What do you put it down to then? Are there certain engines or models that are better to own?
Porsche service intervals are too far apart is the general consenus on an older engine.
As Housey's mates car is a track driven GT3 it probably enjoys regular oil changes and the engine is treated with care and used to it's full potential.
My 911 has one of the not so great engines, but I've given it regular oil changes and driven to it's full potential, only Vpower etc. It's engine showing none of the symptoms of issue even after loads of track days, fingers crossed it stays that way.
In short warm them up properly, when warm use the engine to it's full ability within reason, don't make any money shifts, regular oil changes and servicing with good fuel.
Service it only every 20k miles, give it carp fuel, don't warm it up properly, use it for trips to shops or town driving. Then expect it more likely to throw a huge bill. They hate short journeys and not being used regular.
3.4 S is believe to weakest for IMS failure and bore scoring between 1999-2005 if remember, then 3.8 S for same years. 2006-2008 builds got updated IMS but could still suffer bore scoring and do. The 2.7l and 3.6l from same year were better for bore scoring but could still throw the IMS.
The newer DFI engine after 2008/2009 were far more reliable, no IMS so impossible to fail and very unlikely to bore score unless severely miss treated.
The GT3 and Turbo engines are metzger, race derived engine and much stronger, but as the bill above shows can still fail, but less likely. Turbos are a nightmare as so many other things can break and they are all big bills.
997's are still under warranty so have warranty especially if spending 50k or more!
Currently drive an A3 2.0T S-Line
