I am currently not a Porsche owner put hope to be one very soon! What I am looking at dollar wise is biggest bang for my buck is the 2001 series 996, either a C2 or C4. There seems to be more C2's to choose from and less money than the C4's. The other question is the coupe verses the cab, performance, weight, safety? I most likely will want to add some handling features to the car, some minor performance bolt on products. So which is car provides the best base to work from? Thank you in advance for your help!

 

I imagine the coupe is lighter, stiffer, and safer than the Cab. That boils down to both better handling and acceleration (and aerodynamics = high speed stablility). I am in the same boat. I am looking for a 2001 C2 Aero coupe.
As far as C2 vs C4, you need to decide if you want AWD or RWD.

 

Its all a personal decsison. The C2 coupe is the lightest, and has a performance edge on the C2 cab and C4's....BUT I have the C4 cab, with PSS9 suspension, bone stock motor...and it is a 0-60 car in under 5 seconds and will do every bit of 170+ mph....so the question is, how much performance you want? When you speak of better performance, you are talking fractions of a second, not seconds.....For instance, a C4 Cab 6 speed is faster than a C2 coupe tiptronic. C4's are more money and C4 cabs are even more money, probably the most expensive narrow body 996's.

 

Exactly. The difference is small. And the transmission is a big factor.
Get whichever is more fun to drive!

 

test drive both c2 and c4 versions. The feel is very different.