I have not researched the 996 that well as of yet... I do like the 993 better, but their prices are higher for higher miles.
I did not know that the 996 also had the RMS problems... better than the IMS I would say! I can say that the three years I've owned my Boxster I have not had one drop of oil or any other fluids:) I would know too becasue I park it on white carpet :) Long story... okay, here it is. I installed hardwood and had a bunch of carpet leftover that was almost new... So I took a large section of it and put it down in the 3rd car area... yeah I know, it's a Porsche thing!

My thought is that if I plan to "upgrade" my boxster to a newer Porsche, I'm going to wait until I can pay cash for a non-M96 power plant in whatever model I choose.

It will no doubt have some catastrophic and engineering glitch (all Porsches seem to have one or more, don't they?) but it won't be the IMS issue :)

I guess I could just budget in a trip to Jake's place to have the motor rebuilt with nickies and a new IMS bearing, but sheesh, that's a pipe dream. I'd do that right now with my old boxster if I had the cash.

It's always a good rule of thumb to buy the newest Pcar you can afford, hopefully one with some factory warranty left on it or a CPO car.

That's why I got a C4S, nice wide butt... I don't mind looking at the same dash. I'm very, very comfortable in either my Box or C4S. I think they've got great interiors. Here are my three Babes:

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1.../CIMG6031a.jpg

Both cars have body kits and wheels, but the C4S ultimately turns more heads.

Kirk