megmarc

Have owned several Porsches over the years, most recently a 95 993 which I owned for about 10 years. Sold about 5 years (wife wanted vacation home) ago and now looking to purchase a 997. Have researched a bit and probably looing for a 2S or possibly a 4S, preferably lower miles, manual transmission, coupe with whatever options I can find for best deal on a Certified car. 1) any advice 2) probably in market for 2008-2010. Any difference to speak of 3) Appears dealers are asking anywhere from 60-70 for a certified car, with 10-20,000 miles. What has been your experience on purchase price vs. asking price for certified car as described from a dealer. Thanks for any help.

ksozay

Hope this helps and speaking only from my experience but I would say the year range you are looking at has a pretty wide variance in pricing. Not massive but enough to consider revising your range to 09-11 so you are dealing with gen 2 cars as the 08 is still a gen 1 car, if I am not mistaken. Given there likely isn't a huge delta in price between an 08 and 09 car, I would recommend you look into the gen 2 car as the improvements are generally well regarded and you get an extra year of warranty, in most cases.

For a certified car in that range of mileage, in the 09-11 model year, I would expect the range to be 50s to 80s. Price influencers are typically model designation, option packages, color combinations, warranty coverage, and year/condition. There is a fair amount of change that went into the gen 2 cars, motor improvement, interior updates, etc. but it's really up to your personal preference. The price difference between an 08 and an 09 is probably small enough that I'd be hard pressed to recommend an 08 unless it was a combination car you HAD to have.

Apologies for not providing more detailed information but hopefully something in here helps!

Best of luck.

KS

rspon1

Why would you not get another 993 ? What draws you to 997 ?
I ask because I am trying to decide between the two models myself.

Edgy01

As a long time Porsche owner, I would suggest the 6-speed for sure, and try to find a used car with as much leather as possible in the interior. The 997 suffers as do many modern cars from low quality interior materials (e.g., the slush finish) and it wears prematurely. If you are able to find a car that someone ordered with a lot of leather, most importantly, the central console, and door finishers, and dash, you will be miles ahead on having a better car in the long haul. Otherwise, you have to refinish everything, particularly if the previous owner was a woman. (This is largely because many women use lotions and things that breakdown the slush finishes).

These cars can be loaded or very cheap...the range is substantial. These cars benefit substantially from a fair amount of extras, like PSE, sport shifter, Adaptive Sport Seats, and the like. $20,000 in options is not hard to do with these things. Wait until you can find the right car. There are many out there.

sclemmons

+1. There are lots of great cars around. My car has everything (including C4S, 6MT, GT3RS wheels, painted seat backs and console, Aero, and Power Kit) except leather. I bought it here with 9000 miles, and still love it 24000 miles later. Only mod I have added is a spare. Wish mine had more natural leather because the standard leather shows wear, especially in sand beige.

megmarc

Wow, thanks everyone. That is great information to have. Embarrassed that I did not know there was a 1 and 2 generation model. Haven't been on rennlist much since owning the 993 but did notice a lot of posts referred to as 997.1 and 997.2. Your thoughts are very helpful. Thank you.

To rspon1, I was a 993 nut. Thought it was the coolest car I had ever seen at the time. My car was a complete garage queen and I added about every option I could to it, but as I said earlier decided to get rid of it for other reasons. Loved the car and still love the look but have heard so much about the improvements to the 997, and the availability of low mileage 997's with a concern about finding a 993 where I could trust what I was buying, I decided to make the switch. And as much as I hate to admit it the 993 now looks dated to me. Have owned a 77,78,91 and 95 so I have lived through the changes and must say I think the 997 is best for me right now.

thanks again for all your help. The generation 1 and 2 and thoughts on the leather are especially helpfull as I look for another car. Found one I like on line (2010) at a dealership that is certified and getting ready to make the jump as soon as I can see it. thanks again for the help. Look forward to visiting with you guys some more.

chsu74

I would only consider 997.2 NA or 997.1 turbo if buying a 997 gen car.

Mark Harris

They are both great cars. Albiet diametrically opposed. Nothing better than the comforts the 997 provides as a daily driver while the connection to the road, the smell, and the sound of a 993 on a weekend run is unsurpassed.

MJBird993

I've owned a 993, 964 and 996. When time came to buy another 911, I looked at a 993 and 997, and bought a 997.2 this past January (2010 model with 14K miles). The 993 is timeless, full of character, but they're not without issues and they are still stupid expensive. The 997 beats it in every other category. In fact, the seller of the 993 that I was looking at had replaced it with a 997.

