and yet we've all just kept on buying them - myself included.
 
Adrian, thanks for making that point. I suppose as I am not a Porsche owner I can look at things and evaluate things in an unbiased way.

Maxie, I do not need to get all shirty and badger others and ridicule them simply because they can not keep up in their cars... I know that my current 2 cars will do 50,000 miles without rebuilds, thanks. You can go break all the engines and speed limits you want. My point was to find out how good the 997 are in terms of reliability and not get into a cat fight, thanks. We all know how they perform.

With me chaps, I am not loaded and just like the boxster story above I would have to save hard to get my dream car. If I had a £8.5k rebuild issue, that would be a serious thing for me! I personally find a lot of bias on here. There is a distinct lack of objectivity. I can not see why anyone would buy a car and then have to have a warranty on it after the manufactures warranty. Is there such little faith in the car that people are worried about service and OPC and 111 point checks and £1,500 pa Porsche cover. It appears to me that the 997 is like a Hoover washing machine, if you are buying it you would need to get a 5 year cover simply because you know its not going to last as its not a Bosch machine. thats what i dont get with Porsche.. It should be like Bosch but it is not and thats is what sad about it all.

Before anyone says anything, i am sure there are plenty of happy 997 owners and they are the lucky ones...! My luck is never so good ;-)

I have decided that for the time being the 997 is not the right car for me. I love the looks but I can not handle the poor TVR build... There is a reason why I am not looking at the TVR Sag. Despite what people say, i think there is a build issue with the 997. I would sleep worried that one day there will be tapping from the engine and I would have to sell my kidney to sort it out.

I think certain dreams are best left as dreams and if I am dreaming then the Gallardo is the car I would really want ;-)

Thanks chaps for the insight.
 
ameer said:
Adrian, thanks for making that point. I suppose as I am not a Porsche owner I can look at things and evaluate things in an unbiased way.

Maxie, I do not need to get all shirty and badger others and ridicule them simply because they can not keep up in their cars... I know that my current 2 cars will do 50,000 miles without rebuilds, thanks. You can go break all the engines and speed limits you want. My point was to find out how good the 997 are in terms of reliability and not get into a cat fight, thanks. We all know how they perform.

With me chaps, I am not loaded and just like the boxster story above I would have to save hard to get my dream car. If I had a £8.5k rebuild issue, that would be a serious thing for me! I personally find a lot of bias on here. There is a distinct lack of objectivity. I can not see why anyone would buy a car and then have to have a warranty on it after the manufactures warranty. Is there such little faith in the car that people are worried about service and OPC and 111 point checks and £1,500 pa Porsche cover. It appears to me that the 997 is like a Hoover washing machine, if you are buying it you would need to get a 5 year cover simply because you know its not going to last as its not a Bosch machine. thats what i dont get with Porsche.. It should be like Bosch but it is not and thats is what sad about it all.

Before anyone says anything, i am sure there are plenty of happy 997 owners and they are the lucky ones...! My luck is never so good ;-)

I have decided that for the time being the 997 is not the right car for me. I love the looks but I can not handle the poor TVR build... There is a reason why I am not looking at the TVR Sag. Despite what people say, i think there is a build issue with the 997. I would sleep worried that one day there will be tapping from the engine and I would have to sell my kidney to sort it out.

I think certain dreams are best left as dreams and if I am dreaming then the Gallardo is the car I would really want ;-)

Thanks chaps for the insight.


......Yawn. TVR Build? Yep, sure.

EDITED TO ADD:

So far we have (gasp!) three cases of engine problems mentioned on this thread.

Porsche came out TOP of the 2008 JD Power Initial Quality Study in the USA with 87 faults vs. an industry standard of 118 (Audi 113, Honda 110).

Strangely TVR wasn't on the list but I would guess they would score about 350 if anyone owned one long enough to report in.

Yes, I know you're going to say that's not just 911s and the people that responded don't know what they are talking about and blah blah blah but for me it's a pretty good indication that Porsche has got its quality generally pretty well sorted and internet forums are not the place to form a balanced view.
 
+1

~ Maxie
 
adrian996 said:
Stuart said:
ameer said:
This is a forum, as with most forums, is a place to learn/share stuff about something you are interested in... best to be open and frank!? No one is slating 911's as we all here seem to love cars and the 911!

Correct, and how do most people come upon forums? When they are researching potential purchases or when they have a problem... :?:
Look at Pistonheads, 6speed and PCGB forums, all problem related. There are thousands of 997 and 996 owners who don't use forums until that moment when they have a problem and need advice. Using them as a gauge for % of car problems is highly misleading. No one wants engine trouble, hell my CEL flashed on briefly and I almost had a heart attack. It's very rare that I go online and actually post how much I love my 911 but as soon as I have a problem I'll be straight online asking for help...

This is something I've wondered for s while: it would be interesting to know what percentage of 997 (or any 911 really) owners use forums like this one? I'd bet it's less than 20%...? It just makes you wonder how the rest are getting on with theirs..?

Forums do seem to be largely used to get information and solve problems - but it does worry you when you hear such catastrophic stories concerning such expensive cars. My Indi recently told me a woeful tale about a guy in his twenties who had saved up for ages to buy a 2.7 Boxter. He'd bought it with 53K miles on it and was never happier - until a pin that goes through the main shaft (?) let go and blitzed his engine at 60K.

Now I know that there will be some who'll not be that surprised at this from a 2.7 Boxter with 60K miles but this in itself proves what we've come to accept from this manufacturer(?).

This poor guy now has a four wheeled white elephant on his drive which (at best) he'd get about £8k for in its current state.

Let's not beat around the bush here: Porsche launched the 3.4 996 well over ten years ago and have still not sorted the RMS issue!!! This is unforgivable and yet we've all just kept on buying them - myself included.

Well said Adrian, for me you've hit the nail on the head.
 

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