Poll: $30-50K...Which car?

Well, this Porsche buying research is a lot more involved than I'd thought ! This will be my first Porsche and I originally wanted a C4S (family friend had one...loved it). However, there are so many P cars out there in the LA market that I have way more choices than I'd anticipated. I'm sure I'd be ecstatic with any 996 Porsche and in some ways I don't know if I should get a c4s or turbo straight out of the box (what does that leave for later ) I can spend between 30-50K. c4s seem to be 35-45K, c2 are 25-35 and turbos are 45-55K. I'll most likely be getting a tiptronic due to LA traffic so perhaps the turbo makes the most sense. I'm wondering if the tip eats up a lot of the c2 and c4s performance? And then there is the reliability issue of the engines vs the "bulletproof" turbo engine. I loved how the c4s sounded, how do the c2 and turbo compare? Sorry, I'm rambling but what would you guys do? Thanks! 2002-4 C2 for 28K-35K (hopefully with CPO) 2002-4 C4s for 38-45K ditto 2001-2 Turbo for 45K-50K Probably no CPO

I bought an 02 996 C2 about 3 months ago, & have enjoyed every minute of driving & ownership. But right after I bought it, the economy got worse & prices on Turbos just started sinking like crazy! If I find a buyer for my car, I'm DEFINETELY trading up to the Turbo... So if you can afford it, go for it, it's a STEAL, & otherwise you'll be like me, saying "damn, I should've gotten the Turbo." I mean, at original MSRP, the Turbo sold for almost $50k more than the regular C2, & now you can get them with only about a $10k difference. You can't beat that! I personally think the Turbo is the best car available for under $100k, & lately, for WAY under $100k.

Here's every CPO 02-04 911 for sale in America http://tinyurl.com/5xtmd4 I think a CPO C2 is going to cost you closer to 38-45 CPO C4S 40-48 CPO TT 50-60 Drive a few of each, pick the one you like most!

I know right Raphael! Why get a C2 when you can get a Turbo for "a little more" Of course, all that's left then is the GT2 and 3 Thanks for the link Hans. What I was thinking was that I wouldn't get a CPO turbo since the engines are considered much higher quality than the regular 996's. And since I would be getting the Tiptronic I would avoid the 2nd gear bump problem. I'm ok with most other repairs and maintenance. The reason I wanted a CPO with the C2 and C4s was the worry of getting a bad engine. I'm guessing the lack of a CPO should drop the price by 5K perhaps...especially since it is quite hard to find a 01 or 02 with CPO (forcing me to get a 03-04). Please correct any faulty logic on my part! I'm basing the turbo prices on a couple of cars I've seen here in LA...the economy is atrocious and credit very tight. Plus I'm looking for a Tip and most people don't want them. Perhaps I'm putting too much faith in the "bullet proof-ness" of the Turbo but I'm more worried about buying a C2 or c4S on craigslist of autotrader than a turbo.

None of the above. Go with a 993TT and you'll probably sell it for what you paid for it in years to come! They're going up in value (as is the entire 993 line), you can't go wrong........oh and they look sooo much better

You could always get a new base 987. The dealers should be discounting the leftovers next month or 2.

LOL, ok now you guys are REALLY not helping ! Choices choices...obviously this is gonna take me months to figure out what I want now! How does the 997 sound...I don't really want any more isolated than the 996. As it is, I'm leaning towards the 996 turbo but bummed out because it doesn't sound as great as the 4S. Probably because the turbo tears thru the revs....no time to savor all the little noises like the 4S does.

you guys are hilarious about the bad engine stories. You would think that NA 996s were junk. I have almost 80k miles on my C4s and it has been pretty flawless. And I drive my car hard and daily with track time. It's pretty much luck of the draw. Statistically because there are more NA 996s out there you are going to wind up with more cars with issues. Personally I would get a car that has been driven (not a weekend garage queen) well, maintained well and with a CPO you can have that security blanket. I'm curious how many turbo owners use the 400+ hp or are they really in for the badge engineering.

