quickxotica

Simple question: If you were in the market for a 997.2 S 6MT right now, what is the max you would pay for your “ideal” car? Meaning: perfect color, gearbox, options combination for you, low miles, no stories, etc.

I recognize this is subjective, but I’m curious. I’ve been looking for a while and seen a number of cars that are somewhat close to what I want but not exactly right. We all know it can cost a lot to add/change things post-purchase even if you do the work yourself. I’ve been down that road before. I wonder what you guys, as current owners, would be willing to pay for a car that ticks all your personal boxes, if you had to do it all again.

Before anyone asks, here is what I’m looking for: ’11-12 C2S manual in silver with black 4-way Sport Seats, Sport PASM, w/ LSD, PSE, heated seats, NO Sport Chrono, miles <50k. I’m agnostic on Bose, Navi, full leather, etc. but the aforementioned color, trans, seat options are must-haves. I've seen cars that get 4 out of 5 things right but are asking above-market (like, in the $70k's). I've begun to ask myself, how much should I be willing to spend when the perfect car pops up?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts….

DC911S

HenryPcar

A perfect 997.2 to me is condition, condition and condition....
I'm a maintenance freak and to be honest I do my own work because I don't even trust dealers. Quite often when I found a perfect car and after I'm done with it, it ended being in better condition than when I first got it. The key is not to be too hung up on mileage.. I've seen too many low mileage/bad upkeep cars looking great as garage queens and yet runs sub-par due to clueless owner that barely drove it. My point is a high-mileage well maintained car in perfect condition has stood the test of time and usage. Also you get a deal because everybody stay away from high-mileage as if its a plague.

Skyhawk172

That's a fact my 2009 Turbo Cabriolet Triptronic 5 speed had 67000 miles on it when i purchased it in November 2009 Basalt Black/ Black over tan interior full leather, new tires out the door for under 60000.00. I feel a higher mileage car is worth the miles if your on a budget. So far no issue but when i bought it i thought brakes would need to be replaced did that last week for 1250.00 new rotors , pads, hardware and sensors so now i know their condition.

Fined

interesting thread idea. I went through this exercise before purchasing my car. Referring back to the original post. If the cars with exactly what you want cost a certain amount.. thats not above market. That is market value. That's why they cost more. It's not some kind of weird conspiracy where perfectly (or nearly perfectly) optioned cars have higher price tags. If your perfect optioned Carrera S is way up in the 70s its more than likely a hint that you should buy a GTS.

That's the conclusion I came to and why I own a GTS. Getting all the options I wanted on a Carrera S would have been either too hard to find or priced at GTS price levels.


My perfect 997.2 is a GTS. It seemed like the car would be worth (value to me, not anyone else) about 60k... I watched the market for a long time and got in when the price got close to what I wanted to pay. Now the prices are bit higher.

dgjks6

$55k max.

speedracerf4i

I got my C4S about 3 years ago and here is the list of what I was looking for and what I ended up getting:

WHAT I WANTED / What I got after looking for 1 year
Model: C4S / C4S
Year: 997.2 / 2009 997.2
Color: Guards red / Black
Transmission: Manual / Manual
Mileage: Less than 50K miles / 14K Miles
Must have options: Sports Chrono, Full leather, Bose, Nav, iPod integration /All the above plus ventilated and heated seats, cornering headlights.
What I would have paid: $55K / $63.5K is what I end up paying in 2015.

pro1200

I'm in the same situation-I have a '07 C2S tip, Midnight Blue over Sea Blue and desperately want a 997.2. I have only owned blue cars since 1983 and this is extremely important to me. If I found any thing close to my wants I would pay. There is a '11 Night Blue C2S PDK CPO coupe on the market at $69,500 and I'm close to moving on it even though this is a high price for an '11. There just aren't many 997.2s in the market.

quickxotica

Interesting story. Thank you. Correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like you don't regret paying the extra $8.5k to get exactly the car you wanted? Right? If you had instead compromised year/options/etc in order to stay within your price target, do you think you would now be happier now? Or would you be kicking yourself for being stuck with the "wrong" 911 (for you), constantly searching for what you really wanted in the first place?

