Hi,

I like the car, plan to get one. That out of the way, how do you think they are selling? I read a few things that demand is good, then some other things about how readily available discounts are on the car, and wonder.

The press loves it. What's your take on the general public?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

I am on the same page as you. I like the car and plan on getting one. The only question is when.

I think it varies from region to region.

But in the LA area and according to my personal experiences, it isn't selling very well. I know heuristics isn't always the best way to gauge these things. But some dealerships that have been notoriously firm with their prices have even been giving me discounts in the 3k range without me even trying to "haggle." The only exception to this trend in the LA area is maybe Newport Beach, which gave me only 1k off MSRP. But that is just my personal experience. YMMV.

 

they''re selling out in north texas. this car is going to be huge seller for porsche

 

A couple of 6speeders have been saying the 991 is selling well in Texas at full MSRP, which I would expect because your state is doing much better than my state.

 

There are differences in the mentalities of states too.

 

At the risk of sparking a powder keg... can you expand on that?

 

Only if you stereotype, otherwise I think there are just differences in people.

 

I do not like the new 991 and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Porsche traditional drivers don't either. I want to like it I just can't and the more I see it things don't change.

I feel stuck though as one day I'll be in a position where it'll be the 991 or nothing. Such is life unfiortunately!

Tom

 

Fortunately lots of 997s were produced, so low mileage examples should continue to be available for quite awhile.

 

Really? I think any salesperson or marketing person would acknowledge that there are big regional differences in our population.

 

The only thing is that I'm a new car guy and usually trade them in in 3 or 4 years off lease. Now what do I do. I can re-lease mine for another 2 years and hope something changes (probably not) or.......right back to square one!

Or I buy it off lease eventually but for a lot of differnt reasons i don't want to own a 911.

The thing I really fear is that I'll lease a 991 and i won't like it from the start and I'll have 3 years of that to deal with.

I was in a similar situation with the 996 and dealt with it but never loved it. As soon as I laid eyes on the 997 it was over......un,mitigated love and enthusiasm....now this.

I'm even considering a 993 since I never owned one and like everyone love the look but my Porsche mechanic warned me not to since I drive 12K to 15K a year. He said it's old and things will go.......like me!

Then I'm into owning again. I guess nice problems to have but still a problem for me. I'm old enough to know when I want something and when I don't!

Tom

Tom

 

What's everyone's perception of sales so far?

 

I'm pretty much a new car guy too. But that said, I purchased a 993 in August 2011, and just recently sold it. No doubt it's a fun car to have, but for people like me, and perhaps you, who always want to have a car feeling brand new, it's tough to own a 15 yo car and actually drive it. Always a new squeak or rattle, a piece of trim fading or breaking, , interior bolster wear...it's always something. I had better luck with a low mileage E36 M3...even though I used it for DE's, it was easier to keep feeling brand new. With the 993 I realized after awhile that it was a losing battle, and that kind of took the fun of ownership out of it for me.

My DD is a 2009 528i sport manual. It's been a workhorse, with about 52k miles in less than 3 years (in addition to Porsche miles.) Even though it lives outside it still looks flawless and the Nappa leather seats show next to no wear. And while it's getting about 28 mpg in highway use - which is mainly how I use the car - I see no need to replace it. I just purchased the extended warranty from BMW and plan on buying it off of lease. In another 3 years with 100k on the clock, I'm thinking it'll still be worth $15,000 or $20,000.

 

Hey Sap. It isn't a powder keg. Let me explain what is going on in California.

First of all, there are a lot of differences between California and Texas. Besides the ethnic breakdown, the largest difference I would say is taxes. In Texas, taxes are minimal, which is good for businesses. But taxes are extremely high on the wealthy and corporations in California since class warfare is a hot topic here. So, corporations eventually started to move out of California to Arizona, Texas, or other neighboring states because the cost of business is lower there and taxes are significantly lower. There is a mass efflux of companies out of California, and this results in fewer jobs and less taxes collected from the corporations that would have been here, which created a huge deficit in our budget. How do we fix this deficit in California? We propose more taxes on the wealthy. This starts the vicious downward spiral all over again. Currently, people are tossing around the idea of the millionaire’s tax, which would require those making more than a million to pay more in taxes.

How does this affect Porsche’s sales? I would argue that it affects it indirectly. Higher taxes for corporations in California means corporations pull out of California and fewer high paying jobs, and thus there is a shrinking pool of people who will buy.

Also, another aspect that stirs the pot is that many people in California lost a lot of money during the housing bubble. Yes, I understand almost everyone who bought a house during the housing bubble lost money, but I believe Californians lost more than people in other states. For example, it isn’t uncommon for people in the San Fernando Valley to buy a house for 1.5 million during the peak of the housing bubble when their house is now only worth 600,000 to 700,000. YMMV. People almost lost a million on property values alone, and I highly doubt these people will be going out to buy a new 991 at a 120k a pop when they probably already have a 997 sitting in their garage. Thank God I didn’t buy a house during the housing bubble, which is why I am sitting pretty right now. But that is another discussion for another day.

However, people are pessimistic because they lost a lot of money and are not getting high paying jobs, which is why I don’t think people are buying the 991’s left and right. I smell discounts on 991.1’s coming in the near future for California, which could mean a bigger discount for me.

Texas is obviously doing better, which is probably why demand for 991’s is so high.

Anyways Sap, I hope this gives you a better understanding and contextualizes the challenges that California faces. And to add insult to injury, we spend more money on our criminals (40k) than we spend on our students (30k) per year. No wonder so many people feel like the Californian dream is dying.

 

Thanks so much for the 993 feedback....from an owner that bought it like I would it means a lot! I was kind of afraid of that and that's what the service guy was trying to tell me.

Pain in the ***..................