2008 Porsche 911
This year drew an ordinary 41 complaints for a Porsche 911 — the model's median is 38. What they were about is the unusual part: 58.5% of them mention later, against 0% across the model's other years.
Generation 2 of the Porsche 911, which began in 2005 and ran to 2011. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
| Complaints filed | 41 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 38 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- later — 58.5% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (292.7×).
- coolant — 43.9% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (219.5×).
- fluid — 43.9% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (219.5×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
COMMON COOLANT LEAK, CATASTROPHIC FAILURE, HAD TO PULL OVER AND HAVE VEHICLE TOWED, VEHICLES WAS POURING COOLANT OUT.
LOST ALL THE FLUID WHILE DRIVING ENGINE HOSE FELL OUT OF FITTING COMMON PROBLEM ON THESE CARS FROM WHAT I READ. SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME LOST CONTROL OF CAR THANK GOD I DIDN'T NOT SMASH.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20E091000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 07V557000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Porsche 911 was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2008 Porsche 911? What happened to yours?
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