Hi guys!
I used to have two 1999 986s. One weekender, one work car.
I am a commercial photographer that averages 3,000-4,000 miles per month on his work car.
My Tiptronic Boxster weathered the daily abuse stoutly and reliably until the tranny started to go at 175,000 miles.
(Sordid string of car-drama follows)
Instead of spending the $5,000 on a rebuilt tranny swap, I sold the car and purchased a 2006 Mitsubishi Outlander. It was reliable but boring, and the new timing belt I put in it snapped in 41,000 miles trashing the engine (an $8,000 estimated repair). The timing belt recommendation is 40,000 miles, and I was just waiting for my mechanic to come back from vacation to get it serviced. Ridiculous.
Traded that for a 2010 Mercedes GLK. Wonderful vehicle to drive, but maintenance heavy, never leaving the shop with a less than $1600 bill for something or other. Still kind-of boring.
The monumental mistake came when I drooled over a 2019 Mustang Bullitt edition while accompanying a friend who was car shopping.
On impulse, I traded the GLK and the weekend Boxster for this beast. I now had a huge car payment and a car that was inexplicably not as satisfying to drive as my Boxsters has been, and was a huge LEMON. And not little stuff, but major stuff. After a huge battle with Ford, I finally unloaded that bloated mess of a car.
As replacement, I went back to my true love and bought a 2001 996 Carrera with 73,000 miles on it (what an amazing car! I love every second of my time with it) as a weekender. And for a work car, a beat up 2000 Toyota 4-runner. Both have been rock solid reliable for nearly a year.
The 996 reminds me of all the things I loved about my 986’s. Tight, silky, blinding-yet-controlled power delivered with a throaty echoing rasp...Essentially “sophisticated bombast”.
Ultimately, it would have been cheaper and much less frustrating to have just done the transmission and stuck with the car that I enjoyed in the first place.
(Sorry this is running so long, I’ll break it up)
