[mhariush]

I just bought a 996 myself, a MK I. I acutally prefer the MK I headlights over the MK II, but I ultimately like the 997 and up better.

There are also a lot of people who like the early 996 better mechanically as it had the dual row IMS bearings which are better than the later ones, some say at least.

The price I'm sure you can negotiate, it's a bit above KBB I think. I paid 14K for my 104K miles Artic Silver 996 a few months ago.