[thstone]

Hah! Don't freak out. If the engine made it to 98,000 miles and is running well, then its likely to make it another 50,000+ miles.

The first thing to do is to get the PPI that you should have got before you bought the car. This can be done at a independent Porsche shop or a Porsche dealer - but you need someone who knows Porsche's (not a Cadillac dealer).

The PPI report will tell you where actual or potential problems might be. Use that to guide your path forward.

In regards to engine failures, yes, some engines do fail early but the vast majority are out there on the road running fine. There is one particular bearing (search on "intermediate shaft bearing (IMS)") that can fail but again, if it made it to 98K miles, you're probably ok. But if it really worries you, then you can have it replaced with a more durable bearing when you get a chance.

My personal experience is that all three of my M96 engines have lasted to 140,000 or more with the original IMS bearings (I won't count the engines that I've used for racing as the use they get is not necessarily indicative of normal street driving). And when two of the engines did fail (one at 148,000 miles and the other at 204,000 miles), the cause was not the IMS bearing. The third is still running strong in my 996 with 148,000 miles.

Furthermore, the engine in my Boxster race car right now is a 90,000 mile donor engine from a Boxster that was totaled in a front end collision and it runs great!