Porsche 996

The Porsche 996 is the company's internal name for the version of the Porsche 911 model manufactured and sold between 1998 and 2005. It has since been replaced by the Type 997. Both body styles were used in 2005, depending on model. At its debut, it featured the most significant changes to the Carrera model since its 1963 introduction. The most important among these is the fully water-cooled engine, replacing the previously air-cooled engines, used exclusively by the Carrera models. More stringent noise regulations and higher customer expectations for both refinement and a higher performance 4 valve per cylinder engine made the switch necessary. The Porsche 996 Carrera (not GT2, GT3 and Turbo models) engine is designed with what Porsche calls "integrated dry sump oiling". This "integrated dry sump" engine does not have an oil scavenge pump in the crankcase to pump the engine oil to a separate holding tank outside the crankcase as a true dry sump design would have. The only scavenge pumps in the Porsche 996 engine are in the camshaft boxes and the oil is pumped from there to the bottom of the crankcase as it would be in any "wet sump" engine. Other changes include a sleeker body with a more steeply raked windshield and a re-designed interior.
With these differences in mind, many "purists" consider the Porsche 996 to be an altogether different car since it is not air-cooled like the Porsche 993 and its predecessors all the way to the 356, at least in spirit, than the Carreras that preceded it, as opposed to being a development of the original.