There was a big transition at the factory when the water cooled platform was designed-yes, both platforms were manufactured concurrently towards the end but counter to what you are saying, the manufacturing techniques in the 993 involved an incredible amount of hand work-there is no comparison. We are talking hand fitting/hammering panels, manually checking gaps with feeler gauges, etc-

Check out this video- scroll down to the 993 videos and choose the "993 - The Latest Evolution" video.

http://coochas.com/porsche/911vids.html

 

I love my 996, but I'd never say it was better looking than a 993 or 964. I ALWAYS stop to look at a nice air cooled example. If I wasn't married I'd have both. If you don't care about modern day performance, but like the exclusivity, retro fun on a Sunday drive experience, go with an older 911, especially if you like to wrench. But if you have to have AC that cools, heat that heats, stereo that you can hear, adjustable seats with memory for real comfort, real small of the back acceleration, etc, etc, the 996, esp '02 to '04 is THE sports car bargain out there today. In podunk Richmond VA, 996s are still pretty rare to see, 993s much rarer...but you trip over M3s all day here. It REALLY does depend on where you live and what you wan tthe car for.

 

Could not have said it better myself. My only addition is that I don't fit very well in a 993 and I really found the right P-car for me....comfort seats.

On a related note, the number of 98 -02 Boxsters I am seeing on the road has risen considerably. hell, there are 3 in my office parking lot that weren't there 2 months ago.

 

I will sell my perfect Artic Silver 1999 with 33k miles to the right buyer. (it will not be sold in the Teens). No RMS and No IMS issues ever, all books and records and maintained only by Porsche. It is modded and I have all the original parts.
time to step up to a GT3....

 

The power advantage started with the 4-valve per cylinder design, and the 4-cam 996 engine gave more design flexibility than the 2-cam air cooled engine, ultimately leading to variable valve timing. You can't do that with air cooled heads, because there is not enough square area of fins left to cool the heads by the time you block off the airflow with an extra camshaft and double the number of valves. What you can do with 2-valves per cylinder is run twin-plug. But the 4 valves are smaller, lighter, and quicker than the 2 valves. Less reciprocating mass means more power and better emissions. And VarioCam meant further efficiencies that just were not possible before. The air cooled engine had separate cylinders, while the water cooled engine has a block of three cylinders. They cited increased thermal stability, and in practice the engine can be run a little bit leaner than the air cooled motor. That is where you pick up reduced emissions and maybe a little bit of power. Porsche considered using oil instead of water for the cooling, but found that water was a better conducter of heat, and cost less power to pump around. The oil to water heat exchanger on the engine, and later on the transmission, is very small, compact and efficient. This is because it is in the pressure side of the system, instead of the scavenge side where it had been for 40 years on the 911. On the scavenge side you have lots of air and foamy oil. On the pressure side you have just oil, under pressure. As far as weight, it doesn't work that way. The water cooling system is heavier. The radiator itself is light, but there are two or three of them depending on model & options. And the system capacity is between 20 and 30 liters, hardly a weight savings. For more thorough answers you will need to go to back issues of Panorama magazine. The introduction of the Boxster and 996 were written up well, and should provide the rest of the framework you are looking for.

Joel Reiser - PCA WebSite

 

When I was first looking at 911's, I was thinking 993. I did the research, and discovered that the newer, lower-mile 996's were the same, or even cheaper cost-wise, and way ahead performance and comfort wise. No brainer for me! I drove a 993. It was loud, had a stiff clutch, the A/C was terrible, and driving on the local roads was a harsh experience. Sure the door closed like a bank vault. So what? I didn't want a future collectible. I wanted a fast car that was comfortable and fun to drive. I never looked back after buying my 996!

Will I sell it for $20k? Nope!

 

On the issue of weight, my recollection is that the 996 is 50 kg lighter than the 993.

 

Yes, I see a ton more Boxsters now than ever. They went from Sunday fun cars for the well to do, to almost DDs for the common sports car man, sort of what I imagine the 996 is in SoCal.

 

The idea that the 993 is a better quality car because they use more screws to attach a fender liner, have to beat the body panels into position...etc, is preposterous. Working as a car designer for a major OEM for 12yrs and counting I can tell you the opposite is probably true. The 993 is a beautiful car no doubt, but was incredibly old in R&D years when made, being based on a car developed in the early 1960's. Production methods improve with time, becoming higher quality and more efficient. Using 12 screws to attach a part that can be just as robustly secured with 2 clips is stupid.
It sounds like to me all the obvious handwork of putting together a 993 or older 911 were countermeasures introduced to overcome the limitations of such an old vehicle platform.
Hand made is an overused cliche in describing manufacturing differences. Go to a Toyota factory and watch them "hand build" a Corrolla. People that say 993's are hand built and 996's are not are profoundly ignorant of automobile manufacturing techniques.
I test drove a 993 before I bought my 996. 993's are charming boutique cars. 996's are modern cars that you can drive every day and are designed for modern service.
The bank vault door feel of a 993 is due to the framed window glass door construction, the 996 does not have this. Most cars that do not have framed glass suffer the crappy door close feeling when the window is down.
The interior quality of my car with the full leather option is better than any 993 I've ever sat in.

