Hey gang. My brother is in the market for a sports car and these are on his radar. Any owners/former owners here have any advice to offer? Dave
Get an S. Get maintenance records. Get a PPI. Check the carpets under the passenger seats to make sure they are dry - the ECU is under there and when the rain gutters get clogged, the water runs into the car and ruins the computer. Look under the car to see if the RMS is weeping - not the end of the world, but good to know for negotiating price. Can be fixed when the clutch is replaced. The whole IMS issue is present in these years. Not sure if it is web forum magical thinking or is a statistically real problem, but upgrades are available, and Porsche just lost a class action suit over it. I had an 02 S. Loved it. Great car. Miss it every day. Other than the dash, there was nothing I didn't like about the car. Great driving experience.
I had a 98 for 7 years and now an 08, no need for an S as you can really ring out the base on the street and it's fast enough and fun enough. I love them, they are the best cars out there for the money. I've had almost no issues in all that time of owning them. The 05, is the 987 and the 97-04's are the 986, do the 05+ if you can swing it, but really they are ALL fantastic!
The October issue of Exce11ence just came it. It came with a standalone Market Guide that has a lot of advice on how to buy a used Porsche. It might help.
Have an 05 base model/987. Wonderful to drive. Plenty of power. Not a drag racer but for country roads at speeds likely to only merit a ticket (as opposed to jail time) it's quite fun. Has been reliable, fluid changes. I plan to switch to newer IMS bearing retrofit at clutch change, probably around 45K miles.
