jeanrabelais

Lol, remember I prefaced it with "not to be crass", and as we've all probably discovered - wealth is relative. And, I didn't say idle rich. Hope I didn't offend, but those making payments on a 80k two seater no matter how it is paid for have some disposable income.

Definitely with you on the dream car which is why visited the dealer the day the car was announced.

s2ktaxi

That's good to hear. The GT4's rear end is too well planted on the street. unless of course you get on an entrance ramp that is coated with antifreeze (they don't salt/sand here in the PNW).

jeanrabelais

Lucky you folks because the salt is murder on the undercarriage. Cars here die of rust.

ForceReconTrojan

First I got the Spyder book in the mail...but for some reason I always get stuff from Porsche.

Second, at the LA Auto show for the PCA group the Spyder got a fraction of the interest that the GT4 gathered or the new 911 directly in front of it.

Third, I mean this as no offense to any 981 Spyder owners I am glad I have the 987 Spyder and will not order one now even if PDK becomes available. In person the car just did not do for me and at that price point there a lot of options or combination of options. I liked certain things, the little Spyder touches our cars did not get and of course the refinement of the 981 interior.

But my 987 Spyder is a keeper.

Underblu

that's great thet you love your 987 Spyder and you'd don't fancy the 981 Spyder but I don't understand the point about the 981 receiving a fraction of the attention of the GT4.

The 59 Les Paul didn't sell well either and was eventually dropped by Gibson in 1961.. Now original copies are 6 figures.

I'm happy the 981 Spyder has been overshadowed by the first Porsche Cayman/ GT car. This means lower Spyder production numbers and higher GT4 production numbers.

I personally like the looks of the 981 Spyder much better than the 987. Spyder. But that is subjective. Having owned 2 987BS before my 981BS I can say without equivocation (no offense to 987 owners) that the 981 is better on every level. Taking aesthetics out of the equation, and I again I think the 981 Spyder is far more cohesive design with almost super car good looks, the 981 Spyder has the better engine. much higher quality interior and a far more functional roof both in operation and in use. And while the 987 Spyder was offered with nice LWBS the 981 Spyder is offered with the same LWBS that were in the 918 Spyder. That imho is the cherry on the Sunday.

I'm just happy I got an allocation.

blacksheepSpyder

okay, so compared to the morons that sat in the back of the class picking their noses, I am rich... but I have been waking up at 6am for the last 3 decades and working hard, sometimes nights and weekends... while they did not. I am offended because have been friends (and acquaintances with some truly rich people) and they all have one thing in common. They work even harder and have more talent than I do...

jeanrabelais

OK OK again didn't mean to offend anyone and no need for you to start to denigrate others and use a pejorative. The line about a toy for the rich was actually cribbed from the Porsche in America book from the Porsche Museum. I didn't make that up. This is history and fact not some class warfare bs I'm trying to introduce onto this thread. Everyone works hard no doubt and some every waking hour whether it's for money or just their way of being in the world. Easy there. I personally don't know any couch potatoes. Shoot I don't even have a tv.

BryanCO

Spyder lost in the media?

The Spyder is a beautiful car but at its price point, it's bit difficult to figure out where it fits in. It's mission is a bit different than the GT4's (which seems to have received much more of the media's attention), but is also a bit less focused. Not an 'entry level' GT/track car but no PDK?

The GT4 is getting buyer attention -- it's pulling in buyers (with the corresponding overall demand) from other makes (Sting Ray, Z06, BMW M, various other makes) plus core Porsche owners/fans from up and down the price spectrum. The media is responding to the car similar to the buyers. Not sure the same can be said for the Spyder?

jeanrabelais

Agreed, plus, media coverage is like free advertisement and the media knows this so with the Made of Dreams GT4 and the paradigm shifting 991.2, I think editors had to make a decision about what to cover and what not to cover so that any one magazine or website didn't look like a Porsche Fanzine. Between the announcement which did get attention and the first reviews, there were a few of us on here everyday looking for news crumbs. I think I googled 981 2016 spyder everyday for months. I should have just made a google alert come to think of it.

clutchplate

51 2016 Spyders are currently listed on cars.com and only 2 GT4's so the market is speaking. I would prefer the Spyder as I don't often get to the track but the look hasn't grabbed me to the point I where would want to tolerate the top or price. I'm still considering one but a slightly used 991 can be had for less than a Spyder.

