Widebody is, indeed, better looking. However, for the incremental improvement in looks, I would take lighter weight and leaner body - much like how Alois Ruf prefers to build his cars on narrow body chassis i.e. Yellowbird, etc.

 

There's a trade off!

I have owned both, a narrow body for several years and a wide Turbo for less than 2 months. I drove my n/a fairly aggressively at times as the canyons are in my neighborhood. I must admit the turbo has somewhat of a trucky and heavy feel to it compared to the rwd n/a. I feel right now that I could pitch the rwd car into a series of turns quicker using higher entry and cornering speeds with smoothness and finesse than the Turbo.

I'll have to work on the Turbos handling. I'm sure a lot of it may just be confidence and getting use to the heavy feel and less nible feel. I'm sure most have not noticed this, as you have to start pushing the car quite aggressively. I have noticed it driving C4s though, both 993 and 996. It's like the wonderful and light extremely responsive feel of the steering of the C2 is gone with awd.

The wide body has a nicer look.

The best of both, would be to buy a C4S and convert it to a C2S (like the 993). Dismember the front drive, essentially like a GT2 without the Turbo.

 

The real weight difference is probably the same as a small guy driver vs a big guy. Someone who wants a C2 is becuase its a pure RWD car it's more fun because it tail happy and easy to get the rear out. You can easily remove the front diff and drop the 60 + lbs and have RWD with a wide body. The C4S as well, came standard with many weight adding features, full leather, bigger rotors and brakes, wider wheels, larger stereo speakers and sub. The wide body shell itself is also heavily but it also is reinforced and stiffer as well as has a wider track that allows more rubber on the pavement. Leaner comes with compromises but I'd rather take all those heavier options and get bigger brakes then then save the weight.

 

+1 to Nick49. I have driven a C4 and a Turbo; I can relate to what you said.

jumper5836, I agree as well but I would still take lighter weight. With a lighter car, there is less need for bigger brakes, wider wheels and stiffer chassis. For street use, the weight likely doesn't matter as much for most people. I would even venture to say that looks matters more significantly to most folks. To each their own.

 

get a 996GT3

 

I'd agree if there were a substantial weight diff, but there isn't.

 

I really don't think it's just the weight. I think it's transmitting power thru the cardon shaft to the viscous coupling then thru the front diff out the half shafts to the hubs. All this creates a lot more mass to accelerate and slow than just a free wheeling front wheel. You can notice it on a slightly spirited drive and it really becomes significant when pushing the car in right left transitions on and off throttle.

In to looks or the feel of the car?

No right or wrong answer.

 

There is only 5% power going to front wheels. It very rarely sends more power to the front since its a mechanical diff, with PSM on it brakes the spinning tires and prevents the diff from being triggered to send power to front.

There has only been one time I felt the front power come on. That is when I was letting go the clutch at 3500 rpm on a sandy road. All power was transferred to the front wheels which made the car feel like it lost half the power and pulled instead of pushing. It took a mater of around 8 seconds for it to send power back to the rear. This is the only time is 9 years I've ever felt that, for the most part it acts as a RWD car all the time. The 997.2 is proper AWD drive system but on the 996 its really RWD unless traction is almost completely lost in the rear.

 

Coming from 944's, the C2 was plenty wide in the back to me! I like the simple classic lines of the C2.

 

I like big butts and I cannot lie....

I am biased of course but after driving both a C2 and C4S, I fell completely in love with the 4S. As far as looks go I like narrow body on the 993, but for the 996 I prefer the wider look.

 

I prefer the Turbo body but also believe the base 996 doesn't get credit for having curves because they are more subtle than on the C4S/Turbo or 993.

If you look closely enough there is still a flaring of the fenders on both the front and rear. It's just not as pronounced as the other cars. And with a wide set of tires on the car and a lowered suspension it looks pretty aggressive - look no further than a well-prepped GT3 to see what I'm talking about. Those cars lead you to believe they are widebodies yet still use the "narrow" shell.

 

GT3's use the C4 shell.

 

There is no answer to this question... It is purely subjective. The only angle that you can tell if it is nb/wb is from the rear..... I love both looks.

 

Correct but not the C4S shell. So it still looks like a base C2 from a casual observer's point of view. Not until you open the front trunk do you see the difference.

 

A C4S has a nice set of standard features that can be somewhat hard to find options in a C2, full leather and PSM being the most obvious. Probably the best all-round option short of a turbo is to find a 40th Anniversary car.

But it seems that there are really two conversations here... C4S v. C2 and 996 Turbo v. both. With the two normally-aspirated cars it is a question of looks and traction. But the turbo is in a completely different league in terms of performance. Who cares what it looks like?