Ajs76

Hi Guys,

I'm new to the forum and I've spent the last week just running searches on things like "maintenance", "depreciation", "993 vs. 996" and I think I have a decent handle on a lot of the differences.

To be honest with you, I never thought I'd be in a position to pick up a 996 TT for another 10 years, but then I saw the current prices and really had to reconsider. So, my search will probably officially begin sometime in 2011. I just wanted to be well versed so when I'm ready to the pull the trigger, I can do so feeling confident that I know about the product.

The one thing that really got me thinking was all the 993 guys claiming their cars aren't going to depreciate and yada yada, but they clearly have. Interestingly, their prices aren't too different than the 996 TT prices probably due to availability and their more "classic" nature.

All that said, I'm probably a 996 guy.

So after all that rambling, my real question, what is the rough price floor on these cars. I realize most non-classics won't just stop depreciating, but there is a point where that # significantly slows. For instance, I have an 11 year old M3 and I doubt it'll ever go too much lower than 9-10k. It's sat around that mark for awhile.

I have to imagine that with all these 40k examples I'm seeing for 996s and 993's, are we approaching the "floor". I'm really wondering if in 5 years we're going to be seeing prices around 30k or will it be 20k. I'm guessing it's closer to 30, but who knows. What are you thoughts?

I'm willing to deal with a 10-20k hit either way because I tend to keep cars for a long time, but just curious what you guys as experts would think.

Great forum and I really appreciate all your expertise.

Receiver

On the 993 turbos, I'm guessing the floor is around $40k to $45k. On the 996's it's more of a crapshoot. My uneducated guess is $30k but I don't make any money by being a fortune teller.

Durango Kid

Since you asked on the 996 board, I will offer my opinion on that model.

Ultimately the value is going to depend on the mileage, condition and service history.

I could definitely see a 100k plus mileage poorly maintained example dropping into the low to mid 20s over the next year or 2.

I suspect good examples (regardless of the mileage) to never sell below $30k, at least not anytime over the next 2 -3 years.

You never imagined you could buy one 10 years early, buy it now and take those 10 years as a gift!

My advice would to buy the best example you can find and drive it until it is worth nothing to no one.

cannon1000

+1000

03911TT

I may be in the minority, but I believe the current economic conditions (among a few other things) have put significant downward price pressure on our Porsche's specifically due to the "expensive, not practical, man-toy" tag that these cars have with people who have never owned one. I personally believe that our Porsches (more specifically 996's) are outstanding used car values and I would expect depreciation to lessen in coming years due to the ownership opportunities being offered for new buyers entering the Pcar franchise. You can currently purchase a low mileage 00-02 996 for about what you would pay for a new loaded Camry, and frankly I don't understand why more folks don't take advantage of that fact!!!
Then again, I may be crazy, my wife thinks so since I have two of these Pcar beauties...

Ajs76

That's what drew me here. I see lots of guys leasing 40k cars they can't afford (side rant) or buying 30k decked out family sedans. I'm planning on driving about 5k miles a year and it sounds like maintenance is pretty reasonable (as long I have a slush fund for random things like spoiler hydraulics or whatever).

I asked the price floor question because I'm not expecting to put a ton of miles on it, so it would be nice if the majority of the deprecation was already suffered (which I strongly suspect it has been).

Appreciate the insight guys!

I'm going to keep skulking around and hope to join your ranks as soon as I can.

Durango Kid

Exactly! When I started looking at new car prices to replace an expiring lease, it just didn't make since to go that route again. Neighbors of mine bought the new Grand Cherokee and an Enclave, both paid more than I paid for my Turbo. They will take a bath upon resale, much more than I will.

I bought mine as a Daily Driver. I have put over 5K miles in 10 weeks! Runs like a champ and puts a smile on my face every day.

I looked for 9 months before I pulled the trigger. Don't wait, life's too short to drive boring cars!

Ahmet

Your comments on the M3 were ironic, as I was just talking to somebody about them who said that he thinks they'd taken a serious hit the last year or two. I've owned several M3s, and I agree, the only ones not depreciating are the e30s...

Anyway, to the 996tt. I think it represents a great value, and I'm seriously considering jumping into one myself, however I do think they will continue to depreciate, but not heavily. I would expect them to remain above $30k for a decent example for some time to come yet. They're stout cars, and don't require a computer to decouple components, and are reasonably DIY friendly.

Ajs76

That's funny...I guess that I've had mine for so long that I didn't really notice or care. It's a 99 with 125k miles on it, so this is my workhorse car and in my mind, essentially at its salvage value/price floor (but I could be wrong).

It's probably different if you had one with sub 50k miles or something but my value on it has been fairly blah for awhile now.

Ultimately, I lost about 13-15k on depreciation in 7 years of ownership and 75k miles. Most bmw owners can't say that, so I'm hoping to duplicate the experience with the 911 TT.

I'm used to random things breaking on my M, so I'm hoping the 911 will be about the same with a 50% markup on cost of breakage.