All generations and engines together · 11,569 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 31k
One of the best coupés and convertibles, by age and by mileage. Watch brakes and suspension. A solid used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating brakes advisories.
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The intermediate shaft bearing that drives the camshafts can break up, and when it lets go the timing chains jump and the engine wrecks itself, often with little or no warning. It is mostly a 986 and early 987 problem, worst on 2000-2005 cars fitted with the single-row bearing, and failures have turned up from as early as 40,000 miles. A US class-action settlement (Eisen) forced Porsche to extend cover to 10 years/130,000 miles for affected 2001-05 cars, though that scheme has now lapsed and a full engine rebuild runs to several thousand pounds.
Owners and specialist engine rebuilders report a ticking or rattling noise from the bottom end on 986 and 987 cars with the M96/M97 flat-six, caused by the bore liner wearing unevenly against the piston. Non-magnetic metal flakes in the oil filter are the tell-tale sign, and by the time it is audible the engine usually needs new liners or a rebuild, £4,000-8,000 at a specialist. Porsche has never acknowledged it as a design fault, so there is no TSB or recall, it is picked up mainly by aftermarket engine builders.
A seep from the seal between engine and gearbox is a long-standing complaint across the M96/M97-engined cars, showing up as an oil patch under the bellhousing or a burning smell if it drips onto the exhaust. Left unchecked it can contaminate the clutch, adding clutch replacement to the bill. It is a well-known wear item rather than a manufacturer defect, typically £400-900 to replace including the labour to drop the gearbox.
Forum threads across every generation report the roof getting stuck mid-cycle: small plastic ball-joints on the operating rods go brittle and snap, or a micro-switch (often the one by the handbrake) stops the sequence completing. Water pooling in blocked roof drains can also get into control modules under the passenger seat and cause intermittent faults. Owners disagree on how common it really is versus how much is just age and lack of use; repairs range from a cheap switch to £500-1,000+ if the frame or motor is involved.
718-generation cars (2017 on) can throw a yellow parking brake malfunction warning, with the brake failing to release or refusing to calibrate. Porsche's own service bulletin traces this to the wiring harness in the rear wheel housings getting crushed or damaged, not a random electronic gremlin. The measured MOT data for this model already flags brakes as the standout fault category, and this fits: it is a wiring problem that manifests as a brake system fault rather than pad or disc wear in the usual sense.
On the 981 (2012-2016), the plastic moulded pipe coming off the water pump can weep coolant where it joins the engine, because the plastic and metal expand at different rates over time. Porsche produced a repair kit with an aluminium support ring and longer bolts rather than a full pump replacement, and the fix is a few hundred pounds if caught before it leaves the car low on coolant. Does not apply to 986/987 or 718 cars, which use a different arrangement.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 4,188 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Same segment (Coupés, convertibles & GT), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.