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

If you look out beyond 2 years in the 6 to 8 year range. Turbo 4 718s are going to be some of the best driving cheap Porsches ever found within an era. 

In reply to infinitenexus :

I think it goes back to a comment in the Reddit thread (paraphrased): It's hard to predict the future when the recent past doesn't seem to always make sense.

I doubt the cars are going on any sustained upward trajectory.  The current bump is thanks to a sizable portion of the economy that just spent a year not spending any money combined with the general upwards pressure on all used cars from the shortage of new ones.  My local Porsche dealer has ZERO new 911s, Boxsters, or Caymans.  They don't even have any incoming if their web site is to be believed.

In reply to mfennell :

I really hope you're right!  There's always so much vitriol towards 996s that I can't imagine them continuing to increase in value like all the other models, but who knows.  As Ian F said above, it's hard to predict the future when the recent past doesn't seem to make any sense!

964's were cheap for a long time as they were the red headed step child of the air cooleds.  Now they're worth more than a 993.  Hard to say what will happen with the 996, they've been cheap for a long time...

In reply to docwyte :

As an ex-996 owner, I would also argue that they haven't been that good for a long time , at least the cooking models. I liked mine, but it also seemed to be of lesser quality than my current, rather rubbish condition C3.2.

I think the special versions like the turbo and the GT3s are going to at least keep their values, but I'm not sure about the regular 996s. I think ones in especially nice condition might keep or increase their values, but the more cooking models might come down again.

None of this however has much bearing on the running and maintenance costs. They'll still go "nice wallet you have there, shame if something happened to it" on a regular basis like most of the other Porsches. Some of this can be counteracted with DIY, but that's not going to fix parts prices.

Although I did have a bit of a "WTH" moment when I found out that the cheapest 996 GT3 in the country when I last looked was almost $70k, and that was a car that had been bent and unbent (although it looked like it had somehow maintained a clean title).

docwyte said:

964's were cheap for a long time as they were the red headed step child of the air cooleds.  Now they're worth more than a 993.  Hard to say what will happen with the 996, they've been cheap for a long time...

I've noticed this trend as well. Is it the Singer effect? Or have they simply become super desirable?

In reply to dyintorace :

I'm not sure.  It's not like Singer is buying so many of them to push the market.  Only thing I can think of is the 964 is the most modern of the truly classic looking air cooled 911's...

BoxheadTim said:

In reply to docwyte :

Although I did have a bit of a "WTH" moment when I found out that the cheapest 996 GT3 in the country when I last looked was almost $70k, and that was a car that had been bent and unbent (although it looked like it had somehow maintained a clean title).

Wow.  I paid $80,500 for a 4000 mile CPO '04 GT3 in '07 (MSRP was 108 IIRC).  I sold it in '09 for $56k with 12k miles on it to a guy planning to make it a track car (as you should).  I looked him up last year - he now co-owns a Porsche performance shop in NJ.

So, I took a bath but the 360 I replaced it with took the same down elevator from $127 to $83 (with a stop in the $26k of maintenance department) in approximately the same period.  Tellingly, I still own that 360 and don't really miss the GT3 so there's that.  :)

In reply to mfennell :

You sold the GT3 at basically the bottom of the market.  They've just gone up from that time on, a decent one now easily sells for $75-85k.  So you could've had a GT3 for 14 years and sold it for what you paid for it.  Not too shabby.  I could've bought one for $45k in '09, driven it this entire time and had it appreciate $30k. 

Instead I bought a 951, LS swapped it, spent a metric butt load of money on it and sold it for a little over 50% what I had into it 6 years later.  Oops...

Whenever I finally get a 996 (or a different generation of 911 if I find an amazing deal) I do plan on keeping it for the long run. I think ultimately it will go up in price, though not like a 993 or any other generation. Remember, the 75-77 911 was often looked down upon for being the worst of the air cooleds (which it kinda is) but even those are selling for a serious premium these days. 
 

When I'm ready to get one, if I can still find a good 996 for $20k then I'll consider that a win. 

docwyte said:

In reply to mfennell :

You sold the GT3 at basically the bottom of the market.  They've just gone up from that time on, a decent one now easily sells for $75-85k.  So you could've had a GT3 for 14 years and sold it for what you paid for it.  Not too shabby. 

Yeah, sure, but my 6MT 360 is worth about what I paid for it too.  I'm sure maintenance has been no more than 3X what the Porsche would have been.  :)