|
Welcome back! I have both - an '84 (I love that car - my first 911) and a 2000 996 (Guards red).
My advice to you is to go over to the Rennlist 996 forum and check it out. That forum is VERY active and will have all of the answers you need.
On a personal level, I find that the 996 is worlds more comfortable, quiet and sophisticated than the older Carrera but can be thrashed to within an inch of it's life time and again with absolutely no side effects. I've tracked mine at Willow Springs raceway here in SoCal and have maybe 750 miles of 5000 to 7000 RPM track miles on it in the last year and the car runs like a swiss watch. It's fast as hell on the track (ask my friends in their older Carreras about my car's speed) and handles just as a 911 should. It has a definite rear weight bias which any 911 driver will recognize and a very light, communicative and yet accurate steering feel. And mine is bone stock because I also use it as my daily driver (lucky me). If I were to add a sport coil-over suspension package (like Bistein's PSS9 system), a GT3 aero kit, GT3-width wheels and tires, and a sport exhaust system, I'd have a car that's every bit as harsh and track focused as the most hardcore old-school street 911 out there. It's all about what you want out of the car. But, even bone stock, the car is amazingly agile, quick, and fast and feels at home on the track.
Test drive as many as you can and drive them hard. Take them all the way to 7000+ RPM. Take the RPM's up to 4000 in third and then punch it and feel the huge mid range pull these cars have. Take them hard around corners, etc. Don't just cruise during your test drives. You might come out with the wrong impression otherwise.
Good luck to you and keep us informed.
|