This Saturday (my first free since the facelift) was to be the testdrive of the the facelift. Unfortunately, my firm will be laying off people and cutting back in other areas as well. While I can afford the car, I can't currently justify it and don't want the office grief of driving a Porsche while laying people off. Bad news: no Porsche (the old one is already gone). Good news: with the two year delay I anticipate the new one will be a 991.

I'm wondering how many other people are in my situation and what it will [continue] to do to Porsche's slowing sales? My guess is quite a few overall but not many on an enthusiast's forum.

Your thoughts? (Please don't tell me life is too short and to buy the car--it ain't gonna happen.)

 

I am somewhere in a similar place...My plan was to change my 997S this year, but now I having second thoughts and I may wait until next year just to see how things are going. Having said that, all those great reviews about the new 997 are killing me! (not to mention that turbos and Gt3's are now within range second hand)

 

Its going to be several years before the economy recovers...and if the politicians convert this country into a european socialist economy which means that small employers like me will have to cover for employee benefits and increased taxes....then my 997 is going to last me a long long long time.
My advice....save your money and don't foolishly spend it unless you have deep pockets and you can afford uncle sam's redistributions. This may, however, be the right time to buy a nice little collectors car that does not kill your pocket book and still affordable....one of those air cooled go carts!
BTW, I belong to a boat forum....enthusiastic or not that forum's vollume is less the 1/3 of what it use to be. Boats where killed first with the high gas prices and changing economy..and not everyone needs one...I hope that's not an indication of things to come on this forum. One nice thing is that there are alot of people who own cheaper air cooled porsche who's car is payed off and will be less affected than those younger folks with big loans to pay.
abe

 

I might put my purchase off until I see how much damage Obama does to my paycheck...

 

Go buy a 993. There are some great cars out there for 25% of what a new one cost and you're less likely to get grief for buying a 20 year old car.

 

Similar situation here - my 997S is 50 months old, out of warranty, and sort of thinking about ordering a new one, but also doing a lot of hesitating because of the economy and thinking I should stay conservative in the foreseeable future.

 

Return to the 90s tax levels is hardly something to be concerned about. I honestly will not even notice a return to 39.6 marginal. But the economy is a serious concern. & I do notice the massive, massive impact on my sensibly invested portfolio over the last 4 mos. Hopefully the next generation Porsche will accompany a stable economy with moderate growth.

 

I think tons of people are in your situation. Hopefully things will not worsen in the future. If you have a great job, and your future looks bright, congrats. However, if your firm is downsizing, perhaps things are not so good. I am a pessimist and think that my scenerio will be in turmoil for a few years to come. Hopefully me and wifie can stay employed.

How this downturn effects my Porsche situation? Not really, she is payed for and I have zero debt. As the market has gone down, it really has made me feel better about buying a Porsche. My 997 is depreciating rapidly, but so would the money if it was in the market. My 997 is almost two years old. I bought it when things looked rosy. Had I delayed the purchase to now, I certainly would not have bought the car. So I am glad that I bought the car when did.

Wifie drives a five year old bimmer. We were going to get her a new one near the end of the year. We have nixed that idea - We will not be spending in a big way on anything until we start to see some indicators that point to some sort of normalcy.

 

If you want it, buy it. Park it far away from the office where it won't get key'd and enjoy it.

 

I don't take mine to work either, my employees will get jealous.

 

I fixed that, I don't work.

 

Hi, I'm not a regular poster but I had to chime in here. My lease on my 911s coupe is up in less than a month. I have a 997s II cab coming in around the same time. I am now hesitating as well.

I own my business and can afford the car regardless of my firm's performance. The issue is about perception and what my customers and employees think. Our company is doing o.k. right now, but here in Hawaii we have had massive lay offs in various businesses. Tourism is really suffering. Some of our customers are having payment problems. Classic recession stuff here in the islands.

So my issue is that while I can afford the car (lease or purchase) is it the right thing to do in this environment? I have other cars to drive but my Porsche is my daily driver. What if things get worse (which many people feel will happen) and I then have to lay employees off? The boss doesn't have much credibility claiming business hardship when he has a new $100k car in his parking spot.

I'm probably either going to extend the lease on my current 911 or just turn it in and drive my wagon around for a while. I'm interested to hear other takes on this, -as I do think I am not alone with this dilemma.

 

It is a dilemma and while we all feel pretty good (well great) about the cars that we own, others do not. I think that it is best to lay low and not advertise the fancy German technology. Now is the time to get that used Toyota pickup that you always wanted and use it for a daily driver.

 

I am an employeer and I lease from a govt agency. I get the heat from employees of the govt for driving such an expensive car. We sell high end luxury items and we sell to employers who say that they just can not lay off people and make a new purchase. This is killing our business. I just bought an extended warranty. The new car will come later.

 

This is an interesting topic.

When I got my turbo, one of my employees had the opposite response. She said something about her job being secure because the boss was confident enough to buy a new car.

I'm sure some employees may feel jealousy, but I think they're also glad to have jobs, and if the business is doing well, then they should feel some job security, maybe even some pride?

On the other hand, I haven't had to lay anyone off. Driving in to work in a $100K car and telling someone you have to lay them off to cut back because of financial constraints, new taxes, etc. might not be fun. Hope that doesn't happen, but too late anyway - they've all seen my cars.