996 Values and Thinking Ahead

Now that the English magazines are touting the greatness of the 996s, air cooled values are out of reach, there are less IMSB surprises, and there�s a permanent fix to the IMSB, the value of these cars should start inching up. So in preparation for this inevitable paradigm shift I thought we could help each other design our ideal Autotrader ads. I�ll start. Mine will say �Super rare 996 with 100,000 miles and ONLY one engine rebuild. This car is so rare that the original engine failure was NOT due to the IMS bearing. According to my self-developed official certificate of authenticity and IMSB lawsuit documents, this color sunroof coupe with pumpkin headlights and turn signals, non-IMSB failure, and having the historical significance of being built just one week prior to the passing of Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, makes it one of only 4 996s imported to the USA that were built in 1998! Asking a very low and reasonable $65,000� Cheers!

I agree.. The cars are definitely going up, along with their notoriety. There's been a huge uptick in 2015.

Hmmmm. Maybe I should hang on to mine for a while longer (looking for any excuse not to put it up for sale).

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Logically(?) , the answer is "No,what you should do is 'double down' and buy a few more 996 with IMSB issues!"

Hey - I never thought of that. That sounds like a smart move! Thanks for the tip.

I've been surprised how many 996s I've been seeing this summer in Vancouver . Lots of low mile us imports starting to show up. Demand is there in Vancouver . A mix of kids wanting gt3 replicas with big wings massive wheels and flip paint ,midlife crisis and retired folks in tip tronic cabriolets and rennlist / pca / track types . Demand is there , not enough 911s to go around . You've got a good car , hold onto it or get a great price .

But I keep seeing stupid low prices in local ads or crazy high! Totally agree though, seems to be more around these days.

It's a seasonal effect. Owners in colder climates will put their cars on the market just after their last summer drive.

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This is what I'm afraid of. I've seen it happen to the Honduh CRX/Civic, BMW e30/36/46, Subaru WRX crowds. Be prepared for our insurance rates to go up and for us to be profiled by the PoPo's when it does.

Running costs are too high compared to Hondas for this to happen. Used Honda motors are a dime a dozen. There might be a brief period of this happening, but there aren't that many kids who can afford a $20K bill to put a new motor in their $20K car. It won't have to happen more than a few times. Further, banks and credit unions are not going to extend loans on 996's - especially not to someone without a credit history. There may be cheap 996's out there, but there's a massive difference between a $20K car you can finance and a $20K car you have to buy outright.

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This. Just try to sell a convertible of any type right now. Then compare that to the same car in late March after the first warm spell.

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In Vancouver many of the expat youth drive new 991s Astons , lambos and ferraris , it's the more hands on crowd getting into gt3 clones , same guys building hot imports . They have the money .

Its not seasonal this year.. No way. Every day we come in to 4-5 emails about "I am buying this 996, and....." In the past that might happen 3-4 times per week.

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There's many "kids" now adays buying e46 M3's that are in the same ballpark as the price of a 996. As Vancouver 996 said, most of these kids are gonna be hands on and do everything themselves, including swapping in that used and questionable $5k motor to keep their cars running. A lot of younger guys are more risk adversed and easily will roll the dice on many things IMO.

I just sold my E46 M3. Advertised it and sold it in two days. I loved that car, but I replaced it with more European military vehicles that I love more.

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Expat kids who can afford $100K plus new cars aren't buying $20K, 15-year-old Porsches to impress the other expat kids. These are also not the kids that are going to work on cars themselves. Or change their own oil. Or pump their own gas. I suspect that the majority of the kids "building their own" have the help of a speed shop and a trust fund, rather than a collection of second-hand tools and a bucket of moxie. But there have been rare occasions in the past where I've been proven wrong. I disagree - I believe there needs to be a critical mass in an area of younger people with the same cars, and I don't see it happening with 996's. I think it would be a HUGE benefit to us if this was the case - the aftermarket will crank products out if there is money being spent. 996 tuner clubs would be an asset, not a liability - but I just don't see it happening. But I hope I'm wrong.

