Maybe you guys can help me out. I have a 2004 996 TT Cabrio with about 28K miles, and looking for a preowned 991. The 991 TT is way out of the price range. A dealer called me with 991 cabrio with < 5K miles. Will I be happy with a 991 base or wait a bit and get the S for another $10K? Is it worth it? I drive about 4,000 miles a year in spring and summer. I live in Michigan, so it gets stored away during winters. My drive to work is less than 5 miles each way. I never track the car. I know the torque won't be the same, but the 991 is far more sophisticated. Your thoughts? Will I be happy? What is the used car market like for a used 996 TT?

 

I owned a '99 996 cab for 7 wonderful years. I sold because a guy was willing to pay me high retail book for the car. I now have an '04 turbo cab < 25K miles and am very happy with it. I bought it in '10, we also have a '99 Boxster we bought early in '02, happy with that as well.

I take a long time to find "perfect" examples of vehicles and tend to be very happy with them years later. I know others that need the new vehicle fix at intervals of less than a year. They are never satisfied once they have anything, it's always about buying something else. I think they get a very short lived euphoria from the buying process.

Everyone is different. Yes shopping is fun but also a PIA. I decide what I want and go after it. When I have it I enjoy it fully and have no desire to look any further. I don't want sophisticated, I don't want the latest, I want simple, I want good quality, timeless design, I want what works, is comfortable and puts a smile on my face. My '04 does it all for me.

You may be happy with the 991 short term.

 

get the s. hands down. don't bother w the base model esp if coming from a tt. you'll be less sorry lol.

 

Have a test drive day and report back your thoughts. Don't worry yet what to buy. Just go have fun trying them all on

 

The 991 still has a steep depreciation curve that will be all yours. If you are happy with your 996, I say keep it.

 

I'll second that.

 

I went on a couple of drives and a 991S was one of the cars. Although he couldn't keep up with me but I'm very impressed with the performance of the 991S. It is faster than a stock 996TT on winding roads for sure.

 

I recently traded my 997.2TT for a 991S. I'm very happy about my decision, but perhaps not for reasons that would matter to all. I had a PDK, which just isn't for me. I live in a city and get great pleasure from rowing the gears. That's pure preference. Likewise, a huge part of the pleasure of a Porsche for me is the sound of the engine and exhaust, which is very disappointing in a turbo (for me).

 

It really depends on what your goal is if you are satisfied with factory power level i think you'll enjoy the new 991 but if you want more power then just modify your current car less expensive and you can make mogu power

 

i noticed that, when i briefly drove 991s. it snarled easily, and it seemed much more readily than my turbo. i couldn't help but wonder, how much of that should be attributed to pushing the sport button and the accompanying shift in exhaust note? or whether i was just on the pipe knowing my test drive would be over quickly! probably a combination of both.

either way, it's the only non turbo i'd even remotely consider trading for my tt. i could see it. *maybe* lol

 

Ditto. Plus you have low miles.

 

I have a different question. Why would you store it in the winter? I drove mine through four Iowa winters, with good snow tires. Best winter car I've ever owned.

 

Why store it? I have 3 other vehicles and 2 are AWD, my DD and my wife's. My Turbo was from Las Vegas and has 17K miles when I bought it, The undercarriage looked brand new, like it had never been driven through a puddle of slightly dirty water. Now the car is 10 years old and the undercarriage still looks brand new, lots of green bolts, not a speck of rust or corrosion anywhere. I like that.

 

I don't see how you'd ever be happy with the power or handling of a base / non-S, so I'm with the other posters who say forget about anything other than an S. Personally I've only owned two Porsches:
2001 C4 (non-S) 6 speed bought new, driven daily for 4 years/40k miles in Boston including daily commutes downtown
2004 Turbo (with X50) 6 speed bought used in 2008 with 28k miles (looked brand spanking new) and driven daily for first year (highway commute mostly, also not in the snow, more on that below), then every few weeks for next 3 years, now daily driver again as of this month with snow tires

I've been stumped by this for many years. Why buy such a spectacular vehicle, then not use it? Especially when the 911 is designed for the snow and is highly capable on anything other than ice! Such a waste... I agree, my C4 was probably the best winter car I've ever owned. My Turbo is not quite as good due to the larger front/rear weight bias. I've added 100+ pounds of gravel to the trunk to get better grip while braking and steering. It may just be living in the mountains versus the much flatter lands of Boston where I lived when I had the C4. Going up steep hills in the Turbo here definitely makes you lose most of your steering ability!

I can understand that part of it. Personally I didn't buy snow tires for the first 4 winters I had my Turbo since I already had two other vehicles (at various times a G-wagen, STI, pickup, and others) with winter tires. I have two little kids and couldn't fit anyone comfortably behind me in the 911 (I'm 6'4) for anything more than an occasional short drive, so it just didn't make sense to spend money on a set of snow tires for a third car. Plus they didn't start offering snow tires in anything wider than a 265 until pretty recently, so I would have had to buy another set of rims too.

Now this part I can't understand. How often exactly do you look at the undercarriage of your car? And are you trying to tell me you get more satisfaction from looking at a green bolt than you do from driving the car? And I hate to break it to you, but other than those green bolts, you've got some big corroded parts already in those pictures. Everything else in your pictures is stainless, galvanized, plastic or otherwise not going to rust and won't show any appreciable wear that can't be washed off with some soap and water. But it's your car! Like many other crazy 911 owners, you're just burning daylight, wasting a wonderful winter car.

 

To OP, not to high jack thread so my thought is that the 996 tt vs 991S is all about what you want/expect out of your car. Do you have additional opportunities to go on some extended test drives with the S? I drove
a new Cayenne for 3 weeks while my tt was getting sorted last summer-I actually didn't like all of the electronic doodads/gizmos that a driver could fiddle with.

To last poster Teflon Jones- right on! Agree with all your points. In middle of my second Wisconsin winter with my tt as my DD, even given brutal recent weather-I get a mini-vacation/ present going to and from work twice daily. 13+ K miles in total and I'm not missing my Subaru Outback this winter at all.