docwyte

So in 2010 I passed on a 996 gt3 for $45k. With euro gt3 seats, tarrett toe arms, rollbar and harnesses. Yes, I regret it. A lot. Especially since it's worth ~$75k now.

So question is, is it reasonable to expect values to continue on the upward trend for the next 5 years? Maybe not to the same degree but still up?

It'd be a bit of a stretch to get one now but if I wait and values continue to go up I definitely won't be able to afford one....

Thoughts?

tgavem

Hard to tell...... The 996 GT2 is around $130 now, vs a 997 GT2 is around $200 (was $130 4 years ago)

The 996 GT3 was produced in a small number (950+250-2004/2005) and many have been crashed. That should increase price, however since the car is such a track focused car, may not see the same increase as the GT2 or Turbos. Also, not as fast as the 997 and does not have ESC or TC which makes the 997 a safer car. Only a few people will appreciate the 996 for not having ESC/TC.
Look at the Carrera GT, prices are peaked and are now coming back down.

AudiOn19s

Winter 2010-11 was the bottom of the market. I had been tracking them for 2 years waiting to jump in and finally took the plunge in May 2011 after they had already started on the upward trend.

I hate to speculate on what the market will do...as just when you think you've got it figured out things will go sideways.

My gut says the bone stock, low mile examples will be tucked away and continue to go up. Those of us using ours will see small growth but I think the last 12 months of the market have been pretty telling. You need to find someone who absolutely has to have a 996 GT3 as most people are cross shopping them with GT4's and choosing the newer car time and time again.

There were a dozen GT4's at the last track day I did this year....I remember when that used to be the count of GT3's we would see.

Still waiting for anyone in a GT4 to outrun my old girl though

docwyte

If you bought a 911 SC or Carrera in the last 15 years you wouldn't have lost money on it. Until recently you may not have made a ton but you didn't lose any.

Obviously back in 2010 that was the bottom, what I'm wondering is if good, but driver GT3's will be like the SC/Carrera's in the past. Maybe not appreciating much but also not dropping.

I'm not looking at garage queens, the one I'm thinking about has 55k miles and a Cervelli built motor. So it's not a peak value car to begin with....

Lots of GT4's near me too, although they're quite a bit more than a 996 GT3. I'd be surprised if people were cross shopping them.

ScottArizona

6-3's are way less common than sc's though! My take is that whether these cars go up or down in value (and by how much), is going to depend primarily on how the overall economy performs. At the end of the day, these are "toy cars" and as we all know, when the general economy takes a dump, so does the market for exotic/toy/classic cars. I do agree that if economic conditions remain relatively strong, these cars will continue to go up or at least hold their value since there were so few of them produced, even fewer that have not been crashed, bubbled wrapped, or devoted to primarily track use. there have generally been around 6-8 for sale nationally on autotrader/ebay/cars.com for the past 6 months or so, and that ain't many! Literally hundreds of gt4's for sale at present in contrast.

(Op: love the e36 motor pic! Here is mine!)

AudiOn19s

I don't want to derail this topic, but I closely know 3 people who sold 996 GT3's last year and they all had several potential buyers who went with GT4's instead of 996 GT3 and all of the sales took quite some time. Our old girls are scaring some track folk away and the allure of the newer warrantied car is worth the extra spend to many in the market.

If the budget is $70k or less and it's strict I think we'd all agree here there is no other car to be looking at from the Porsche lineup.

Gofishracing

Our cars are aging and are mid pack in performance now but tops in driver feed back. Future buyers are not going to know about the world without TC & stability management. Making potential buyer pool smaller perhaps. I can't afford the upgrade but every time I drive the 996 GT3 I'm reminded how rewarding it is. I have thought of selling but just can't. What would I replace it with? Andy- GT4's easily pass me it seems.

ScottArizona

Interesting take. I bet those sellers were selling well-sorted "track cars." That is only a segment of the market though. Based on my observations, there are still a good many folks out there that keep their cars relatively street-biased and just enjoy having an analog, fast, high revving reliable and rare/unique p-car. That's me exactly. I just love they way they feel, even on the street. For that reason, I'm not plopping down 30k more for a gt4, and even if the price delta were smaller, I still think I'd prefer my gt3...just a totally different character that is almost classic air-cooled in nature, charisma, and "cool factor" (with the added plus of being a lot faster and more modern).

mooty

it will keep going up to parity with 7.1 and 7.2 GT3 non RS. just watch.

