757driver

Hey Guys,

I'm a new member and excited to be joining the ranks. I have never owned a 911, but I got my wife a Cayenne S a couple years ago and made her a Porsche fan. I had to get her on board first! I have owned BMW M3s and M5s, but that is about the limit of my high performance driving experience. I have wanted a GT3 for years and am finally (with stretching the budget to the max) able to get a nice, low mile 7.1 car. The 997 GT3 makes my heart flutter just to look at! I have been following the market for about 3-4 years and have seen the prices climbing recently. I intend to keep this car forever and eventually pass this down to my children as cars like this will not be made for much longer. It will be a weekend car with the occasional driving school and track day.

Are the prices temporarily inflated or is it likely these will continue to increase?

What is a reasonable price range for a clean 7.1 car with 10-20k miles? Seems like 95-105k is what i'm seeing

Is a .2 car worth holding off and saving for another year or 2?

How important is it to have no over revs? What ranges are concerning?

Are there any options I really need to make sure I have or don't have?

I can't decide if I want the PCCBs or not. I keep going back and forth.

Thanks so much for any advice and recommendations! I can't wait to own one finally!

LateBraking

General answer seems to be: "Who knows, they probably won't be depreciating anytime soon at any rate, and there are some stories from forum members waiting too long and prices just going up and up. Don't worry about it and buy the car and enjoy it."

I'm less familiar with prices now that I have no need to shop, but price doesn't seem terribly off? I'd expand range up to 30 or 40k miles even without worrying too much and dump the money saved into the coolant pipes pinning or welding, replacing those little coolant elbows with the Sharkwerks ones, Guard Transmission diff rebuild or replace, the front radiator protector screens from Cargraphics, and the front wheel well screens from Capital City Motorsports as well as replacing misc. items while the engine is out of the car. these cars are fairly bulletproof as long as they have been maintained properly. Good guy to ask re:reliability would be F1 crazy: think he celebrated 100k+ miles and counting recently and he actually drives the thing.

Different peoples' opinions differ on the .1 versus .2 thing. In the back of my mind, I wouldn't mind having a .2 someday in the future personally, but considering my history of bad luck with cars, I like the fact that the .1 has a engine that is less troublesome, less likely to have issues with the bolts in the vario-cam actuators.

I wouldn't worry about Range 1's that much. Range 2's don't seem to be especially damning to most people on the forum either. Range 3 and up is where people are going to start debating.

Your chance of getting a car without the sport chrono clock on the dash is pretty low, but it seems those cars are desirable. I'd personally avoid Bose sound system too, it interferes with some roll bar options on the market. Up to you in the end.

Most people swap the PCCB rotors out for steel rotors anyways. On a .1 I guess a benefit would be that the front calipers are bigger on the PCCB, and if you want yellow calipers, well, they're yellow. Don't think people without the PCCB mind it too terribly.

Best of luck.

757driver

Great info, thanks very much for the reply!
Sorry, just to clarify, the ones without sport chrono are more desirable?"

LateBraking

So many cars have the sport chrono that the ones without them are kind of unicorns. I wouldn't worry too much about it though, chances are the car you end up getting will have it.

bobaines

LateBraking gave you a lot of great input. I recently found a .1 GT3 after looking off and on for a long time. My search was interrupted by finding nice 964's and longhoods, but I keep my eyes open for the right GT3. I was not particular regarding .1 or .2 or RS, I was looking for a car I could see keeping long term. I was also watching the market trends. A little over a year ago I noticed prices were firming and starting to trend up. My thoughts had this related to the arrival of the 991 GT3 and the delivery freeze due to the engine problems. The lack of a manual also contributed to the firming of 997 pricing. I do not believe that there will be any significant price moves but do not see much future downside. So if you find one you like in your budget and it gets a clean PPI, buy it.
Given the low production volume picking a car based on options could mean never finding the one you want. Color is another thing to think about, are there any colors you would not want to own?
If you are not going to track you car you may want to stay away from cars with heavy track usage and modifications. Track Rats will tend to be at the low end of the value range. As you indicated you were looking for a long term keeper you want to find a 'no stories car'.
Service records are important, both what was done and by who. If the coolant pipes have not been addressed plan on getting that done (think $3K range). There are lots of threads covering the options, pin vs. weld, other services while in there, other mods at the same time. I choose weld, Sharkworks elbows, 6 year service, water pump, RMS, Sharkworks center delete and tips, and a 3.89 R&P.
Know what you want and are willing to pay and move quickly when it shows up.
Good luck with your search.

