Boca, I think you are missing the point here. Most of us here have purchased these cars used for 40-60K, then we may spend another 10-20K to have a very fast car. There is no Ferrari or Lambo which can match the power of 996tt for 80K. I would love to buy a F430 used , they are currently selling for 130-140K. First thing is i know , i will be missing the power of the 996tt after the sound of the F430 gets old, then the cost of ownership of the F430 is whole another different ball game.

Say if you are able to buy a F430 , now i like to drive my cars 10-12k miles a year....now if i put that kind of miles on a f430...i am pretty much stuck with the car. I also want a TT UR Gallardo ...but that will be 180K with all the mods. That's 120K more than my 996tt.

I know someone on this forum , who purchased a used 360 Spider to go along with his TT, he got bored of the car in a week. The sound and the looks got old and car was underpowered compared to his tt, he even said it has occasional rattles ...not solid like a german car. Now he traded that car for a SL65 the V12 Bi turbo car...totally loves the car. You could basically buy 2 Sl65's for 1 F430.

 

I think repair bill for 996tt is not bad. Lambo and Ferr would be killer bill. The ones that might make you faint. I moved to tt from beemer. And I think repair cost is pretty close.

 

A lot of good points have been made here in this thread. F-cars and Lambo's repair bills and $ per mile are much larger than the 996TT's. The F-cars seemingly will always require a lot of maintenance, the Lambo's seem to be holding up a bit better, I guess that's what happens when it's run by a German company (Audi/VW). But still as others have said, the price of admission is steep even in the used market and the stock performance while good, is no where near a modded 996TT. If it's strictly styling and sound you're looking for, F-car and Lambo's certainly fit the bill, but I think the 996TT's are underestimated in the styling department. I think they're beautiful cars, especially with the GT2 bodykit. The performance with just a few mods is fantastic and even though there were quite a bit of them produced, they're still quite exclusive compared to other high end cars of similar performance. The reliability as stated previously, is also unparralleled. So, maybe a better question is....for the price of a modded M3, why would anyone buy anything OTHER THAN a 996TT?

 

I'd buy the Ferrari as a piece of artwork, the TT to drive.

Boca, If I was in your position I'd keep the TT for a performance daily and a Lambo or Ferrari local here for when I was in an extrovert mood. There's not much out there that can outperform a well modded 996TT.

 

I had my lambo gallardo and my 996tt at the same time, I used the 996tt much more, the lambo did of course feel more exotic,..drove that only for a drive, short blasts here and there.. I'm not bashing the 996tt at all.. I ended up keeping my 996tt and I sold the gallardo...

 

This was a pretty good post. I'm done dreaming about an f-car or lambo in place of my p-car. 2010 turbo w/ pdk is now in my sights...

 

When I was considering an Fcar/lambo...I had a particular strategy for how I was going to get into it and (hopefully) mitigate my risk (with regards to high repair bills).

The best way, IMO, would be to get one that is 2-4 yrs old (where some depreciation is absorbed to make the price more modest) but with few (relative) miles on it. Example...you can get an 04 or 05 gallardo w/a lot of miles for 100k. Pay 150k instead, and get it w/lower miles. Buy it in the spring, put a modest amount of miles on it, then sell it in the same calendar year (late fall). So if you bought it w/4k miles, maybe you put another 4 on it through out the summer, and end up in the 8-10 range where you're not driving the value down. Do this every year for your fun car. My Bro-n-law has made money off a few of his, and lost a few bucks on others. In the end, you might lose a few grand each time, but that's better than keeping it and getting into the repair bills.

Personally, I would have put the car against my Heloc (line of credit against my house). I would not have paid any money against the principle, and just paid the interest (2.5% on a prime) while I drove it. Once I sold it, use that money to pay the heloc back down.

In the end, I'd take a business approach to it and not get emotional about the car no matter how much it moved me Just my .02

 

you will loss on sales tax ..

 

I live in (not so) beautiful, tax free, new hampshire. Though I wouldn't know it was tax free w/the property taxes I pay. Oh well.