Originally Posted by AWDGuy

in less than 10k km of ownership.

-bad voltage regulator
-Y-cable
-bad starter
-headlight switch
-scored cylinders

Originally Posted by Ben Z

Mine is 12 yrs old, has not quite 70K mi on it. Recently had to put a new engine in it due to bore scoring.

One by one every plastic part in the car is breaking due to brittleness from age. Just yesterday the engine compartment fan shroud broke off. Every time some panel needs to be removed for servicing something, no matter how carefully it is removed, one or more plastic clips break. The piston damper in my glove box is held together with a twisted paper clip because the plastic broke. The problem is, every little piece on these cars costs an enormous amount of money, and many perfectly good assemblies are rendered useless by one stupid plastic clip breaking.

I would count myself extremely lucky if the worst I had to contend with is a broken window switch (if you took it to a dealer, I would bet $5 there was nothing wrong with the motor) and a coil (I replaced all of them at 50K...you guessed it, nothing wrong with the electronics, it was the plastic housings that had cracked from heat and age).

Originally Posted by Starbuckslova1

There's some things to consider.

Ignition coils go on any car but seem especially bad on Mercedes - example would be cl63 plus expensive.
there plastic they fail.

Im surprised with the VW, they honestly probably have the worst record in reliability just look at the touraeg, jetta or Passat.

All Gm cars have there issues door handles breaking off, roughing rough, dirty throttle body.

IMS bearing on 996 and boxster.

911sc airboxes exploding- issues without Carrera chain tentioners

Toyota prius random gas pedal stuck down.

All cars have issues, its impossible its just how many and is it one after the other.

The 750i I had had 59k and 4.5 years old and a major vanos issue where the motor had to be pulled. sold it.

The audi I had was a disaster, random check engine non stop.

Any new dodge Chrysler is bad really expect for the RAM trucks.

Out of the german brands Porsche is the most reliable.

But german cars for the most part have gone down hill, the last 20 years no one noticed. They really dident increase their prices, they've either stayed the same or decreased. so accountants force engineers to use cheaper subsututes like the plastic cooling pipes on you cayenne. usally once the warranty is up that's it.

I believe its a requirement in Germany to make all plastic biodegradable breaking down within 10 years.

another thing with any car is the maintance, all the records and previous owner.

I drive a 2007 escalade ext pickup with 200k on it, I bought it with 166k- because it was 1 owner, only dealer serviced and I had every record on the car. Except for maintance and changing 2 door handles and the tranny cooler line ( it was not leaking but about to breakdown). I have not had one issue ever.

997's build quality is very good, for what it is, but its not a lexus or Toyota, ford now- if you miss maintance its not forgiving.

A car is only as good as it previous maintance only then can you compare it to other vechicles

last thing, Ferrari 360 needs timing belt service every 8-10k or 4 years that's a 7500+ job, if you don't do this bye bye engine.

I feel you can easily get 100k out of a 997. not gonna happen with an Italian car. unless its 8-10 owners later