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November 16, 2018

Call 911- the bargain Porsche 911

You could argue that a Porsche 911 is the ultimate iconic sports car.


Several years ago I sold my gray 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera to purchase two starter cars for daughters getting their driver’s license. Even though I have purchased many cars since then, including some very nice cars, I have missed the fun of driving a 911.

I recently picked up a magazine that had an article about “bargain 911s”. In reading the article it highlighted a few years and models that the experts felt were great deals on used Carreras. One of the cars recommended was the same model that I had before, a 2001-2003. So I decided to start looking around to see if I could find a “cheap” 911.

My wife and I searched the normal web sites and found a few cars that met our criteria. Normally I’m the obsessed one when it comes to buying a car. However, my wife became excited about the research and, in her searching, made the “unilateral” decision that a 2002 was a little too old and that we would end up with a tired used car. So she started looking at newer, more expensive models.

In another role-reversal, I started to complain that she had “mission-creep.” That my goal was to find a deal and she was now trying to find a nicer car than I wanted to purchase. So, I started to lose interest in the concept. However, then she found a gray 2012 Porsche 911 (991 model) that was the first year of the current body style. The car was attractively priced because it had higher miles, but it was a nice one-owner car.

In my original research, this was another model that the article felt was a “relative” bargain. I say relative because this car costs twice as much as I was hoping to spend. The experts closed their article by suggesting that the best bargain was an early 2012-2014 991 with some miles on it but had been well maintained, versus an older Carrera with lower miles. They argued that the 991 is a much more refined car.

Well, I do what my wife tells me, so we went to look at the 2012 911 and of course she was correct. The newest 911 was far nicer than the older models and the price was right in a relative term. So we bought it! The good news is that I again have a nice Porsche 911 to drive to work. The bad news is that I’m back to having a car payment. But, I’m a car guy and driving a 911 is worth every penny in my car obsessed mind.