Steven C.

The other side. I started looking for an 99 to 01 and ended up buying an 02 and love it! No way could I find an early car with all the options that I wanted for a daily driver. The 02 I bought came with and option list of about 6 or 7 codes that put everything on the car but navigation which I do not need or want. Found an 02 for $40K and I was ready to spend $35 on a compromise 00 with a CPO. Glad I held out.

Also, I know guys on this board do not subscribe to this but every dealer and independent mechanic I know said to get an 02 or newer as they have fewer gremlins(especially RMS). I do not know this for myself but most of these guys that gave this advice I have known for 20+ years and they have never steered me wrong.

Really like my new old 02 car!

bowmanm98

I hope this is wrong. I'd be pissed if I'm carrying around an extra 200lbs and 4 more hps.

searching4996

This board is the best, no question. You can add one more important point to the benefits of the 1999, and thats fairly limited depreciation left. Since you can probably find one with 50k miles or less for around 31-32k, you could drive it for three years (assume 30k miles more) and probably still sell it for 20-22k. Anytime you are losing less than 4 k a year in depreciation for a luxury/sports car, you're doing quite well!

Now if you blow an engine this calculation goes out the window ( which is possible), but for the most part I still feel that these cars are extremely reliable.

kilrgt

But the newest 911 you can afford, both great cars enough said

Ahsai

This is interesting...My MY03 manual says: Empty weight (depending on equipmnet) is 3020lb to 3262lb for a manual coupe. A lot of sites quote 2959lb curb weight for an '03 and 2910lb for a '99 coupe. Can someone please confirm?

Thanks,

- Ahsai

Robin 993DX

I faced the same hard decision when I was searching for a 996, I picked a 99 C4 as the price was right in my budget and I didn't want a car payment. Certainly would be nicer to have a 2002 model for all the reasons mentioned by others, but again I didn't want a car payment.. so....

My ideal 996 would have been a 2004 C4S, but the going price for that car is almost twice what I paid for the 99 C4.

So far I have no regrets in going with a 99 996.

newport996

I bought the nicest car I could find that I liked.....It was a stripped 02 C2 coupe, but then I drove a loaded 99 C4 cabriolet and I LOVED the 99....the 02 was ok...but when you get the full leather,full power comfort seats, and the 99 ran better in my opinion than the 02. I think the differences are so minor that you need to drive them and see which one you like better....No RMS, and I did the 02+ facelift....The difference between 300hp and 325 hp is insignificant to me....so the 3.6L motor was not a factor....I did like the AWD and the surefooted handling in bad weather....everytime it rains, I smile....Plus it was like 15K LESS....so I had INSTANT mod money!

ojpimpson

99-o1= plastic rear window.dark ages

DCP

Very slight correction. MOST system started in MY 2003. MY 2002 has a rational system.

LiveFromNY

You can add factory cupholders?

zman53

for whatever it's worth, my '01 that I got 3 months ago, came with 13,133 miles and cupholders, LOL!

Sids911

Actually its very tough to nail down the actual weights. I got those numbers from a guy on 6speedonline (can't recall his ID ...). I tried a bunch of different references online but all have different numbers. But the common trend was

1999 lightest
2000,2001 medium
2002+ heaviest

This is on top of the usual (i.e. C4 heavier etc). And yes, if you figure a cab, then you might want to go for a newer one ... the older ones had a plastic rear window and the newer ones have a glass rear window. I wanted a coupe badly so that wasn't my criteria.

And porschedog, "Sid - you are a GOD!!! " ... please !! No way - I'm FAR from that. I'll keep such recognition for guys like Loren, Toolpants and the rest of the gang at renntech.org. These guys know Porsches better than the Porsche Engineers !! Incredible technical knowledge there.

nicoff

Right on!

rcg412

Yes...it takes up a slot, goes above the radio... Do you not have the pair?

TurboMark

I have a 1999 and am very happy with it. if you are into / obsess about the subtile differences (glove box, 25HP, front face lift, etc, I would wait. if not, get a 99-01 and save the dollars.