I went with a 997.1 C4s and this was my logic .... I wanted a wide body car firstly and I did check out many 996 4s and turbo models and I did feel the ride was less refined when compared to a 997. The more I looked at 997 models the more i realized I wanted the updated exterior look and interior. The more I read about the 997 the more I realized that although similar the 997 had tons of smaller engineering changes and updates when compared to the prior 996 models which added up to be considerable.

Then .... I ruled out a 996 turbo for this reason ... Do I need a turbo and was I willing to sacrifice a newer 997 car for one when I was not tracking my car and just using it for pleasure drives. I also love the sound of a naturally aspirated car when compared to a Turbo. I realized that my 997 was plenty fast enough for street use and that was no small feat for me coming from the super bike world.

Then my last hurdle .... All the 996 / 997 non turbo... IMS / Bore scoring internet M97 / M96 engine fear ... bla bla bla ...... The more I researched and spoke to people in the know, I came to the conclusion that such failures were extremely low and to further reduce any chance of such failures I bought a properly inspected 997 newer than 2005.

I can only say personally my decision I have never second guessed and my car to date is flawless and performs great as a summer weekend driver for me... No regrets.....

 

I can see the reasoning updated interior and round head lights. Just got to point out the 996 was back to straight up 911 improvement over the predecessor and no other modern 911 has followed that pure transition. Dropped weight more horsepower with better torque curve the water cooling and fuel consumption . It still had a more modern interior and driver focused instrument cluster but had fixed suspension and the non electronics left a pure driving car.. 997.1 came about and added weight, length and width and a extra 5 hp which still left it slower to 100 kph then the 996. Sorry that was a big fail. 997.1 Turbo added all the extra electronic awd and suspension which is honestly imo step one in failure, but it is much more improved in 991 range, of which still lacks any feel in any but the GT line but is completely mother easy to drive and leave driver with no real scare of driving it fast. All of that is fine, even the Macan exhibits this same feeling. It feels slow going fast but that's probably until your off in the ditch until you notice that you took the corner to fast.

 

05 Has IMS, and bore scoring is being reported more and more.

 

I would probably get a clean no accident 996 or 997 manual Turbo. 996 Turbos seem like a good buy these days. They might even be going up in value? 997 Turbo values seem to be steady. I can't see much depreciation on either of these cars right now.

 

Sounds like the OP bought a car in 2 days?

 

Thanks for all the responses. I havent bought anything yet and am driving a 997.1 C4 later today hopefully. I am intrigued by the turbo and had not really thought of that so thanks for all the info on that. Not being a track guy though it may be too much for my use.

Interesting to me is the pricing at least the asking prices. Seems to me that 996 C4S, 997 C4 /C4s and 996 Turbo are priced within about $15K -20 of eachother. I see the 996 C4s's from $35-45, the 997's from $40-50, and a few turbos in the $50's. If one is willing to spend $45, then $55 isnt that much of a stretch.

Given the challenge of the non-changeable (if i understand correctly) IMS in the 997.1 - am i better off still thinking about the 996 as I can proactively change the IMS?

Thanks again for all the responses, this is very helpful.

 

Really good insights thanks. I am aligned on a lot of this. Will keep driving them to see for sure

 

Inquired about this one I think. Love the colour, and a bunch or maintenance was just done on the exhaust system and few other things. Owner disclosed that the car was in an accident with the original owner, front right damage, repaired through the dealer at a cost of $8000. That combined with the mileage would say to me the price is too high, and that the re-sale would be tough.

Any thoughts on these issues?

 

not sure where you got this from?
IMS can be changed on 997.1 just it is a bigger job than the earlier model.

 

This might not bother you, but try to sell it after your done with it. Finding a non accident car these days isn't easy.

 

Doesn’t take much these days to rack up $8G in an accident, especially when you factor in the Porsche Tax. As long as you have the details of what was damaged and repaired, you should be able to make a judgement.

Look for a PM in your inbox.

 

I was in the same boat, for a clean 996 C4S, it was only a bit more to get a 997 C4. I ended up going with a 997.1 C4, 1 owner, clean title, service history, lowish km, and inspection done at zorotech. For me, the priority was Condition, Price, then Year.


One word of advice though, C2 are cheaper to insure than C4 for my 997. My C4 VIN shows both 2WD and 4WD "trim" for whatever reason. When I went insurance shopping, everyone quoted me on the 2WD "trim". After I bought the car and tried to bind my insurance, the difference between the 2WD and 4WD was 50%. I've shopped around some more, I haven't found an insurer that would insure a C4 at similar price as a C2/C2S.

 

The 996 Turbo went out of production in 2005? That's 13 years ago! Finding one with a perfect history might be very hard at this point. I guess you have to take what you can get? There are the "blue chip" ones of course.......

 

BTW 996TT is a touring car, not a track car.

 

Thanks again to all for the information and experiences shared.

I have been checking out a few cars locally. My current questions revolve now around price - I see 996 C4S's with IMS fixed priced at low $40's, 997.1 C4/C4S for $405-50K, and now thinking about 996 Turbos in the low $50's. All of these tend to be between 100-150K Km's.

Any recent experience with actual selling prices vs asking?