I agree that the engines are probably mostly fine. I'd really prefer to get a C4s. Unfortunately, there is a pricing inequality in the C4S market. A non-CPO 2002 4S goes for 40-45K. A non-CPO 2002 Turbo goes for 45-50K. My leaning towards the turbo is mostly based on the relative ridiculous expense of the 4S or the ridiculous cheapness of the Turbo...depending on which car you like more Throw in the Turbo and GT's engines reputation for reliability and it seems like a pretty easy choice on paper. My heart still wants the C4S but head won't allow me to get it when I can pay 5K more for a turbo AND not worry (rationally or irrationally ) about the engine. And that doesn't even get into the performance gap.

I'd get an 01-02 TT, even though I bought a C4S 1.5 yrs ago. If a TT could have been had for $50k back in 07, you bet your ***** I would have bought one. Just get an aftermarket exhaust if you want to hear the engine. Oh yeah, chip-it for an easy HP boost--wish it were that easy on a NA car. Oh well...I'll be squirrelling away my cash for a 997/8TT.

I vote for a 996 GT3.

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my vote - 2002-4 C2 for 28K-35K (hopefully with CPO reason, get in it, drive it for a year, go to a couple skills and track days, learn how to clean, maintain and basicly take care of it....See how it fits your life, family and friends. Get the "feel" of it... THEN change to something a bit bigger when you have the skills and know how. If something goes wrong with it, its the least expensive to fix... if you learn how to drive it hard, it wont bite if you make mistakes while learning, and if you screw it up, it was cheap.. replace it, heck that was the plan anyhow. I like to think of it like buying your first motorcycle... sure you can get a GSXR1100 - but until you are "ready" to drive that thing, it is more dangerous to you.. its faster, heavier and demands a higher skill set.. start on the 600R... it's really fast, light and more forgiving... then when you have the skill, GO BIG! That's my plan and I am sticking with it... I drove my car right off the road sideways and scratched the front end a bit, if I had a really nice, perfect condition 4S or Turbo I would have cried, but this is my "Training" car and I wrote it off to a good learning experience in how to handle a drift...WHEN i get my "BIGGER" car i should have that down to the point that I wont kill myself or someone else... plus keep the care in nice shape while really driving it hard and in control (PS this small event took place on a closed course... not public highways... ALWAYS drive safe on public roads... even if you go fast!) E

The notion that buying a starter car will somehow insulate you while you move up to to your desired vehicle is not something I'd be recommending. Paying tax twice is in and of itself a reason not to do that on 30+50K. It's negligible on 5+8K 600/1100 in the sportbike world, but just wasteful here. If you want to spend your days lapping racetracks and think you want to run with the turbos, just buy the turbo, send a few dollars to PCA and do as many driver ed sessions as you can. Turbos are fast, but they are not frightening, and the AWD is actually very confidence inspiring. I bet 9/10 novices will have an easier time spinning the C2 than the turbo. Given current pricing, I personally wouldn't do a C4S, way too close to turbo pricing, has all the weight and AWD but no boost. It's a great car, but if you don't do a C2 do a turbo in this market. The turbo seems to have less reported incidences of catastrophic engine failure, however there isn't a huge premium to CPO on turbo like there is on the C2, I'd go that way i I were buying today.

I'm also researching a 996 purchase in the near future. I'm actually leaning towards a C2, or perhaps a C4. I'd like to step up to a C4S, but given the price difference I'll probably end up going the C2 route. I've been watching the prices drop over the last month or so, and I think they will keep going for a little while.

Oh good gravy! Non-turbo engines aen't going to "blow up". Sure, it happens, but it happens to turbo engines too, but the odds either way are rather low, so don't worry it so much. Figure out what you want to buy, forget about CPO and all that biz. Once you've decided WHAT it is you want, then figure out how much you want to spend. Then go find the best car that you can afford. It's really that simple. Michael