bravocharlie

Thanks. I got $6K on $126K. I guess that sounds about right.

jcf7

If I had to do it over again, I would've ordered an s while I still had time on my previous lease. Instead, I went car shopping 5 days before my Jag was due back from the lease. I test drove the 997 and decided on the spot to get it. I discovered that my choice was the 997 at $79k or the s at no less than $104k. At the time, never owning a Porsche before, I decided that a $20+k difference was too much.

Next time around, with a few months to go on my base, I'll order an s with the options I want.....although, I dream of a 2008 turbo.

At the end of it all, I don't think you can make a mistake.....they're both great cars.

Racer48

If you are NOT a track junkie, and if you tend to drive responsibly and sanely on the public roads, then in my opinion the extra performance of the S is largely irrelevent. I would recommend that you save yourself the $10K to $20K. I spent several years racing open wheel formula cars on various tracks around the east coast, and I just don't understand why some folks are so obsessed about such slight HP and performance differences in a street car. Obviously if you were going to race the car then an S would be the way to go, because when driven properly it most certainly WILL be faster around the race track. But for street driving I think that you would be quite pleased with a non-S, even with the "little" 18" wheels.

BTW, at a DE event you will find that the most significant variable between S and non-S lap times will most likely be driver skill; not HP, brakes, or anything else.

Anyway, just my .02 cents. Either car will be a lot of fun, so enjoy!

MMD

Here's the rule I've come to know and love.

If you can afford to blow the extra money buy the S. No one ever regrets buying the S. Not so the other way around.

How much money will be blown?

Well, you think $10K but it's really less because you get extra stuff (litronics, more HP, bigger brakes, wheels, lots of other misc stuff I forgot). So insted of us$10K you're really "blowing" more like us$3-4K.

As far as not needing the extra HP. I respecfully say that is BS. I pass a guy on a rural highway, he speeds up (A-hole), I then employ all I got hp-wise to get past him; another reason it makes me glad I got the S.

Jack's dad

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. This is a tremendous exchange and I really appreciate the insights!

Steve

ryssyr

i bought a non s 997, and i've tracked it. regarding performance on the track, i am not skilled enough yet to get the extra 2/10ths out of the car. i did let an instructor drive me around and it blew me away how much faster he had the car going around the track. so until i become a much better driver the base is way more can than i need.

another note, i used the difference in price to get a full leather interior and some other options (for creature comfort).

my plan is to get more tracking experience and then step up to a turbo when i want some real power.

Soulteacher

Steve, I was in the same situation: base or S version. The base fitted nicely into my budget, for the C2S I had to cut one of my two annual global trips. So at first, I thought base... but in the end I chose the S simply because I wanted a more significant improvement over my current 286 hp car. Not very rational, I know, because I will never reach the performance limits of either car; still, 355 hp sounded sooooo much better to me.

scycle2020

i have driven both cars, s and non s back to back on three occassions,and the S felt noticably quicker with more punch, better torque and a nicer exhaust note....i also think porsche under stated the S performance numbers , as most mag tests got -60 times in the low 4s...and to me the base 997 felt about as quick as the old 996......with that said, the base is more than fast enough for the real world, as are most of todays sports cars....dont get me started on the hp wars!!!!