WellDressedCar

Life is short. Get what makes you happy.

gcurnew

Do you plan to have a long-term relationship with your 992, or regardless of the spec will it be replaced in a couple of years? If cars just pass through the garage, you can probably live with a build that only ticks most of your boxes. If you catch the 911 bug, you can get it perfect (for you) the next time. My first 911 was dealer ordered and had all kinds of silly junk on it, second was something that fell in my lap and had only one option I HATED (if that option had been absent, I'd still have the car). This third 911 is a highly personal spec that makes NO compromises. It'll be in the garage for a long time, and it's worth the wait and hassle to us (ordered in November, January build, cancelled ED in April, in our hands by late May early June).

hinckley

I'm in this camp. Personally, I just can't spend $140k and not have exactly what I want. I'm lucky enough to have worked hard and am able to afford these cars, and I'm old enough to remember how much $140,000 is. I'm sure that I sound like some of your fathers, but hey, for me, it's just too much money to compromise in any way (especially on color).

inastrangeland

Get the car you want. Color choice is very personal, I like boring colors (chalk). That’s why I ordered mine. You need to hurry if you want a 2021. The allocations have been drastically reduced for MY2021.

C6Z06to911992

Well said, I’m on the same train, so to speak. I’ve looked at many lot cars online, some come close, but for my build at the price point I’ve reached, I am fully willing to wait for my (ordered exactly as I want) 21 to arrive...whenever it arrives.

I too have worked hard for over 40 years to attain my dream car, this is in no way trivial, it is not just a middling 911 to transport myself from A to B, then park next to my super cars at the end of the day. I’ve pined for a 911 since the early eighties, though never remotely close to being affordable, this will be my first...at last.

I’m probably (most likely) an exception to the net worth spectrum on this forum. I’m okay with that, I’m just an average middle class, skilled blue collar worker, now divorced, looking forward to retirement in eight months...my 21 Carrera S will be my “I survived a divorce/retirement gift” to myself.

I know, all of this is far and away too much information, and I apologize, but my point (finally) is for this kind of coin, get exactly what you want, don’t settle for less than what you truly desire, I know I’m not, I’ve waited a long time...it’ll be worth waiting a little longer.

Lastly, asking our opinions will run a wide gamut that is ultimately worthless, it’s your decision, yours and yours only.

hinckley

Right. Ultimately, it's a matter of personal values and mine are not necessarily better or worse than anyone else's. But the OP asked!

Ya, old guy talking here again and I'm just not buying that. I could argue that there'll be a lot fewer people buying $140k cars over the next couple of years (how's your retirement account looking?). There'll always be a car to buy. Always.

Brad911

I think it’s equipped tastefully for both enjoyment and resale.

Pull the trigger.

tgcrun

I've purchased several ordered 911s, several used ones, and one new one off the lot. They were all great cars, and I've never regretted buying any of them. If you want the car now, and really like it, why not go for it. Life's short, and you can get a lot of driving in before an ordered one hits your driveway 6 months from now.

Thinc2

My wife gave me great advice when I was shopping. I was looking for a slightly used car, for quite a while. But I could never find the combination i wanted. Finally my wife said: "Just buy it new and get it exactly the way you want!".

Now I have a car that suits me perfectly.

Metalblond

Maybe the person asking about this car should ask your wife? ;-)

kwikit356

Why does nobody mention the sweet agony of waiting for your perfect 911? You build it, you order it, and then you wait. Then comes tension, excitement, anticipation, frustration, increasing excitement as the big day gets closer. Finally, you get to be a kid all over again, hardly able to contain yourself. You will remember when you first set eyes on it, approached it, opened the door and sat in it, absorbing it all, especially the smell of a brand new 911. And it's yours, all yours. It really does not matter how many other cars you've purchased over the years. On the other hand, we are all getting so used to quick, if not instant, gratification of our wants. So now, is waiting for something just a bummer? Right now I am torturing myself trying to put off ordering a new 992. I'm waiting for the GTS, or maybe it's the T this time. I need to hold off as long as I can, because I think this may very well be the last 911 I ever buy. Will it be white, chalk, silver, black, one of the blues? Don't really know yet. My first Porsche, back in 1970, was Irish Green. Maybe my last one will be green too. I really like that Python Green.

rk-d

It's true that the process is part of the mystique. Building a car is always more special. Instant gratification is fun, but I've always felt a bit more of a connection to cars I actually had built.

