I had a Porsche 997 turbo before I got my BRZ and NSX. 36k miles, 6 speed, cabriolet. It was OK but it had a horrible clutch and the shifter is just as horrible. I spent ~$10k in maintenance and repairs in a year and eventually got rid of the car because I couldn't make it 'right'. I had a $2000 tune, a $6000 exhaust system (yep), and all sorts of money spent on little bushings you can only get from one or two aftermarket shops. All the exhaust systems sound like shit and the interior creaks a lot and the electronics are fucking dumb.
I'd never even consider 997 Carrera S. The engine placement in the 991 is so much better that the 997 is basically a dinosaur. There's many better cars for the price. A new Mustang GT is probably better than a 997. I actually had a 2011 GT while I had my 911 turbo and only got rid of it because the new mustang with IRS was coming.
Looked great but drove like shit at anything other than highway speeds. NSX gets way more attention...
Oh yeah, and the PASM sucked. On sport mode it was so hard you couldn't drive it on public roads. On normal it was so soft the car squatted and bucked in stop and go traffic. TPC Racing makes a replacement computer to fix this, and it's been fixed in newer 911s, but I'd stay away from anything older than 997.2 for that reason alone.