How long will the 996 remain affordable? When will the dream of an affordable 911 finally die?

Tyler H

The IMS bearing is the tip of the iceberg of potential issues with these cars.  There are a lot of things that just don't tolerate age, miles, or exposure -- specifically anything made out of rubber, plastic, or foam.  

If you're a perfectionist, a cheap 996 will frustrate and subsequently bankrupt you.

A few years ago my buddy bought a 996 Carrera cabriolet for just under $20k. Over the next year he spent another $10k just trying to get it right. There are no cheap Porsches, at least cheap relative to most other makes. 

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Sure there is, he could've LS swapped that 996 cab for $8500 and called it a day. 

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Sure there is, he could've LS swapped that 996 cab for $8500 and called it a day. 

The cheap easy LS swap is one of the biggest internet car rumors of all time.  If you have a good supply of steel, bushing and other parts, and are a very good fabricator, maybe.  If you are buying a kit and doing it yourself and having to source things it will cost more.  If you aren't a capable mechanic with the right tools and you are paying for help, it'll cost even more. 

And the low cost always requires the use of a high mileage junkyard motor of unknown quality and usually not sourced from a performance application. 

But yes, LS swap the world! 

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Sure there is, he could've LS swapped that 996 cab for $8500 and called it a day. 

Probably $3,000 of that money went towards trying to make the stupid convertable top work.  He spent a month trying to fix it himself with no luck. Called me in to help, we spent probably 8 hours on it and got nowhere. There were parts all over the front yard. Sent it to the shop, got charged like 8 hours of labor the first time and it took them three tries. I swear if the Germans had invented the paperclip it would have 12 moving parts. 

I also dream of a 911 but I'm 41 and investing a new 911 payment in catch up retirement deposits after working for ourselves for 12 years and trying to afford living in west palm beach during that time. I'm always debating the value of investing so much without enjoying it now. I think once we get our savings and retirement in a comfortable spot I'm going to pull the trigger. 

You know what else is affordable? A Mazerati BiTurbo. Atleast that gets you seated in italian leather when its parked on Jack stand in a garage.

infinitenexus said:

yupididit said:

Any pics of a 996 with a carseat? That sounds like a nightmare.  My son hated the backseat when we test drove one. He was 5 at the time lol

From what I've read a rear facing one, as above, just requires the front seat pushed forwards some.  My wife and I are both on the short side so that's no biggie.  And once the baby seat can go to front-facing, then the front seats can be in a normal position.  And like docwyte said, kids can fit in there for a while.  

And here we see why Panameras are a thing. Getting a tiny human that you care a great deal about into that seat seems like a nightmare to me. having to do some Ninja Warrior routine to get a baby in and out every time you go somewhere probably discourages taking the Porsche

In reply to STM317 :

Fortunately, once the baby is big enough to be in a forward-facing seat it gets a lot easier.  And booster seats work great with the 996 and other 911s.  

As to Shinnygroove's comments, I found a convertible 996 in excellent shape locally with a 6 speed, some tasteful aftermarket wheels and parts, for $15K.  Honestly, it's gorgeous.  But the last thing I want to do is even consider paying the Porsche tax on convertible parts.

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

Not in a million years can you LS swap a 911 for $8500.  Maybe if you're an awesome mechanic/fabricator and do all the labor and make every single part yourself.

I don't even want to think about how much it cost to LS swap my 951 but suffice it to say, it was FAR more than $8500.  The engine is the cheapest part of the swap....

Im also still being drawn to the 996 and its quirky styling. It was weird back in middle school when I saw the pictures it was a huge change from the 993, but I was still drawn to the design, especially the early model 996s, but at the same time I love the Carrera 4s and how it looks. 

docwyte said:

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

Not in a million years can you LS swap a 911 for $8500.  Maybe if you're an awesome mechanic/fabricator and do all the labor and make every single part yourself.

I don't even want to think about how much it cost to LS swap my 951 but suffice it to say, it was FAR more than $8500.  The engine is the cheapest part of the swap....

There's a guy I see at the track with an LS swapped 944, he estimates they've got almost $40k into it.  And I think that's a walk in the park compared to LS swapping a 911. 

yupididit said:

Any pics of a 996 with a carseat? That sounds like a nightmare.  My son hated the backseat when we test drove one. He was 5 at the time lol

911s and carseats only work for the limpless.  I tried.  My youngest two were in carseats/boosters back when I had a 996.  The rear 911 seats were smaller than the carseats, so we just went retro.  Not pre-70s retro - we actually used seatbeats.  Nobody died.

In reply to Apis Mellifera :

Tell your son I said "nice hat" lol

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Exactly.  I bought the 951 in 2010 for cheap money, wanting a disposable track car that wasn't my DD.  I had a PPI done by a Porsche shop and gave them specific things to check, which they said they did and all was good. At the time I could've gotten a 996 GT3 for a decent price too but stuck with my guns of disposable track car and separate DD. 

The 951 showed up and everything the shop said was fine wasn't and that included the motor.  So I LS swapped it and owned it for 6 years, worked on it constantly, refining it.  By the time I was done, I probably had enough in it that I should've just bought the 996 GT3 instead.  I would've ultimately spent the same amount of money, except I would've had a GT3 that entire time that also would've appreciated 80%.  Whoops.

Hence my sourness on the "Just LS swap it!" cries.  Until you've actually done and lived it, you have NO idea how much time, effort and money it takes to truly shake one of those swaps out.

