FS: @AK - 2006 Porsche 997 Carrera S Cab cool options/color (not mine)

[Jeff Tighe]

AutoKennel had this roll in the other day. I usually don't look twice at late model stuff, but the color combo and options on this example caught my attention.

Seems like a good value.

More details at www.AutoKennel.com

[Pinball]

This is a great value. Until the intermediate shaft bearing fails and the engine is destroyed. From 1999 until 2008, the presence of the intermediate shaft was the Achille's heel of these engines. Porsche redesigned the IMS in late model year 2005, and the more robust design is to be found on MY 2006-2008 cars, but they are still vulnerable to catastrophic failure and then you need to purchase a new or rebuilt engine. This topic has been covered ad nauseum on many enthusiast sites and is a well known design failure. To Porsche's unending shame, it took a class action lawsuit to get compensation for many owners. Porsche has never released information about the failure rate, but estimates of up to 10% have abounded, with lower failure rates on the MY 2006-2008 cars. LN Engineering has much of its website devoted to information about this. All in all - it's a real time-bomb gamble purchasing any P-car from these model years.

[Paul-HB]

Yes, there are potential catastrophic issues with water-cooled 911s from 1998-2008 (except turbos and GT3s). However, besides being fixed, they can be avoided all together. Remember back when chain tensioners was all the rage? If they weren't updated/installed, they too would cause serious issues. The only difference between then and now is the internet. However, I feel that there is more to the IMS issue than just Porsche's poor customer service. I think with the water-cooled 911 came a whole new era of buyers who weren't really enthusiasts and basically ignored proper maintenance. I wrote an article for the PCA magazine on this very issue:

http://www.autokennel.com/AutoKennel/Articles_F.html

So, unlike most who just read the internet banter, I started interviewing dozens of local Porsche mechanics who specialize in the water-cooled motors. I found something very interesting. ALL of them agreed that they have never seen the IMS bearing fail on a car with routine oil service (i.e. every 5k miles or once a year...whichever comes first). In fact, one mechanic did a test on a first generation Boxster. He drove it for well over 200k miles. He performed the regular service required. He even changed the clutch a few times. Each time, he inspected the bearing but never replaced it. Guess what, it never failed or showed signs of wear. Another mechanic rebuilds over 100 water-cooled 911 motors a year. He has rebuilt/built over a 1,000 in total. He too said that he never took a part a motor with clean oil and a bad bearing.

So, although Porsche is not perfect and have made engineering mistakes on nearly every year of every model, I don't think the IMS issue is any worse than some of their other blunders. The biggest difference is the internet proliferates the negative at an alarming rate and the new Porsche buyers that the 996s attracted were hopping out of Toyota leases into them and had no idea how to take care of one. So many leased cars didn't see an oil service for well over 3-years...yikes.

As I tell my friends, what matters most is service history, current condition, and proper future maintenance.

[Peanut]

Interesting article. Having owned an '06 997 coupe since late '05 and honestly hadn't heard issues on 997 cars. So, I can report , “I woke up today, got in my car, started it up, and my IMS worked flawlessly all the way to work”.

Nice looking convertible. Like the blue top. Good luck with sale as that's a helluva price.

Scott

[popowitz]

The Kramer's have a very attractive car on their hands. If I were to replace my '92 C2 as my daily I would look no further. GLWS!

[Pinball]

Undeniably an attractive car! It's all about risk tolerance. I owned two 2006 997 S coupes; a 2008 Carrera; and a 2008 RS60, but I sleep much more soundly now that I'm driving a 2011 Carrera that doesn't have an IMS and that does have direct injection. It's like that old saying: "Whose ox is gored?" If you drive the car and the engine doesn't disinegrate, all is well with the world. I just didn't want to end up with the unlucky 10% guys.

[Pinball]

From the December 2014 Panorama Tech Q&A: "The (IMS) bearing with the highest failure rate (8%) was the middle-generation design, a smaller-diameter, single-row bearing used in many 2001-2005/2006 Porsche sports cars....Proper maintenance and frequent oil changes are all you can do, as the IMS bearing in your engine can't be removed or replaced without complete engine disassembly." (emphasis added) So unless you are willing to split the case - a procedure recommended by exactly no one - then owning a car from this design era will necessarily entail risks. Whether or not those risks are acceptable to you is, of course, a matter of personal choice.

[Peanut]

And approx. 1% of other years. Cars with unknown history, etc. pretty small numbers IMHO.

Scott

[Pinball]

While the [I]percentages[I] are small, the actual number of cars affected is in the several thousands. Porsche's unwillingness to acknowledge the problem originally or provide compensation for the affected owners until class action litigation was filed remains a mark of shame.

[boxster03]

I believe $45K for a 2009 is more in line - the depreciation on these later model 911's is outrageous - probably $50-60K just to drive a 2015 off the lot - crazy