Tag: 911

I sort of don’t know what to make of this 911. I like the look. I was drawn to it immediately. I like the model itself: a 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe with around 85K miles on it. Originally it was Seal Grey, now it wears a red full-body wrap. In general terms, the model itself is a fairly desirable one when considered for performance per dollar. But as should be entirely apparent it isn’t original. Nor are its modifications of the sort that I would think would really attract other buyers.

So I’m curious. I’m curious where bidding will take it. Like just about any modified car of this sort, in order to reach its asking price the right buyer – someone for whom these modifications are just right – will need to come along. Could you buy a similar 997 and perform these modifications and come in under the asking price? Probably not. Could you find a less expensive Carrera S Coupe that remains unmodified and is a lot of fun to drive? Certainly. It all comes down to what these modifications mean to you.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe on eBay

I kind of stumbled into this car by accident. And I like it so I guess it’s a happy accident! This is a 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe. It’s done around 61K miles and has a 6-speed manual transmission to deliver its 355 horses to the rear wheels. I don’t know quite how I ended up on its page. I certainly hadn’t set out to look for an early 997. But there I was and here we are.

I have been taking a look at more examples of the 996 lately because they do come in at pretty nice value. I’ve also grown to like the design more on some of the models. It’s all sort of a compromise though as I try to find examples that make the best of the model’s design flaws. When we step up to the 997 those issues mostly fall away. Many viewed the 997 as a return to where it appeared the 911 was headed following the 993. The 996’s divergences were smoothed over or replaced. In general, the 997 design has been better loved and we’ve seen its basic ethos carried on through the 991.

All of this is to say that if you can afford a little bit more car, then you can still do well for performance value with an early 997. And that’s why I stuck with this 911 after I stumbled into it. I wouldn’t say there’s anything particularly special about it. It looks like a nice, honest, 911 and at a pretty good price. There’s nothing wrong with that.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe on eBay

I will admit I have not always been a fan of the 991. The design took me a long time to warm up to even as I looked at the Boxster and Cayman and thought both had improved tremendously. I’ve read some criticisms of Porsche’s designs and their increasing similarity and I don’t entirely disagree with those assessments, but where I think it has improved the look of the Cayman/Boxster I have not been as much a fan of the 911.

Ever so slowly that perception is changing and I have gradually taken to the design – whether because of increased familiarity or something else, I don’t know. A couple of recent examples caught my eye so I thought I would specifically go on the hunt for a nice Carrera S to feature. As I did so I soon realized that it’s really hard to find a 991 with a manual transmission. PDK has seemingly taken over. I do understand why that is to some degree, but some of us still would like the involvement of shifting gears ourselves and I was struck by the relative lack of manuals.

I kept looking and my search did finally pay off: here we have a very subtly pretty paint-to-sample Dark Olive Metallic 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe with just 3K miles on it and that all important manual transmission.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: Dark Olive Metallic 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera S Coupe on Rennlist