Porsche 996 Carrera ultimate buying guide 

i like how the video length is 9:11

For some reason your car with the hated fried eggs lights looks amazing in white 👍

I have a 99’ 996 Carrera and it has been such an awesome value. I GUARANTEE that there is no better sports car for the money right now! No huge issues as of now. Has a few things here and there that will need attention as time goes on but overall an absolute joy to own.

After trying 3 996 C4Ses I went for one which had had an engine rebuild from Hartech 15k ago, silver, blue interior, sunroof delete, manual. Driven for 12 months now, uses no oil and only fixes were a broken window regulator and indicator stalk. Love it

Excellent and very informative basic buyers guide - thank you!

The factory phone is funny. It would be fun to get it activated if possible.

Great video and advice. Really helpful.

Trying to find one for my first track build. Great guide

Great video quality. You have significantly improved your microphone and video editing! Can’t wait to see the original blue paint on your 911!

Great video again in which all the details are explained very precise. I will use this as a reference, thanks! I have also been doing some research on the 996 and 997 and made a video about the values of both cars. The 996 definitely bottomed and I think that the 997 is also starting to bottom out. The Carrera 4 Cabriolet is even already going up in value. If you do your research before buying one, both the 996 and 997 offer such great value for money.

Brilliant video pal :) Keep up the content, I've subscribed.

Great video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Good vid. Good production value. Great advice on a fantastic car. Love ya work. Thanks Lee. Andy

Loved the vid. Love that car. Envy coming at ya. Keep the great work coming. 😀

I know this is old but a good video! I'm looking my first one!

Mr Sibs, I LOVE your 996 and your channel. I can see about a dozen amazing 'project' related upgrade videos in your future, so excited for you. ROCK ON!!

yep agree with you and nice video. I got my 3.6 C2 manual and absolutely love it...

Thanks for the great video - very much appreciated

Looking forward to the follow up vids fella. Cheers for championing the 996, keep em coming 👍

Cool very nice, perfect in this color! well done Lee the 996 is a bit underrated car it was a time when I was thinking the 996 Turbo was the best looking Porsche when it was coming back in the day and was in Bond movie and the cool driving in the ice at Island. and thanks for the cool channel and all your work with it for us Porsche nuts

Great summary that clearly covers all relevant information. Didn't know it was wrapped. Looking for the Zenith appearing. 😎

Just got my 2000’ 996 Carrera , I love every beautiful curve of it . I’m Restoring it back to a beautiful 🤩 condition.

Excellent video , really informative I bought a 2001 c2 a few weeks ago , I’m loving it Unbelievable value

I have a 2001 Carerra 4! It's my second Porsche after my 1977 911S It's just been a great ride! But as with any Porsche you have to maintain them!

Thanks for the videos and confirming a lot of what I have researched. In the market for a 996 Turbo - any additional pointers of what to check with the turbo in play?

Excellent video. Very useful tips for sure.

Thank you for the video. My daily drive is a Porsche Cayenne Twin Turbo that I have been maintaining myself. It has been a great car. I want to buy a 2002 991 for my car collections.

3 years ago I found my 99 C2 cab 6spd. 85k $13.5k USD Well cared for in excellent condition except no IMS upgrade. Pulled it out and it was mint. Dual row bearing. The single row bearings from 2001 onward were weaker and failed at a higher rate. Extremely Reliable 175mph car.

Good video thanks.. take the wrap off it, look at it and then put another wrap back on in the same colour...love the white orange indicators and black leather combo 👌🏻

Nice video, I'm fairly confident that there are stellar deals to be had from Private sellers too, though. I've had 5 cars of this generation and only one "the first" came from trade. Porsche owners tend to be enthusiasts and take good care. You'll see a mile off if that is not the case.

Great video. Small correction- IMS connects the crankshaft to the camshaft, not the driveshaft.

Good video, appreciated. I'm at the other end of the Porsche and sports car buying spectrum. I buy collision cars, eight so far. I've learned that when I'm done fixing the collision damage, the real adventure is just beginning. So I would give someone else your advice, I just don't follow it and buy crappy cars instead. Haha, not for the faint of heart or the risk averse type. I have a 986, took me six months to sort it all out and get it road worthy; will look for a 996 next!