Mark Dreyer

I've found the top is very easy to put up and down. The only issue is I have to,check the weather radar as I don't want to have to pull over because of unexpected rain.

ClintonM3

The 981 Spyder gets less marketing for one simple reason: The product line is far more extensive now than it was in 2010, 2011.

Also, 981 has more mainstream appeal than the 987. 987 was marketed differently, almost strictly to the purists, as they didn't know how the product would do, or how the market will react. They spent a lot of effort justifying the roof mechanism. Porsche was proud of the roof but only to be mocked and shut in the face. Purists or enthusiasts are the hardest group to please and market to. They are stubborn, cheap, and are almost certain to be PIA. They already made up their minds before walking into the showrooms, almost pointless to market to this group. So when it is time for the 981 Spyder, Porsche did the right thing to have more mass appeal in terms of product development with the 981 Spyder. The appeal and demand will naturally fall in, therefore Porsche is diverting resources onto the Macan/911/Cayenne, which is exactly what they are doing anyways.

Underblu

Look there are dozens of cars that would probably be better investments than any of these recent Porsches afaic. Hell If I was a car investor right now out of the cars I'd actually like to own I'd probably buy a Ferrari 599 and a Maserati Merak but I wouldn't want to put many miles on those cars

Like with the stock market being a contrarian rather than following the heard can often time pay sizable returns. Their have been many instances of cars that initially didn't sell well that went on to be come more highly collectible n part due to the rarity. There may be as few as 700-800 Spyders produced which bodes very well for its future collectibility and there is no certainty that there will even be another Spyder or if another Spyder is built whether that Spyder will have an NA engine

Contrarily it appears certain that Porsche will continue to release the GT3 and GT3RS and the next revisions will be NA and available with a stick. It will be interesting to,see how that effects the current overall desirability of the current crop of GT cars. Given the success of the GT4 it wouldn't surprise me if Porsche also releases a gen 2 GT4 as well. And honestly having driven both I'd much rather have PDK on track whereas nothing is more fun then rowing your own through a twisty open road.

In the end , who knows what will hold its value better but I will say if I was a betting man I'd bet in 20 years the 981 Spyder will be the most collectible of the bunch.

Marine Blue

Part of the reason there's so many on the market is dealers will place orders based upon what they think the car should be optioned with instead of seeking out buyers who want to order their cars. IIRC, I saw a few people posting here looking for allocations and having a hard time finding them which tells me dealers placed their own orders.

For reference, dealers didn't get it right at all with the 987.2 Spyder as most were ordered with sport seats and pdk instead of buckets and MT so they sat on the lots for a while. They also loaded them with options to bring their prices up which again wasn't what the enthusiasts wanted. I searched for 6 months trying to find the right car and or an allocation. I finally found the allocation at the end of the 2011 production run. I get the feeling history is repeating itself and the dealers haven't learned and or they think the target market may be different.

The other issue is that no one is thinking about a convertible in 3/4 of the country this time of year. They timed the release very poorly and I think you'll find that the spring market will be vastly different for these cars.

As far as collectability, it really depends on what happens to the next generation Spyder which I'm convinced they will make since it brings people into the showroom.

BryanCO

While I tend to agree with the above comments, I'm not sure it really matters WRT media and market demand. Hopefully we're not buying these cars with the mindset of an investment. These cars are not collectibles -- maybe at some point in the future but not now. Sure, the less the Spyder or GT4 depreciates while I own it, the better, but an investment, nope.