Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I’m not here to say “I told you so”, but when I told you three years ago to snag these while they were still cheap, I wasn’t kidding. Just $28,500 for this example back in February 2020 (right before the world fell apart) seems like highway robbery as that car is probably going to sell for at least $10,000 more today. Today’s example, a 2004 up for sale in New York, has the beautiful Carrara White with just over 44,000 miles. Still grab one while you can? Maybe not at this price.
Crazy to think that the older 991-generation of Porsche 911 is now 10 years old. Time stops for no one and here we are. For myself, I loved and still do admire the 991. There is nothing conversational or risky about it, other than maybe it is a little large. However, cars growing in size aren’t exactly unique to Porsche, as every car has grown outside of the really niche models. If I had my choice, I’d have a 991 GT3 and call it a day, but for around $60,000 less, I’ll take today’s car: a 2012 911 Carrera S coupe.
In terms of the king of the hill in the Porsche 911 GT world, there are two. One is the 2011 GT2 RS, and the other is today’s car, the 2011 GT3 RS 4.0. Both of them were extremely limited in production, and most importantly, had a manual gearbox. Because of that, they sell for crazy money. Really crazy money. They have the perfect formula to be a really great collector car, and if you have a half a million bucks to spend, it all comes down to whether you want turbochargers or no. I don’t think either can be called better than the other, but for me, I might lean towards this GT3 RS 4.0.
Outside of a handful of paint-to-sample examples, the 600 cars were either offered in black or Carrara White. Today, we have one in British Racing Green. Naturally, I freaked out and thought this might be the best 4.0 ever spec’d out, but was disappointed to see it is wearing a vinyl wrap and not paint. Still, if you have $400,000, I would suggest this purchase.
I think as much as I fantasize about daily driving a Porsche 911 GT3 or at least using it for all my mundane tasks that require driving, it probably isn’t the best idea ever. Outside of the ride being extremely stiff, you plain old just put a bunch of wear on the car doing something any car could do. In a sense, it’s massive overkill. However, you can still can get your 911 fix by being a reasonable person and do what most people do: just buy a Carrera 2. It is still an extremely capable and rewarding sports car, but it’s also tame enough to handle the daily driving duties. Not to mention they are nearly half the price as a GT3 in the same chassis. Today, we might have one of these perfectly daily-driver 911s without spending anywhere near $100,000.
By the back half of 2004, Porsche was full steam ahead with the launch of the 997 chassis for 2005, but they still had some unfinished business with the 996. Mainly this amounted to getting rid of all the leftover body shells and throwing all the parts bin stuff at the cars for high MSPRs to squeeze the last drop of juice out of the chassis. The 2005 model year for the 911 is hell for basically everyone having to deal with them as you could get a C2 cabriolet, Turbo, and GT3 in the 996 body as a 2005 model year, but the rest of the model range was now a 997. Even stranger was that if you wanted a 2005 911 Cabriolet, the base Carrera was a 996, but the Carrera S was a 997. Try having to pitch that as salesmen to potential buyers. Today’s car, a 911 Turbo S Cabriolet, was a full on “throw all the options on it to clear out the space we need in hopes someone buys it for a margin” kind of build. This car carried an MSRP of nearly $160,000 and was not shy about going a little over board equipment. Now? Not much of a discount, honestly.
