Keeping the faith.

[robbosliding]

I posted a little while ago about looking for a 997 or 996 turbo as my current deal on my car nears to close. After looking at all the options the obvious was staring me in the face, to keep the C4S. To move onto a similar car in a 997 (C2S or C4S) I was going to get a car with more miles on it for the money and cost me another good 20K to do so. For so what its worth I'm going to keep my 27000 mile car thats mint, known to me and owes me nothing. Sensible but true. And the more I think about it the happier I am. I didn't ever really want to part with it anyway! And to add to that with a really sensible head on I am not going to suffer a great deal more depreciation in the process, I'll be keeping it for another three years I reckon before splashing out some dollar on a step up the ladder, preferably a 997 turbo. Sometimes the right answer is staring us in the face!

 

[Image]

Its a Porsche, change is not always for the better, and is what is left over after parting with high denomination money.

 

[ashley]

Interesting post Robbo,

I was in a similar position to you last October in that I had an 04 C4S (only 15 months into my deal though) but had been reading lots on this forum and PH about what cracking value the 996Turbos are. By chance my local OPC had a 6 month younger Turbo S and to cut a long story short my heart ruled my head and I'm now the proud owner of said car. Less painfull financially than I thought and lots more smiles.

Only downside is that I miss the PSE and on the 996 Turbo the only sports exhausts are aftermarket and will invaidate the warranty.

decisions decisions

 

[robbosliding]

Interesting reply Ashley.....

My alternative choice to buying a 997 C4S was the 996 turbo. I have erred away from this on the basis that a) I know my car is tiptop, b) it will be cheaper to run c) there is less to go wrong d) I will suffer far less depreciation over the next 3 years at the price I can pay my car off at and less servicing costs. Boring and practical but true.

All sensible and boring reasoning....Whilst I was looking at the turbos I wasn't finding low mileage cars or at least any that weren't silly money ie will be worth 15k less in a nano second. I can settle my car for a fraction of what the best examples cost. Worth bearing in mind that the 998 will be out in 2012 and the 996 will take another knock in Glass's book.

Sensible reasoning aside would you make the same decision again, is the turbo in value worth me sploshing another 15k on in real terms? I have for the record driven a turbo but for day to day use worth the extra??? Heart and head replies please......

 

[ashley]

Good questions........

when I bought the Turbo S in October I wasn't looking to change!! I went up to my local OPC to collect some parts for a 994 S2 I was selling and noticed it on the stock list. My C4S was a regional concourse winner and even if I say myself was absolutely mint and low mileage so it was a bit of a wrench to part with it. That said the Turbo was a one owner car supplied and serviced by the OPC and was low mileage too, a test drive soon had me hooked and the deal was done quite quickly.
The performance from the C4S is obviously up a few notches especially with the X50 pack, plus the combination of the PCCB and hollow spoke wheels conspires to make the steering lighter whilst no less planted. My intention is to keep the car for some time as its not my daily drive, that task is undertaken by the A5 diesel I got when I went back into the company car scheme on acccount of the increasing business mileage I'm doing right now. After 2500 miles in 6 weeks in that I can't wait to get the cover off the turbo and drive her again I can tell you.

I'm firmly in the, 'you only live once camp' don't drink don't smoke and work hard so justify it to myself and probably more importantly SWMBO on that basis. All told I would do it again but I don't spend hours thinking about the depreciation, the original owner took the biggest hit in my opinion . The other thing I've come to realise is that there's always a new model just around the corner and keeping up with the latest technology and performance will always be expensive. When I was growing up I always wanted a Porsche 911, never thought I'd be able to afford one, and since since getting my first a new Boxster S in 2003 I'm now on my my 4th, (5th if you include the 944 S2 I had as an itch that had to be scratched) Whilst all have been superb cars the Turbo S in performance terms is on another level whilst still very useable. On that basis I intend to keep her for the foreseeable future.

hope this helps