I have a 3.4 996 and it is one of the best purchases I have ever made. It is so much car for the money that it is hard to believe. People rave about 964 and 993, and yes they are great cars, no denying, but, 996 is more powerful, more comfortable, more roomier and quite a bit better to drive than, say 964 and marginally better to drive than 993. And you can get a good one with half the price of a good 964 or 993. So much has been written about the IMS by people who have read a quote by someone who had heard something. Well, if you really want to know the truth google "Eisen class act" and research the documents. There is statistics by the US import cars, over 50 000 of them and you can find the figures there. Long story short: 1998 and 1999 cars are practically trouble free but the later ones with single row bearing definitely need attention. But just like "Number 27" (Gilles) states, by now, the problem is in control. You just need to do the right things and you should live without worries. IMS and RMS in control and you have an unbelievably reliable car. I would almost say more reliable than the preceeding air cooled ones because the old 911s, 964s and even 993s are not exactly quite as reliable as people like think. An oil leak is a feature rather than a failure. Most cars have had to be re-sleeved, espeecially 964s. Consider that from 993 always up to 991 the suspension is very alike in principle and these cars are very alike to drive: very reactive, good traction, huge levels of grip, fantastic brakes. Take the new 991 GT3RS and realize that it costs 15..20 times as much as a good 996 but is it 15..20 times better, does it give so much more sensation? No, sorry, it does not. It is better, but only marginally for most of us, very similar but with stickier tyres and more power. When you have something as good as the 996 (or 993 rear suspension) it is very difficult to make it substantially better. You can only make it just a little bit better. The clock will see the difference but you senses not so much. The 911, ragardless of version, is the definition for the German word Fahrspass.

Great video. I'm glad someone finally made a coming of age video about the 996. I own an '03' 996 and people really are more receptive to it now. It's a blast to drive and I had the IMS upgraded, so I have less to worry about now.

I got one for 17 years, it drove great !

Great car and nice camera work!

Nice video.Really impressed

so fire!! I'm getting ready to purchase my very own Porsche 911 in the next few weeks! can't wait to see how the 911 drives

any 911 is a great car. and any new 911 modell is a big fuzz. i suspect 996 prices will start climbing now, it is just great value for money, no matter what

I love the looks of the earlier 996.1, and yours in Lapis Blue? looks absolutely awesome, nice buy, nice vid

Great article, keep up the good work

Sounds even better with Porsche Sports Exhaust and 3.6 adds a surprising amount more torque. C2 is my favourite (I had a turbo too, but it's a heavy old bus) and I maintain that the 996 is still the most modern-looking of all the models.

I bought a 2004 996, and I love it! IMS, and RMS had just been done, along with a new clutch. The 3.6 motor is a little better in every way to the 3.4, and I really think they got the headlights right on the gen 2 996s. My car had only 45,000 on it for around 30k.. these are fantastic cars for the money :-)

great and always been a beautiful car.

I love this video, I was just wondering this very same thing the other day. I've been buying 996's since 2009. I had a 2001 turbo, a 1999 c4, and now have a 2002 turbo which I have upgraded and let me tell you that a Kline cat-less exhaust is the only way to go. Sounds almost factory at low throttle but man when you hammer down it really sounds clear and exotic. I paid $30,000 for mine with 103,000 miles and it runs like its brand new, still smells new from the factory and imo has the best looking interior of any 911 ever. With a total investment of $37,000, I have a 620hp beast of a car that looks amazing. Get em while they're cheap!

Absolutely right. I love ours. There are some great cars, and this is one. AND the prices appear to be going up lately.

Great video 996 is coming of age fast

Lights look fine, beautiful

This was a great review.

That's how I drive to work everyday in my 01' :)

Not for me. I originally wanted an air cooled coupe but the prices and a local opportunity to own a nice 1999 manual C2 coupe with 99,000 miles for $11k US made me give it a go. 5 years later, I find myself lusting over the air cooled models even more. It's like they say with watches, if you want a Rolex Submariner, but buy a Tag Heuer Aquaracer instead because it's cheaper, it will never satisfy your desire and and will end up costing you more money in the long run however I might be safe paying $11,000 in 2015 as the car now seem to be worth closer to $14,000. Still a drop in the bucket for clean a 964 or 80's SC coupe.

