One thing I'd add ... don't rule out a cabriolet simply because of the winter weather. With the hard top, the cab is comfortable in cold weather; I'm in upstate NY and drove my car all winter. Hard tops crop up regularly in eBay and Craigslist and are not expensive (think $500 or so).

On a related note, look for heated seats ... my car (originally from Florida) doesn't have them and I could've used them on some of those cold mornings.

 

Check this 2007 out!

http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/4331794283.html

 

Ooohh, I'll race you to Pittsburgh for that one! Just happens my husband's DD is in the shop

 

It's a great deal, a dealer for a few $$ will CPO it. I have my lear Jet warming up now!

 

Lear? Well, you should be checking out the 918 Spyder! J/k. I really need to pay attention to my meeting lol.

 

996....there's a reason why they stopped making air cooled 911's...lol

 

Where in WV?

My turbo would have been dead in the frozen water if it did not have awd. I constantly felt the front wheels engaging on hills, and in particular the hill that is my driveway. (Note my driveway is long enough, that I hit 2nd gear on it).

Of course, I leave my PS2's on year round....

I also have a Rubicon for lousy weather, but use my turbo cab year round as long as the roads aren't too bad. Main reason I use the Ruby is it is fun to play in the snow, and if some one else hits me, or I lose it, it is cheap to fix!

 

The '09 turbo utilizes a computer controlled AWD system, which is totally different than the AWD systems in the 993 or the 996.

 

always learn something on this forum.

I can say my M5's traction control system is worthless on the snow around here, even a little bit of ice will immobilize it unless you get blizzaks or something similar on it. There are few sections of road that are both flat and straight here.

Of course
that does make for some fun roads.

 

I was set on a 996tt but there are clearly more c4s to choose from.

the IMS issue is concerning though. :/

 

My 996 C2 with snow tires will take me anywhere, until the snow gets deep enough that bottoming out is a concern. The rearward weight bias puts a lot of weight on the rear tires, which means you get plenty of traction. They are great snow cars, even the 2wd ones.

As for purchasing, comb the regular outlets - Craigslist, Autotrader, Cars.com, Ebay, PCA, Pelican, 6Speed, Rennlist. I hate dealerships and avoid them at all costs. You can't speak with the prior owner, you rarely get full service records because of privacy concerns, you will pay substantially more money, and if a car salesman is speaking that means he's lying. Warranty isn't an issue because I don't think Porsche does true CPO 996s anymore, so any warranty offered is going to be an aftermarket one that you could simply buy on your own. Find a well maintained enthusiast owned car with service records, get a PPI at a reputable shop, then drive the hell out of it. My 996 is my daily driver - why leave a car this great in the garage?

 

Yes, these cars are meant to be driven daily. We have 108,+ on our 2004 C4S. just replaced the water pump, AOS and normal service (oil, air filter ) Fantastic car, and the 4wd does make a difference, especially when driven hard in the rain.

 

If you buy the car, check the tires and the weather first... I recently bought my 911 996 C2 and while driving it from OH to MD, we hit a snow storm and the car has Michelin Sport Tires (not rated for snow) and I almost crashed it twice due to the snow.. I got stuck in a ditch at one highway exit that was not cleared from snow but fortunately I found a new 50lb bag of salt sitting in the woods (what are the odds!).... The trip took me around 9 hrs and it was supposed to be 5hrs only.. I made it safely and the car too (thank God)..

Anyways, I have been using my 996 C2 as a daily driver and my commute is around 50 miles / day x 4 times a week.. I spend around $60 on gas weekly and I don't drive it like I stole it... Some times in the morning I hit a lot of traffic (bumper to bumper).. Other things to consider are the cost of tires, they usually last 10k-15k (Rears) and around 20k-25k (fronts).. Oil change is recomended by the community every 5k..

The car is very confortable and fun to drive... I love to drive the car and I am always counting the minutes before leaving work!!

 

BTW if you are concerned on the IMS bearing issue and dont plan on replacing it right away, consider cars from 1999 which came with a dual row bearing and only 1% of these fail compared to the later models that came with a single row (fail rate is higher).

 

The first thing is you really need to drive the different models to see what you like. However, being that you've never owned a 911, any of them will probably feel great to you, so forget about it and just get a 996. They're the most reliable year/model in your price range and have far more creature comforts than earlier versions so they're much more comfortable as daily drivers. I've used two 996's as DD's ('01 C4 and my current '04 Turbo) and have no complaints. I have to run snow tires about 8 months a year where I live, and ran them 6-7 months a year when I lived in Boston.

You don't just want snow tires for the snow but also for colder temps. As soon as it drops below 50 degrees the snow tires will start to grip better than the usual high performance summer tires. Far too many people just talk about having snow tires for the snow and either ignore or just plain don't know how superior snow tires are in cold temps! You'll want some Dunlop Winter Sports IMHO which are the best high performance dry pavement cold weather tires out there, but there are tons of threads about this topic too you can search. I've used them on at least a half dozen cars now including both Porsches and a couple of 400 HP STIs and they're awesome.

Where do you live in WV that it snows a fair amount? Then again I've always lived where it actually does snow a fair amount so maybe I measure snow differently. Anything less than 6" isn't really snow to me!

As for AWD versus RWD, it really depends how hilly it is where you live. If you spend a lot of time in the mountains, or just really want a car that handles great in the snow, then I'd definitely go for AWD. Plus you can turn PSM off (once you get comfortable with the car) and it'll drive almost exactly like the RWD version. I've driven both quite a bit, and if you didn't tell somebody which was AWD or RWD, with PSM off they probably wouldn't be able to tell which was which. Maintenance is really no different between the two either.

Buy wherever you can get the car you want for the best price. Just get a PPI done at an independent Porsche dealer. A PPI is an absolute MUST when buying one of these cars. So is staying away from any that have had RMS and to a lesser extent IMS issues. You can search on these acronyms to get more info which is extensive.

I find it highly unlikely you'll find a company that will sell you a warranty on a 10+ year old 996. The normal cutoff is 5 years old to sell one.

SUMMARY: If I were in your position, I'd buy an '00-01 C4. It'll be lower priced than an '02-04 C4S since they're not widebody but they have the same AWD systems. I drove my '01 C4 through 3 Boston winters as a daily driver and it was an awesome car I never had any regrets about owning or driving every day.