Views

Highlights from your Porsche correspondence via email, social media and Total911.com

dear Sir,

Reading the letter from Chris Evans on page 16 of issue 172, I thought I would share my experience of reliability on the 991 GTS. My car is a Carrera GTS from December 2014. Originally a demonstrator with a massive spec, including Burmeister and PDCC, it spent its first two years with an owner that did only 6,000 miles. I acquired it in December 2016 and it’s been used as a semi-daily driver and done a week-long trip to the Alps, covering another 18,000. Overall, I love it. The extra drama from the GTS was just what I was looking for, as I’d found the standard S a little underwhelming.

Reliability overall, though, has been poor. A loss of power resulted in recovery back to Porsche Chester. A test drive revealed the low-power problem, but it took seven weeks and the engine out three times to diagnose a disc of metal in the fuel line, suspected to be swarf. I’d suggested a fuel line blockage at week two which was ruled out, and a multitude of parts were replaced, including highand low-pressure fuel pumps and injectors.

When it returned the PDCC failed as a union hadn’t been tightened properly, and Park on the gear selector left the car in neutral. I think that’s extremely poor quality control. It’s had a sunroof leak, an air con control unit replaced and the

Sport Plus button replaced as it stopped working. Porsche gallantly replaced the centre-lock wheel bolts due to fading as a goodwill gesture.

Reliability hasn’t been as good as I expected. Dealer response and attitude has always been good, even if their diagnoses of problems have been more than a little inept. Other experiences of the marque? A 718 Cayman courtesy car where the driver’s door wouldn’t latch shut, and my wife’s Cayenne, four months late on delivery, with a multitude of electrical problems and a transmission whine at 10,000 miles. I can’t comment on whether the 991 is more reliable than the 997, but it’s certainly less reliable than I was expecting.

All that said, would I swap the 991? No. It’s still an amazing car and I’ll put up with its foibles. I need to make sure the warranty is extended though, as the regularity and extent of problems make it a potentially expensive long-term proposition.

richard roberts

It’s great to get the thoughts of a real-world owner, richard. the 991.1 GTS is a thrilling car, though your experience in terms of reliability and build quality point to the troubles commonly associated with high volume mass production, which porsche has morphed into in the last few years. We’d like to decipher if your experiences are the exception or the rule. We therefore invite responses from other owners of 991-generation 911s.