My personal experience with the dealer is that they priced it around fair market (retail) value and weren't willing to move much on the price. I ended up getting a little bit of a discount, made them put on a new tire (they had put on 3 new ones for CPO) but I passed on the CPO itself since that saved me $2500. With two years of warranty remaining, low miles, and it appears to be a good car, I figured that it would end up in my favor.

That was my experience. Your mileage may vary. I'm not real big on paying a lot of money for a bunch of options that I don't want, so I'm not going to suggest going for the big leather options and stuff, since you'll usually get a whole bunch of other stuff as well that you may not want.

Especially when it comes to the interior bits, all of that stuff can be done later if you really want it. Something like sport chrono or PASM or PSE is a bit more difficult to do after the fact (although PSE isn't too bad, I hear). The interior on my car is in excellent shape, and the previous owner was a woman, so that may blow edgy01's theory. But to be fair, my car had pretty low mileage as well.

Mark Harris

My 993 widebody is worth more than my 997.2 PDK and they will continue to go in opposite directions with no turning back. But you gotta love the 997.

ilko

+1

I had a 993 for 3+ years, it was a great car. Before that I had 2 964s, also very fun cars. To me it boiled down to wanting something newer, more powerful, and with more creature comforts since I like to take my Porsche on long drives and road trips. I looked at 997.2 C4S cars before deciding on a 997.1TT. Once I drove the turbo there was no turning back. My philosophy is that life is too short to stick with the same car for too long.

CAA

Previous 993 owner here (a few of them) so here's my two cents. The 993's are great but I want a 911 to drive every day - and I do. The 997 is a great daily driver. I don't worry about putting miles on it, don't worry about CEL's, and I have a warranty.

They're a lot of fun - good luck with your search.

SmokinGTS

997-2 need I say more. If your going with PDK 2010 or newer.

OldGuy

I should be able to help and if you need any more help email me. Its at the bottom of my sig. I have had a 993 TT,996GT3 (that thing was nuts and I wish I would have kept her) a 997.1 GT3 and I was going to buy a 997.1 GT3RS. BUT THEN SOMETHING happened. I stopped by me dealer to look at the 997.2 PDK. I was gobsmacked!! I am a manual guy dyed in the wool, but after 30 minutes in the PDK, I bought it and never looked back! The PDK is so awesome that the 997.1 GT3 track guys were complaining they couldn't pass the 997.2 Carrera S's. It was SO fast, so quick and the transmission is MAGICAL!!! Resale is already pointing to having a PDK is a better option. And the newer cars are being ordered or sold with PDKs more than the manual. The NEW GT3 has PDK only. Having said all that like others have said get a 997.2. If I recall correctly the 997.2 has like 90% new parts over the 997.1. The 9A1 motor is the best engine I have ever had (although the 4.4 liter Twin turbo 560hp motor in my SUV aint bad either). I read one article that model makeovers with Porsche are usually evolutionary, but the 997.2 was REVOLUTIONARY. Like I said if you need any more help please email me and I will be glad to help.
Having said all that I wouldnt throw the 997.1 Turbo out of bed for eating cookies.
To show you how fast the 997.2 is (and I would say here make sure you get the 3.8 motor over the 3.6)I had a friend come up with his 996 chipped Turbo and he wanted to line em up. So we went out into the desert on a deserted road, and HE drove my car and a friend was in HIS Turbo. The PDK pulled ahead IMMEDIATELY and on every shift it pulled even more ahead till we hit 120. The PDK was 1/2 car length ahead of the Turbo. I will say if we kept going I believe the Turbo would have pulled even at 150 or so. But we didnt. And the PDK is QUICK!!!

kurtv

I recently sold my 993tt and purchased a 997.2 with PDK. I wasn't driving the 993tt very much since it wasn't fun to drive if you got stuck in traffic. The PDK is a delight. My 993tt was also very nice with a lightweight flywheel but not made for traffic. I like how you can have the 997 in automatic mode and then quickly downshift a few gears to pass or apply power. After you resume normal cruising, the PDK will revert to automatic mode which makes it nice to drive in traffic. My BMW 335d won't do that but the low end torque makes it a delight to drive.

I miss the smoother power flow from the 993tt as the turbos spooled up. The 997 comes on nicely at higher RPM.