mpilot

Does anyone else think the cayman R's are soon to be dropping in value? I'm seriously considering one but I would probably only keep it till the fall and don't want to get killed.

ACE51

buy a Prius, they never drop in value...

In all seriousness no one will know the answer to these type of questions, and if they did we'd all like to borrow their crystal ball!

Buy the car if you want one and enjoy it without having to worry about its value, if you have to worry about it falling off the edge then maybe you should reconsider where you invest.

.02

mpilot

Well I could've bought one last year for $65,000 which seems to be about roughly what their trading for now plus if any of the rumors are true seems to be there may be a 981R or it's equivalent coming sometime in the somewhat near future.

Macster

If any drop in value over a few months is enough for you to consider yourself getting killed (I guess referring to the depreciation) then a Cayman R is not the car for you.

In fact almost any car is not for you. Almost certainly any car will lose some value over that time. Plus you have the cost of licensing/registering the car, insuring the car, and possibly some servicing costs as well.

Also, if the depreciation over that short a time span is that onerous you need to consider the albeit small but not zero risk of something happening to the car: a severe or even catastrophic mechanical failure that absent a warranty would cost you way more than any realized depreciation; or an accident that if the car repairable could result in diminished value that you may or may not be able to recover; or possibly even a totaled car (my 4 week old new Cayman S was totaled after being hit, so this does happen).

mpilot

Killed=$5k+

zedcat

Just my .02 worth, but I would expect the R to maintain a slight premium vs the contemporary S. It's a great car but not that rare/special. It will depreciate.

Now a 997 GT3 RS 4.0, that's a different story.....

mpilot

I am in the wholesale end of the automobile industry and buy approximately 100 cars a month so i am somewhat familiar with depreciation. I am speaking specifically of the cayman R at this particular moment in time. Thanks for the help though.

tangram

Although they are great cars (almost bought one last Fall), I think the performance of the new Cayman might result in a bit more of a depreciation hit. That said, of the 99 used Caymans listed for sale in Canada (my home market) only 1 is a Cayman R. This spring, there were always 5 or 6 for sale in Canada at any given time. BTW, consider yourself lucky. The CR that is for sale is a dealer sale, car is new, and they want $85K, the same price I just paid for my nicely optioned Cayman S. You guys in the States have no idea how lucky you have it on used car prices.

mpilot

I agree. Yeah, I sell a lot of cars at the auction and plenty of them go to Canada.

Chiboy

I think mpilot asks a legitimate question. He didn't say that he expects a car to hold its value forever. He asked if the Cayman Rs are likely to depreciate significantly faster than the typical car of that price range. Well, that is how I interpreted his question.

I have been looking for a '14 Cayman S, or more recently, a used 991 911. It seems to me that both the Caymans and 911s took a pretty significant step up in their latest versions. In looking at Cayman S's, I decided that the Cayman R didn't seem to offer such great value, but I could be way wrong. I don't know a lot about them, but it seems like they were the Cayman to get in 2012 -- more hp, a little lighter, maybe better suspension (I don't remember). But the new Cayman S model has about the same hp (maybe 5 less) and is a nice, fresh style, and handles great. I can't see paying almost new CS money for a used CR, not when the S is probably a better car all around. Maybe I'm wrong about that. But I think the new CS will steal a lot of thunder from the used CR market. Or maybe it's just my preference. ;-)

orthojoe

One thing to consider is that you can't get sport buckets in the new CS. A CR without sport buckets is less compelling. A CR will be more rare, which also counts for something.

Macster

With that number of cars going through your hands then take a shot at the R.

Any loss in depreciation it suffers will contribute a small percentage of any total loss (if any) you experience over the course of a span of a couple of months. 'course its contribution to any profit will be small too.

Really, with 100 cars going through your hands per month I would think you of all people would have a good idea of what the R would or would not do price wise over the next few months.

Schmidts Cat

That's what I'm thinking joe. And, the new car while great, doesn't feel the same, nor is it "track ready". That being said, I got a used 09 S rather than a new 12 r. It was a 30 delta. That buys a lot of track goodies that surpass the R. In truth, I'd rather have started with an R, but money talks. The R is special, especially with the sport buckets and should hold its value better than any S IMHO.

mpilot

I know what a lot of cars are worth. I'm asking about this car in particular because it seems like the value has been hovering at the same point for a while with the new car out and the talk of possibly an R version I'm thinking they may be about to take a dump. I figured since you guys on this forum are pretty hardcore that some of you might be willing to share a few theories.

mpilot

I hear what you are saying, it's just that I'm not sure a 2 year old cayman can stay at roughly $65k value. I'm only considering this over an 07 gt3 because I know it's going to be a lot easier to drive and may possibly more fun at the track. Otherwise the gt3 is definitely much less likely to drop in value, in all reality they're actually going up.