Oh, there's no chance I'd put a backward facing car seat in a 996.  The front passenger will be crushed against the dash and getting your kid in/out of that seat will be an expert yoga level exercise.

docwyte said:

In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :

Exactly.  I bought the 951 in 2010 for cheap money, wanting a disposable track car that wasn't my DD.  I had a PPI done by a Porsche shop and gave them specific things to check, which they said they did and all was good. At the time I could've gotten a 996 GT3 for a decent price too but stuck with my guns of disposable track car and separate DD. 

The 951 showed up and everything the shop said was fine wasn't and that included the motor.  So I LS swapped it and owned it for 6 years, worked on it constantly, refining it.  By the time I was done, I probably had enough in it that I should've just bought the 996 GT3 instead.  I would've ultimately spent the same amount of money, except I would've had a GT3 that entire time that also would've appreciated 80%.  Whoops.

Hence my sourness on the "Just LS swap it!" cries.  Until you've actually done and lived it, you have NO idea how much time, effort and money it takes to truly shake one of those swaps out.

Missed the fact you would have bought the gt3 and had to drop $15k on it just to keep it reliable and ready for pounding. I only know because I did before flipping it while holding the LS racecar. Atleast my expensive and temperamental LS swap car gets parts from autozone.

I just saw this 986 S on the 986 forum. NMNA, but here's the link: http://986forum.com/forums/boxsters-cayman-cars-sale-wanted/80757-fs-02-boxster-s-chicago.html#post637550

Salvage auction info from a couple years ago added in the last post. For  under $10k I still think it's a steal in the current market.

With my 986s I disable the passenger side airbag to carry grandkids, but yes... there are only two seats.

You just got out of a bad situation with the Mustang, moved, baby coming soon, and need to get a house loan with a few month old job. I can't think of a worse time to get an old 911, but hey, why not?

Don't get all butthurt because I said it, other people are thinking it too. Get your house, have the kid for a few years, get stable, then find your car, it'll be there when you're ready. There's been affordable 911s for 45 years now, a few years won't make them all go away. 

In reply to Olemiss540 :

Except this car already had all that stuff done.  And in my experience, most of the GT3's are pretty damn solid. 

Steve_Jones said:

You just got out of a bad situation with the Mustang, moved, baby coming soon, and need to get a house loan with a few month old job. I can't think of a worse time to get an old 911, but hey, why not?

Don't get all butthurt because I said it, other people are thinking it too. Get your house, have the kid for a few years, get stable, then find your car, it'll be there when you're ready. There's been affordable 911s for 45 years now, a few years won't make them all go away. 

Affordable 911s will come around next recession. All of a sudden people  will prefer to have a collection of cash over older, expensive to maintain, barely driven vehicles. Obviously the lightening Covid crash did not see this occur but I wouldn't even call that a crash, more so a dip before this insanity/stimulus driven surge. 

This is the absolute worst time to buy anything of enjoyment. Cars, travel trailers, houses, etc, etc. The market is boiling over and no one can handle having all of this cash floating around. Gotta go spend it on something ASAP!

I have a feeling that similar to Ferraris, any 911 with a manual transmission will level off in value as those who actually do want to shift themselves in their weekend toy car will find fewer options.

That said, trying to predict the collector car market is often a fool's game.   If you an afford to buy the car you want now, do it.  Tomorrow is never guaranteed.

In reply to Steve_Jones :

You just can't help yourself, can you?  You still seem to have massive reading comprehension issues and have once again twisted a story around so you can point your perfect finger at me and say "BAD," when a quick scroll with a mouse shows you've just got it plain wrong.  

I'm guessing you missed where I said multiple times IN TWO YEARS.  I also very clearly said I would be getting a house first, but looks like you ignored that as well.  I'm going to type this again because you repeatedly twist facts so you can be a nasty e36 m3 head.  I want you to pay attention this time, because I'm not dealing with your troll self again:

I very clearly used the words IN TWO YEARS in the very first post.  I then stated that I would be buying a house first, and only then I would start saving for a Porsche.  So these things you said I need to do?  I already very clearly stated I was planning on doing them.

Now go away and troll someone else.  You're starting to get really creepy the way you're following my posts and twisting things just so you can make your comments.  I won't be replying to anything else you say, and I've already shown you how you are completely wrong, so please don't post in here anymore.

In reply to infinitenexus :

Notice 4 other people voted my post up? Guess they are trolling too? All I did was answer the question you asked, and said, no, they will still be affordable when you're ready.

Get over yourself, no wonder they kicked you out. I'm 100% sure they don't regret it

In reply to Steve_Jones :

More reading comprehension issues, as usual.  I guess you missed where I posted that they've apologized multiple times.  Anyways, you can go away now: 

So can we get this back on topic now, back to where used Porsche prices might be in 2 years' time?

A quick search shows me that Boxsters are still pretty cheap, although I believe they bottomed out a couple years ago and they're just starting to increase a bit.  996s seem to be doing the same thing, with the exception of convertibles that don't seem to hold their value as well.  The market is strange right now and prices for pretty much everything are inflated and I see people saying that prices will crash later this year - Do we have anything concrete to really support that or is it more of a supposition?  I'm no expert but at this rate it's looking like what would have been an $18K 996 a few years ago will be a $24K 996 two years from now, unless the used car market experiences some form of crash.