997 Gen 2 S or not... - Page 1 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

Hi all. I'm after a 997 Gen 2 but don't know if it's worth the extra to go for an S. I only wanted to spend no more than £40k which gets a nicely specced Carrera. I could push the extra for an S but is it worth it as will be a higher miler with less toys. The car will be used for work, lots of motorway and around 1k mikes/month. Appreciate your thoughts.

S comes with more toys as standard and bigger brakes and that extra BHP you will wish you had when one drives past you.

whilst the above is true... a base carrera is a very sweet ride and in some ways less is more..... (did i really just say that?) Try it, if you can get a better non S for your money, that's the way I would go.

SAG6Y have sent you a pm.

The snob inside me says go for th S (marketing victim?), but we all know 98% of the time the regular carrera will be special enough.

Does the Carrera actually rev quicker, I'd have thought the engines (and stroke) were the same its just the bore which is different?

Thanks for the replies guys. I think a regular Carrera sounds like the sensible option.

SkinnyP said: Does the Carrera actually rev quicker, I'd have thought the engines (and stroke) were the same its just the bore which is different? Correct me if I am wrong, but bigger bore = bigger pistons = more reciprocating mass = more inertia = less reviness

more torque though which is always nice and you cannot pass up on the larger brakes. I am sure the non S has the tiny 4 pots and the S has bigger calipers and disks. With so many models I forget, but the S seemed so much better when I was looking. the S also has 19" standard wheels and PASM standard, but I guess most non S were speced up with both. xenons also standard on the S model which are great. the S will be easier resell also, which to me is always key.

anonymous said: [redacted] I think the brakes on the 987.2 are a bit pants.... bigger is better the smaller brakes really lack the confidence at speed. I have RS29 pads just for the road in the R but the PCCB on the Spyder are outstanding over my R, If my R was my only car I would fit some 6 pots to it and def if I tracked it. get 4 up in a base 911 and do a few hi speed stops and you will have no brakes that's a lot of weight to stop with those tiny units.

Looking in the brochure, the torque curves for the 3.6 and 3.8 look very similar. I'm sure they are both a hoot to drive. Brakes on both models are 330mm up front, but the S has bigger pads, wider discs and 'reinforced' calipers, whatever that means.

Xenons are standard on gen2 carrera, brakes are near as dammit the same except for colour and the only noticeable difference (most are specified with 19" wheels) is the exhaust. I asked the same question a couple of years back and ended up in an S but only because I got a good deal. I'd be tempted now to go back to a Carrera for my next 911 and just ensure it was manual with sports exhaust; it'd tick all the boxes for me as a road car.

What's the price difference like between the two models, second hand obviously? I like the idea of a manual car with pccb, 18" wheels and an LSD, if that's at all possible. I wonder how 265 rear rubber would compare to 295 on the 385bhp S model.

Ref the OP's original question, I agree with cmoose - more powerful etc is not always better and having to "work" a little harder for your performance when driving on the road is ultimately going to be more satisfying in a sports car and 345bhp is plenty for that weight of car on the road. That said if you're going to use it as a DD which it appears you are, an S may be more effortless and give you more jollies at lower revs where you'll likely be more of the time compared to how you'd drive a weekend fun car. The other issue is that it depends on what you're used to driving. If it's your first "proper" performance car, a Carrera should give you more than enough power thrills - however if your weekend wheels are a V12 Ferrari, you'll might miss the torque!

If I did not have the spyder and wanted a dd I would go base911 997.2 with its passive suspension,18"wheels and cheaper RFL.the only options I would like is sports seats pse and a short shift gearshift. 911 heaven! (Less is certainly more) Edited by itsybitsy on Wednesday 1st October 14:44

If it was my only car, I'd be getting a turbo! Thankfully, my weekend steed is a Lamborghini Murcielago.

SAG6Y said: If it was my only car, I'd be getting a turbo! Thankfully, my weekend steed is a Lamborghini Murcielago. Haha! I was on the money with a V12 then Thinking about it more, even with the weekend Italian, might be worth sticking to the non-S as whichever one you buy it's going to feel slow so you might as well save yourself a bit of cash

Hi Kam - how are you buddy? Personally, I would get a base carrera especially if I had a Murci as my weekend wheels. If I didn't have the Murci, then I'd consider going for a GTS but in your case, it's not worth it IMHO.