why are 996 going so cheap now

hello, ive just nipped over from the 964 forum. i have recently noticed you can buy a 996 for less than 20K . next year i may well be looking to upgrade my 964 .the difference in value is now within my budget . any opinions on this. thanks steve

a selection are sub 20, a reflection of the current state of the supply-demand market but you still need to buy on condition

Yes now early 996's less than 100k miles are starting at £15k. Interesting topic for a Porsche forum, in that in cold terms maybe they are now still in excess of their real value as opposed to the inflated values that they have been. I have a year 2000 Jeep grand cherokee on my drive, 65k miles, 4.7L V8 engine, all leather, electric etc, in piece by piece terms worth more than my Porsche and yet its worth £3k max. I was put off buying a porsche previously as the price vs condition ratio was not attractive enough, a recent windfall meant I splashed out, I've not regretted it but realise its an anachronistic extravagance when a four grand scooby blows my doors off. Then again I have a garrard 401/SME3009 turntable to play my vinyl and a Leica rangefinder to take my photographs, must be my age. :lol:

No, just the appreciation of quality

At under £20k, they represent stonking value IMO. Mind you, there are some other interesting cars about at the moment for bargain basement prices- An XKR for around £10k, a W12 A8 for under £20k. Must be a combination of fuel prices and supply/demand. There are plenty of 996s about, so look at loads, and buy as late a car as you can for the money. As they say "condition, condition, condition..."

996 have any of you 996 owners had a 964 before ? how do they compare driving experience running costs etc i,m not to concerned about the performance as my 964 is more than enough for me,and i expect the 996 to be more so. steve

Hi Yup had a 993 before my 996 and a 964 before that. Great car, great build quality, qwirky control layout, great engine sound, great drive and a great weekend fun car; but I prefer my 996 over both of them, because I prefer a GT style car to an out an out Sports car. You can drive a 250+ mile journey in the 996 and arrive still fresh, not so in the 964 and you'd be in an even worse state with previous generation 911's. Can't really comment on running costs other than to say that neither are cheap to fix if they go wrong. Porsche have done an amazing transition with the 996; produced a stonking car in much greater numbers that ever before. Yes, you can get cheap ones now, but it's misleading as these cars should be bought on condition and you are very unlikely to get a £15k pristine 996. I try to put ownership costs to the back of my mind (which is something this forum gets stuck on IMHO) and just enjoy the driving experience, otherwise I'd just drive around in our entry level Clio all the time and that's still 40p per mile WLC!

964 v 996 geehils that makes sense to me, this 964 is my 1st porsche and 1st sports car. I have always had bikes before this. It is an out and out sports car ,bumpy ,noisy smelly,uncomfortable and very exciting.Its like a 4 wheeled bike. 100 miles is my limit in 1 go,after that my back aches.( like a sports bike) Its exactly what i wanted from a sports car and its also got the traditional bug eyed headlamps that i want. the 996 is almost certainly a more practical car,but not what i want yet. and besides ,i think my 964 is in fantastic condition mechanically and bodily, i dont think a £15k 996 will be as good. so thanks to everybody for advice ,you have helped me make up my mind for a while yet.I will look again when the novelty wears off. steve

whats the best way to value your car anyway, mines coming up for 12 months old now and i'm intrigued to know how much it's depreciated?

Type your details in Autotrader and take about 3k off the trade-in price, that's what I find. Or go into an OPC, pretend you're interested a new car and then find out what they offer you....I'm sure the trade in value will start with a '1', then add about 4k to this value if you traded at an Indy.

My ramblings on depreciation and a few other things! 1) Never view your car as an investment 2) It will depreciate no matter what, at what rate will depend on how much you paid to start with and the annual mileage. Store it in a garage and polish it on weekends and it will depreciate slower than the one out being enjoyed everyday 3) A 996 will depreciate faster than a 993 for the obvious reason (there more of them) but that doesn't make the 993 a "better" car 4) I suspect that at some point the new cars will be so far technically advanced (that point may already have been reached with the new 997) that 993 will be seen as 'vintage' and only those with low mileage will be immune from rapid depreciation 5) When buying a second hand car remember it didn't start off costing £20,000, it started life at £60,000 to £100,000 and the maintenance costs are going to reflect that. When I take my car in for a service I budget £1,500, if less I walk out smiling

Yes there are a lot going cheap but as the old saying goes, "you pays yer money........." I would never buy such a car for bottom end prices without being VERY knowledgeable about them :hand: I still believe a decent 911 will fetch decent money, and as said previously, if you are willing to buy a marque such as this with a very small budget then a 911 isn't really for you. As some of you would have read one of my precious threads when I got my C4S, it is VERY possible that a £36k car which may seem cheap in this climate, could and probably will need a couple of grand spending on it if not more! Buy careful lads uh:

if anyone wants a cheap 996 c4s 2004 for 32k let me know