When I went in to my dealer I was not really up to speed on the 911. I had ordered a Cayman and was thinking of canceling. I saw a C2GTS on the website and wanted to look at it. The first thing the sales associate did was tell me I did not want that car or the other 2012 997.2 C2S for sale. He took me over to a 2012 991 and said this is what you want. He then explained and showed me all the differences. The real question is what would he have done if they did not have a used 991 on the lot. I actually know the answer to this question and I verified all the model info on my own before I pulled the trigger. I also think that if you go in and buy a car with out doing any research then you probably deserve what you get.

 

Exactly!!

If a someone who is interested in getting a 911 doesn't know the difference between a 997 and a 991, than there is something going wrong IMO. That person has either way too much money or doesn't care about cars. .... Or both

Suzy991 (iOS app)

 

Getting "stuck" with a 997 is not such a bad punishment.
You just hope they did not pay 991 money for a 997.

 

100% accurate. A car, especially of this magnitude is a big purchase that demands ample research and leg work. If you simply walk in and walk out and have no idea what you just bought relative to the other available products, no one to blame but yourself.

I don't think Porsche did anything wrong nor did they try to "confuse" anyone. Let the buyer beware......

 

Hi Taiwanese

I am Taiwanese, too.
It doesn't happen with every model, every car company, but it does happen sometimes. That the last year of the old version is "labelled" the same year as the 1st year of the new version. It really depends on the date the car was built.
I do agree with Suzy though. If you go in to buy a car and not knowing the difference between old and new version, that's a bit embarrassing. One thing can help is the old version will be hugely discounted. Dealer and manufacturer given many incentives.

 

I think he was trying to say/type "EX"eterior instead of "IN"terior.

 

I have to admit I didn't know the differences until just recently myself. I've sent links to Porsche-o-phile friends of mine saying 'whoa, this one is cheap!' only to get back 'oh, I didn't know you were looking at 997s'. Of course I wasn't, and just didn't know because I was going off of the 2012 year.
I would like to think though that before I actually put down actual cash I would have fully vetted everything.

 

2012.1 = 997 exterior & interior
2012.5 = 991 exterior & interior

All I am saying is that a new body style should not mix with old body style in the same model year.

For those who commented that if the buyer did not research enough then it's his own fault. I wish this kind of stuff does not happen to you when you buy your next xxx. Because you may not be passionate enough to do all the research on your next xxx purchase.

Life would be very complicated if every company started doing this and you have to do "ALL" the homework before you purchase a car, a motorcycle, a toaster, a frige etc.

Just my $0.02

 

To be fair to what the others are saying, if someone is not passionate enough then they likely won't care about the differences between a 997 and 991. It's still beautiful 911 body either way. And as to the price difference, they would have likely gotten the 2012 997 cheaper so it's not like they lost out.
If you actually cared if you got a 991 body then you would put in the due diligence to make sure you got a 991 body style.

 

"All I am saying is that a new body style should not mix with old body style in the same model year."

I agree. It is a completely ridiculous practice to have different versions of the same car in the same model year.

They also add features during the model year, which I also find wrong.

I purchased a Manual Transmission 2013 C2S from dealer inventory in December of 2012. It was build in August of 2012. Unknown to me (and to the dealership) 2013 models build a month or so later came with Rev-matching in the MT at no additional cost. I would have liked this feature. They should have waited for the next model year or at the very least made it pending model year changes well known.

It can't be that hard to wait until the next model year for changes.

 

To be fair, it's not the same car. They just share the same name, that's it. Pretty much every car company on the planet does this when they bring out a new model so it's not a Porsche exclusive either.
It's the same thing with iphone's, Adidas shoes, Ray ban's etc etc etc, same name, same year, different products.

I think, and hope, that anyone who is able to spend $100k+ on a car will actually think ahead instead of just walking in to a dealership and say "I want car X of the current model year"..

 

You proved my point. In this case, dealer did not even know about it.

 

Actually, all iPhone 4 are the same. New or improved is called 4S. Then 5 then 5S.

If Apple were to do what Porsche does, then there would be two versions of iPhone 5.

 

Did you see the difference between iphone 4 and 4S from a distance? NO! That's worse than what Porsche does. But Apple gave them a different name, which is exactly what Porsche does. The old car is a 997, the new is a 991.
I don't get the whole point. This is very common in a lot of industreis. BMW did also sell old and new 3-series next to each other.
If someone spends that amount of money on a car and he or she doesn't know and see the difference between a 997 and a 991, then they don't care about the difference either. If someone is not smart enough to do some research before spending 100k+, then they don't even deserve a car like that.

And I'm sorry, but if a dealer doesn't even know about it, then it is time to get another dealer. He shouldn't even been allowed to sell cars anyways.

Suzy991 (iOS app)

 

why someone will want to buy a 911 and pay 100k+ if he is not even aware if this is the latest model or not?

if am not as passionate as everyone here, and i am not interested in knowing more about the car, and i still want to get this 100k+ car, i will at least ask someone who knows before writing the check! no one knows about everything, but its my responsibly to ask before spending my own money.