evilfij

Only vehicle I know that has the manual that converts to an auto is the Unimog.

Gus_Smedstad

It resonates for me as well.

A few days ago I had some errands to run. It was raining, which meant if I was going to take my PDK 991 C4S cab out, I'd have the roof up. I decided for once to take my wife's manual 981 S out instead, since the visibility would be better.

It was disturbing to me how much better the car felt, despite the power difference. I felt like the car was pulling harder, which it shouldn't. The PDK is supposed to be good at that sort of thing.

Why disturbing? Because I drove the same sports coupe for 16 years, a '97 6MT Supra Turbo (320 HP / 3400 lbs / about 0.95g skidpad, if you don't know the car). This is my image of myself: a guy who finds a car he loves and sticks with it.

I owned my Panamera S e Hybrid for only 18 months, and I've only had the C4S for 15 months. Replacing it to go from PDK to manual feels like I'm drifting from car to car, edging into midlife crisis territory.

The frictional cost doesn't help. I don't think I'd be able to make a straight swap from my car to a MT car, the way you did. I paid $97k for my car last year, I suspect trade in value is in the $70k range now. Prices I see on manual 991 4S's are around $90k. Sure, I can afford to drop $20K or so, but after dropping $36k on the trade last year, it's starting to feel wasteful.

I really need to drive the C4S in manual mode more often, and push it more.

freeman

Please allow me to bore you with a story you have heard on this board several times.

In June 2013 I took my perfect 1995 993, that I picked up in Stuttgart on July 3 1994, for an oil change at the dealer. As I usually do, I took a book and also strolled around the showroom. There was a black-on-black 991 2013 C2 Coupe with no options other than PDK. I had several back surgeries and was becoming incapable of driving my beloved 993. The 991 had been ordered by a snowbird whose trade could not live up to the deal so the dealership was desperate to get it sold and gave me a great deal for the basic 991. I bought it!

Driving an automatic Porsche for the next few months was painful as I had owned MT Porsches since 1974. Fifteen months after I bought the 2013 991, I asked my wife if I could sell it. She gave me the thumbs-up. I put it in Cars.com and sold it in 3 days with 15,000 miles for a bit more than I was asking. I had 27 offers in those 3 days.

I immediately ordered an Agate Grey GTS with MT that took 3 months to arrive. I was a maniac driving my pickup until the GTS arrived.

Now the real story! The salesman who sold me the 2013 C2 coupe and the 2015 GTS bought my 993 from the dealership. I watched it for 3 years and he has not taken good care of it as me. He is selling it since he bought a new house and needs the proceeds. He is giving me the right of first refusal since he knows I love that car. As he should, he is asking over 2x the trade-in. what do you think?

NoGaBiker

^^ I think that salesman has found just about every way imaginable to make money off of you!

Gus_Smedstad

This part of the story puzzles me, since I'm not clear why you could not drive the 993 MT but can drive the 991 MT. Unless it's a difference in the seats?

Nice purchase of the 991 GTS MT, of course.

Brutal.

Of course, it can be hard to predict when collectors will skew the market. I bought that '97 Supra Turbo used with 5,000 miles on it for $38k, put 85,000 miles on it over the course of 16 years, and sold it for $36k. Because in the meantime a collector's market had grown up around the car. Not as extreme as your story (x2 the value in 3 years!), but still it was nice to see such a tiny drop in price for the age and mileage on the car.

NoGaBiker

But what doesn't make sense about Freeman's deal is that the overheated 993 market has cooled off considerably in the '13-17 span; I don't mean prices have fallen but they're not climbing with much pace at all, and that's been true for a few years. A 95 C2 (the least desireable 993 there is, which is not a slam -- still a very nice car -- but I'm just pointing out it's the bottom of the 993 barrel) might have gone up $15 -20k in the last 4 years.

Seems that either the dealership really undervalued it in the 2013 trade, or the salesman is overvaluing it now.

Or, maybe the salesman put $40k into a full motor/transmission rebuild or something and is just trying to get some of that cost back.

Gus_Smedstad

I automatically guess that it's some of both. Though if he really needs the money, maybe it's mostly that he's asking too much. I don't really know the 993 market at all.

I'm assuming that since the salesman "isn't taking care of it," he didn't put any major work into it like an engine rebuild.

titleistaddict87

Question is: if your original gts was manual would you have kept it or still traded for .2??

Boulder Mike

I know question not directed at me but had almost exact situation as OP and I would NOT have traded my .1s for .2 GTS if .1 was a manual.

NoGaBiker

Wouldn't have traded 991.1 PDK for 991.2 7M.