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Reader feedback: Porsche 911 and C4S owners-Ready to see the value of your car drop like a rock?


In our opinion, this letter below says it all…Ryan, you’re absolutely right!

Years ago when you bought a Porsche, you were alone at the top with nothing else comparable.

Today, you walk out the door of your dealer with your $100K 911 and a new E55 blows your doors off the highway on the way home! AND, it has four doors and a real trunk!

There used to be no substitute.

Not anymore.

We are in total agreement!

001

As a former Porsche owner, I was very happy with the resale value I got when I sold in 2002. With that being said, in today's world, 911 resale prices are outrageous, even at depressed levels. It used to be that if you bought an older model 911, you were getting a well built, special sports car that still outperformed most everything else on the road. Today, while you still get a well built (minus the cheap Rubbermaid interior), special sports car, but you don't get special performance. This isn't because the 911 is a weakling, it's that the performance bar raises so rapidly on a yearly basis now that once stellar performance becomes very commonplace. For example, if you were in the market for a 2 generation old 911 (still setting you back around $30K), you get horsepower numbers bested by today's Honda Accord V6!

When a brand new TL will run neck and neck with you from a stoplight, all of a sudden your special sports car isn't so special anymore, and resale numbers are finally starting to reflect this.

While this is bad news for 911 owners, it is great news for the rest of us, who can reap the benefits of these performance wars.

There used to be no substitute.

Not anymore.

Ryan L.

Here’s what our readers had to say about last week’s article

As the owner of a ’01 996, I can say I’m really glad that I leased mine. I had hoped to get out of my lease before it ends sometime next year. I am certain that I read on Auto Spies that the 997, although nicer, was going to be more expensive than the 996. I that is true, I would think this would help alleviate the problem of lower resale values.

Porsche used to keep 911 production limited to something below demand. Solid demand and limited availability of new cars always kept the value of the used cars up. It appears that the balance has been upset.

Chad

I'm currently considering buying a used 911 myself and I wanted to thank you for posting this information. I noticed that Manheim's 1-year predictions on depreciation for 996 models, even the older ones that are already out of warranty, suggested a steep decline coming, which I attributed to the 997. It's surprising how narrow the gap is between the previous 911s and the current used 996s I've been seeing, which has definitely been confusing me. Manheim suggests that the only "safe bet" to avoid significant % depreciation is the Turbo, which is not currently in my price range (hopefully sometime in the future!).

I was on the fence about buying used for taking over an existing lease to avoid the depreciation. Now I'll definitely be looking to take over someone's lease rather than buy based on your advice.

Thanks for the advice and keep up the good work!

Jeremy
Los Angeles


For those of us who were considering a purchase of a used mid to late 90's 911 can now trade up so to speak with the increased depreciation rate brought on by the 997 update. I look forward to my purchase of a C2 coupe with the aero package that some other sucker took the huge depreciation hit on!

Shane

As a former Porsche owner, I was very happy with the resale value I got when I sold in 2002. With that being said, in today's world, 911 resale prices
are outrageous, even at depressed levels. It used to be that if you bought
an older model 911, you were getting a well built, special sports car that
still outperformed most everything else on the road. Today, while you
still get a well built (minus the cheap Rubbermaid interior), special sports car, but you don't get special performance. This isn't because the 911 is a weakling, it's that the performance bar raises so rapidly on a yearly basis
now that once stellar performance becomes very commonplace. For example,
if you were in the market for a 2 generation old 911 (still setting you back around $30K), you get horsepower numbers bested by today's Honda Accord V6!

When a brand new TL will run neck and neck with you from a stoplight, all of a sudden your special sports car isn't so special anymore, and resale numbers are finally starting to reflect this.
While this is bad news for 911 owners, it is great news for the rest of us, who can reap the benefits of these performance wars.
There used to be no substitute.
Not anymore.

Ryan L.



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