I was looking on Autotrader today & noticed that the 993's asking price is higher than the 996. I realize that the 996 had a larger volume production wise and may not be a "purists" 911. But what other reasons could be a factor?

 

there are a ton of reasons, but the biggest ones i can think of are the 993's were the last of the air cooled's. Most of the time, the end of any era creates an increase in value, especially an era as significant as the aircooled engine. second, the 996 was the first time that the 911 didnt have the classic round headlight design, which wasnt terribly well received by purists either. if youre looking at the values of early 996's vs late 993's the 993's usually command more money because lets be honest, who really wants to buy the first version of anything? before it has all the bugs worked out.... lastly a 993 is WAY more fun to drive than an early 996, it isnt as fast or as refined, or generally as nice but in my opinion its just more fun, it makes better noises, more receptive to driver inputs, and you feel more connected. thats my opinion though, theres a million different ways to look at it.

 

Also, 993s are produced in low numbers and, from what I've read, hand-built. It is also the best, most modern and refined of the air-cooled engine cars of which, I believe, will always have a demand.

 

I had the 993 and now the 996 and yes the 993 definitely has more value now but the two cars are world apart. The 996 offers more comfort, a modern interior (based on Porsche standards) and to me looks more aggressive.

There will always be air cool fanatics out there and due to the 993 being the last of an era for them the values are still good.

 

hand built? the 993 and the 996 were in the same assembly line.... they are both hand built...... the assembly of the 996 were just more efficient.

Robots were put into place in 1988-(964, 993 and 996). 996 were hand painted, motors were hand assembled as well as dashbored, leather interior.... wiring etc... all hand made/assembled.

"The 993 series was assembled using exactly the same production process as the 986 and 996. They shared the same single line and assembly team."

 

Like I said, "from what I've read". But thanks for the correction. We learn more each day....and now I can say my car is hand-built.

 

The 993 is considerably more reliable (though maintenance intensive), right?

 

I guess all the bad rap about the IMS issue does not help the 996 also.

 

Absolutely agree.