There are two sub-generations of 997s. Porschephiles call them 997.1 and 997.2. You'll notice that the headlight and front bumper changed and the rear taillamp changed as well. I would get either a late year 997.1 or a late year 997.2. The first couple of years of the 997.2s were unreliable. Porsche introduced two pioneering technologies on the 997.2 for the 911; direct injection engines and these engines have a lot of carbon build up issues and the new PDK double-clutch transmission. The 997.1 had less horsepower, but didn't have this issue. I would go with a 2008 997.1 in RWD with the "S" designation, called the the 2008 911 C2S with a manual transmission . But if you have a mechanic who is confident in cleaning the carbon build up issues, you can consider the 997.2 models. For the 997.2 I would consider a C2S with either the automatic or the manual transmissions, as usual, aim for the last one or two years. The PDK automatic transmission IS REALLY QUITE GOOD from a performance and comfort perspective. BUT there is some abnormal wear that isn't really a maintenance item. The PDK automatic has two clutches and the odd number clutch does wear and there's no service maintenance interval to replace them. On a manual transmission car, we would replace the clutch as soon as the car starts shaking in 1st gear start. In a PDK, it's not typical to replace the clutch even with this shaking. Thus if you want an automatic PDK car, find one that doesn't suffer from a lot of stop and go driving, as these will have more clutch wear.