MOST people I know with modern Porsches have not had problems. True there are some. You and your three friends have had bad luck. So you also managed to pull up some stories from Mobile.de and and Rennlist. Maybe you should try to do this with other cars. You'd be surprised. If I listened to the internet hype then I should easily be on my third gearbox in my WRX by now.

There is good, there is bad. For example, JD Power has the 911 (996 model) right at the very top (with Lexus) in three year dependablility rankings and Porsche customer satisfaction rankings (from Consumer Reports) are extremely high. Does this mean that there are not others who have had crappy experiences like yourself? Of course not, and I would be pissed in your situation. But the internet always presents a very skewed picture of these things. Of the many tens and thousands of 996/986 cars out there, you will not hear the "stories" for all the ones that don't actually have problems. And if my PCA region is any indication, then there are many that are more fortunate than yourself.

I think we can argue this all day, and I won't add any more. No need to search for my benefit, I am quite capable. If there was some real hard quantifiable (impartial data) available, that would be one thing, but anecdotal internet searching is not of much value.

From my perspective they are not all bad and Porsche has generally been good about warranty work.

I hope you have better experiences in the future. After what you have been through I would not blame you if you chose a different car.