Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Am just selling my Boxster with the intention of buying a Gen II 997 which will be up for sale shortly. However, I've been offered a 993 Targa. I've never driven a 993 and this one comes with a full history and is in very good condition inside and out.

Are 993 targe values holding steady, dropping or going up? I've seen 993 turbo's at silly money, hence the question. The 993 I've been offered is a factory standard car with the 3.6 normallty aspirated engine, 100K on the clock.

Anything to look out for on these cars??? Thoughts??

In terms of values the 993 has fallen back compared to the other air cooled variants. The Targa is the least sought after.

Corrosion around the windscreen can be an issue.

Is it going to be your daily driver?

No, I'll still have the Mondeo for the daily driver. Whatever I buy will replace the Boxster as my weekend car with the occasional commute to the office. Thanks for the comments re rust around the screen.

Sorry, just seen this.

Much of what has been happening with classic car prices in the last couple of years I can explain, but as for 993 prices, I am not sure what is going on.

Before the "credit crunch" a 993 was worth £20k, almost any 993.. You might have got one for £17k, some models were worth more.. But £20k to £22k was a good average.

Meanwhile a 964 at the same time was worth typically about £12k to £14k, a 911SC was worth £6k to £8k and a 3.2 Carrera was worth maybe £8k to £10k

Typically, all 4 models, had been depreciation proof for the previous 10 years and had sat around that level.. Then came the credit crunch and several 911 models went to being worth very little at one point, I was offered several 993's in one six month period for £10k to £12k.. which was tempting, but I had no crystal ball to be sure that buying up cheap ones was a good idea.. besides, I had a bit of a "batton down the hatches" attitude at the time, waiting for the automotive financial meltdown to destroy the car industry and several other worst case scenarios were going through my head.

Now the odd thing is, all those other air cooled 911's in the last couple of years have doubled in value, yet the 993 are kind of back at their pre credit crunch prices... Which is really odd.

The only thing I can put it down to is that pre 1990 cars are a bit easier to import into some countries, such as Australia, where lots of good right hand drive cars have been going in the last couple of years... Combine that with strong Austalian dollar values to the pound, the previous cheap left hand drive market being gobbled up by the strong buying power of Euro's and booming ecconomies in Australia, I think maybe the pre 1990 market can be explained and maybe the 1990 964's as well as the vanishing 911 Sc and 3.2C models, increased the values of not only those cars, but also the whole 964 model year range... But the 993 did not enjoy the same exportability factors.

The other factor hitting all older car values was the lack of decent investment opportunities elsewhere, Building societies, stocks and even Gold topped out in the market, so for smaller investers, a classic car as somewhere to "park" some cash became a good idea, and maybe, for some reason, the 993 missed out on this market, maybe people just thought they were too modern to be a classic toy?

The thing is, I think either the classic 911 prices might stop rising, they might even drop a bit, but one way or another, I think 993 prices will rise in the future, just not sure what will happen and when, as the whole car market has gone a bit bananas and who knows what will happen next.

I'm sure I'm way too late to help, but the things to look out for on the 993 are
1) screen aperture rust as said, front and rear
and
2) rear chassis-leg corrosion

but both are 'easy' to fix if you find the few indies who know what they are doing, and will only cost (quite a few) hundreds of GBP, but not thousands.


The 'prices' question is slightly more complex:-

Short answer - 993 prices don't change.

Long answer -
the 993 that 'everybody wants' i.e. the manual C2, only rarely comes up for sale, and sells instantly. The others are not 'seen' as 'the one to have', and so the 'value' is so much less.

A good condition 'mid? mileage' C2 has been in the upper 20's since I started looking in 2002, and still is today IF one comes up for sale. The C4 isn't far behind, but the cab/targa and tip are simply not 'the ones to have' - these are so-called market forces so owners please do not take offence.

As the supply of 993s for sale has been so low over the past ten years, the previous models have gradually taken their place - supply and demand now mean those models have increased in value. The 964 should never has been as cheap as it was - it has now recovered.

Supply and demand.

Just be very careful when purchasing a Targa.

They are very prone to leaking and having a consistent rattling noise at cruising speed.

If its a good one then you have the best of both worlds between Coupe and cab, but they do not command the same prices as the others.