I've had a 996 turbo and a couple of 944s including my mega miles turbo which I use fairly regularly. I always figured I'd end up in a 911 and mine looked great but I didn't really find it that usable as a daily car.
If I were looking with the OPs budget I'd be trying to find a gen 2 997 targa 4 or 4s. Either gearbox would be fine, I'd probably rather have a manual but if city routes were part of daily use then the pdk would have its advantages.
The gen 2 engine gets you away from the IMS/bore scoring/RMS issues of the earlier NA cars and you aren't into full turbo nutter area which is probably over budget anyway.
4wd and the targa roof make it very usable all year round - I have a saratoga roof in my 944 - basically a glass sunroof bought as part of a remanufacture of the originals in a global bulk buy a few years ago and it makes a lot of difference to cabin illumination.
Also key is that the targa allows access to the rear passenger/storage space from the rear, coupes do not. This would be very useful for cabin storage etc. I found that my 944 was far more useful daily for this reason than the 996.
997s have a much better interior and colour palette than the 996s. I like the sand interior of the second car below.
Here's a couple - Portiacraft have a rep of a bit rough and ready but the cars tend to be ok
targa 4
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...o=2024&fromsra
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...o=2024&fromsra
and 4s - a bit more go.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...o=2024&fromsra
I'd want a colour, my 996 was cobalt blue but they must be out there.
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