I had the same choice with both cars at the same dealer.... got 997.2S and am happy with no issues to date. I believe the HP would be about the same on the TT and the 997.2S.

 

12.7 I wouldn't even tell my friends about it.
997.2 nice newer car over the 996TT
If you're not modding power do 997. I'd suggest driving both.

 

Appreciate the replies everyone.

Basically it's coming down to 996tt, 997.1tt, or 997.2 S/4S, with the 996tt probably out of the picture now.

My succinct thoughts so far:

I briefly considered the 996 C4S; terrific value, but I don't want to deal with replacing the IMS and cylinder scoring. Interior is dated but a great buy nonetheless. I took a 996 Targa for a test drive; love the glass roof, and this got me thinking of possibly getting a Targa.

996tt also great value, awesome hp for the price, but also dated interior, and seems like things go wrong every year. Plus many of the ones I see seem to be modded like heck (not my taste).

997.1tt. Love the looks, originally my top choice. A friend of mine has a modded 997.1tt with 700hp. Had to have his engine rebuilt due to a cracked rod, which rendered his car useless in the shop for a few months. Now he has 2nd gear pop out, and just a few days ago he had it to have it flatbed towed again. Found out it was a defective fuel pump (an easy fix), but sucks and embarrassing to have a 911 on a flatbed. Needless to say his out of pocket repair costs have been costly.

A 997.1tt I saw for sale had the engine and transmission repaired. Not sure why, esp since the Mezger engine is supposed to be bullet proof. Then again driving the Turbo is just plain awesome. Ugh...

997.2 C4/S. Great looks, love the updated interior and updated engine with less moving parts and no IMS/no cylinder scoring. For the most part, the 997.2 seems to have the least issues and most reliable, save for the fuel pump recall. I'm eager to check out the Targa, but none for sale here locally.

So as of now it's likely between the 997.1tt and 997.2 C4/S/Targa, with the edge going towards the latter due to better reliability. Just need to find a 997.2 to test drive, which is going to be difficult b/c there are very few 997s for sale here.

 

Did you pose the same question on the 996 TT boards? It would be interesting to hear their thoughts.

When I bought my 997.1 TT, I seriously considered a 997.2 C4S. Either would have been a good choice.

 

You will love the 997.2 C4S and my money is on you buying that after driving it. It's stupid fast and sounds great. IMO the turbo does not even look as good; aside from the air intakes behind the doors.

 

Interesting view... In my opinion the intakes behind the doors are the worst looking part of the turbo... they break up the lines of the car a little bit. I think the C4S is the best looking variant.

 

I agree with you. It's my view that the best feature of the 997.1 Turbo are the air intakes-when you see them you just know it's blown. Front bumper looks off to me with the little bulges for the fogs on the ends...and the rear spoiler just spoils the look of it for me somehow. The vents on the rear bumper I like though.

997.1 C4S was my choice.

 

Don't get me wrong... I love the way my 997.1 TT looks. It's much more aggressive looking and the whole package really works for me. It definitely screams "high performance". There's just something that looks more classic and pure to me when I see a wide body car without a fixed spoiler. It looks more like a classic 911. I loved my old 996 C4S for that reason.

 

I agree with Dennis, I hate the vent air intake. I test drove 997.2 C4S, 997 GTS then 997.1TT. I ended with the TT, but GTS would be my second choice.

 

I also looked at a GTS. It was wonderful, but I wasn't totally sold on PDK at the time and that's all that my local dealer had. Since then, I had an opportunity to rent a drive a 991 C4S cabriolet with PDK and PSE around Europe for a week. That changed my mind about PDK...

The GTS is a very nice package...

 

997.2 S with PDK. You won't regret it!!

 

I am coming from a 996TT. They get expensive real quick.

 

Curious to know, how did you like the 996tt? Mind sharing the maintenance/repair costs you had?

How about now? Do you currently have a 997.2? How would you compare the two? Thanks.

 

996TT's are only expensive if you mod them. That's totally up to the owner to control. Maintenance wise they are nothing more than any other Porsche, and much less likely to have expensive problems than M96 engines.

To me you get the 997.2 if you like the more modern look and electronics, and the 996TT if you want inexpensive screaming Porsche performance and don't mind driving the red headed step child of the lineage.

 

Common... 12.7 / 4.x for a 4 door stocklish looking sedan? Its a fat pig, but a fast fat pig. Never missed a meal.

Racing in my Audi always reminds me of the joke with the dude in the ferarri racing the old man on the bicycle.