Incidentally, that's even more so when you are building a GT car and half the battle is getting the allocation in the first place.

Metalblond

This will be my first ordered car (I fell in love with a Cayman and then a 991.2 on the lot, bought them both at different points, but decided to go for something really "my own" this time ) so I get what you are saying. It's totally masochistic though...the torture of the wait. I can understand someone doing this (I am!) but I can also understand someone not- especially post coronavirus- and adding all that stress along and wondering if we ever will get our cars. I think if someone is asking a message board would they do this instead of waiting, then they may really be ready for compromise? Don't know....

markchristenson

Such a hard decision, at least it would be for me.

I’m waiting, and those who have read my other post will be aware that something has happened to my order and I’m in limbo. There is part of me that “wants A car” and so I look for inventory at dealers, look at slightly used cars, etc., thinking that “I can get it now, start enjoying it sooner, maybe get a better financial deal, etc.” However, there is also part of me that “wants THIS car”, so I try to be patient, remind myself that things work out how they’re meant, and if I get what I’ve ordered I will be that much more stoked every time I walk into the garage.

Enjoyment, for me, is at least partially based on time. In other words, getting a car sooner allows me to start enjoying it sooner. That may sound stupid, but I really enjoy driving, and there is a lot of utility (for me) in getting A car sooner.

But there is also getting that “perfect” (for me) vehicle. When I got in to motorcycles years ago I was shopping for A bike, but eventually bought THE bike (again, for me at that time) and while I would have gotten some more riding in if I purchased A bike, I was always thrilled each and every time I swung a leg over THE bike. Heck, I had that bike for over a decade and loved it even as I watched it ridden away by its new owner. Which probably would not have been the case if I had purchased A bike.

Obviously you know you, and your wife knows you, and whichever side suits *you* will be right, but make sure you know what *you* really want more. If it’s utility, then pull the trigger. If it’s having that perfect car, then you need to wait :-)

Good luck!

JCWLS3

Fellas, your replies as usual are truly helpful -- right down the line, from folks who basically say, "Why are you asking this question? It's entirely personal," to "BUY THIS CAR IMMEDIATELY!" Really. My wife and I enjoyed reading your opinions.

A few folks asked if this was our first 911. Yep. Not our first Porsche, though. We special-ordered my wife's 2019 Cayenne Turbo and waited EIGHTEEN AGONIZING MONTHS to complete that process and take delivery of the car. The day she took delivery, configured exactly the way she wanted it, was one of the most exciting and fulfilling days of our lives, outside of family events. So I get people who post about how fulfilling it can be to special-order. However, there were days about 75 percent through that process when I thought she was gonna go goofy – permanently.

I think it's safe to say my patience has eroded a little re: my 992. I posted another thread about a 7MT Carrera S lot car recently that I was considering. We passed on that one because it ticked a few too many option boxes for us, and some were just flat wrong for us. It was pretty easy to walk. But this car’s a little different. It doesn't have any options we don't want, and only lacks a few that we do, none of which are performance related (I worded badly in my OP about the lack of black PSE -- I meant to say it has PSE, but silver tips, and we prefer the black. Easy to remedy, right. BBQ rattle-can paint, anybody?). The color options are not our first choice, but they're not far down the line, either. It's not like I'm considering Lava Orange with Bordeaux Red / Black interior with Speed Blue deviated stitching, and trying to talk myself into buying it just because I don't want to wait. Silver on black is classy on a 911, we think. A little boring, yes, but we're older people in our late 40s / early 50s, and showing up in a brightly colored 911 with a wing on the back would raise even more eyebrows than already happens when the Cayenne Turbo goes to work.