I don't know...did they ever fix the engine bore score problem?? what good is a great car if the engine is a ticking time bomb?

I've got mine!

Nice review and video production, but you would benefit from some performance driver coaching.

Nice reviews you are doing. Gosh your driving is Scary tho ☺ Steering wheel shuffling ...oh dear. (I am an ex 911E owner and club racer since 1982)

Great vid I’m warming to these , Jayemm rates them too In my price range to scratch the 911 itch

I have a properly sorted 996, the only problem with videos like this is that people will realize that its not as scary as people portray it and the prices go up!

nice car

You know the IMS bearing issue only occurred on cars that get treated like garage queens lol.

Re: IMS & RMS issues. I wouldn't assume any 996 non-turbo was sorted out, regardless of age. That can fail w/o warning. Pre-Purchase Inspection is strongly suggested. Re: Road bias, drive a C4 or Turbo. More driver orientated suspension and tires. Plus coupes are much stiffer than the cabriolet obviously. The headlights and sharing so much H/W with the boxster also added to it being disliked by many traditional Porsche owners. But with 175,262 units sold, making it the most successful 911 up to that time, hard to call it "black sheep" :) I know many lamented in the fact it was much more of a mass production car compared to earlier generations. That's a fair argument. You got a heck of a lot of car for the money though. I have an '02 996 Turbo. Which I drive everyday, year round. I'm glad people haven't considered it a classic. The prices haven't skyrocketed like the 993, or 963's have. Mine was low miles, super clean for around $40K USD. Most average around $45K, with pristine C4's in low 30's. Thanks for the video. One thing I did wish was that the turbo had the same sounds as the NA motor. Even with aftermarket exhaust/headers the turbo isn't quite as nice.

I purchased a 996 carrera with Aerokit a couple of months ago, imo plenty of performance for the road, power you can actually use. Prices of air cooled are out of reach now for an average man and I've always had a soft spot for the "ugly underdog". For me it's how a car makes you feel and as a forty plus year old man I've hankered after a 911 since I could drive, it's not had the ims bearing done and after 18 years it's obviously not that fragile, will I change it? When the clutch needs replacing.

the 991 is drastically different than any 911 before and everyone loves it. the 996 criticism makes no sense anymore

The 993 lets face it was miles behind the rest of the car world in terms of technology when it was released, it barley had functional heating, the 996 brought the 911 into the 21st century, its biggest issue will be with the mk1's is a C2 from the back of the drivers seat forwards is identical to the Boxster, a car which cost half as much and unless you really need those tiny back seats you can buy a mk2 Boxster S for half the price with the same brakes, suspension ect, with a more modern interior with a glove box and cup holders at the sacrifice of 200cc of engine, but being a lighter platform this doesn't add up to much. mk2 996's on the other hand are different enough from the Boxster to not get constantly compared to the cheaper car and if you have a 996 C4S then no one can make that comparison and I think for this reason mk2 996's especially the wide body C4s which is essentially a turbo with a standard 996 engine and the red strip on the back will become sought after, but eventually they will all rise in value, there was a time people said the 964 was ugly and would never be worth anything

Nicely reviewed - not a perfect Porsche, but your comemtns are constructive - love mine, wouldn't have missed it for the world.

The 964 was the real one to own. I let the club talk me into selling my 1994 Speedster and I live to regret it.

I prefer the mark 2 to the mark 1 and my favourite models are the GT3, the GT2, the 40th Anniversary (which is really like a GTS, half way between a Carrera and a GT3 and very raw with very stiff suspensions) and ... maybe the Turbo although I like it but don't love it. I would say that the 40th Anniversary (40 Jahre) is the big surprise of the lot as the GT2 and GT3 are what you expect them to be and the 40th Anniversary is really a big surprise and an awesome car. In my opinion, it took Porsche almost 6-7 years to match it with a non GT car and, it did so with the 997.2 GTS. (Although I must admit that I have never tried the extremely expensive 50th Anniversary car).

