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I like the new car - fast, pretty, and modern. Do already miss the old one though.....
The 3.2 was a summer only car - it was an occasion when it came out in the spring, and always created a happy impression - like a car always on a twisty road on a sunny day heading to the beach or to a Dairy Queen. Everybody loved it, including passers by, I knew every inch of it, and did all the work myself (almost).
Reasons for the change? Well, after 8 years, I had gotten the 3.2 perfectly the way I wanted it a few years ago, but my kids (7 & 12) need to be ferried here and there, and I felt the need for something more modern and normal (better AC in the summer, etc.), plus the 2-3 days of working on it each spring seemed harder and harder to come by as their lives have expanded. Time has gotten to be more important than anything, and as long as I didn't have time to work on it, it felt as though part of the reason for owning it was gone. I have a great nearby shop (Eurosport), but part of the appeal was getting in there.
Figured I needed something under warranty and with no need for work until the kids are old enough to drive themselves. Maybe I'll buy an old one again in 10 years and rebuild the engine just for something to do when they leave home after High School.
The new-to-me 997 feels like a 911, sounds like a 911, drives like a 911 - just more modern. And more GT than sports car, really. Like the color, love the lighter interior, and the Targa roof is really pretty close to the old Targa too - not quite as much wind in the hair, but close, and much better and more open feeling when closed due to the glass. Funny to have to relearn the simplest things though (gas filler, clutch in to start, etc...)
Only real downside is slight fear about it's complicated mechanicals and unfamiliarity. And the fact that people don't immediately admire the car as something happy and fun and well done - people are wary of it, intimidated a bit by it until you go out of your way to be friendly - money, prickishness, whatever - they respect it more than love it. That's a little sad.....
That said, my wife and kids love it. My wife dreams of an NSX, so this is more like it for her. But she liked the old 3.2 to a point. She likes cars and is very supportive - rolling down windows (even in the winter) so I can hear sports car exhausts when they pass. When she drove the 3.2 for about 10 days last summer when her car was in the shop, she said she could see why I loved it. But, really, her heart reaches for something a bit more modern, and she loves the 997 - so much so that I worry about my ability to keep being the primary driver!
The 997 makes more sense for where I am in my life, and for my family. I get the feeling that when that changes in a decade or so, I might regress to something more primitive.
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