Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Recently, Andrew took a look at a 996.2 GT3 and noted that if you wanted one…well, now was not the best time to buy.
With just 16,000 miles, the 2004 example that he looked at certainly seemed priced at the top of the market with a $148,500 asking price. But it was not the top of the market…no, not by a long shot.
Porsche’s announcement that their most track-focused, but road-going, homologation vehicles, the GT3 and GT3RS, would no longer be available with a traditional manual transmission was met with a fair degree of consternation among Porsche enthusiasts. Porsche’s reasons were straightforward: around a track, the natural habitat of these cars, a PDK-equipped 911 is faster than a traditional manual. That is all well and good and not an insignificant point for as track-focused a machine as these cars aspire to be. But it still leaves us cold. Rowing your own gears is part and parcel of the driving experience from which so many of us derive our enjoyment. That makes the 997-derived GT3 and GT3RS the last of the breed. Or at least for now. Here we have a Black 2010 Porsche 911 GT3, located in Ohio, with just 4,525 miles on it. First released as a variant of the 996, the 997 GT3 began as a 3.6 liter flat-six sending 415 hp toward the rear wheels before receiving a small bump to 3.8 liters and 435 hp all transmitted via a 6-speed manual transmission. These remain some of the absolute best performance vehicles Porsche has produced and are sure to have a long and devoted following.
For 911 buyers who want extra power, but without going the route of forced induction, the 911 GT3 (and its sibling the GT3 RS) makes for a fantastic alternative. Always considered more track-focused than the 911 Turbo, the GT3, through a combination of added lightness and added power, attempts to extract every ounce of ability from the 911’s already excellent chassis without going for a full track-focused setup. Performance with civility. While the GT3 only first debuted in 1999 as part of the 996 lineup, Porsche has long offered variants of this sort and they are consistently excellent and as equally revered. The car we have featured here is a Guards Red 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 located in San Francisco, which delivers its 435 hp to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual transmission.
