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This will not be our typical post of a 996TT. A few years back nearly every post of one of these twin-turbocharged 911s focused on their insane performance value; more recent posts have looked to find certain intriguing opportunities that either still represented that great value or were interesting and/or unique enough to warrant the gradually rising prices of collectible cars. This one isn’t really either of those things. The price probably isn’t low enough to really bookmark it as a great value and its investment potential doesn’t seem all that secure. However, it is pretty interesting and that’s why we’re here. This is an Arctic Silver Metallic 2003 Porsche 911 Turbo, located in Connecticut, with 33,500 miles on it and the highly desirable X50 performance package.
Unlike many 996TTs we see that appear to have been babied or others that have ridiculous modifications this one appears to come with a sensible set of modifications entirely focused on improvements at the track. It’s said to have been maintained without regard to budget so in that regard it’s been babied, but it’s also pretty obviously seen track time so this is no garage queen. We don’t see a lot that walk this sort of line and I’ll admit it’s definitely nice to see. It also looks great!
There are times when I am specifically in search of an auction for a particular car rather than a standard listing with asking price. In some cases, I even want that to be a reserve auction rather than one with no reserve. This is one of those cases.
I like to do this when I feel I don’t have a great handle on the market for a particular model and an auction provides a nice gauge of that. Why search specifically for a reserve auction? Because I’m confident it will run to completion since the reserve almost certainly will be too high!
The market for a 996TT with the X50 package or a 996TTS has seemed strange to me of late with asking prices all seeming much too high. Most of those listings simply are overly ambitious sellers and the cars don’t sell. Occasionally, however, they do sell. So I’m curious where asking prices should be and where they might be headed. That lead me to this: a Speed Yellow 2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe, located in Miami, with the X50 package and just 17,500 miles on it.
Typically, when we look at a 996TT for sale our focus falls largely on its performance value. They are capable of providing supercar levels of performance all for the price of a nice family sedan. However, with only 4,556 miles on the clock this 2003 Porsche 911 Turbo equipped with the X50 powerkit will follow a different tack. The potential buyer of this Turbo is likely banking on the potential collectibility of the model and given the sometimes significant correlation between mileage and value that means this Turbo won’t be seeing much time on the street. Thus, performance value isn’t really what we’re after here. This one is all about speculation. That it has the powerkit is key and I’m seeing fewer such examples coming around. I’m not sure if that’s because owners are holding on to them more so now than in the past or whether this is just a blip. But those searching for a factory-equipped example certainly will be hard pressed to find a lower-mileage 996TT on the market.
Supercar performance without the supercar price. That long has been the hallmark of the 911 Turbo and is especially the case for the 996TT where values have remained suppressed for some time now. The question is whether they will always remain so. It’s certainly the case that these water-cooled 911s will struggle to garner the same demand as their air-cooled predecessors, but as prices continue to significantly rise for the 993TT the bargain that is the 996TT becomes ever more apparent. It’s impossible for that fact to escape the notice of buyers for too long. What I think will remain the case for the foreseeable future is the value of any 996TT with a reasonable degree of mileage, which is exactly the place where we find the car we see here: a Seal Grey 2002 Porsche 911 Turbo, located in New Jersey, with the optional X50 power package and 58,750 miles on it.
It’s fairly shocking that for around the same price as a fairly lightly optioned base model Cayman, you can leap into entirely another world of performance with a 911 Turbo. Of course, there’s a price to pay for this relative leap in performance, and that’s that you have to settle at this price point for the current ugly duckling of the Porsche world – the 996. Now, of course there will be drawbacks to buying into an older car – for one, it’s not new with a warranty, and the 996 isn’t the prettiest Porsche ever built. But in terms of performance for dollar spent, right now it’s pretty hard to beat a package like the 996 Twin Turbo with the X50 option.
