Best/least bad version of M96/97

[Qmulus]

Originally Posted by Giller

Porsche - not even in the top 10.....

10 of the worst engines in history | Autonet.ca

As some have said - the overall fail rate is really very low compared to many other vehicles out there. And when you correct the IMS - the fail rate is tiny.

Interesting list. While growing up my family had three of the engines listed. We had a wonderful new '79 Olds Cutlass Diesel 5 speed manual (one of 150!) that went through head gaskets every 40k or tank of bad fuel, which ever came first. It also ate a couple of injection pumps and had an electrical fire that almost totalled it. While still under warranty the service manager at the dealership Dad bought it from asked Dad not to bring it back anymore, as it was clogging up their service department. Nice! My brother had an '84 Pontiac Fiero with the Iron Duke 4 cylinder. Gutless, but it was actually very reliable. Mom had an '85 Chrysler LeBaron GTS 2.2l that finally blew a head gasket at 175k, but had no other real issues.

Of all of the engines listed there, I can't think of any of them that had a class action lawsuit to replace engines for up to ten years after they were produced. Hmmm. There should have been one for that Olds Diesel, but no one would have wanted to drive those POS's for ten years anyway...

[Box4two]

[QUOTE=Qmulus

Of all of the engines listed there, I can't think of any of them that had a class action lawsuit to replace engines for up to ten years after they were produced. Hmmm. There should have been one for that Olds Diesel, but no one would have wanted to drive those POS's for ten years anyway...[/QUOTE]

You have to remember that back then, the only way you knew of potential issues was through word of mouth, mechanics etc. we didn't have today's Internet forums to share similarities/issues etc.
I bought two lemons not having learned my lesson the first time, I had a Triumph TR7 that I could barely drive outside city limits, then I bought a Lotus Esprit that I could barely keep running at all, so imagine my excitement when I bought a 14 year old Porsche that I use a DD in the summer an average of 1.5 hrs each way to work and turns heads everywhere I go!

[Qmulus]

Originally Posted by Box4two

You have to remember that back then, the only way you knew of potential issues was through word of mouth, mechanics etc. we didn't have today's Internet forums to share similarities/issues etc.
I bought two lemons not having learned my lesson the first time, I had a Triumph TR7 that I could barely drive outside city limits, then I bought a Lotus Esprit that I could barely keep running at all, so imagine my excitement when I bought a 14 year old Porsche that I use a DD in the summer an average of 1.5 hrs each way to work and turns heads everywhere I go!

Quite right... I too have had a bunch of English and Italian cars, including Triumph TR3, TR6, GT6+, Spitfire (2 of them, still have one) and a couple of Alfas. All of them had something you could consider an Achilles heal. Like thrust washers on Spitfire cranks, TR6s cracking rear suspensions. RUST. The nice thing about the Triumphs was that you would have a hard time ever spending more than a couple hundred bucks on parts to fix them. They needed LOTS of parts and quite often...

That background does make me appreciate the Boxster quite a bit. It is a thoroughly modern car that does everything better than the old stuff ever did, even if it does lack some of the character of the old roadsters. The only one that I sort of miss is the Alfa Romeo Spider. There is something special about driving an Alfa.