I certainly would never pay that kind of premium for any car, but then again I a cheap (frugal, right Andy) SOB.
If on the other hand I was made of money, where money was absolutely no object at all, then by all means I would buy it and whatever else tickled my fancy.
Moral of this story is.....it's all relative to how much money you have, because gents when you look at the big picture, you can't take it with you so you mine as well enjoy it while you can.

 

You guys are crazy. At least it's for a good cause. We need more cars like the GT4.

Got to do what makes you happy in the end, I suppose. My form of crazy will be holding out on getting an allocation at MSRP.

 

I haven't seen anyone on here say they've actually paid anywhere near $25k over... Really no need to spend $25k over. My local dealer just sold a very slightly used one for a premium of about half that.

 

If you compare MSRP to MSRP, I'd agree but real world you can get a properly optioned C2S that'll run right with the GT4 for not much more, and it'll be a more flexible street car. The GT4 is a cool car, but I agree with the poster that's it not as special as the previous GT cars and it's harder to predict how it will hold value. The Cayman is simply not an iconic Porsche like the 911 platform.

And trying to draw parallels to the Carrera GT, a $400k super car, is a bit laughable.

 

Nope, for it to be worth 25K over it needs to have the missing 40HP from the Powerkit and a bunch of goodies as standard equipment from the factory.

 

Depends how you look at it. This isn't as much about previous GT cars as it is about a future lineage of GT cars. This is a first for the Cayman platform. In that respect it's historic.

You can't compare it to a current GT3 because it's in a completely different price class.

I love the C2S but this thing is sprinkled with special in a way that a C2S just isn't. People hang out of their car windows to snap pictures of the GT4. Can't say that about a C2S.

5 years time, that C2S will not be worth what this car is. It just won't. Not even close.

 

The reason I used the Carrera GT was because of the original statement

It does not have to be a 911 to be a GT car....that car was my point.

I have owned a lot of cars and I must say the GT4 is a very special car. I do not see it all of a sudden losing its appeal. The GT4 is going to be sought after for quite some time. Its just to awesome of a car to be forgotten.

One thing no one has brought up is how easy it was to get a lot more HP out of the GT4 from the tuners. BGB showed a dyno with like 435 HP. This is a big + factor in the secondary market. Once the warranty is out ( maybe sooner ) you will see a lot of people modifying the GT4. This helps long term when you can take a car like the GT4 and make it even better at a relatively cheap cost.

 

I think $25k for a car you can build with pts now and get buckets is a fair deal. That agate grey stripper is for sale for 30k over.

 

Yep, I think the ability to option this thing is a huge differentiator for some people, especially if you can get something like PTS.

 

Given the considerable amount of derogatory comments many RLers make about people who pay a premium, I would imagine this might temper one's enthusiasm to publicly post about his/her above-sticker purchase. And a lot of your wealthier p-car buyers who would not even blink at such a mark-up are not on RL. I'm not saying $25k premium GT4s are selling like hotcakes, but I don't think we can take the absence of RL posts as an indication that dealers are not getting their asking prices. The market dictates pricing. If the cars don't sell for the dealers' asking prices, pricing will come down. When pricing doesn't come down, that generally tells you something.

 

I would say if 25,000 is a small amount for you, go for it you only live once. For me 25k would of put this car out of reach so I wouldn't of done it. So if 25k is a drop in the bucket for you go for it.

 

Yeah I agree. The thing is that I could spend 25k over but as one of the other posters said I am also frugal. I don't have "don't care about price" money otherwise I would be shopping for a .2 GT3 RS4.0 or perhaps a lightly used .1 RS in green. Possibly even a .2 GT3 at this price.

Next week I'm still going through with a test drive and inspection of a very good .1 GT3. But I happened to drive the GT4 first and loved it. I also like the idea that if I'm paying around 100k for a sports car the GT4 has a full factory warranty, and I'm also attracted to being the first owner so I can break it in properly and take care of it.

The GT3 on the other hand while lauded as being a great car with a tough engine is more of a risk. Engines can always have internal damage or something could fail on the car I would need to pay for out of pocket. There is also the fact that I would need to do the coolant line fix on this particular car. Possibly LSD and clutch depending on what my shop recommends after the inspection. Of course I'm also getting the DME report.

Additionally if I were to pay a premium let's say for a GT4 for 25k and actually keep the car for 5 years. I would say the probability of being able to sell the car for at least MSRP after 3-5 years is high. So then I could rationalize Cayman ownership to cost 25k over 3 years? that's not bad. I bend over and take it way more for an M3 (which I'm also considering.)

All these calculations are moot though if the economy eats **** then there will be discounts to be had everywhere. Lots of people are pretty high on the current economy. Just counting the number of startups around getting funding that seem to do the same thing makes me nervous.

Ultimately though this whole decision is based on enjoyment. If I knew without a doubt I could keep and love the GT4 then I would be more inclined to just pay a premium to get one.

I suppose my worst case is Porsche decides to build a few more then I get a call for an MSRP build slot. Then would kick myself.

Every day the gt4 hunt continues I'm more inclined to buy another car. So we'll see.

I must say though this car forum is the best one I've been on in years. Thanks for all the fun/smart/snarky comments.

 

Good point. Agree.

 

Out of principle I would not personally pay a premium for this car, but I think those that argue this is just a Cayman and will not hold its value are wrong. This is a unique car, sold in low numbers, likely to be one of the last NA-manual transmission cars. I don't know that it will continue to sell at a premium, but I will be shocked if we see serious depreciation.

Just for giggles I configured a Plain Carrera with the same options as my $95,000 GT4. It came in at $110,000, add another $10,000 for the Carrera S. In five years which one will command a higher price?

 

My local dealer had a slightly used GT4 (500 miles) pop up for around $30k over MSRP. All I can say to give folks an idea is that I came to the GT4 party waaaaayyyy late, wanted one baaaadly and have never bought a car from that dealer. That is just another way of saying I had no leverage. And as my executive coach often reminded me, when you have no leverage you are not negotiating, you are merely begging...(My fallback option was a loaded M4)

I tried to "negotiate" for $10k over. They simply laughed at me, ignored me, threw stuff at me, did not recall my phone calls, chased me away and banished me from the premises Okay, I am exaggerating, but you get the point

I went back a few days later, and told the sales rep and manager that I don't believe they will easily sell it for $30k over, and that I will split the markup with them. I told them that I will write them a check splitting the markup right there and then and that they can either accept the check, or otherwise I will drive it over to BMW that same afternoon to pick up a completely loaded M4 that was already negotiated and ready to go, just awaiting their decision as I really wanted the GT4. They accepted. Dummy as I was, I miscalculated the MSRP with a bit, so I ended up paying a bit over half the asking difference.

My conclusion: The dealers that are asking $25-30k over are willing to give some, but not that much. How much depends on your leverage. If you have as little as I did, expect some, but not too much.

Based on my experience, if you're late to the party, want one, and as long as current demand/supply maintains you'll need to pay around $10k over min if you have lots of leverage (or simply lucky) and if not, expect to pay around $15-25K over. I also think that as word spread and unless new allocations are clarified it will likely get worse before it gets better, which it eventually will.