mooty

if u can save up more in 6 months i say sure
if it's 2 year wait, dont bother.
i like 7.2 more. but 7.1 is no slouch
and the sunroof'd 7.1GT3 is really a bargain (if you can call a 70-90000 car a bargain)
good luck in your search.

757driver

Thanks for all the great info guys!
There is a very clean, 14k mile car for sale local to me by a small independent dealer. They had a PPI done that came back clean with 0 over revs within the last several months. Only problems I see with the car so far is it has little to no service/maintenance records and it has the Bridgestone s04 poll position tires that are sub standard on this car. Plus its on the high end of the price scale and they seem unwilling to move on.
What service/maintenance do I need to make sure has been done on an 07?
Is there a maintenance interval document from porsche published anywhere?

Anyone know anything about this car? Or have any thoughts about it? Seems very clean, but they have had it for 5 months, makes me wonder why.
http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/de...0900/overview/

lcrain

I would have your own PPI performed.

The bridgestones are among the cheapest tires available for the GT3. All that tells me is that the dealer likely installed them. You can change tires pretty easily, so that wouldn't concern me too much.

As you said, the price is on the higher end. If your independent PPI checks out, you like the color and value the lower miles I think it would be a good deal at $95k or so. I only see the prices continuing to go up.

007DT

You need to look at the ENTIRE History of the car. Not just the last several months when it was driven... It could've been beaten down.. And as other have stated, Service history is key.

.1 vs .2 See what fits the budget. They are VERY similar. If I were to buy again I'd buy a .2 GT3. If RS I'd buy mine again. (RS .1)

Be patient, but more so diligent on your PPI and validation of the car. If you become a R-List Member (I think it is $30/yr?) you can access the Classified ads. There are several for sale there.

Good Luck

LateBraking

I'd be curious to see how the OEM PASM was disabled (it's on H&R coilovers). There are a few ways to do it, I'm just curious what method exactly was chosen. Don't want them to have done anything funny.

007DT said something good there too, but I'm guessing what OP meant is that the PPI was done and the DME report was pulled in the last several months rather than it has had over revs but none occurred within the last several months. If it's the latter though, I'd definitely take 007DT's advice.

CosmosMpower

S04's aren't bad tires, certainly good enough for GT3 on the street unless you drive like a maniac. I have them on my daily driver M3. For track I'd get something else. I'd shoot for closer to 90 on that car.

757driver

Sorry, I see how that could be interpreted the wrong way, i worded it poorly. As of the the PPI several months ago there was no issues and 0 over revs ever. Good catch.

I love the SO4s on my M3, they do a great job. I have heard from several 911 owners that the tires have too soft of a side wall for the 911. Just what I heard from other owners. I would like to have safe wet weather tires so if the SO4s will be a good street tire for the GT3 thats great.

tgil

Fellow RLs provided all/most of the information you need to make informed decision. 9 months ago 997.1 with 15k miles down to 3000 miles, very clean and no track or minimal tracked with acceptable dme checks, were pricing from $95-118ish on my national searches.
Hope it helps and have fun searching for your GT3.

757driver

All very good information, I am very appreciative.
Tgil, I see your in Boyertown, PA. I just moved to Doylestown, PA. Any real good Porsche mechanics you would recommend in the area? I was planning on using Thompson Porsche of Bucks County unless there is someone better. In the short term I am looking for a place to do a thorough GT3 specific PPI.

audipwr1

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