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One consideration: if you have a sunroof, there are many more days (cold or light showers) when you might have the sunroof partially open -- but you wouldn't open the Cab.
Another: if I could only park the car outside or if I were concerned about my neighborhood -- I'd get a hardtop.
Assuming those are not issues, IMHO, it comes down to the kind of driving you like to do. In the PNW, we have such nice, temperate weather and great scenery, a Cab is very nice. (Although heading down I 5 with trucks and noise will convince you to get ear plugs or drive with the top up).
I recently had a '67 Fiat Dino that my wife enjoyed very much, top down, on nice evenings. It didn't hurt that the Ferrari engine sang a beautiful song. Yet, this reinforced a Cab.
When deciding to buy a 996, I decided that while I would enjoy autocrossing, I wasn't buying the car just for autocrossing. (If I wanted to do that I'd get a Lotus Elise, Caterham or aggressively modified 914.) The impact of the weight difference is dramatically less than my driving. I'm probably the slowest component in the car. Going to a couple of good driving schools would compensate for any weight issue.
I found a nice, '03 996 Cab with low mileage and a reasonable price. Have not regretted it.
I've been surprised at how quiet the car is with the top down. Have not yet used the diffuser panel -- the wind just doesn't seem that strong. The Fiat Dino would batter us at 70mph and above. The 996 has been quiet up through 90mph.
I do expect that the Cab will be more expensive to own. At some point I may have to replace the top or work on the top mechanism. I decided it was worth it.
Similarly, when I got a radar detector, I got an Escort SRX "built in" detector. With nothing visible, there's less temptation for someone to cut the top to get inside. But it cost more than a Passport 8500 or V1 that I might have considered with a hardtop.
I think that the manual shift Cab's sell well. So, I'm not concerned about selling it later. I personally preferred the C2 to keep the rest of the car as simple as possible....trying (possibly vainly) to keep maintenance costs as low as possible.
You probably won't go wrong with any model. Within the 996's (and assuming reasonable mileage), I would just get the newest year I could for the money I had to spend.
Good luck. Sometimes the hunt is the best part.
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James
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