I have a base 997.1. I love my car. I can tell you that outside of pcar enthusiast no one can tell the difference between an 05 or a 2012, they absolutely cannot tell wether it's an S, turbo, gt3,gt2 etc. they know it's a 911. Some have wings some don't. They can tell its a convertible or a coupe and they can also say its black, white, blue, red or yellow. That's it.

Would I love more speed, sure but if I had an S I would want a gt3 or turbo power and I can absolutely tell you that having either one of those would have gotten me in an accident or in jail by now.
Find a car that talks to you, that you have to have right now, get a thorough ppi and buy the thing. Drive her hard and take her on a track. Only one that should care about your car is you.

 

I'm on my 4th 911 and this is the first non-base 911 I have owned. I got lucky with this one because my budget was at base Carrera $$ and I found this S within that budget. Nothing wrong with the base Carrera, regardless whether a coupe or cab!

 

here's mine

 

Killer ride. You put the rear bumper on?

 

Beauty, enjoy!

 

yes. its from gt3tek. here's another pic of the bumper.

 

Really, really nice. I'm sure you get it all the time.

Think I know what my first mod will be

 

Just think, if you get an S then you can wonder if you should have gotten a Turbo.
Get whatever you can afford and as many have said, if it s a solid clean car it won t matter S or not.

 

Are those 997.2 turbo wheels? What is the offset? They look great.

 

thanks! they're turbo offsets:19x8 ET 56 front and 19x11 ET 51 rear.

 

I have owned both a 2008 Carrera and a 2006 Carrera 4S. Interestingly, I owned the base Carrera (2008) BEFORE I sold it and bought the 2006 4S. I did not buy it to join the "S" club, that was a side benefit. I sold the 08 because 1) it was a fairly base model with not a lot of options (I bought it one year used from Porsche America (exec loaner) with 10k miles), and 2) it was a stick shift (I allowed my adult sons to convince to to buy a stick regardless of what I really wanted). In the end I was not using the 08 as much as I had hoped.

A year later I bought the 06 4S used from a dealer with 2,801 miles (certified). It is loaded to the gills with options including the full leather interior (baseball glove leather in color) and I absolutely love this car. I am now using it nearly twice as much as the 08 base 997. By the way, it is a Tiptronic automatic.

In the end, if there is a club, it is the "Porsche" club not the S versus Non-S club. Enjoy whatever car you get your hands on. My only educational tip is to buy a lightly used Carrera a few years old or one with only limited miles, the first year or so's depreciation is amazing and has allowed me to buy a lot more car than I would have otherwise done.

Just my two cents.

Bob

 

i had to have an S cuz of the sport button...then i never really used it..compared to my friends non S it felt almost the same! both are great

 

I have a sport button on my base Carrera... And also never use it

Matt

 

I was in the same position a few months ago, and I really wish this thread would have existed at that time!
I ended up with a 997.2 Base, as it was a great deal and was fully optioned, so I got PDK and sport chrono, sport +, PASM, etc. The money I saved went towards other goodies to make it "mine" like Tubi exhaust and H&R springs/sway bars, paddle steering wheel.
I've been to the track several times and don't find the S's to be THAT much faster (if at all, depending on the driver). The 997.1 S's are the same from my experience.

To answer your question just as most people have: no you won't regret it. 997.1 or 997.2 base are still 911s, and they are so enjoyable. Just as another member said above, if you got an S, you would probably start wondering if you should have bought a turbo...haha

 

Just a random point to add to this conversation (since people are way too caught up in the top end HP debate): as a daily driver I care more about the extra torque of my "S" than the HP. It makes it a bit easier to drive around, since I can leave it in a higher gear.