[Germanauto]

Regardless of the 996's flaws, it's just too old in my opinion. The interior is cheap and it wont have some modern conveniences that the 997 has; which as others have already stated is out of your budget. The 987 Boxster/Cayman is the car to get.

The 997 is very much like the E9X BMW in my opinion as both cars are old school enough to have tactile hydraulic steering and visceral driving character while being modern enough to have nice interiors and decent tech. In hindsight the mid-to-late 2000s was one of the best eras in automotive history for this reason.