In terms of value in the Porsche 911 world, where the “value” is a little bit of misnomer, I personally think the 997 is in a wonderful spot. You have a respectable amount of safety and performance, the unmistakable looks of a 911, all while not needing a six-figure income to buy or maintain. Yes, some of the more special 997s still bring huge prices, but for the more common 997s, its one of those or a new Honda Accord. The early Carrera and Carrera S cars are particularly appealing to me, especially when equipped with the 19″ lobster claw wheels. As luck would have it, this is what we have today in this 2006 Carrera S up for sale in California. The thing is, it isn’t equipped with the traditional six-speed manual transaxle, but rather the last of its kind five-speed automatic. Is this a deal breaker?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S on eBay
Year: 2006
Model: 911 Carrera S
VIN: WP0AB29946S743320
Engine: 3.8 liter flat-6
Transmission: 5-speed automatic
Mileage: 63,889 mi
Location: Costa Mesa, California
Price: $34,995 Buy It Now
Selective Motor Cars is proud to offer this beautiful GREY 2006 PORSCHE 911 CARRERA S 2 DOOR COUPE with 63889 miles available for sale. Here at Selective Motor Cars we take pride in our inventory. All of our vehicles are hand picked and go through a rigourous multi-point safety and smog inspection prior to being listed for sale to insure your satisfaction. A Must See And Drive Car – No Hidden Fees – No Games —– Please feel free to contact Selective Motor Cars for more information. Our enthusiastic staff members would love to speak with you and are ready to answer any questions that you might have. Financing is available on approved credit. Feel free to fill out an application on our website. We Urge You To Please Call To Confirm Car Is Still Available Before Visiting Our Dealership – Call 949-531-6090
This example finished in Seal Grey Metallic has a fair amount of miles with nearly 64,000, but honestly the condition looks pretty fresh, especially on the seats. Of course it has the worn climate control buttons, but thankfully there are some aftermarket fixes for that now. Options are fairly healthy with park assist, Bose audio, and the sport seats, but a lot of that isn’t going to matter because of the Tiptronic. For me, there would have to be a very significant discount for me to buy an automatic 911 that wasn’t a PDK, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
I get that this is a nice example, but $35,000 is probably overpriced. Regular manual transmission cars are selling for this price every week, and you’ll never convince me or anyone that all things being equal that a Tiptronic is worth the same as a manual transmission car. The first number in the price for the car most certainly has to be a 2, but dealers will be dealers. Some things never change.
– Andrew
Very expensive considering miles and tiptronic. Porsche made many of these 997.1 C2S cars, especially in silver and gray, so they are very common. All things considered this was maybe a $30k vehicle before COVID-19, now it’s worth less.
Dealers have overhead, insurance, payroll, and taxes. So of course they have to charge more. They also have to make a living too. They can also provide financing and warranties too. Some people only want to buy from private parties, some people will only buy from dealers. Every car and person is different. So you also have to group comps up instead of single out just one. There are so many differences in condition and maintenance for these cars. Two of them could look exactly the same and would could cost considerably more. You guys follow the market, you should know this.
I hesitate to mention it, but IMS still affects 997.1 cars…
this car is nicely appointed and the milage isn’t a factor for the price which isn’t overboard for people actually looking for this class of porsche… greg says that the color is too common for the price and the covid19 crisis affects the value, how exactly? silver porsches are certainly around in abundance but the reason it seems is that they are desirable when ordered up for sale… the automatic transmission is a plus to many drivers that have real world concerns with traffic and if you live in the hills of say san francisco it is a valuable option… as far as performance all it needs is some tuner magic to increase the power, viola’… i’d say this car is a good deal considering the cost of any new porsche model…
Condition looks really good from these pics, and sports seats are a plus, as are the lobster claws. That being said, the lack of sport chrono would keep me from buying this at the current ask.
To elaborate on Greg’s point re: COVID-19, the car isn’t worth less, per se, but the pool of people who would consider buying it in the current economic uncertainty is much smaller – hence, a price reduction that separates this example from the sea of gray 997.1s is warranted if the dealer actually wants to move this off the lot.
Regarding IMS, IMS is absolutely an issue with the 997.1 cars, although given the high miles on this example (for a 14 year old 911) I wouldn’t be too concerned. If it hasn’t been an issue by now, it’s probably not going to.
I’d agree that it’s definitely overpriced. The shlushbox added a bit to the price when new but definitely subtracts value on a 14-year-old car. The buyers are just different and what’s valued changes. FWIW I sold my own 997.1 4S (slushbox) with a lot fewer miles 4 years ago for $35K, so I’d say this is way steep. And +1 on the COVID discount – the number of people willing to splurge on luxuries is definitely down ATM.
Not sure if the seller has been reading these comments, but his BIN price has dropped 2K to 32.9K. I think this number is getting more realistic, albeit it would need to down another 2K for me to endorse it as a good deal.
Fork, not claw (pet peeve, sorry)