997, not a fan of the looks of the 996 both inside and out.

 

^^ Well yeah kind of what has been said in different ways by everyone else. Very relevant if looks are the most important thing to the OP. If he wants performance then looks, which are subjective and personal, become less important.

Someone else could come in and say 996TT. The 997.2 is slow and you can never make it faster.

I like both but see that it can go either way depending on what you want. I think the OP may be happiest with a 997.1TT based in his comments.

 

Any 997.1tt owners, current or prior, who made the switch (or vice versa) to the 997.2 C/4/S, can comment on everyday driveability and maintenance costs?

From the 997 Turbo forum, it would seem that yearly maintenance costs of $1-4k are to be expected. FWIW Consumer Reports lists the 2007 MY as the 997's most problematic year; coincidentally both 997tt's I know and listed above have had engine/transmission issues/work.

What would be expected maintenance costs for 997.2 C/4/S?

 

i had originally budgeted for a 997 na, vs 996tt. performance vs looks, reliability, and comfort.

after re driving them both, the absolute bad assness - scientific term, of the turbo , sold me.

still , i could not deal with the dated interior and oldness of the 996.

ended up with the 997.1 turbo. maintaining it, cost wise, has been about the same as my previous 911's. no more , no less.

my current car is very easy to drive and an absolute beast , it has the ruf 550 installed and has not caused any extra grief.

 

Try the 997.2, after one drive it really sold me, the chassis and steering are not as extreme as a 996 turbo, but if you want a nice all rounder, the 997.2 is very quick, and the car lacks that all wheel drive launch feel of the turbo. I drove a PDK and found the gearbox to be very smooth, and much more agile than a tiptronic.

 

Porsche falling in the vw audi umbrella I'm concerned about carbon build up. Does anyone know if the 997.2 have the same issues as the 2007+ audi s6/s8 v10 and 2007 audi rs4 carbon build up problems.

Apparently the carbon gets so nasty it robs cars performance.