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New owner of an N54 135i here. I don't have any modern Porsches to compare the day to day experience with but I like the 135i overall. It does feel like it has a short wheel base and high cg but that can be fun in it's own way. My N54 required almost all of the 60k mi maintenance when I got the car. I do the work myself on all of my cars so direct cost wasn't that high but time is money and it was a ton of time. I have over 50+ hours of just PM in it already. If you are used to dealing with a 987, the 135 will be a familiar game. It is a rewarding car when everything is working just right.
Regarding N54 vs N55..
The N55 is the newer, more refined version in every way. Reliability is going to be better and the long term cost on a stock car will probably be less.
The N54 is known for it's big power potential but I think most that is because it runs a speed speed density tuning strategy. That's more versatile than the N55's MAF setup for easy high power goals.
As far as internals and overall motor strength, there seems to be a ton of conflicting info out there. I certainly have no idea. There are N54s and N55s in the wild holding big power numbers so most of the critical components that are different between the two probably have similar strength with the biggest internal differences being things people just like to brag about but really have no data to back up.
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