 

Using seven buttons to hold your shirt front closed when a few pieces of velcro can do the job is stupid.

Using fieldstone to build a house when cement blocks will do the job is stupid.

Many people find value and beauty in anachronistic and not very efficient things. Isn't that first semester stuff at design school?

 

Nobody wants anachronistic engineering on a new car.

Nobody wants old fashioned safety on a new car. Progress is inevitable. New cars are almost, without fail, always better than old cars.

You see the shirt buttons. You don't see the screws. I'm not sure anyone builds a house out of fieldstone these cays or even cement blocks for that matter. People generally find value in visual anachronisms (like an analog clock) not in manufacturing.

I own several hand sewn shirts. Are they better made that machine sewn shirts? No. It's for fun. I also don't have to worry about airbag performance on my shirt, or crash energy absorption.

First semester at design school was about learning to draw a car. It was a nightmare. Although I fear I am hijacking this thread.....

 

I wonder if some of the extensive customization from the factory hurts resale values.

You can have 2 cars side by side that look almost identical to the casual/uniformed observer, but be more than $15-20k difference in purchase price. For a first time buyer, if the cars look about the same, why pay extra? Further, you start pressuring the higher cost one to be more competitive with the lower one. It seems as if this would depress the prices of the more heavily optioned cars.

When I saw the original low value resales for the 996's, they tended to be minimally optioned cars. Due to financial pressures and because many enthusiasts had moved on to 997's or backward in model years -- the 996's suffered from being recent -- but not unique. Thus, the people who tended to buy them were first-time-buyers that had wanted a Porsche, but were looking for a good deal more than specific features/options.

Not sure how long or if ever it will take for 996 values to recover.

When I was driving 911's in the early 70's -- the 1966 911's were 'dogs' as they weren't the first year, but still didn't have the refinement of later years. Now they go for a pretty good price. Not sure I want to wait that long for my car's value to recover.

On the other hand...... While I find the new cars to be tempting, my car is so close to them in capability, I would have to spend a LOT of money to gain very little practical value. It's a lot of money to feed an ego. So, will just keep driving mine. Heck, even a replacement engine is dramatically less expensive than buying a new car (especially when you factor in depreciation) if the rest of the car is in good condition.

 

you are right in a sense that the amount of handbuilt work put into the two are probably no different, but i was referring more toward how in perceived handbuilt craftmanshift more attention to detail was placed. Similar to how Mercedes tries to portray AMG models as "handbuilt" by an AMG tech.

in reality, this is all smoke the companies try to put in our minds, but definitely when Porsche went for mass production and larger appeal to bigger population they were willing to give up this perception they want to put in our minds hence the minor details that we feel are essential to being a true porsche were taken out for the larger population who would care less about these things. Things like doors that have that click and air cooled engines that sound like no other.

Hence the collector value of resale are lost, and more porsches were sold to people who leased them, only for the market to be flooded with more porsches going to the supply & demand theory mentioned in several posts. Everything is based off #1 perception in this world, then #2 supply and demand based off #1.

You can sell someone a painting for $1mm when it is made of the same paint and canvas as a $10 painting made by someone less perceived as a good artist. There could be only one painting made by me that someone would only pay $10 but yet, others would pay $1mm+ for a Picasso painting.

Some people learned this yesterday with RIMM stock, where one day there was a group of people who believed it is worth $85, and suddenly the next day it was worth $15 less.

 

I went to design school as well. I don't know how old you are but build quality will eventually win the day with regards to the longevity of the product and the brand. Let's see 5 or 6 years from now what will stand the test of time-my air cooled version with absolutely no mechanical faults in 9 years of ownership or the more modern platform. Same goes with the Porsche marque itself. This has nothing to do with "modern technology" or design. It has a lot to do with choosing efficiency over quality. To your point, Toyotas are certainly more efficiently built than my 993. Fine by me. Two clips will do the job of 12 screws until the 2 clips need replacing after 5 years. I'll prefer to tighten the 12 screws every 10-thanks-

 

Thing is...those older 911's are like bank vaults, they are! A 993 will out live you, that's for sure... Newer Porsche, not the same...not even close. That being said, I preffer 996's to older 911's as daily drivers. The are just more comfortable.. I say, buy the 993 to collect(keep forever).. Buy the 996 for daily driving.

My 2 cents, from having and working on multiple Porsches over the last 18 years...