Hi all – Long time reenlister, but first time posting in the 997 forum.

My quick story: I owned both a 90 964 and a 78 SC in the past, and I've been looking to get into a newer Porsche for over a year now. My problem is that I can't really bring myself to commit to a Boxster (I'm a coupe guy) and the Cayman's I've driven just haven't had that special something of a 911. So I looked for 996s for a while, but high asking prices and the dreaded IMS fears have kept me from pulling the trigger.

But with the release of the 991 it looks like 997 prices have dropped some, and so now I'm considering a significant increase to my budget so that I can go all out and get a 2009 997. (I like the looks of the 997 MUCH more than the 996.)

The base car is PLENTY of power for me, and I've never been an options guy. Heated seats would be nice, but I honestly don't care about any of the others. I only plan to drive this car about 3K miles a year, so I'm open to getting a high miles car since 5 years down the road a 60K mile car (high right now) will only be a 75K mile car (not all that high for what will then be a 9 year old car).

I should stress that I DO understand what it takes to maintain 911s and I do have the budget for maintenance.

But I'm wondering what you all think the lowest price point would be for picking up a base 2009 997 with minimal options and high-ish miles?

I did a quick national search and found a number of cars priced at right around $50K. But I also found a CPO car at a Porsche dealer, 36K miles and asking price of $52K.

Any thoughts much appreciated!

 

The price will be what your willing to pay for the condition the car is in.

You can add up to 20k from base to a loaded car, so prices wil fluctate

Unless you find someone who's gotta sell his car due to a busy Vegas weekend, the major sites are where your gonna be lookin.............

 

50 and up from what I see. GL

 

I think you've answered your own question. If you have done a national scan of asking prices, I think you have a very good idea of pricing. I will say that although you don't long for options, most cars will come fairly well equipped. And as pricey as Porsche options have on new cars, they lose most of their value on resale. So find a car you like at a good price and buy it. Low 50's sounds like a very good price of a 09. You are correct, high miles should drop the price significantly. You will have a hard time finding a high mile 09, but if one pops up the price should be really hot and meet your needs.

 

Thanks all! Sounds like I wasn't missing much, but it's very helpful to have confirmation. A general national search of a few sites seems to indicate that $50 is about the bottom of the market for asking prices. But as I say, given that there's a 35K mile CPO car with an asking price of $52K, there are probably some options out there.

I didn't initially plan to spend this much, but I have to say that to me spending 50K on a 3 year old car with a warranty and no IMS to fail just feels like a wiser move than spending 35K on a 9 year old 996 that still needs the IMS upgrade.

 

Couldn't agree more as long as you're comfortable adding 15K to the budget. Btw.....eliminating the IMS on the .2 cars only scratches the surface of what's been improved over the 996. The exterior and interior design changes alone are worth 15K for my money.

 

I have/purchased a higher mileage 997.2 when I traded my '09 997S for a '09 997C4S with twice the miles on it. But the C4S was a launch car an optioned perfectly with everything that my 997S didn't have and the color combo I wanted and it was CPO'd to boot so I really didn't loose anything but some mileage and gained the car I wanted in return. Flash forward almost 24 mos later and my car has around 42k on the odometer and is what you consider a 4 yr old car with not so high mileage (esp since I only put less than 5k on it at that a year). At that rate as you kinda indicate values and mileage catch up with one another...over time.

 

there is a 997.2S with 67k miles for 50k with best offer option on ebay ... base 997.2's are right around low 50s with "normal" miles from non franchised dealer...

Whats your tolerance for miles?

 

I've found the same thing...$50k seems to be about the bottom "asking price" on a no story 09 C2 with 25-40k miles. There's a sharp looking black over tan with low miles at NXCESS in Houston I've been watching...but no CPO and low options, at $49,900, 22k miles (watching online, I'm not in H town). Right after the first of the year, more cars have dropped into the low $50k's and seeing C2S cars in the upper $50's. I agree, after looking and looking I think buying a newer car with CPO, even if it has a few more miles on it is a much smarter buy. At least until the market shakes out and pre 09 997.1 cars come down some more.

 

I'm OK with going up as high as 75K miles, but I think the price would have to be cheaper than that eBay car (even for an S). As wheeler points out in the post after yours, there are cars showing up for about $50k with much lower miles. And as I mentioned above, there's a CPO car with 35K miles and an asking price of $52K.

Overall, I'm guessing there's some "compression" at the bottom of the market as sellers can always say, there are no 997.2 cars cheaper than this. But that may change as more of these 09 cars run out of warranty and more 991 cars start to circulate in the market (and a used market develops for them).

Personally, I'm still not sure if I want to spend $50K on a car (it's not a question of having the funds but of making the decision to allocate them in that way), but I have convinced myself that I'd rather by a 997.2 for $50K than an older 996. My options now are:

1. keep waiting
2. buy an 09 Cayman (base can be had for under $30K)
3. buy a BRZ

The problem with 3 is that I really want a Porsche.
The problem with 2 is that I really want a 911.

 

p.s. Looks like that car at NXCESS just sold! Was it you, wheeler?

 

+1 on CPO or extended warrantied 997's.. And even better finding a 997.2 on a private sale for a better price than a stealer on eBay.


There's a special Pcar for everyone- you just have to find yours..since you are looking for base 997's, and possible heated seats, high miles, surely the right one may come up FS; expand your search to Texas, Cali and Florida where leased cars may be in that segment. NARROW your search by exterior or interior color, if there's one you particularly don't prefer.
Also try Panorama and local PCA mag.



Searching is part of the fun....

 

if you really want a 911, dont get a brz or cayman bc you will regret it.

There is a cpo 09S with 102k original msrp with 50k miles for 59k @ park place. That I thnk is on the high side and they had the car for several weeks now. At 50k you do have lots of options but not many at less than that. So, if you want a 997.2 for less, you will need to wait till this time next yr

 

The good news for my search is that I'm willing to look anywhere in the country (I live on one coast and have family on the other), and my only requirements are that it's a coupe with a manual. Nothing else really matters all that much to me. I'd prefer not to get a red one, but I said that the first time I bought a 911 and I ended up with a Guards Red 964 that I loved dearly.

 

This is just an idea, and probably not a very good one, but did you (OP) scan Swap-a-Lease or Lease Trader? Swapping a Porsche Lease (through PFS) is a whole other topic but you may be able to find a suitable car at a decent price as sometimes people really need to get out of their lease. So, you get a leased car that you can "test" until the end of the lease and then, if it's not problematic you get dibs on buying out the lease. (Or if it a great car from the start, you can buy out the lease up front and save yourself the ~$300 per month component of the lease - I can't recall but I think it is a use fee & sales tax or something like that, which is a monthly charge). Plus, the residual on some leases are really low so buying it out is a super deal.