Check your stats, the ACTUAL numbers affected by these issues of the 997 (not the 996) is extremely low. These are not Boxsters.

 

You don't know what you're talking about. Look on this forum and show me how many 997.1 owners are having IMS issues on a 7-10 year old car.

Show me your evidence.

 

You missed my point. Both of you. Regardless of the ACTUAL numbers, the resale values are affected by the fact that one can buy a 997.1 and end up, though unlikely, with a catastrophic engine failure.
This is the only reason why early 997.1s are selling for $20K, dragging the values of the rest of the 997s with them. And that is a fact. Look at how ridiculously cheap some of them are.
Yes, a lot of these cars were made. Yes, a small fraction of them are affected by these issues. But buying one, IMO, is like saying smoking is ok. A lot of people smoke and only a small fraction of them die of lung cancer. (G*d please forgive me for this analogy). I'd rather put my money into an aircooled Porsche right now than a 997.1. Again, just my opinion . No need to get worked up over it.

 

Mr. Stanley with all do respect you're very confused and also spreading typical ill-informed internet garbage. The only 997 you'll find for 20k is a flood car salvage or heavily wrecked vehicle.

 

The market is just out of hand with air cooled Porsches right now. I think 993's deserve a fair amount of their value, but 964's have nearly doubled their value in just a few years.
I'm quite sad I missed out on a decent 964, and there's no way I'm paying the current asking price for a decent specimen.

...And if you want to knock the 997, you should start with bore scoring. IMS issues are mild in later models, but bore scoring is still a wild card to me. I haven't sorted out the truth for bore scoring, and I'm not sure I will ever figure it out.

 

Would love to have a 964 together with my 997.1 but moneywise I cant do it In a few years i would really like to have a used 991.2 as well. I think the steps in technology between these three is interesting. But the 964 is so expensive nowadays. However - To me it is the most interesting of the air cooled. Perhaps because I was looking at it in magazines when I was younger. The 993 is not the same IMO.

 

The air cooled cars have to be in a bubble--if for no other reason than that the prices are increasing at an unsustainable rate. When people are considering buying them as investments, the market starts to attract irrational actors. I think that's what we're seeing right now.

The prices for them may not crash, but we'll see a plateau at the very least. These cars aren't like Duesenbergs or Ferrari GTOs. They didn't make a lot of them compared to Mustangs or Camaros, but they aren't rare by any stretch of the imagination. And even if you think they are rare, any car collector knows that rarity doesn't equal valuable.

I've been priced out of the market for any air cooled car that I might be interested in, but my threshold is set lower on these cars than some other people. There's definitely more room for prices to go up a little more, but this rate of increase is irrational and has to have an endpoint.

 

I purchased a 993 with 36k miles in 2010, and sold it a couple years later. It was in beautiful shape, but given the questionable fit and finish to begin with, it was a losing battle to try to keep it in beautiful shape. I'm sorry I didn't wait a couple more years to sell, but no way would I pay this kind of coin for one.

 

Occasionally but the climate I live in requires a good AC. I was also experiencing some engine cooling issues at idle in the heat with the AC on, that could have probably been corrected with an on/off switch in the cabin for the high speed oil cooler fan.

It was a sweet car no doubt. I had a cup pipe and cat bypass so it sounded phenomenal. Overall - though - I like the total driving experience in my 997.1 better than the 964. With more garage space I might have kept it and gotten a more modern Porsche...maybe a Boxster S?

But no, no real regrets.

 

That's amusing.

 

They are a strong buy when compared to new cars at similar prices. They will depreciate but at a much slower rate than a new car...and they are 911's not Audis or Lexi or Camaros or Vettes, etc.

 

+1. The only 911's I see for $20K are 996's. High-mileage/avg cond. 996.2's or low-mileage/mint cond. 996.1's.

 

+1

 

+1

Sick of the false rumor spreaders. 20k 997? Yeah, that's the going market price (sic). Stop smoking the crack.

 

You know I have a world renowned Porsche tech (regularly has million dollar 935 rolling through his shop etc.) With my recent CEL I was on the phone with him rattling off possibilities I had read everything from scored bores to fill in the blank etc. First response out of his mouth to me was "F*** all that. Get off the forums and bring it in here."

Turned out to be a simple AOS failure which he had predicted. The amount of false data going around is incredible. Lots of good information here too, just have to swim through the swamp to find it.