The guts of what I was after in asking your opinions was whether the relatively heavy discount on a car that we'd both be happy with long-term is worth removing the (sometimes) fun of special-ordering and paying more later – probably much later – to get exactly what we want. Yeah, that's totally personal in every way -- of course it is. But this overall deal is good. Really good, I think.

Here's where we're at. The dealer is willing to offer the high end of KBB wholesale for our trade, which is about 20 percent more than the other local dealer tossed out regarding that 7MT C2S. That dude did his best to play both sides of the fence, blaming the pandemic on the one hand for a ****ty final trade offer while telling us the 7MT was in such demand that he couldn’t discount much. (FYI, for trade expectations I take Edmunds and KBB wholesale and aim for an average of the average. We’re being offered peak of the peak on this new deal.)

Another thing he's offered to do is swap out the red taillights / third brake-light for clears for labor cost only -- that was one of the options on our build that we love (we optioned clears on my wife's Turbo). He's apparently got another customer who just took delivery of a lot-baby 992 with clears, and that guy is not a fan. So here I come, doing a little whiny dance about how the car I ran across didn't have clears, and this falls into place. Eerie. Almost seems like it's meant to be...

Some of the other things, like blacking out the "911 Carrera S" logo on the back, he's offering to take care of at cost. The guy is fantastic, and really working hard to make this sale. Frankly, he's about 500 percent more responsive and helpful than our new SA at our current dealership (last guy we had was GREAT. So of course they laid him off the first week of the shutdowns. That left a sour taste in our mouths).

So, where we're at is this. He's getting a final price together for me (I asked him to price PPF on bumper / fenders / side mirrors). He'll probably have it tomorrow or Tuesday. My wife and I are getting pretty damned excited. We figure that between the increased valuation our trade (about seven grand); the larger discount on this C2S relative to our 2021 allocation deal (another four grand); and the savings on the clear taillights, we'll save enough money to jump from base to S basically for free.

I know nobody buys a Porsche because it's a screaming financial deal. Quite the opposite. We lay down OUTRAGEOUS amounts of money for vehicles with the Porsche name because we've viscerally tied ourselves to how they drive, and how they look. There's not a single person in our family who doesn't secretly (or even outwardly) think we're stupid for owning a 550-horsepower, $150K SUV. The day they get a whiff that we dropped another $130K on a 911, they'll probably show up with dunce caps for us. That's fine.

This particular car began speaking to me the first time I saw it online because of its build. Now, because of the financial parameters of the offering in this market, it's starting to shout at me. "Take me home!" is what I'm hearing. And I'm smiling more every day at the thought of that bad little silver bitch sitting in our garage.

We're gonna move on the car if the SA's promised deal comes through. But if there's any backtracking at all, we've decided to walk. But I don't think there will be. I couldn't be more impressed with this SA so far.

I'll post later this week with the news, one way or another. Thanks again, fellas!

PS - C6Z06to911992, I enjoyed reading your post. I think you'd be surprised about the number of people here who aren't pulling down $500K a year as corporate attorneys. My wife and I are regular white-collar drones with jobs that are nothing special. However, we've been at the same jobs with the same organizations for nearly 50 years between us (geez, that makes us sound old when I read that). We've been financially conservative during the 31 years we've been together, socking away money and living beneath our means our whole lives. We have zero debt, with a government pension locked in and money / very conservative investments in the bank. I love to read about regular folks who are able to reach out and buy these stupidly expensive but awesome cars because of good work and sound financial planning.

A few years ago another Rennlister posted his standard response to people who asked him, also a regular guy, how he afforded his brand-new 911: "Thirty years of hard work,” he’d reply, deadpan, then change the subject. Loved it! We use it regularly ourselves.