At first glance the Porsche 996 Carrera 4S looks like a 911 Turbo. However, a closer look parking a 996 C4S next to a 996 Turbo highlights the differences. Both have similar styling with 996.2 style lights and the same front and rear bumper cover.
Styling differences include the lack of rear air intakes that are found in the 996 twin-turbo, the closed air outlets of the rear air diffuser for the C4S and the 911 Carrera 4S has its signature rear reflector strip.
The early Porsche 996 was the first time that the legendary Porsche 911 had been water cooled. Sure Porsche had used water to cool their front-engined cars and the 959 had water cooling its heads, but no production car sold as a 911 had used anything except God’s good air to keep temperatures lower.
Even though purists didn’t like this move it was a necessary one as Porsche was reaching the limits of what could be done with an air cooled vehicle. It did bring an added benefit of air conditioning that worked quite well instead of the system that barely worked in the air cooled cars.
The Porsche 987 Cayman S is a great performance car. As modern 911s have gotten larger and more luxurious, the Cayman is closer to the formula of the classic 911. Of course the Cayman S offers this experience in a better handling modern package.
On paper what isn’t to like about the 3.4-liter flat-six powered lightweight sports car with 295 horses on tap. It offers plenty of performance in a rev happy car that is like using a scalpel when it comes to carving corners.
The Porsche 996 is currently the most affordable generation of the 911. Prices of early 996s are especially low when compared to later examples.
The thing about the early cars is that they have a few things that in the future may turn out to be desirable. Namely the fact that they have a more durable dual row IMS bearing and a cable driven throttle body.
Since selling my dependable Porsche 986 Boxster that I owned for over six years late last year, I had been searching for the next Porsche. I wasn’t going for the cheapest 911 or Cayman S, but this 1999 996 was priced so low that I couldn’t resist.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while then you probably already know that I have owned three Porsches so far. The first was a Porsche 924, followed by a 944 and finally a 986 Boxster.
I only had the 924 for about two years (it was a running restoration project, purchased for just $200) and had the 944 for over 5 years. The Boxster has been in my garage for the past six years.
But, all good things must come to an end and as always, it is a bitter sweet experience to sell a Porsche that you’ve enjoyed for over half a decade.