950+250 units. is that USA, north america or worldwide numbers?

996gt3 is not an easy car to drive and many ppl know that so after all the talk, dance and farting. buyers go buy something less manly. u think i am joking. i am not.

many 6GT3 are beat to hell, so dont sell
some are modded to wazoo (i had two like like that, no int AT ALL, it's lighter and more barren than cup car), they are hard sell
the really nice ones are almost 6 figures, dont sell.
but there are cars that sell...

yes, aging and mid pack... are u talking about the car or my wife?
to me it's love and hate relationship, i am talking about the car... well and my wife too. i have over 10 6gt3, actually maybe 15. i keep buying and selling bc i love how it drives but to my eye, it's fugly... kate moss skinny... well, i bought another...

7gt is easy sell
6gt , you either understand it or you dont. it's an acquired taste. like drinking beer, most smell like urine to me.

Gofishracing

you have the garage space as well !!!

serickson

I have my GT3 to enjoy. It was never purchased as an investment. I never got any pleasure driving my GT3 on the street. That is why I took a perfect car and stripped it for Club Racing.

docwyte

This would be replacing my E36 M3 as my track/street car. The M3 is a great track car, balanced, easy to drive and work on and cheap to maintain.

I also don't have that much into it $$ wise so if the worst happens, it's not a huge deal.

The GT3 is everything the M3 isn't. That's both good and bad. I've always wanted a 911 tho and feel like I'm seeing the ship begin to sail away..

997rs4.0

Always that itch.

The e36 is a great car. So is the 996gt3. IMO they both need some mods to be great on track. And the mods make them worse on street. Can't win them all.

Hard to predict the future values of cars. I have a heavily modded 996gt3. It's my toy.

I think it will be hard to get into sports cars in today's market and not loose money over the next 5 years. We have been lucky to play that game for 5-6 years now.
I would calculate on a more normal depreciation curve for the next 5 years.

Let's say you buy a $65k car today and sell it for $45 in 3-4 years time, that's still a lot of smiles/dollar!

mmuller

Interesting perspectives. Let me offer some other thoughts.

Since opening my shop a year ago I have seen several things take place in respect to 6GT3's. First is the desire amoung many who are tracking 997 GT3's to take them off the track and either park them or sell them as they feel they are worth to much money to continue to track them. However, the opposite seems to be true with 6GT3's (more on this below)

Second is the proliferation of GT4's and like Andy, know a few GT4 owners who came from 6GT3's. Interestingly a few of these would like to move on from the GT4 and go back to a 6GT3. I have yet to find a GT4 I could not catch, pass and pull away from. Even massaged ones. Admittedly, my car isn't close to stock these days, but it will hold its own, even against 991 GT3's/RS's and Cups. For no where near the money of any of those cars.

Third is the proliferation of 6GT3 based track cars. There is 5 in my shop right now, all for the track. 2 of those belong to drivers who came from 997/991 based cars. They both realized they needed core basic skills to go faster and the more modern cars couldn't provide that.

These points lead me to believe that the current 6GT3 value is seen within the market as a 'bargain'. A bargain would suggest their is room for movement up. The question is how much. This I would tend to agree with Mooty. It will follow the trajectory of the newer models.

To me, looks are subjective. 964's where considered ugly and not keeping within the design spirit. In time, 996's will loose the stigma in the looks department.

What I tell my clients when they ask if the time is right from a value perspective and investment potential is that they are looking at it wrong. The 6GT3 is about enjoying the experience of such a raw and connected car that very few other cars can really provide, trying to put a $ number on that is just wrong. If your not up for having a car teach you about driving, scaring you occasionally, ride rough, be a terrible street car, be a telepathic extension of yourself on track and overall the closet a car ever came to touching your soul, move along, nothing to see here. If you can afford it and the vehicle I described above is what you seek, there never is a better time than now to make a purchase.

PorscheG96

I'm pretty much in agreement with everyone here. What I realized about my 996 GT3 is that it's got one hell of an engine in stock form but that's about it. The styling is very controversial and if the headlights remained unpopular after the GT1's victory at Le Mans 1998 then they'll never be in style -- ever. In order to get the most out of the GT3, you need to heavily modify the suspension and alignment or it's just an understeering pig. Once you've dumped $5-10k into setup so that the car is driving kick-*** you realize it has become a totally useless street car, but it still won't beat newer, faster GT3's so you start stripping weight out and before you know it you think 'shoulda bought a cup car!'