[Nickshu]

The 3.6L 996.2 is a nice upgrade from the earlier 3.4 IMO. Various small improvements in the engine (in addition to the increased displacement) such as no plastic spark plug tubes and a more simple timing chain and guide setup less prone to failure than on the 3.4L. Mine pulls like a freight train from 3200-6000RPM. Despite the supposedly "fragile" M96 engine I have tracked mine extensively, on slicks with no issues, as have several of my fellow PCA members. I did do the LNE IMS as soon as I bought it.

My kids, when short, fit great in the back seat. Any taller than about 5'4" or 6" and your head will hit the back window...at least on my coupe, not sure on a cabrio but I can't imagine it's any better. I have since replaced the back seat with a roll bar however.

Beware of the "cheap" 996...they are all $25-30K cars, just depends if you buy cheap and spend the difference to get it sorted out, or just buy nice from the start.

They are pretty easy to work on other than things that are on top of the engine. You have to be good with your handskills to get the intakes off with the engine in the car (I have done it twice), lowering the engine down off the mounts as low as you can, to get to things like the starter, vacuum hoses, the AOS, and the coolant tank.

Main maintenance issues are water pumps, thermostats, air-oil separators, cracking coolant tanks, and various other stuff that are the same issues on your Boxster. I really dislike the long brake pedal travel on the 996, I swapped for a 997GT3 master cylinder (a surprisingly cheap upgrade) which is a huge improvement and probably the best upgrade I did on the car.

I have gotten far enough into the track hobby that I just bought a 996 GT3 and am converting my C2 back in to a street only car and selling it to my Dad. It's been a great car for me and trouble free overall.