PS: Yes, for the forum-psychologists among you, this thread is a classic pre-rationalization for a financially irrational act. I get it. I know it. But somehow I'm still not immune!! LOL.

dawgcatching

Almost nothing right now, at least in a manual!

dawgcatching

Tough question: that build is not a $70k plus build, in terms of what you could sell it for. It depends, and only you can answer that question. If you are someone that has plenty of cash, no intention to ever sell it, no reason to ever sell it, and it doesn't bother you if your situation changes down the line, then pay whatever you feel comfortable paying. Otherwise, don't pay more than you can sell it for the next week to someone else. If nobody wants it at the price you paid, and it doesn't mean more to you than the next guy, then you overpaid. Don't sweat LSD/Sport PASM: any car can get upgraded LSD and suspension: that isn't something a stock car needs to have as a "factory" option, and it limits your choices. Sport seats also can be added easily enough; they always come up for sale here. Buy them, pull them when you sell the car. Getting rid of those "must haves" opens up a lot of options. One or 2 nice 6MT 997 models come up for sale here each month; just be patient.

Another option is to wrap the car in your preferred color, especially if you get a deal, say, on a black car that you don't love.

Manual 997 models just don't come up for sale as often these days. 2 years ago, when I started looking, there were a couple GTS' here for sale at reasonable prices that took a month plus to sell. Now, we rarely see a 997 manual in any trim.

A reasonable price for the car you are looking for is $55k higher mileage, $63k lower mileage.

Find someone willing to trade one into a dealer, and offer to split the difference between trade and retail value.

dawgcatching

I would kick myself for overpaying vs not having the "right" car, personally. I feel blessed to own ANY 911. Some people are just wired a certain way: I know multiple people who really get eaten up by spending $10 or $15 on lunch, yet are comfortably worth 8 figures. Others custom order exactly what they want, price and future resale be damned, and could care less. As you noted, this has more to do with psychology than the "right" way to do something.

stankiyota

I am new to this board and this is my first post.

Since I had a very recent purchase experience I thought I would share with you. I live in Southern California, had been watching and waiting for 6+ months a relatively low mileage 997.2 6MT cabriolet at around $60K within 500 miles of where I live in Orange County, and this car was by far the best one I found even if it was the priciest.

For $59,500 this is what I purchased in December 2017...

...2009 C2S Cabriolet with 6MT and 24,000 miles in Meteor Gray
...Black interior with Power Comfort Seats
...LSD and Sport Chrono
...Navigation, Bose audio, Bluetooth , universal audio and some other stuff
...the dealer had replaced roof headliner, replaced 1 wheel liner, 4 new tires, completed the 4 year service including new spark plugs, brake fluid, alignment, oil change, replaced all filters and had all service records (meticulously maintained)

The only thing I might have done differently is I wanted Sirius XM and a non-gray, non-black color but as you know, sometimes you cannot choose based on availability.

I love everything about the car, she is treated like a princess (the wife is the queen!).

My two major investments for the car are 1) installation of Fabspeed maxflo exhaust, cold air intake and x-pipe and 2) application of a Ceramic Pro Gold coating (big PCA discount available if you do this).

All in all very happy with my $65K investment for all of this and the car is everything I always believed it would be.

Hope this helps.

WhipE350

I agree with DC911S. That build isn't necessarily an expensive one. I'm not sure anyone selling that or at least a dealer would look at it and say "Hey it is the only one in the country". I'm not criticizing your choice either . I think in your case this is more about if you find that car how much will you pay. The question for the rest of us would be a 2011 or 12 C2S with < 50k miles. For me maybe $50 or $55K, but now I'm getting close enough to a higher mileage GTS.

sandwedge

You're right, this is a subjective topic. "Above market" comes up all the time but somehow a lot of these above market priced cars still sell. As others have said, not a lot of 997.2 inventory out there so it comes down to the old supply and demand formula. The 991 is a bit controversial with a styling that looks like it's borrowed some from the Panamera, electric steering and more so many 997.2 owners (myself included) who have upgraded to new models over the years are instead holding on to what we've got. I suspect others looking for their first 911 may be turned off by the 991 for the same reasons and look instead for the previous model year.

I've put more than 20K miles on my current GTS since I bought it and could sell it in today's market for close to what I paid for it 3 years ago. Lastly, the build you're looking for (C2S with LSD and no sport chrono) will take a while to find. I don't recall ever seeing one in that configuration.