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I know no one knows but.....I listen to a podcast about Porsche’s and the latest was about the pricing on 996s increasing over the last year. He interestingly speculates these will be the next to increase like the air cooled and like in the high end watch market, something unique and different like the egg headlights will actually make them more sought after...
I’ve seen it happening a bit only on the c4s or turbo models but just ran a quick search and it seems the pricing is relatively flat or even down a bit from last year. Magnus Walker bought a couple 996s (base and gt3), let’s see if that spotlight drives the market a bit..
I don’t think there is a lower cost or higher value prop than the 996 right now, but say they do increase in the next 12-24 mos, what would happen to the 997 values?
From my research the 997 actually bottomed out around the same time as the 996. The only reason the 996 is on the way up is the value proposition currently and IMO will never be a collectible compared to 993 or 997. There are many factors that are in play but namely the 996 just didn't age as well as other 911s. I will agree on the price though - late last year you could get a low 100k mile car for 10k and those are sitting around 13-16k now.
The 996TT will continue to hold value too imo but honestly a 997 is a better investment (again in my opinion).
E: For context, I drove my base 997.2 to test drive a 996TT in the same price range. Outside of straight line acceleration my 997 outweighed the 996 in every measurable way for me and was extremely happy with my drive home in the base.
Unless it's a rare 996 model like the GT2 or Turbo, I am not convinced that the 996 is on the rise to the level of a 993. Nothing against the 996, I quite like the driving dynamics, and when I first started looking into these cars they are very attractive to a first time buyer.
It is kind of interesting that, I remember the 964 considered being ugly and not desireable. I remember older porsche guys in my family talking about the 930 as ugly too. Then, it was the 993 that "wasn't that great" and was kind of one foot in the 964 and one foot in the 996. The 996 has been the ugly duckling for a while but if the 964 is now the most desirable gen. non-long hood, anything seems possible. My opinion (and I have no premises to back this up) is that the 996 will click with people at some point. I never felt the headlights were ugly. The interior is kind of a warped 993 interior in a lot of ways but since the 997 carried some of the look over, it fits the design history ok. I can see people building these as fun project cars in the future without much worry of sticking to the letter except for on rare models.
As for the 997, I have one. I have not traded up to a 991. Part of this is because it just seems like a perfect moment in the current watercooled line from the 996 to the 992. My car parked next to my cousin's 718 is the same size. The 991 and 992 are bigger and bigger still. I like how stripped down and simple my C2S is. The design language fits better than the 996 for sure, and I would even argue the 993. Unless someone has put A LOT of work into a 993, or even a 964, I argue, the 997 is a better driver's car once you get past the whole pretending your car is air cooled even though it kinda isn't thing. ...just saying. ...still just my opinion. IDK if I can defend the things I am saying.
I still like the 996s and could see myself owning one in the future. I don't see what would be driving up the prices at the moment other than they were extremely cheap. Nice examples are going in the high 20s and I don't see why they would go higher considering decent early 997.1s can be had in the low 30s. Maybe the bottom end cars will pull up in price a bit but why would a decent 996 be worth as much as a decent 997.1?
Unless it's a rare 996 model like the GT2 or Turbo, I am not convinced that the 996 is on the rise to the level of a 993. Nothing against the 996, I quite like the driving dynamics, and when I first started looking into these cars they are very attractive to a first time buyer.
Even the GT2 did really poorly at a recent auction I watched. I think it was low $100s. The turbos are decent cars with the Mezger. I had 3 and loved them. The base models will never be desirable. They just don’t look that good and have a black mark againstdue to reliability concerns with the M96. Base model 997s will keep pushing down a little in price further pushing 996s down.
Yeah, when you’re at the bottom, you have only one place to go: up.
Except it could still take 10 years. It will go up because costs in general will go up, not because it’s a special car. In 10 years, many things will be more expensive, so that’s why I think the prices could be higher.
Unless, of course, people just start ditching ICE cars altogether.
Last edited by Mike Murphy; 02-03-2020 at 08:44 PM.
In my opinion base 996 will not be a classic. Cheap interiors, ugly headlights, engine issues and so many made. Pristine Turbos and Carrera 4s models will go up in value. 997 will do better in the long run.
I think part of it is cause it's the cheapest carrera you can buy. Even the worst models still have the novelty factor. People love porsches and us included. A lot of people are just happy to have one in their budget and now the younger generation has a little cash to play with. A lot of those cars are too risky for informed educated buyers. The headlights, the interior, the mechanical stuff, aging, etc. If the minimum buy in is 15-25k and people want to buy 20 year old used cars that aren't collectible, that mini market within the porsche market is going to grow. How many young people do you see buying the most uneconomical transportation. Why buy a 4 year old honda when you can have a 1998 c2 tiptronic cab ha ha. But across the board I don't think so. The real players will buy everything before a 996, and theres enough of them to keep the 996 real cheap. I bet in the long run they will always be behind the 997 models gt-car for gt-car, turbo for turbo, base for base.
Plus aren't super low mileage, short trip, barely used m96 engines a problem waiting to happen? We see the news when it does happen. I'd either get a cheaper fun car like a golf, save or spend more money on a 997 if it was possible. It breaks my heart to say it but it's true. The next 10k gets you a better interior, exterior, engine, performance, almost everything.
Totally possible to see the 996 appreciate. To the extent that the 996 represents an entry level 911 buy, there will always be those aspirational buyers looking to get into one. If that pool of buyers increases, then any first semester economics student will tell you what happens next.
Even the GT2 did really poorly at a recent auction I watched. I think it was low $100s. The turbos are decent cars with the Mezger. I had 3 and loved them. The base models will never be desirable. They just don’t look that good and have a black mark againstdue to reliability concerns with the M96. Base model 997s will keep pushing down a little in price further pushing 996s down.
Was about to say next to the same thing. Whenever the 996 comes up for discussion the dated interior and the egg lights always come up but the exterior design, not so much. That's a big thing for me and I'm sure I'm not alone. The 993 had great curves but for some reason they took those (coke bottle) curves out of the 996. To me, it just looks bland and easy to miss if one is approaching. To Porsche's credit I think they did a nice job of bringing those 993 curves back with the 997 along with all other improvements over the 996. Then a step backwards again (IMO) with the 991 but that's been covered enough here already.
I think the production numbers for all the water-cooled 911s make it difficult for any of them to be collector cars. The relative rarity of models like turbos and GT cars keep their values higher, but I don’t see base model or S model cars being anything special for the 996, 997, or 991 series cars. It has been interesting to watch the used 911 market. The 993 was once considered the ultimate air-cooled 911, and prices reflected that. It now seems to be slowing a bit in terms of appreciation as people want an older, more classic 911. It’s so hard to speculate with cars though. I’m sure nobody knew that a television show like Breaking Bad would turn the lowly Pontiac Aztec into a collector car, but here we are. They are actually appreciating now.
02-03-2020, 02:28 PM
996 next to appreciate? What about 997?
