tlark

I asked the question several weeks ago in regards to the 993tt and the depreciation of this model. While I may be buying in the near future I wanted to atleast be satisfied that a hopeful purchase would be a wise one too, not as a investment, but something I could enjoy with some confidence as to value. Curousity got the best of me and I started digging through this form and searched over 5000 threads at rough count. I will preface my results by saying that it would be diffucult to find precise numbers of depreciation due to amount of cars thats were produced as minimal as they were for NA in 96-97 respectively. Turbo S models were excluded and I searched back to 6-2001 with those that disclosed what they had paid for their cars both private party and retail. Whether those that disclosed on this forum site were truthful is always open to debate to take the info for what its worth. Also taken into consideration were some past Manheim Auction results.


96tt-18 samples sold with a low @$54,000 w/43k miles
high @$95,000 w/10kmiles *Highest seen

97tt 15 samples sold with a low @$64,000 w/36k miles
high@ $83,000 w/13k miles

Of the 15 (97tt) listed above, 6 sold @ Manhiem from $64 to $73k. All had mileage less than 40k.

Depreciation is based on a average between the high & low, however I felt after looking at the 96 model year that the low/high were somewhat more extreme examples that fell farther outside a normal trading range.

Avg sale price for (96tt) $71,000

Avg sale price for (97tt) $73,500

Also used was the average of what was reported to me and other research as to the MSRP of these models that ranged from $102,000 to $118,000 which reflected a median or $110,000 dollars.

1996 sales price $71,000/$110,000msrp is 64.5% or 35.5% depreciation for 8 yrs.

1997 sales price $73,500/$117,000msrp is 62.8% or 37.2% depreciation for 7 yrs.

(Don't know what price increases were between the 96-97 years which may effect %)

So I'm not thought to be pulling #'s out of my ****, some of the members that I noted during my search were: abalto,V-Bob,M-west,rknebel, Eric93tt,Opas,Eurocarnut,Seljan,AA993TT.


Now I'm even more confused !!!

REL44

And I had heard that a car that held 50% of its original value after 5 years was considered to be above average! At over 60% after 7/8 years, these cars must be exceptional. I wonder how they will fare after the release of the 997, and how that will compare to the value of the 996 tt.

adsc4s

Tom, you can get a low mileage garage queen and pay for it or a higher mileage car to drive. IMHO, the 993TT value may drop a little more but will eventually stabilize somewhat. To me, if my car drops to $40K, so what? It'll still be mine and I will still enjoy driving it, looking at it, washing it, modding it, etc.

Buy one and don't look back!

privates8

Tom,

To add one additional bit of info to your collection, you noted that there might have been a price adjustment from '96 to '97 and that was indeed the case. The base MSRP of the '96 was $98k and the base on the '97 was $105k .

Tour18

Great numbers session, Mr. Larkins. Makes me feel real good... Thanks.

I paid $49.9 for my '96 with 53K miles. At that price I can drive it, put K16/24's and PSS9's on it, and enjoy it. And man alive do I enjoy it...

Get one and you will too.

SLVR

Tom, since you are doing this the statistical way, did you try to find correlation between mileage and price? I think there is a point where mileage and condition/maint. history are more important than age.

My rule of thumb (for cars up to 50,000 miles) is 5,000 dollars off for every 10,000 miles more. I am wondering what your numbers look like?

EDIT: I said rule of thumb...not empiricallly proven

tlark

I didn't get that specific, however anyone can do a search and see that the less than 20k mileage cars from both years generally are listed by dealers in the $78 to $85k range. You can factor in whatever one thinks is best as far a what the dealers will eventually sell for. I've noticed 1 on ebay thats a 96 blk/blk that hasn't had a bite in 3 weeks and its right @20k mileage w/reserve @$65K?. Its in Colorado and I'm betting the location is a factor with it although I can't be sure. The #'s are all over the board as far as mileage over 20K with stuff you guys already know about, i.e. color/history etc.

My confusion is based on the the current 996tt models and pricing that is very close to low mileage 993's and wondering if some values are being held up artificially in some regards or is there a measure of collector status beginning here in select cars. For a guy like me that thinks 993, but see's close $ in the 996 its confusing. Conversly, I'm wondering if the bottom has happened in both models, but that is another story.

FYI-My NSX sold last week so add another to the list of those looking.

robroy72

Tom

I just made the choice of a 993 TT over a 996 TT. I could have had an 01 996TT for what I paid for the 993TT, albeit with a higher mileage, no question about that.

My deciding factors were.

1. More involved feel when driving the 993TT than the 996TT. It felt faster, and more enjoyable to drive, even though the 996TT was a far more comfortable car.

2. Preferred styling of the 993TT over the 996TT (both interior and exterior - the interior of the 993TT feels like a sports car to me, the 996TT feels like a Luxury car).

3. Residuals of the 993's in general, and even more so the 993TT, seem far healthier to me than the 996's. I'm puting this down to the fact that the 993 is a rarer vehicle than the 996, and the 996 having a Boxster-esque feel about it. Speek to any Porsche fanatic, they will refer to the 993 as the 'last of the real Porsches'.

These are just the ramblings of someone who went through the same decision making process. Something as simple as closing the door on a 993 and hearing a resounding, metallic thunk then closing the door on a 996 and hearing a tinny clunk can be the straw that breaks the camels back.

At the end of the day, you pays your money, you takes your choice. I went from a 993 coupe to a 996 cab and regretted it after about a month of ownership. I traded the 996 Cab in on the 993TT and I couldn't be happier.

Allan