A funny thing has been happening recently: I’ve begun to be attracted to the 996. The general design is one I never was a fan of during production and I can’t say those feelings ever changed. Yet here I am unable to take my eyes off of another 996. I do think there are some caveats. It is the slightly altered bodywork of the Turbo, the C4S, and the GT3 that I find very good looking. The standard 996 design still leaves me cold. And the interior is still mostly terrible. But I do find the peculiarities of the design and the way those come through on certain models to be quite alluring. They aren’t clean lines and I actually like that. The 997 certainly fixed much of this, and the 991 extended that even further, but perhaps it all became too clean. Perhaps following upon the beauty of the 993 Porsche thought they needed to make things a little uglier, a little more interesting. I don’t know, but I’m starting to think it worked.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Coupe on eBay
Year: 2005
Model: 911 Carrera 4S
Engine: 3.6 liter flat-6
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Mileage: 9,022 mi
Price: Reserve Auction ($63,900 Buy It Now)
2005 PORSCHE 911 C4S
This 2005 C4S has been part of the Trissl/TMT Collection for the Past 4 years.
We have decided to release the car for the next person to enjoy it.
We Purchased the car out of Texas. The car is Flawless. Built with lots of Options.Per COA
MSRP of over $99k
Speed Yellow on Black Full Leather
Feel free to call or text any questions 256.702.5185
This is a Speed Yellow 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S. The mileage is very low (9,022 miles) and the asking price is quite high. While the ad is short on details the general condition looks outstanding. It looks how we’d hope a car with fewer than 10K miles would look. Briefly returning to my discussion above, I do think bright colors are a big help for appreciating the 996. I can’t say I understand fully why bright colors work best, but they do. The original buyer of this C4S didn’t go with deviated stitching in the interior, but rather coated other areas in that bright yellow paint, while also adding yellow seat belts. It’s easy to go over the top with Porsche’s interior color options, but I think this one showed good restraint. I’ve never been a fan of the carbon fiber trim, but if you like it it’s there.
The question we’re left with is whether a 996 C4S is a nearly $70K car? I admit it looks great and the miles are very low, but this is 996TT money. It’s even low-mileage 996TT money and at that point it doesn’t really make sense. Bidding on the auction itself has been almost non-existent sitting at $17,877. Either there’s something lurking in its history or buyers simply aren’t paying attention. Regardless it obviously should be bid higher than this. Maybe $55K?
-Rob
I recently purchased an ‘02 996TT coupe. Seeing photos on Instagram of the 996 turbo parked next to the 997TT I appreciate the 996 design even more. The front end on the 996 is a more interesting design and the shut lines of the hood carry smoothly past the headlights down to the bumper. In comparison, the 997 looks like they dropped some rounder headlights in place to please the traditionalists. Neither one is wrong, just different design language. I like that Porsche started with a clean slate with the 996. The backlash to the 996 is similar to the first 911 following 356, or the impact bumper cars following the long hood cars. Now everyone loves them all.
I find all 911’s beautiful. Even the previously overlooked aircooled targa models are getting more attention with the return of the targa bar styling on the 991. Take a base, early 996 carrera and add the right wheels and suspension and it’s transformed into a very pretty car with superior driving dynamics to the aircooled cars.