Great info! When you bought all of your 911s did you check for bore scoring via bore scope? How many miles do you have on little Irish? One think I have noticed on the 98/99 996 that when looking over car history a lot of them have had the rms and the front crankshaft seal replaced a few times. Must have been a flaw on these 996s.

Good info - thank you!!

thanks very much. excellent video.

Highly recommend use of Durametric software and tool to check for Range 2 engine over revs and other system alerts. Finding Range 2s could mean engine abuse and an indicator of possible premature engine failure. I bought a 2004 C4S with X51 package in Feb 2019 and doing this pre-purchase check plus the other items mentioned in your video provided peace of mind. Excellent video, as always. Purchased vehicle from private party (former military and civilian airline pilot) who was meticulous in selecting and maintaining it. Had 53k on the odometer with full IMS upgrade by LN Engineering. Enjoy maintaining and driving it and not interested whether prices increase or decline. It's a keeper.

I own a 996.1 with a gt3 kit on it, in guards red. Defiantly a good daily driver.

Hi Lee, I'm looking at a 2000 996 Carrera 4, 3.4, with 118k M with changed irms, but I'm afraid that I may have the possibility of boring score in the future? With that mileage. Your video help me a lot of but this aspect scares. Thank you . I love your videos👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Great video. I have a similar car - Zenith blue 1998 Carrera 2 manual with no sunroof. Mine has savannah interior. I will never sell it. Top work.

Lee, as we have changed emails beforeI want to congratulate for the 1998 3.4 C2 which I consider to be the best of all the 996 Carreras which all all good! One good thing about 996s are that they very well understood nowadays. There is a lot of info about them in the net. The very thing about the 996 is of course the price. I got the 1998 model as you and my neighbour has a 991.2 GT3 RS. His car is like 10...15 times as valuable as mine. Is it 10...15 times better? It is not. On a typical B-road my car is actually more fun because I dont really have to worry about the value nor the size of the hips. The 996 is very easy to maintain by oneself if you are handy with tools. The prices of 996s have been very stable for a few years now. If they have moved then up but very little. It is not an investment car but it is a cost efficient driver’s car. However, like with any high performance car you got to love her (=maintain her). Many 996 crank poorly when warm. It’s most likely the starter motor coils. The expansion tank, if it is gone yellow it will start to leak. It is when rather than if. The 1998 cable throttle cars have that cable stretched so check from the OBD that you get 100% opening pedal floored. The early 996s may develop a pop out second gear. Later on they improved the bearing set up of G96 box. The LSD is said to wear out its plates by about 80 000 km. But frankly that is not much of a problem since these cars have so good traction anyway. And one more thing. The 996, as I presume all 911s, are quite sensitive to wheel alignment. If the car is nervous, that is something to look into. Namely, unlike the air cooled, from 996 onwards you can easily trail-brake a water cooled. These are extremely easy cars to drive. If you are about to buy a 996 the noise may surprise you: the engine is quite the rear wheels are not. I dont actually like my car on the motor way. I always choose the B-road even itf it is twice as much time - but it is quality time :)

Great tips

A white 996 is a unicorn in the market !

Bore scoring also can be a bit of a bump in the road.

I change the oil on my 98 every 5000 kms and check it occasionally as they tend to lose some along the way. The handbook says it can lose as much as a litre per 1000 kms but mine is not that bad. I always top it of with 1 to 1.5 before each change. So not only change frequently but check and add some as required.

Great video and very resourceful for those in the market. One thing I would add though, is engine mounts too. Easiest way too tell us if your exhaust tips are sagging, they’re likely shot. Very easy procedure and a couple hundred dollars and the improvement is substantial.

Hi lee, great channel, love your work!😊 Have one question, is the tiptronic a option? Have you tested it? Is it even worth considering? ... Would like to see a testdrive from you with 996s - one with man vs one with tiptronic, wich one is the best for buying and owning... Regards from Sweden 😊

I'll give you one little test that will tell you volumes...check each exhaust and what you want to see and feel is an equal amount of soot...dry not wet and evenly distributed. This will tell you mechanically what you need to know. 😎 Good luck, happy hunting and my personal suggestion? stay analogue 98, 99 and early 2000 will make you a very happy individual...

in addition to the short shift at 3k when cold, don't let the car sit on tick over warming up. Start drive.

