hi everyone

this will be my first porsche purchase. I'd really appreciate your advice:

I have the option of getting a 4 year old carrera S in automatic vs. the same model/year in manual. Both have low miles, the auto has 5K and the manual has 25K. Both are "certified pre owned". I like both and am fine with either automatic or manual. this will be a daily driver.

1. from the perspective of re-sale value, i.e. if I drive this for 3 years and then sell it, which would sell more easily, the automatic or the manual transmission?

2. if a car is "certified pre owned", should I still have an independent third party mechanic take a look before or right after buying? or is it safe to go forward and buy it without worry?

3. over the next 5 year period, what would you estimate the maintenance costs to be? for those who are familiar with corvettes, how would that compare with the maintenance costs of a brand new corvette grand sport (that is not tracked, driven lightly as for short commute in California) ? Yes, believe it or not, I am cross shopping porsche vs. corvette. Don't worry, i'm leaning towards the porsche.

thanks for your advice. Feel free to post here or to email me at adamsmithereens@gmail.com