No , they are buying a 30k 996 and dumping 30-40k into it to impress the local tuner kids. Or buying real 996 gt3s I get asked about selling mine all the time , into that demographic

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What do you mean by gt3 clone? I don't think 30 k will get the gt3 engine, are you referring to the look (aero car), suspension, brakes, wheels etc then slapping a badge that says gt3? If so I have a very close car it just needs the seats and a roll bar but I would never say it's a gt3 or clone

Well I saw two cars last week outside the Dairy Queen . Full gt3 body kit One was bright yellow , the other orange , colour matched wheels roll cage and seat backs , stripped out interior , 6 pot brembos , ohlins and powerflex or elephant racing suspension . Short shifter , Gt limited slip diff in one , wave track in the other. One had a 4.0 litre motor , the other a supercharged 3.4 . Gt3 rs markings on both .

This, quote from post by RodVertex: There�s another important reason for our new presence in this forum, early 996s are about to become classics in the 911 world. Since they have modern amenities such as COLD air conditioners, are more fit to be daily drivers, and have lower maintenance costs than their air/oil cooled brethren, our experience tells us that they are destined to become more popular than ever. Furthermore, since we have been selling 911 cars since 1985 and continuously watch the 911 market closely, we are predicting an upcoming surge in values . The evidence is there. For the past few months, journalists in magazines and internet sites have been calling the 996 a �steal� and �undervalued� in the 911 world and we agree. In the not too distant future the �affordable� status of the 911 will begin to diminish as more IMSBs, which was considered the Achilles heel of the 996 market value, are upgraded and become maintenance parts or with our product a permanent upgrade.

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They both sound bad ***. I just hate the putting logos on things that are not actual 1s, if that makes sense. I guess it isn't as bad as a ford focus with an Audi Supercharged sticker or something just off the wall. The 4.0 seems really interesting. And the hard back sport seats (painted body color is just so cool). I really get a kick out of seeing them as I walk away from mine.

Replicas. Clones , tributes have been a part of the porsche hobby since the 60's Some even sold by porsche , ie the flat nose and turbo bodied 3.2s of the 80s. Or the current craze of The backdating of 964s to look like 2.4 s models. It's kind of cool that you could build a gt3 clone that could handle as well and have more power than a real one out of a base c2, one thing about the 996 is , they made 175,000 of them , they are never going to be too rare to customize .

I have an apprentice that started here at age 15, sweeping the floors. He's worked his way up and now owns his own Cayman at age 22. Within 2 more years he will be building engines with supervision. There are some exceptions to the rule these days, but very, very few.

Vancouver for it's size is one of the most car mad places I've ever been , and I've been to 45 countries . I suspect these guys had the work done at one of the many Indy porsche or tuning shops .

Kids with unlimited supply of cash from Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan

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I've seen and known quite a few of them. They are almost as bad as some kids from the middle east. Some idiot kid bought his Ferrari "California" because he thought it was "romantic". Dude doesn't know anything about cars but has money. LOL Chinese Kids Driving Supercars: Inside the Secret Southern California Meet-up - YouTube

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Yea, it's crazy.

On the plus side, these same kids will reduce inventory by removing unwanted oil pans with center dividers, clearing the roadside of pesky tree trunks and phone poles, etc..

Yes, as someone posted earlier, Vancouver is a real hotbed for these kinds of exotic cars and the majority of them by the wealthy Asian kids. But, while over the top, they are seldom obnoxiously aggressive like the scions of another not to be mentioned wealthy minority group.

In fairness the Orange supercharged 996 belonged to a Russian kid . They were both nice guys , loved their cars and had selected every mod themselves .

996 prices are about to sky rocket. How do I know? I just sold mine and if history holds true in the next 6-12 months while I look for a replacement prices will go up, up, up.

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Not a Porsche in the bunch.......certainly not a 996.

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That's because these were college kids. The 996's are reserved for high school kids in that circle. Driving a 996 for these kinds of college kids is the same thing as wearing clothes from Kmart and advertising it when you were young.