If the IMS fails it will put pieces of metal into your oil and cause a catastrophic engine failure. A dealer will charge you $3,000 to fix the IMS/RMS. A good Porsche mechanic can do it for $1,500. Either way it’s a fairly expensive repair. After 2008 the problem was resolved by Porsche so make sure that issue has been addressed on your 996 or buy a 2009 Porsche 997 if you can afford one.

Excellent video. The production quality is superb. Just sold my 996 after 4 great years of ownership for a 996 Turbo.

I'm a french 996 3.6l owner and i think your advices are very clever. I'm surprised the Porsche dealer talk about IMS. I think Stuttgart does really want to. (Sorry for my bad english)

Hello Lee, love your channel ! All the informations an tip well presented and i love your new green color ! I do buy a 996 for my birthday and i like the car a lot as you do. This is an amazing car, the most phaszinating i did own an propably will ever. I will keep it as good as possible in shape and for sure continure watchin& every of you videos. .... if you come to Germany you are very welcome to visite me and would love to talk to you im person ! just let me know, i live close to Mainz...Best Regards

I want to buy one of this Porsches of the years 1997-2004 including a Boxster 2002 with 75K miles for $11,000. And a particular one 2003 911/996 for $37,000. But none of this cars have the IMS bearings fix yet. What do you think I should do? buy one and fix the IMS bearing? Thanks

I am searching to get a 911 and I’ve had my eyes on the 997 but the more down the rabbit hole I go, the more i feel attracted to the 996. It’s like I can get a 997.1 for $39-50k or I can get a 996.1/2 for around $18-20k and have money to play around with for maintenance/reliability upgrades

Did you get the leak fixed? Was it the door membrane?

Just buy one with high mileage and drive the hell out of it, do not buy a garage premadna

I tried and failed to buy a 1999. Then I bought a 2008 997. Pretty much the same car save for cosmetics. Super even in winter (Chicago!) on my 155 mile commute. Prices will rise, but there are so many. Safety in numbers.

996 is by the best Porsche to date!!

Ok video although a couple thing incorrect. The IMS doesn't have an issue with oil getting into it. The problem is that the bearing is a sealed unit and doest not get fed with oil. What happens is because its seal the lubricant drys up and wears out cause the bearing to eventually run out of lubrication and thus the bearing ends up running metal on metal. Thats why they fail. The fix is to instal and better type of bearing or the best solution is a kit where there is no bearing only an advance bushing kit with an adaptor that fits where the oil filter is and gets an oil feed from there so the bush runs on an oil bed. A modified oil filter comes with the kit to compensate for the oil feed adaptor. You then never need to replace this ever again once this is fitted.

Oil can get inside the IMS bearing and clean out the grease? Everything I’ve read says you should let the oil lubricate the bearing by driving it properly (going higher in the revs) so what is he talking about?

That Porsche mechanic sounds just like Gareth Keenan from The Office :)

Hey pal - that "savage leak" - did you find the cause? I had similar, but the garage couldn't find the root cause. I had all the drainage pipes replaced in hope it would resolve, but I've not dare leave the car outside in rain / driven in the rain since.

Nice video! I’m considering buying one. My question is what is the normal oil pressure of both idle and running? Thanks for answering!

Just bought a 911… came back onto the M1 at Watford services.. span the wheels at 60mph, went sideways.. yeah it’s quick enough 👀

good one!

Great video. But i take issue with buying only high milage cars from a dealership. I bought mine private with 72,000 on the clock with full service history. Bought in 2014 A year 2000 model 996. Its the best car i have ever owned. Service history in full is in my opinion the most important

What do people think of the 996.1 auto?

Nice video. Do you reccomend a 996 targa 2wd ? What can be wrong ? Thanks

Love the retro car phone 📞

Is your interior Metropol Blue?

Crankshaft to camshaft just saying haha. Thanks for the video.

I found one! $14,000 162k. Forest green. I’m stoked! Going to meet the guy next week. Fingers crossed.

The best advice is by the cheapest, rust free 996 possible that you can find, a high mileage example would indicate its got past the point of any bore scoring issue (although it’s very rare) and anyone with common sense would get the ims done even if there was paperwork saying it had been done, it’s common sense after that break pads, oil change and filter and tyres are just general service items as with any car, I just can’t see why people would actually pay thousands more for a low mileage mint one when it’s just a C2 or C4 unless it’s a Turbo or Targa.

