[Overdrive]

I have a 97, and it came with a remote key (the large-size head key) as the only key to the vehicle. It has two buttons, one to lock/unlock the door (larger button closer to the key shank) and the other to open the rear trunk (smaller button). They are horribly expensive, as the majority of what you're paying for is the key head itself, as well as the cutting of the key shank, and the programming for the key (45mins-1hr of labor in my experience).

Porsche also made a smaller key head that was not a remote, and apparently had a light on it. I went to Porsche expecting one of these keys, as that's what I saw in the manual (granted the manual that came with my car is for a '99 or '00 car, I think). I'm not sure that they make this particular part anymore, or perhaps didn't make it for the pre-2000 cars, as the key head I got was extremely small and had no light on it. It still required programmig to function with the car, and the early cars did not have the ability to make a "valet key" as the later models did. So it's simply a spare key for me that unlocks the door and works the ignition to start the car just like the regular key, which was all I was looking for, though a valet key that still disables the two trunk handles and doesn't unlock the glovebox would have also been nice.

What you need to check is whether or not your particular car came with keyless entry. There were early cars that did not come with it. It may be indicated by the options code sticker under your front trunk lid. Match these codes up with the list online to see what you've got for your car's options. If you don't have keyless entry, save your money and just get a regular spare key. If you do have keyless entry, I recommend biting the bullet and getting a remote key made if you want one, as it sounds like you don't have one yet.

That smaller key head is significantly less costly, but still stupidly expensive, unfortunately. If I remember right the key head and blank key shank cost me about $180 in parts for a 97, and slightly less, about $150, for a 99 (got one for my sister's car as well), so it would seem there are proprietary part numbers for the key for a 97 versus later years (get used to this), and the cutting/programming/labor was almost another $100. I don't know if they did both cars at once or one at a time, so it could be that that labor might be half that time for one car, but either way, it's pricey to get a new key. I asked about the remote key cost just for ha-has, and I believe they said it was something like $300-350, and that was just for the parts, so it's significantly higher overall.