If I could find whoever spec’d this car out, I would give them a firm, but polite, handshake to thank them for bringing this car into the world for all of us to enjoy. This 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS up for sale in Northwest Germany is finished in none other than paint-to-sample Irish Green, and boy does it look amazing. Even better, the madmen at Manthey Racing put a few little special touches on this.
Where have you gone, 911 R? In terms of value, of course. The most heavily speculated Porsche 911 in a long time had a wild ride of instant value rise up to $600,000 and sometimes $700,000, only for it to crash and burn after Porsche announced a GT3 Touring with a 6-speed manual. Suddenly, we were seeing sale prices on 500-mile cars for only $35,000 over sticker, not $350,000. Still, there are few enough 911 R examples out there that dealers can collude to keep prices high, until a private owner needs money and decides making $50,000 for doing nothing is good enough. Today’s example, a car with 2,000 miles up for sale in Florida, still has a giant asking price.
One of the most anticipated Porsches in awhile, the 718 Cayman GT4, is finally starting hit dealer lots. Also it seems like owners already want to get rid of them. Naturally, that leaves us all wondering what will happen to the prices of the 981 GT4s. Some say prices will drop as current GT4 owners dump them for the new one, while others think prices will hold steady given their low production and specialness of them. Personally, I think it will be a combination of the two, with prices softening a tad, but not necessarily the huge drop that potential buyers are looking for. As of today, 981 GT4s seem to be as steady as ever. Yes, the higher mileage ones with modifications and track time have taken a little bit of a hit. But the totally stock ones with low miles are holding very strong. Case in point, this example in Sapphire Blue up for sale in Florida.
The 2016 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS might go down as one of those “special” cars. Well, I guess it already is, but it is more of an end of an era. The 2016 model year was the last of the 991.1 cars before switching to the twin-turbocharge 3.0-liter with the facelift. That means this is the last of the naturally-aspirated 3.8-liter which admittedly has been around for a long time, but for good reason. You pair that with the almost-a-GT car GTS, and you have something special. Go even further and option with with the 7-speed manual and paint-to-sample in Mexico Blue? I’d say this one is “special”.
Oh, Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG, what have you done this time? When this 2016 first caught my eye, I thought it was a gaudy vinyl wrap installed by some shop that took up residence in some old garage six months ago. However, this isn’t a vinyl wrap, this is paint straight from Mercedes-Benz. The color is called designo Desert Sand, and I give them credit, this looks like desert sand. To go even further, it has a matching desert sand interior, and they didn’t go lightly on that either. As wild as it is, the previous generation is now old news with the new G terrorizing curbs at the local mall in the nice end of town. So what happens to the values of this crazy AMG G-Wagens? Well for this specific example, it might be a little different.
Hard to believe though it may be, 2020 rings in the reign of what will certainly be the new benchmark for small hatchbacks – the Golf Mk.8. The Mk.7 redefined the driving dynamics and performance of the category with what is generally hailed as the best VW chassis to date – the MQB platform. So it’s time to start looking at these models as potential values while we wait for the next GTI to bow.
The Mk.7 introduced a new strata of GTI trim levels. The base was a S, which gave you the Tartan interior, the turbocharged 2.0TFSI motor cranking out 210 horsepower, LED foglights, Bluetooth and a 5.8″ touchscreen, 18″ alloy wheels and a review camera. In other words, it wasn’t exactly a stripped model, and as such it’d cost you over $26,000 to get into one. Moving to the SE got you leather and a sunroof, along with automatic headlights, premium Fender radio and rain-sensing wipers. The top-tier Autobahn package further added navigation, power seats, and dual-climate control – by which point you were knocking on the R’s base price if you had fully optioned out your GTI.
So the one to get was the S if you could live without a sunroof, since it gave you the best look and the most bang for a buck. But there was a secret – the Performance Package, which gave you a further 10 horsepower and a limited-slip differential in front, along with upgraded brakes. Click one more option – the Lighting Package – and you got adaptive HIDs. This Pure White over Titan Black/Clark Plaid cloth 2016 had just that set of options, and just 5,500 miles since new:
Hell hath no fury like depreciation on a Maybach. A few years ago I looked at a Maybach 57s that, in terms of pure insanity to buy and maintain, was probably at the top of the list. Not only was the technology already badly dated, but it has some truly eye-wateringly expensive parts on it like a watercooled alternator that can only be bought used for $8,000. Today, I have another Maybach that is probably in the same boat as the car from over three years ago. This 2016 S600 has everything you could want out of an ultra-luxury car including two little pillows for you nap on or have the world’s most posh pillow fight with your backseat companion. The reason I am looking at this example specifically is because despite it being a 2016, it has almost 118,000 miles on. You know what that means in terms of price.
Very rarely can you buy a new car and not lose a dime on depreciation. Granted, this isn’t going to happen on something you can drive on down to local dealer and pick one out of a row covered in dust that has been sitting for six weeks. These cars are usually low production and thus very high demand. Some recent examples were the BMW 1M and the Porsche 911R just to give you an idea. Again, these are super specific examples, but at the same time you can find them for sale fairly easily, you just need to pay. Another one of those cars is the Cayman GT4. This isn’t the first time Porsche really went all in on the Cayman, as the Cayman R was nice package to say the least, but the GT4 just feels a little more polished. I’m certainly not the only one that feels this way, and prices surely reflect that. However, a new 718 Cayman GT4 is coming in 2020. What does that mean for current prices?
The Audi TT is dead. Following the 2019 model year, Audi is pulling the plug sporty coupe because well, no one is buying it. After launching the third generation in 2016, sales were down almost 45% in 2018, and word is that 2019 isn’t looking much better. The world wants SUVs and automakers are listening. I don’t think it has anything to do with the actual car, because the MK3 TT is downright brilliant. The interior with the Audi virtual cockpit is changing the game for every auto marker by putting all the infotainment directly in the gauge cluster to free up the valuable dashboard space. This was even more important in the TT because of it’s size and small cockpit, so even going a step further by putting the climate control dials directly in the middle of the vents was genius. Add in the fact that you can buy a TT RS to run with super cars, and there isn’t much to complain about. As long as you don’t have much stuff, of course.
Today’s car, a 2016 TT S up for sale in Houston, Texas, was reportedly ordered by an Audi executive in Michigan. Naturally, when you have access to special treatment and know money isn’t really an obstacle, you do things like order it in Viper Green and add a bunch of options that suddenly pushes the sticker price north of $60,000. Thankfully for all of us, niche German cars depreciate faster than you can imagine, and you can buy it for a 35% discount.
I think it is safe to say that Porsche 911R drop tower amusement ride is over. Prices started at MSRP, speculators rode the ride up and up, and then Porsche released the GT3 Touring and people lost their wallets on the sudden drop back down because they decided to risk it and not put it in the little bin before strapping in. In all seriousness, the days of $660,000 asking prices for these cars are long gone and won’t return until we are probably all dead. I’m not speculating or just flat out guessing on this, a car with 1,000 miles sold for $280,000 a few months and and we are about to find out what another one with 463 miles will fetch. Given the mileage on those cars, it is safe to say those were bought as “investments” and not to drive. Today’s car, a white with green stripe, is in the same boat. Just 920 miles careful miles. The price? About what you would expect, actually.
