Righto, I did a bucket load of research on these before jumping in and buying one last year. I think as long as you go in eyes wide open you won't lose any sleep owning one.
The 996, and particularly the series 1's I think, are regarded as the ugly ducklings of the 911 world. They are the first of the watercooled 911's so the purists hate them, and to be honest, they kind of look a bit dated when parked next to anything later. The series 2 (from late '01 onwards) got the 3.6 compared to the 3.4, the turbo headlights and a subtly different front bar to differentiate it from the Boxster.
Per the replies above the biggest issue you'll find when researching is the IMS bearing. From what I read, it can fuck out spectacularly and take the rest of the motor with it. Porsche tried a couple of different bearing designs along they way, and I think its regarded now that it got worse before it got better. Being an '01 it could either have the early double row design which had a failure rate of 1% (internet forum stat only, no idea how accurate that is) or the later single row design that I think has higher failure rate of around 5% (I think this stat has a bit more basis from a class action in the US). It affects all boxsters and 911's (apart form GT3, GT2 and Turbos) from the 996 up until the series 2 997 update when they went to the current engine design. There are a couple of aftermarket fixes that solve it, some are permanent, some are considered replaceable service items. The LN Engineering ceramic replacement is probably the most common/well known and it depends on what bearing design you have as to what fix you can use.
There was also some issues with the cylinder liners but I think they are mostly found in the really ('98 &'99) cars. Other than that they are pretty solid. From my searching I don't think basic service things like discs etc are any more expensive than any other performance euro. I tallied up all of the invoice that the previous owner gave me and including typically inflated porsche dealer servicing, tyres, brakes, clutch, batteries etc it averaged out to be about $4k a year. Having said that, some services (12 month/ 20,000klm) were oil and filter only so f'all $, others were pads & discs, clutch and flywheel etc all at once and they would have hurt at the time.
To be honest, mine has slightly higher klms than this one in that ad and I would say probably looks tidier. eg, my gear knob looks no where near as worn and that center console looks to have been painted. Doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't been looked after though, the plastic they use in the interior of these marks really easily. I've got a mark on the dash from the tomtom falling 5mm off the windscreen and my door sills are scuffed to buggery.
I bought my 2001 off a mates old man who had owned it since 2002 so I knew the history of it pretty well. He sold it to jump on a near new 997 GT3 and like 99% of owners who won't frequent forums, was blissfully unaware of all of the above issues. Would I have bought another (Carrera) if not my particular one? Probably not to be honest. Mine has a couple of options that I haven't seen on any since, like the X51 powerkit which added a 3rd radiator, turbo style oil pump, additional sump baffling, different cams, heads and GT3 esque intake manifold which brings the hp up to that of the 3.6 which pushed me over the line. Financially I reasoned that this should be better depreciation wise than something like a new HSV. Going by the price on that one I'm probably not convinced I'm correct on that yet.
I still think they are a lot of car for the money but if I get another it will definitely be something with a metzger in it.
The 996, and particularly the series 1's I think, are regarded as the ugly ducklings of the 911 world. They are the first of the watercooled 911's so the purists hate them, and to be honest, they kind of look a bit dated when parked next to anything later. The series 2 (from late '01 onwards) got the 3.6 compared to the 3.4, the turbo headlights and a subtly different front bar to differentiate it from the Boxster.
Per the replies above the biggest issue you'll find when researching is the IMS bearing. From what I read, it can fuck out spectacularly and take the rest of the motor with it. Porsche tried a couple of different bearing designs along they way, and I think its regarded now that it got worse before it got better. Being an '01 it could either have the early double row design which had a failure rate of 1% (internet forum stat only, no idea how accurate that is) or the later single row design that I think has higher failure rate of around 5% (I think this stat has a bit more basis from a class action in the US). It affects all boxsters and 911's (apart form GT3, GT2 and Turbos) from the 996 up until the series 2 997 update when they went to the current engine design. There are a couple of aftermarket fixes that solve it, some are permanent, some are considered replaceable service items. The LN Engineering ceramic replacement is probably the most common/well known and it depends on what bearing design you have as to what fix you can use.
There was also some issues with the cylinder liners but I think they are mostly found in the really ('98 &'99) cars. Other than that they are pretty solid. From my searching I don't think basic service things like discs etc are any more expensive than any other performance euro. I tallied up all of the invoice that the previous owner gave me and including typically inflated porsche dealer servicing, tyres, brakes, clutch, batteries etc it averaged out to be about $4k a year. Having said that, some services (12 month/ 20,000klm) were oil and filter only so f'all $, others were pads & discs, clutch and flywheel etc all at once and they would have hurt at the time.
To be honest, mine has slightly higher klms than this one in that ad and I would say probably looks tidier. eg, my gear knob looks no where near as worn and that center console looks to have been painted. Doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't been looked after though, the plastic they use in the interior of these marks really easily. I've got a mark on the dash from the tomtom falling 5mm off the windscreen and my door sills are scuffed to buggery.
I bought my 2001 off a mates old man who had owned it since 2002 so I knew the history of it pretty well. He sold it to jump on a near new 997 GT3 and like 99% of owners who won't frequent forums, was blissfully unaware of all of the above issues. Would I have bought another (Carrera) if not my particular one? Probably not to be honest. Mine has a couple of options that I haven't seen on any since, like the X51 powerkit which added a 3rd radiator, turbo style oil pump, additional sump baffling, different cams, heads and GT3 esque intake manifold which brings the hp up to that of the 3.6 which pushed me over the line. Financially I reasoned that this should be better depreciation wise than something like a new HSV. Going by the price on that one I'm probably not convinced I'm correct on that yet.
I still think they are a lot of car for the money but if I get another it will definitely be something with a metzger in it.
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