2005 Porsche 911 Carrera 997

What were you doing 12 years ago?  And more importantly, what were you driving?  Probably not a $80k+ Porsche 911, but if you did drive it for 150k miles, you might end up selling it for an almost $60k loss…which would be like throwing away a Corvette Z06 that you purchased new.  But for the guy who was driving a used 70s van or a Camaro for the past decade, now is your chance to get a 997 for the price of a new Honda Civic.  Find this 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera 997 offered here on eBay  for $22,995 buy-it-now located in Costa Mesa, CA with 19 days to go.

The 997 generation Porsche 911 was introduced for the 2005 model year as a moderate upgrade to the 996 it replaced.  Porsche salesmen would love to have you believe it was an entirely new car when introduced, but it really just fixed some of the bad stuff from the 996 (fried egg headlights, grenading engines, Sally the sportscar, etc) and gave Porsche a reason to raise prices.  

Powering the 997 was a slightly updated version of the watercooled flat-6 that lived in the back of the 996 — but it was now 3.6 liters and pushed 325 horsepower into the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox.  Read a fantastic buyer’s guide to the 997 here and since this car is newer than the typical DT pile of bolts/rust/bondo — you can find various comparison tests from the mainstream auto media. But watch out for the #fakenews.

It might be hard to swallow that Porsche sold 175000 examples of the 996 from 1998-2004, but they sold 244000 of the 997s from 2005-2012 (according to the only data source I could find).  As the 996 prices drop, expect the 997s to follow because for something like a used late model luxury sports machine, sales inventory is everything.

See a better way to drive a modern Porsche and look like a rock star? tips@dailyturismo.com