[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

That's funny because the 996 was a progression (modern) while the 997 was regression (classic) to the original VW'esque round headlight. No question that the high fenders and round lights are the preference for many if not most, but the 996 is not cheap because of its looks. It's cheap because they sold so many of them.

idk, most agree, it's the ugly non-traditional headlights. Porsche has had round and oval headlights forever, the fried egg was not popular. The well documented IMS problems didn't help things.

Here

But if you ask a Porsche enthusiast about the 996, you'll get this look, as if you're in the middle of a Mopar meet, and you just went up to some Dodge-loving, Barracuda-driving, Hemi-obsessed redneck and asked what he thinks about the PT Cruiser.

And I admit, Porsche enthusiasts have their reasons for hating the 996. For one thing, they hate the headlights, which did away with the traditional circular look in favor of an unusual new design that resembles a pre-schooler's misguided portrait of the family dog. They hate that it's water-cooled, not air-cooled like earlier models. And then there's the matter of the engine, namely the fact that — at any moment — it may catastrophically fail without warning.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Porsche/comments/2bihx3/why_does_no_one_like_the_996/

The headlights are a problem. But it's not just that. See, back when they were developing the 996 they were also developing the new Boxster. In order to cut costs, they developed both to share a LOT of parts, including pretty much the whole front end.
This wouldn't have been a problem, but they unfortunately released the Boxster first. Then the "new" 911 followed. Every die-hard 911 fan was shocked to see the 911 look just like a "cheap" Boxster from the front.
If only they released the 996 first, THEN the Boxster, everything would have been OK. 911 die-hards would have said "oh, that's cute - the Boxster wants to be like our beloved 911! Awwww..." But they really screwed up the timing.
Plus, the fried egg headlight is just plain ugly.
Oh, and IMS bearing. Ooops.

I bought a 987 for almost triple the price of a 986 because I didn't like that the 986 headlights looked so old and I was trying to avoid most IMS issues.