911

Why the 997 exists

The 996 sold well and was disliked for its face. Its headlights, shared with the Boxster, were the complaint everyone repeated, and the 997's job was to fix the look without paying for new engineering underneath. Wikipedia's account has development starting in the fourth quarter of 1998, body design under way by February 1999, and Grant Larson's final design approved after full-size clay models built from 2000 into 2001. The result replaced the 996's "fried egg" lamps with oval units and made 18-inch wheels standard, while remaining technically very similar to the car it replaced. Porsche announced on May 7, 2004 that the new 911 would be sold as a 2005 model.

2005-2008: the 997.1 in America

The coupe and Cabriolet came first, as Carrera and Carrera S. Porsche's US release for the 2008 car gives the 3.6-liter Carrera 325 hp at 6,800 rpm and 273 lb-ft, 4.8 seconds to 60 mph with the manual and 177 mph, and the 3.8-liter Carrera S 355 hp at 6,600 rpm and 295 lb-ft, 4.6 seconds and 182 mph. MotorWeek tested a 2005 Carrera S at $79,100 base and ran it to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, noting that the standard Carrera cost about $10,000 less and that the S added Porsche Active Suspension Management and 19-inch wheels. MotorWeek also reported a factory oil change interval of 20,000 miles. The Carrera 4 and 4S arrived as 2006 models and the Targa 4 and 4S as 2007 models. Porsche built 50 Club Coupes on the Carrera S with the X51 power kit for the 50th anniversary of the Porsche Club of America. The automatic in these years was the five-speed Tiptronic S.

2009: direct injection and PDK

Four 997.2 Carrera models went on sale in North America in September 2008 as 2009 cars. Porsche's release gave the new 3.6-liter Carrera 345 hp and the 3.8-liter Carrera S 385 hp and 188 mph, and the seven-speed PDK replaced the Tiptronic outright. With PDK Porsche claimed 4.5 seconds to 60 mph for the Carrera and 4.3 for the S, 0.2 seconds quicker than the manual; MotorWeek's PDK Carrera S did it in 4.0 seconds on a freezing track day. US pricing opened at $75,600 for the Carrera coupe, and the Carrera S coupe and the Carrera Cabriolet shared a price of $86,200. The engines had no intermediate shaft bearing and used Alusil cylinder bores, which is the reason the market treats the two series as different cars.

2011-2012: the GTS

The Carrera GTS reached the United States in late January 2011 at $103,100 for the coupe and $112,900 for the Cabriolet. It put the Carrera S in the wide rear body of the Carrera 4 while keeping rear-wheel drive, the only standard-range 997 with that combination, and it came without rear seats unless a buyer ordered them. Its 3.8 carried the Sport Classic's tune: 408 hp by most accounts, 402 by Winding Road's, and 310 lb-ft either way. An all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 GTS followed. classic.com and Stuttcars both give the GTS model years as 2011 and 2012.

Turbo, GT2 and GT3

These shared the body but not the engine story. Their engines descend from the air-cooled case and run the intermediate shaft on pressure-fed plain bearings, so none of the M96 bearing question applies. EPA still listed a 2009 Turbo with the 3.6 and a five-speed automatic; the 997.2 Turbo followed for 2010 with a 3.8-liter engine at 493 hp. The GT3 family has its own page.

The 997.1 carries the M96 family's two engine faults in reduced form. The intermediate shaft bearing: LN Engineering says the small single-row bearing ran through the 2005 model year and a larger single-row bearing, with the load capacity of the early dual row, came in for 2006; Stuttcars dates the change to mid-2005 in one paragraph and mid-2006 in another. Stuttcars calls the later bearing's failure rate negligible and estimates the overall 997.1 risk at 1 to 5 percent; LN says every M96 and M97 engine through 2008 can still fail one, and that a failure sends debris through the whole engine. Bore scoring is the other: the Lokasil cylinders of the 996 and 997.1 score, and a PCA article lists the 3.6 and 3.8 among the engines most commonly diagnosed. LN Engineering prices a rebuild including bore repair at $15,000 to $30,000 or more, with 80 to 90 hours of labor before removal and installation; the PCA article says a proper rebuild starts around $20,000 and that labor is over half of it. Some owners run a scored engine for months or years on heavier oil. The 997.2's direct-injection engine has no intermediate shaft bearing and uses Alusil bores, which LN says still score at a significantly lower rate and cost about the same to repair. Stuttcars adds rear main seal leaks to the list of general concerns. No fetched US source prices a PDK repair.

The model year answers the first question, which engine. A 2005-2008 car has the port-injected M96/M97 with an intermediate shaft on a ball bearing; a 2009-2012 car has the direct-injection engine with none. On a 2005 car the question is whether the original small bearing has been retrofitted: LN Engineering says bearings through the 2005 model year are reachable with the engine in the car, and Stuttcars says a 2005 bearing should be replaced, usually with the clutch. A 2006-2008 car has a larger bearing that cannot be replaced without opening the engine, so the paperwork that matters is oil change history rather than a retrofit invoice. The factory interval in 2005 was 20,000 miles; LN's advice is every six months or 5,000 miles. Bore scoring on the 3.6 and 3.8 is the bigger bill: a borescope inspection or used-oil analysis showing rising iron, silicon and aluminum finds it before it is heard. LN Engineering puts a rebuild including bore repair at $15,000 to $30,000 or more, and a PCA article says a proper rebuild starts around $20,000. LN says the 997.2's Alusil bores can still score, at a significantly lower rate. Gearbox is the other split. A 997.1 automatic is a five-speed Tiptronic S; a 997.2 automatic is the seven-speed PDK, which Porsche said was 0.2 seconds quicker to 60 mph than the manual. The market pays for the manual anyway: as of September 2026 classic.com has a manual 997.2 Carrera S coupe at $72,753 against $56,836 with PDK. On a GTS the wide body and center-lock wheels are standard and rear seats were optional. Color: the 2008 release added Macadamia Metallic; no fetched source publishes a full US color and paint code list, so the car's own option sticker is the record.

All figures are US dollars, as of September 2026, from classic.com market benchmarks read through a rendering fetch unless noted; no individual classic.com row is quoted. 997.1 Carrera: benchmark $38,723; manual coupes $42,344, Tiptronic coupes $33,045, Cabriolets $37,847 manual and $38,002 Tiptronic. 997.1 Carrera S: benchmark $47,397; manual coupes $52,368 against $38,179 for automatic coupes, Cabriolets $46,932 manual and $41,712 automatic; lowest recorded sale $10,125 on March 23, 2025. 997.2 Carrera S: benchmark $59,571; manual coupes $72,753, PDK coupes $56,836, Cabriolets $57,529 manual and $58,962 PDK; lowest recorded sale $22,750 on November 8, 2025. Carrera GTS: benchmark $87,352; manual coupes $122,316 against $80,509 for PDK coupes, manual Cabriolets $105,067 and PDK Cabriolets $74,733; lowest recorded sale $39,250 on September 18, 2024. The one individual result fetched is a 26,442-mile 2012 GTS coupe with the six-speed manual, Carrara White over black, sold on PCARMARKET for $136,000 from a New Jersey seller; the page prints no sale date. No Carrera 4, Carrera 4S, Targa or 997.2 Carrera benchmark was fetched, and no auction-house lot for a 997 Carrera was found.