Faults:

Check Engine Light upon hard acceleration when purchased - see comments below.

Rear spoiler failure.

General Comments:

I purchased this vehicle sight unseen from a dealership on the other side of the country. I was assured that all the components worked. The rear spoiler does not. I have narrowed it down to the hydraulic portion of the spoiler pump having failed. It seem common to this model.

The check engine light indicated a misfire. I replaced the spark plugs and that solved the issue. Working on this car is amazingly easy. It does take time however. Spark plug changes for example took several hours and required removal of the rear bumper, intercoolers, and numerous heat shields. If you plan on having your vehicle serviced instead of DIY, you will pay accordingly.

You should also know that this year model suffers from 2nd gear pop out. It can be remedied by installing an upgraded 2nd gear detent from Gbox. This will only work if the problem has not occurred prior to installation. You should also be aware that the installation is not simple. It involves laying under the car and feeling around and installing the detent blind - just by touch. It took me hours. It would have taken minutes if the gearbox was out of the car.

Outside of all of this, this is an amazing vehicle. There is no designable turbo lag. It is amazingly powerful. I replaced the stock exhaust with a FVD Brombacher unit and upgraded the stock k16 turbos with k24 turbos. I also had the ECU flashed.

If the car was amazing before, it is phenomenal now. I have driving a friend's stock 996TT since then. There is a huge increase in power. I have owned several 911's over the years. In every model, I have found something missing. There is nothing missing with the 996TT. It handles amazingly. It drives amazingly. I use it as a daily driver and I have done autocrosses as well. Unfortunately, my track day this past summer was cancelled so I cannot comment on the track usage.

If you are considering the 2001 911 turbo, make sure your wing works. Make sure that you do not have the 2nd gear pop out. If you do, move on and get a newer model. If you have a glove compartment - forget it. There is not one. If you want a car you can use on a daily basis and still overpower everything on the road, this is your car.

Faults:

Nothing significant.

General Comments:

The only exotic car that you can drive every day.

I commute 70 kilometres a day in this car, and after 35,000 km, it has been much cheaper to maintain than either of the BMW 3 series' with similar mileage that I owned prior to the Porsche.

The clutch is easy enough to manage in stop and go traffic, and the fuel mileage is pretty good (17 miles per U. S gallon in mixed city/highway driving).

The removable hard top is great for the winter months. Traction is great in snow - engine in the back!

Front end lifts at high speeds - this is apparently solved with the "aero" kit or in '02 and later models.

Faults:

The car needed some general maintaince. I am the 2nd owner and it was a Porsche leased vehicle. After the purchase, I took the car to the dealer for some war work. I replaced the drive belt, changed the oil, air filter, cabin filter, fuel filter. I had a small oil leak from drivers side lower valve cover gasket. I had it replaced. The factory rotor hubs had some rust, so I sanded and repainted silver with high temp paint. I just purchased 2 rear tires. I could not stand for the audio system so I ripped it out and replaced the head unit with an alpine mp3 and rewired the complete system and installed eclipse amps. Other than that a good cleaning detail of the wheels and a great wax job.

General Comments:

I love the car. The get up is great, and the handling is something you must feel for yourself.

The interior is black leather and very comfortable.

I would highly recommend a 2001 996 to anyone in the market for a used 996.