STOP THESE VIDEOS IMMEDIATELY! PRICES ALREADY ON THE RISE!! Really useful and informative. Brilliant stuff, mate. Is the 4S the one to have?

Great vid! Just started looking for a 996. So I understand 100%, do cars before 2001 suffer from IMS failure?

The GT3 Clubsport Mk1 (1999-2000) with roll cage and single mass flywheel is the rarest of the all.....more expensive than Mk2 RS..

Falken tyres are amazing value recommended by the specialist I use.. Perfectly fine half the price

Any coincidence that the clip lasted 9.11? 😉Really enjoyed that. How does it compare with your C4S ?

Great video! I am currently in the market to purchase a 996 C2S, C4s or TT. One thing that I have heard is that it is recommended to get a PPI. What are your thoughts as you didn’t mention that in your video?

That is why I bought a MK II GT3 😎

I always hear the statement that is "buy the best one you can afford" and for some reason this never makes any sense to me. The best one is ones own opinion to me it seems, I am currently interested and actively looking for a 996.2 Targa.. to me this is better than a 4s but to someone else it's not the best?!?! There are so many options to figure in, trim levels as far as full leather, color of leather, transmission auto or 6 speed.. ect ect does anyone really buy a bad model when they could have gotten a better one?

You never see white 996 in UK nice

Wow... good..... all i need now is the cash to buy one

Do you know the 0-60 mph difference between the 996 2 tiptronic vs manual? 😀

What's the "higher mileage" for 996 you're referring to?

How much is IMS replacement / upgrade?

Most likely gonna be my first car lol fan from the usa

We’ve owned our 996 for 7 years now. Fully serviced. One fault in that time; needed a new water pump. It was bought for £15k it’s possibly still worth that. Name me another car that returns that value?

You can avoid the scored cylinder 5 and 6 by going for a Turbo or a GT3. Sadly the Turbo is 4WD which kinda spoils the fun

Did he say connects the driveshaft to the camshaft?

You've already done this haven't you? Certainly the same wrapped car....which is the best colour for a 996 especially with ambers. Good sound information. Your 996 will have a dual row IMS bearing which has very low failure rates.

The IMS bearing failure is ... "possibly" not an IMS bearing failure at all. From my understanding of physics (and the fact that Porsche engineers considered the grease and the bearing to last forever when designing it), the problem is the timing chain tensioners (I hope I remember this right). The oil does not "just get in" into the bearing, or it would happen in all cases, yet it affects 1% to 8% of 996, depending on the year and version. My take of this is as follows: If the chain becomes lose enough, and the car is driven conservatively, there is more high wooble vibration putting pressure on the IMS bearing, making it more likely to unseal, and to put uneaven pressure on the bearing. Remember that the dual row bearing had less failure rate. However, that would not have been the case if the reason why the bearings were failing was oil getting in and unsealing the grease. It would however handle vibrations FAR better because now you have two rows that can spread the load AND the vibrations as well, not to mention being able to stick better inside the shaft due to a larger size? Damn, I suck at explaining myself. Now, the reason I think this way is because if you drive the car harder (higher RPMS on the IMS) the chain will be moving fast enough to tense a bit naturally.

It's manual but tiptronic gauge on dash?

Cool video. I might sell my 996 and get an Audi R8 V8 manual. What do you all think?

Nice car phone

A good video and nice to see you waving the flag for 996. BUT, I don't agree with your golden rules. Lots of "reputable" 911 dealers that still sell dogs or those that need work. Nothing wrong with buying privately with a nice maintenance file to go with it and some due diligence. Secondly, although yes you can still buy a C2 996.1 for about £15K it will be a miracle to get a good one. Your car for example needs substantial work doing to it and unless you are handy with a spanner then you won't get much change from £10K once finished. Decent 996.2 that don't have high miles (or PDK) will now start at at least a 2 in the price. For a C4S they will be mid to high 20's. Why? The 996 is starting to be seen for the car it is - better to drive than the air cooled and a true sports car rather than a touring car like the modern 911 (bar GT cars). Look forward to more videos.

If your going to buy a cheap 996 go for the cheapest on and have a $3500 budget for parts and a lot of time for repairs.

Hi which one is to buy auto or manual

Great video! To me, as a 911, it's not a great looker.

I hope you paid on the lower end of the spectrum for the rust alone. Great video!