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This will be a rare feature for us, but like with most 911s I’m always curious to see colors and color combinations that I don’t come across often. With the 996, because of their generally lower appreciation among 911 fans, coming across those diamonds in the rough proves more rewarding since it provides an opportunity for an interesting 911 – something that will stand apart from the crowd (and there are a lot of 996s out there) – while still paying relatively reasonable prices. The one we have here, a Dark Teal Metallic 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet with just 22,700 miles on it, would rank as the top-of-the-line non-Turbo 911 of its day yet now commands an asking price just under $40K. Even if not the prettiest 911s around that’s still fantastic bang for the buck. Following the trend that began with the M491 package in the mid-80s, the 4S basically is a 996TT in body and suspension, but with the standard naturally-aspirated 3.6 liter flat-six. So you don’t get quite as much power as the Turbo, but the appearance, stopping power and cornering are all on par and with 320 horses on tap the straight-line performance is still plenty attention grabbing.
I was making my rounds around the internet looking for interesting cars and was taken back when I saw the photo above. Was it some kind of European Touring Car? A 24-hour endurance car? The next thing that caught my eye was the price of a mere $5,000. Now I started getting excited. A cheap, real race car for sale in the U.S. that is ready to go?
Well …
I’ve been looking at the 996 GT3 a lot lately. Last summer I featured this Speed Yellow GT3, which I loved and which I thought seemed like it might be a reasonable value at the time given that GT3s have appeared to be on the rise. It got me thinking and recently I began looking at them again. Let’s say the GT3 has become my aspiration. Given that I currently own a car I almost never drive, and that I would not park a GT3 on the street, it’s more of a long term aspiration. That said, since I’m not likely the only one with such aspirations, and for those who might have a more current time frame for acquiring one, it seemed worthwhile to look at what I’ve been seeing and what’s currently available on the market.
The GT3 can be very hard to find. There aren’t a lot of them since they were only imported near the end of 996 production. Also, as track-focused machines many have been modified and/or driven hard. So the crop is limited, but here we have three currently available. We’ll begin with this Arctic Silver Metallic GT3, located in New York, with 15,329 miles on it.
In stock form the E46 330i sedan was already a brisk, practical and rewarding car to drive. A capable sport sedan for grown ups, if you will. But when specified with the $4,000 ZHP “Performance Package,” the 330i could be given a slightly harder edge that helped to make up for the lack of a four-door M3 in the E46 range (at least, a bit). Offering a mixture of cosmetic upgrades (M-Sport bodykit, 18″ M-Sport wheels and splashes of alcantara interior trim) and some mechanical reworking  – firmer suspension, a remapped ECU and upgraded cams bringing power from the smooth 3.0 liter M54 engine to about 235 hp – ZHP equipped cars remain favorites among enthusiasts and tend to command strong money when they show up on the used market.
I always thought of the B6 as the compact executive sedan for people a little too quirky to buy a 3-series or a C-class (a bit like a Saab). The handsome, turn-of-the-millennium design has aged well and continues to exude a note of well-heeled class even today. While humdrum four and six cylinder examples can be picked up very cheaply for everyday commuting duties, it’s the high-performance S4 version that really gets the pulse racing. Wearing some sporting exterior upgrades – door blades, redesigned bumpers, chromed wing mirror covers and, usually, 18″ Avus wheels – it remains a rather understated car in outward appearance. But squeezed under the hood is a thumping 4.2 liter V8, good for nearly 340 hp and 155 MPH on the Autobahn. Rev it hard and this thing pulls like a freight train. While the drawback of the B6 was always its questionable reliability and build quality, that motor, combined here with a six speed manual gearbox in a wagon bodystyle, might just be enough to make up for it.
