[Perfectlap]

When it comes to Porsches always go for the S if you can.

Adding power later is very costly with this brand. And the extra oomph is very handy when merging on the highway and overtkaing all manner of sedans and SUVs that now have considerably more power than 15-20 years ago. When the Boxster first came out the M3 was a ~250 HP car.

If you intended to only use it for track/autox, the base is plenty enough power to get you up a tree.
Conventional wisdom thinks its the other way around. The bigger power car for the track, smaller for the street.
They have that backwards in my opinion.

2009 is the way to go, not really because of the IMS, but because it's the next engine regime.
Addressing the IMS is simply a day at the shop, costly but not take out the engine costly.
a 2000-2004 S is probably the best value in my opinion. The 2009-2012 is a faster car but I didn't feel it was fast enough to justify the delta while in-warranty.
But now that the 2009 cars are off warranty the prices should start to dipping hard soon a.k.a the second big wave of depreciation.