Porsche 911 (996): Carrera, Carrera 4 and Turbocharged Models 1997 to 2005 (The Essential Buyer's Guide) Paperback – March 1, 2011

I purchased the book for a friend who is a Porsche novice and in the market for a 996. I was very disappointed with the content, the author who holds himself out as an expert on the car totally misses the most important issues about the 996 - those being the IMS bearing failure, rear main oil seal leakage, corrosive failure of the front-mounted radiators/condensers, weakness of the 3.4L engine leading to cracked cylinder heads and liners, and some periodic maintenance issues such as the coil packs. I am a Mercedes collector and have a copy of the SL guide that is part of this book series. The SL author is somewhat more knowledgeable and his discussion is more helpful to those considering an SL purchase. If you are considering purchase of a 996 you could buy this just to remind you of some basic things to check on the car, and then keep looking on line for a more comprehensive discussion of the possible issues with the car.

What I liked: it condenses a lot of information I got from watching youtube videos for a couple weeks straight. The grading system for assessing a used car was excellent. Tons of color photos were nice but the info was even better.What I didn't like: The book is small, not 8.5x11" as I had thought it would be. It's perfect bound but pretty thin.

Great book and certainly worth it. I just can’t understand why there was absolutely no mention of the perceived IMS issue. An upgraded IMS adds value to Every porsche simply for the anxiety factor reduction.

Decent enough information. Exactly what you need to evaluate and decide on which Porsche trim will suit your needs.

Good short book. Must have if you are even thinking about purchasing a 996.

I am surprised that a book of this quality and detail is even out, many cars do not even have books out that can be used to work on the car. I highly recommend this book if you are a DIY ....with a fairly high level of skill!

A good little reference book.

Good info, but a little general

This book is basically a generic car buyers guide with some 996 pictures spliced in. Many of the facts about the car are out of date, not relevant or not the main points to consider. If you were an absolute novice and had never bought ***a**** car before then this would be fine. However if you are buying a 996, the level of knowledge needed to find benefit from this book, means you would pay for an inspection.The verifiable points that are incorrect for the UK market are...Insurance. - compared to other super cars this is very cheap to insure, and not expensive as the book would imply. if you have basic no claims and live in average risk premiums are £300.996 - Scorn and non air cooled criticism. -This has long passed in the main. To open the book talking about it is just out of date now,996 - as an every day driver in the winter. The book says "no" 1000's of us say "yes" and drive the galvanized chassis in the snow and salt, with no corrosion. -Errr like every other modern car....Rear seats, every road test says they are small, but in the owners club many of us have children in the back in approved child seats.The list goes on, they were just a few from the top of my head.People want to hear the facts on bore score wear, IMS and RMS. These points are barley covered. Once you understand the facts you can make a judgment on the car you are looking at.The photos in the book are very small and other than providing a very rough guide the value is lost from them as you can see no detail. Lots of shiny cars attributed to the authors collection and i guess what must be some of his mates. -Don't talk about orange peal paintwork and then show a mint car, show an example.I would recommend if you want a 996 you google "996 buyers guide", Piston heads and several other sites contain them. In fact the owners club guide is free and 100 times better than this. If the author had visited Porsche club UK and looked at their buyers guide this book would be much less of a disappointment.I awarded 1 star for the tables of figures at the back, which are handy, I also awarded 1 star for 996 facts, as there are scant few.-3 stars for space fillers like generic auction buyers guides and other non relevant rubbish...This book is a lost opportunity to educate people on the 996. A update and re-write is desperately needed.

I had already bought my 2003 996 when I bought this, just wanted some background info on model history.For the money this is a great guide for the totally inexperienced buyer but it's quite basic.I ended up buying another book by the same author which went into a lot more nitty gritty detail but cost 5 times more and weighed probably 10 times more!If you are studying to be a 911 geek (like me) then this is no good but for a good basic knowledge it's a great start.

Excellent point od reference! Handy Book. This really goes into detail about the 996 Porsche and shows the bad and the good! If you are thinking of purchasing a 996 then this really is essential reading

Some useful info and notes as to what to look for and what possibly to avoid. The info on potential costs of parts is very useful when considering various models and forms. Certainly worth a read

Very Informative little book