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I think the Porsche Panamera has a problem. No, not a mechanical one, but rather an image problem. The thing with Porsches is that they’ve always been inspirational cars. Something you desire and work towards. Even if it wasn’t a 911, cool people still drove 944s and 928s. Even the 914 was a fun little sports car that certainly wasn’t fast but had a ton of style and uniqueness about them. But with the Panamera, that isn’t true. No kid has a poster of a Panamera on their wall. Nobody goes to the Porsche dealership to see a new Panamera. It exists to compete in a class with other mid-size sedans and hopefully steal sales from people who traditionally bought an E-Class or 5 Series every three years. That is fine, but it surely isn’t in the same league as all the other Porsche cars when it comes to collectability and long-term ownership. So what happens to them?
It hasn’t been too long since we looked at a C4 Audi, but 30 years on they’re now so rare to find in decent shape that it’s quite notable when you do see one. Today’s car is far from stock, like the last one – actually, even moreso. Turned up in essentially every way, it’s a built monster that’s ready to rock. Despite that, if you like the work that’s been done these are still remarkable performance deals.
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I mentioned in my last post that the pricing of the M4 limited editions might be expensive, but it was far from the most expensive of the smaller Ms. Case in point; today’s M3 Lime Rock Edition. What did that get you? Individual Fire Orange paint is the most obvious item, but this was otherwise a loaded Competition Package car with some M Performance goodies and a sticker showing a track map of Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. Only 200 were made, and though they’re essentially just an appearance package – like most of the special E9xs were – they command a premium. How premium?
Sometimes I don’t know what to make of the 964 Porsche 911 Carrera 4. You can certainly appreciate Porsche moving to an all-wheel-drive setup, but that comes with a lot of compromises. The big ones being weight, complexity, and losing a bunch of power from all that driveline. Suddenly you have a peppy 911 turned into a heavier car that needs to divvy up its power to the front wheels. You may feel differently, but I think the juice isn’t worth the squeeze with that. The values seem to disagree with me.
It always surprised me what comes out of the woodwork when looking at unusual color combinations. Most of the time I didn’t even think it was possible, but the old adage of anything is possible with enough money sure rings true.
Today, we have a 1999 Mercedes-Benz SL500 up for sale in London finished in Designo Purple over Designo Purple leather. Thats the name. Just Designo Purple.