Great review by the way! I was never a Porsche guy and I have never driven any other Porsche cars other than the 1999 996 that I currently own. I've gone through most of the car already with an engine rebuild bumped up to 3.8 litre changed practically everything engine related component to brand new etc. etc, etc... By the way, other than the engine rebuild I do all of my own work. I have several other euro classics Jags, BMW, & Mercedes cars that have been completely rebuilt by me. I even have a few motorcycles that were in perfect shape and even brand new that I've torn down and built back up. I am only telling you this in hopes of giving a broader view of my experience with vehicles in general. Bottom line is this particular review is based on the factory car as well as it should be but, in my experience at a bare bones minimum most factory provided vehicles could do with suspension upgrades in some form or fashion. I was very surprised to see how well a 15-20 year 996 suspension has held up over the years but it's definitely not something that I would call great and to make the 996 into an awesome driving machine you really need the bits from the aftermarket crowd. I saw some comments on my mans driving skills and 1. He was driving a Cabriolet ( not even close to being a great handling car duh it has no roof) 2. How many Porsche owners over the last 40 years had driving skills worthy of more than a Toyota Corolla driving status, please, give me a break. I'm sure that 21's twitchiness in the corner just turned you off and made the video unbearable but you stuck around long enough to make a negative comment. More power to you, race car drivers.

i bought a 2002 xkr and now looking at a 2002 911 for a 2nd car. they aren't THAT expensive to maintain. i mean, its no damn honda, but its not that bad.

OK...987 subscribers...Whats going on?? Oh, keyring arrived...Brilliant! It spins and everything! Chuffed as fuck.

Copy paste>>>> Porsche 996 Review - Has the time of Porsche's black sheep finally come? Number27 Number27 Subscribed964 Add to Share More 31,008 views 179 7 Published on Jul 28, 2016 Review and road test of the previously unloved Porsche 996, the first water-cooled 911. Number 27 looks at the car that changed 911's for ever from air cooled to water, from niche to mass production and from old school to modern. Once the black sheep of the family the 996 is now due a renaissance.

Is it possible for us to see you review cars other than Porsches? Whilst your videos are fun to watch, they seem to be focussing too much on this brand, when there are plenty other marques out there that have produces some fantastic cars...just an observation

In terms of car design, the 2000's produced some frustratingly boring cars. This 996 however, in spite of its low prestige, is my favorite 911 of all time.

He says "the brakes don't inspire confidence", and he is totally wrong, as the brakes are excellent. The problem is that the car he is driving has been neglected and needs to have the brakes serviced.

Upgrade the steering wheel and change out the fenders to round headlight units and there you go....

The 996 break the engine (IMS)

911 subscribers...ha!

Your all over the road man. Learn how to drive it properly pls!

Engine issues sorted? They're still going pop all the time. It's not a matter of if, it's when! Turbo/GT cars aside of course.....

Well, a late comment from me. My 991.1 4S PDK is having a service, and the nice blokes at the Porsche Independent gave me a 996.2 C4 as a courtesy car. Ok, 1st world problems. Anyways, following me former 997 2S Cabrio and the current 991.1, I (almost) have a complete picture of the more modern 911s. Anyways, other than a sadly tired and balky manual gearbox, the 996 is a wonderful, lovely car - truly cracking to drive, and the less angry engine is sweet as a nut. But (and I shake my head at this) what I really love about it are the far more compact dimensions. Yeah, the shove of poke ain’t there, but compared to the cars most mortals drive it’s still a time machine, so I’m not in a position to complain about 300ish PS versus 400 ps. Alright, back to my impoverished life…

I love my 200996 Cabriolet! Best bang for the buck! A blast to drive! F the purists!

can you not drive properly??

I would not go near them... I almost made the mistake a few years ago. I corrected that and bought a 993 instead.

Would not touch one with a barge pole......

Yes, it has come of age and the chance of engine failure is higher than ever :)

The hole time I'm just waiting for you to crash the car, sorry but I don't think someone like you with poor driving skills should own such a car just yet. Maybe start with a VW and work your way up. LOL!

The UGLIEST Porsche ever.