Originally Posted by HardDrive (Post 10375360)

I had a 2002 standard 986 with a manual. Its was an excellent car, and I would own one again.

My only advice would be that if you plan on using it as an all year round car, I would track down the factory hard top. I had one, and it made the car much more livable in the winter. Also much quieter. The rag tops on that generation were very thin. That changed with the 987.

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins (Post 10378299)

Matt, I'm glad we had this discussion. Thank you. You made me go look (I jacked up the back to look for the ABS sensors), and you talked me into taking it for a drive. It does, in fact, have ABS - I stand corrected.

Amazing. Amazing in that I have put a couple of sets of brake pads on it and never noticed the sensors. They are inboard of the discs, but not that that is any kind of an excuse. Amazing too in that while I have only had it on a track twice (I promised my wife I wouldn't "ruin it" by turning it into a track rat like my 911), I have managed to well and truly lock up the brakes. We're talking full-on smoke show, not unlike a Funny Car burnout. Never felt the typical ABS shudder in the pedal.

On my drive today, I took advantage of our freshly sanded roads (it snowed pretty heavily a few weeks ago) to try to make the ABS engage. Sure enough, shuddering pedal and all, I got it to engage. I still got it to skid on the sand, but it sure was trying not to.

So I learned something today. That said, I'm a slow learner, so I am now a bit baffled. Did I just manage to over-power the system when I locked them up on the track? Should that even be possible, or is there possibly some kind of a fault? I mean, it did what it was supposed to do on my little test drive today.

Originally Posted by scottmandue (Post 10378334)

If/when I get serious I will look on eBay for a hard top, I had one on my Miata and almost never took it off.

Originally Posted by Halm (Post 10376447)

Also, I DD’ed a BRZ for 18 months. Not once did a comparison with any 911 come to mind. It is a really good car, but an air-cooled 911 experience it is not.

Originally Posted by sugarwood (Post 10378374)

The claim was that FRS is more 911 than a modern Cayman with 385hp.

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy (Post 10378350)

Honestly Jeff I'd say that's mostly a function of the system being pretty darn good. Sometimes ABS, especially earlier systems, was pretty obtrusive. You have to really be in a bad way to feel it functioning on these cars. As for your track experience, maybe it was a unique set of circumstances and the ECU just got confused?

Originally Posted by Jrboulder (Post 10378366)

There's a lot of 996s you could get for boxster+hardtop money.

Originally Posted by scottmandue (Post 10378469)

Oh yeah... there is a reason a 996 has been at the top of the list for a while... for some reason I got distracted by the cheap Boxters I saw on CL.

And yes I get the irony that Jeff is fine with a convertible in the PNW and spoiled little Scotty wants a hardtop in sunny SoCal. Long story short I spent a lot of time at the beach growing up and then ten years working outdoors so this old noggin doesn't need anymore sunshine. ;)

Originally Posted by Hockey fan (Post 10378473)

Just curious up to what year was a hardtop available?

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy (Post 10378544)

All years of the 986 and 987 had a hard top available as a factory or dealer installed option. If you have the money you might still be able to order one, but I'm sure they aren't cheap.

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy (Post 10378544)

All years of the 986 and 987 had a hard top available as a factory or dealer installed option. If you have the money you might still be able to order one, but I'm sure they aren't cheap.

Originally Posted by Hockey fan (Post 10378625)

Thanks! I seem to recall seeing them quite frequently on the earlier years but not as much later on.

For some reason a white Boxster with a black hardtop has always appealed to me.