Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I’m a sucker for a smooth blue, and that is certainly what we have today in this 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera. This color, Aqua Blue, is a shade you don’t see often despite being an option on the 997.2 – and I’m not sure why. It certainly looks great and can pair up just fine with the tan, grey, and black leathers. Whatever is the case for why it was not ordered much, if you are looking for a deal because this is a base C2, it will not be found here.
Sometimes there is more to the story than we know. Perhaps it is some funny business behind the scenes, a sale that really didn’t happen, or just some straight-up fraud. Today’s car, a 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera 4s, might not be any of those things, but something isn’t adding up here.
I thought I recognized this car and turns out I did as it was recently sold at Gooding & Co. Amelia Island auction back in early March as part of the late-Rudy “Mr. 993” Mancinas collection. It was a fairly nice 996 C4S, but had a good number of miles on it at nearly 86,000. What is an early C4S with that many miles worth? Usually in that $40,000-50,000 range for a nicer color and cool options like this. Even Gooding estimated $40,000 – $60,000. Totally reasonable. What did end up selling for? $72,800. Yikes. That is 996 Turbo money easily. Now, a month later, the car is back up for sale in Charlotte, North Carolina for the price of $70,820. Huh?
This is a way to make an entrance. I’m all for fun colors, but if you go for one, you have to own it. This is especially true for colors like we are checking out today — Viola Purple Metallic. Needless to say this is a Paint to Sample option, and a pricey one at that, and even more crazier when you put it on a convertible. Still, this is much better than another black or grey car, even at it’s current crazy pricing considering this is still just a Boxster S. Love it or leave it?
The 918 Porsche Cayman GT4 was one of those cars that was a somewhat realistic purchase I thought I could swing once they started aging and future generations would drive the prices down on. Or so that is what I thought. For a good while there, it seemed to be trending that way. From 2017 to mid-2020, lightly used examples were between $80,000 and $90,000, and with talk of the 718 GT4 coming soon, we thought prices would keep creeping down. Well, that didn’t happen because of the perfect storm that happen post-2020 and now we are still hovering around sticker price for cars with over 10,000 miles and some of the really nice examples are well over $100,000. Maybe in another six years?
The Porsche 718 Cayman GTS is one of the few new Porsche’s that launched with a thud. Everyone wanted the classic 3.4-liter flat-six, maybe even a 3.6-liter, but instead they were served up a turbocharged 2.5-liter flat-four. To make it even worse, it sounded like a Subaru WRX. Porsche owners don’t want Subaru sounds. The numbers on paper were mightily disappointing as well, given their performance in the real world was nearly identical to the 718 Cayman S. That means you paid over $12,000 more just to get the standard GTS stuff like brake-based torque vectoring, the Sport Chrono package, adaptive dampers with a lower ride height, 20-inch wheels, and sport seats that are otherwise optional on the Boxster S. In that light I suppose that was a good value? Either way, Porsche knew they screwed up so went back to the drawing board and thankfully gave us the GTS 4.0. However, that doesn’t mean the flat-four versions suddenly fell off the face of the earth.
Today, we have a 2018 up for sale in New York with the great color of Sapphire Blue Metallic and just 6,200 miles. But I hope you aren’t expecting a deal on this one.
