Robertb said:
To a young person now, with i8s and Teslas just the beginning, a 991.1 or even a 992.2 let alone earlier water cooled ones will feel very raw and old skool in a few years and will have 'classic' appeal. Those buyers have not yet really entered the used market.
Just think it was not that long ago that you could buy 993s, V8 Ferraris etc for reasonable sums when they fell between the owners that were trading on to newer models, and younger buyers who aspired but could not yet afford them.
Its simply demographics.
Entering this debate late, but I think RobertB has a good point here. It will be fascinating to see how perceptions shift about what consitutues a 'raw' sports car, as more all-electric vehicles come to market in the next few years.
As I read the thread posts, I too was thinking about demographics and wondering about the age ranges of those buying 997s and 991s. Porsches are the stuff of our dreams, an aspirational product that appeals to a certain type of connoisseur of 'drivers' cars' that values the racing and brand heritage, driving experience and relative (to Ferraris and Lambos etc) understatement of the design... and so our idea of an "ideal 911" is rooted in what we grew up hankering after. In my teens and 20s (I'm 47) I was reading about 911 Carrera 3.2s, 964s and 993s. So I naturally gravitate towards a mental idea of what constitutes a 'raw' driving experience that is defined by the air-cooled era, with all its analogue, mechanically pure driving experience defined more by 'honest' mechanical engineering than clever electronics (at the time I was drooling over 993s, I was driving a Mk2 Golf GTI 16V which I still remember as a fabulous drive, and cool car to own in oak green metallic... oh the memories!).
My point here is that yes there is a supply and demand element to pricing, but the professional journalists' opinions - from which pub/club/forum discussions ensue - about current Porsches are where the desirability-factor really plays out. And so the "demand" side of the equation is highly emotional and subjective. Purely rational comparisons of price between 911 generations, and objective "value for money" evaluations, don't really describe how people make decisions about these cars in my view. More likely, the rational justifications we all make - like our 'man maths' - are post-rationalisations of what we subjectively desire.
This is why I suspect that 997s will continue to increase in price relative to newer 991s. Many who can now afford 991s will have grown up hankering after earlier generations of 911, and will have formed their judgments (subconsciously) of what a "proper 911" is based on those earlier incarnations. For many, I suspect a 997 is the last of the purer cars. I tend to think this psychological element is what underlies the 20 year rule that T8 and others have written about...
Porsche have obviously been paying attention to the retro-love being poured on their older 911 generations, creating such amazingly desirable cars as last year's 911R. For me that car defines the ideal 911: much more raw than the standard car, and a more special car that makes far fewer compromises to daily driving comfort. A more committed type of sports car. As each year goes by, earlier generation cars - relatively speaking - have more of that quality than the latest cars.
I bought my 993 just as prices were going mad, and incredibly it's not far off from doubling in value in a few years. I never expected that to happen, but I'm just glad I got in at the right time. The current price madness makes no sense to me, as I just can't see how the trend is sustainable. But then what do I know?