It’s not strictly the earlier cars that are afflicted, it’s *any* 996 (or 986), and technically, any 997.1 (prior to 2009) that does not have the Mezger engine (i.e., anything but the Turbo, GT3, and GT2)

996 has those things! :)

Turbos don’t have the IMS bearing issue.

2001 Turbo was inexplicably missing a few kind of useful things like cup holders and a glove box. It also had PCM1 and a tape deck. 2002+ had all those essentials again plus PCM2.

Good comment. Well articulated argument!

Mezger. There, I out-geeked you :)

Same here. With an updated headunit (I have a Pioneer NEX), I believe you’d be hard pressed to tell that the interior is over 10 years old. No fancy LCD integrated between gauges on the instrument cluster, maybe? That would be cool, but not much one can do about that.

Big, AMG V12 powered Mercedes coupes tend to depreciate like nothing else, sometimes loosing nearly six figures in a decade.

Isn't that just because Porsche wouldn't licence their cars for video games?

I am not sure that hating the car because of its drivers is the right way to think about it. Otherwise we'd all have to hate BMW and Audi. The Prius is actually an excellent car. The only thing "wrong" with it is it's not fun. It is, however, reliable, practical, economical, easy to operate, and has all kinds of…

Odd choice for the valet mode. They should have made it like 150HP. A very heavy Civic, no one would go nuts in that. It would be very sad when they tried and failed. A big indicator that said "Performance Crippling Valet Mode Enabled" should be there too.

Granted, the 356 may be one of the most style-tastic cars ever made and the replica does a great job recreating it. But a Boxster would at least be an authentic Porsche, if you're into that kind of thing.

thank you! You, me, and Doug Demuro, the 3 people on here who like the 996 ;)

Thanks! The original 996 lights, along with the Boxster lights, I agree with everyone, look bad. But the Turbo lights (2001 Turbo, and then 2002+ 911 range) look very sharp, I think. To each his own, though I wonder if the 911 lights looked like this to begin with, whether there would be such hatred out there. First…

I certainly think so. I haven't driven a lot of other performance cars, so it's hard for me to make relative statements. But, with the Ruf upgrades, it sounds awesome, rides like a go-cart (and a truck when going over bumps, but hey), and when the turbos light, you get this adrenaline rush that doesn't seem to get…

OK I figured it out. I have a 2003 Turbo which has been converted to a Ruf RTurbo (conversion done in Germany when the car was brand new, woo!) I honestly don't know why people would complain about an interior like this one (specifically) - I get that the base models are kind of unappealing. In case you're wondering…

This is exactly what my car has. Double DIN Pioneer NEX-8000 (CarPlay, touch screen, etc.), climate controls near the shifter (came that way as my car had a nav screen from the factory). Very little of my interior is plastic as it has the carbon package and I went further with a few carbon coated pieces from…

I really like it - definitely makes me feel more at ease when backing out of my driveway or if I had to park it (kind of rare, admittedly, because it's a Point A to Point A car 90% of the time). That said, mechanically, the car feels modern (ok, no variable suspension stuff or launch control as it's a manual) so the…

I put one of those in my Turbo — very much modernizes the car. Backup camera, bluetooth, CarPlay, FLAC support, etc. etc.

If you had a full leather + carbon interior in a 996, would that do it? or do they all fail?