Best $40k Porsche and is Porsche the Next Ferrari?
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Hey, everyone. I'm Derek, and this is 11 After 9.
And today, we're going to be looking at why Porsche is trying to become Ferrari
and why it makes all of our older cars even that much more valuable.
But before we get into that, I just want to say thank you so, so much.
The outpouring of support in the last week or two
launching this podcast has been so unbelievably heartwarming.
I've literally had people sending me notes from sea, from boats.
I've had people sending me notes from planes flying to Asia.
I've had people sending me goodwill as they're just sitting in commuter traffic saying
how much they're enjoying getting this community back together.
And I just want to really thank all of you because without this group of just regular folks that just
love Porsche, love talking about cars, love talking about how to get in and out of cars
and talk about figuring out ways to convince our significant others to let us get those cars,
none of this would be possible.
And I just really wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
With that in mind, because we are this ninja group,
if I could ask you to head to your Apple podcast or Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts
and please review and rate.
Usually it's with stars, but just leaving a review, a worded review
bumps us up in terms of searches.
So when people are looking for Porsche content, we can grow naturally.
And that would be absolutely fantastic.
And I would really very much appreciate it.
Also, as always, check me out on Instagram on the 11 After 9, the 11 After 9.
On my YouTube, I just dropped an awesome video where I compared the 991.1 versus the 991.2.
And I talked about what gearbox should you pick?
Is PDK the right answer all the time?
Is manual the right answer all the time?
I dig into which model it makes sense for and I really had a lot of fun making that video.
All right, so let's get into it.
I want to, on this podcast, God, there's so much to talk about.
On this podcast, I want to talk about probably two things.
I want to talk about an interesting article that I read that I think
really relates to a generally larger topic regarding what it means to have a portion
make it approachable for kind of the every man and being an every man sports car.
And I have gotten an outpouring of questions through 11After9.com.
And I picked one that I thought was kind of cool because I released a YouTube video the other week
on my 997.1.
And of course, last week on the podcast, we talked about that.
And the question was, if I have $40,000 in my pocket,
should I go with a higher mileage 911 like a 997.1?
Or should I look for a more modern Porsche like a 981 Boxster or Cayman from the early 2000s?
And so I kind of want to get into that a little bit because in this crazy world of
prices that are flying up and never seeming to come down, $40,000 is a good chunk of change.
But the great news is you can get a lot of Porsche for that.
So let's talk through that after we kind of get to this point where in 2025,
Porsche had a really tough year.
The numbers were absolutely brutal.
Their operating profit, Porsche as a company, crashed almost 93%.
So that's like $478 million down from $6.5 billion with a B.
And it's due to a lot of things.
The big thing is sales in China have plummeted.
And so Porsche really took it on the face on that.
The other thing is that they bet really heavily on EV.
And I think the public is just kind of saying,
we're not ready for all electric sports cars without an alternative that has a gas engine.
And so Porsche has kind of done an about face.
And their whole strategy was to go full electrification.
Now they're starting to rethink that.
They're starting to push models back that are electric only.
They're coming out with ICE internal combustion engine alternatives or maybe hybrid.
And so this is all really interesting, but it really hurts the bottom line
because they invested billions of dollars into that.
The article that I read also talks about how tariffs had made a huge impact on to Porsche's
bottom line because they import everything.
And so they have been hit very hard over the last year because of that.
So they're hurting for money.
And the CEO, Michael Lighters, came out and he's shifting to a value over volume strategy.
And essentially what they're doing is they're cutting a lot of jobs.
They're cutting production in many cases.
And they're coming out with, I mean, let's just say it,
they're coming out with the expensive untouchable cars that bring in a lot of money
because from a profit standpoint, there's just a lot of padding there,
but that very few people can afford.
They're going to be coming out with the new Halo car,
which is kind of like the next 918 super-duper car.
They're going to be coming out with a lot of special models.
And these cars are going to come out with price tags that have many zeros on the MSRP.
And I just kind of want to talk about that because,
I mean, as all of you know who listen to me,
I'm just kind of like a regular dude who tries to work really hard
and save up to buy cars that I love to drive.
And I don't really have in means many, many, many zeros to drop on one car.
And certainly there are people in line that don't even think twice,
that don't even have to check a bank account when they run and spend hundreds of thousands
or perhaps millions of dollars on a very limited edition Porsche.
So what does that mean for you and me?
Well, let's take a quick step back and let's talk about,
maybe, here, I'm going to give Porsche a little reprieve on this because
maybe it's not entirely their fault because inflation really is a reality.
I mean, everything is just more expensive.
When you want to pick up a new pickup truck and you head down to the GMC dealer or the Chevy dealer
and try not to pick up a truck that has an engine that's going to explode,
don't ask me how I know.
You're looking at price tags that are like starting in the 60s and $70,000 range.
I mean, the top of the range trucks that are more luxurious,
that are more like luxurious family cars.
I mean, those are over $100,000, $107,000.
And so those prices have absolutely jumped in the last five, six years and we know that.
And so inflation really is a contributing factor to kind of the Porsche bottom line.
But the other thing I do want to give them, I guess, a little bit of grace or a little bit of past
is that Porsche's R&D department is sick.
And all of their technology, all of their pushing the boundaries of what can be done
on four tires really comes from their racing programs.
And that is expensive.
And those kind of trickle down technologies and efficiencies and all the things that bring
very vain technology to your turbos or hybridization, that starts somewhere.
And it's usually their racing program.
And that is extremely expensive.
And so if I'm going to point to any manufacturer that really, I guess,
maybe pushes the boundaries of what can be done when it comes to eking performance
out of a lump of metal.
I mean, Porsche really does it better than almost anybody
and continues to come out with fantastic iterations on these cars.
And so there is this innovation tax.
And, you know, Porsche is a premium priced product.
And there are some very good reasons for that.
I mean, I can remember, I don't, this is going to go way back
and really show my Porsche nerdery, but they're, in their racing program,
they had something called KERS, it's spelled K-E-R-S.
This was like back in 2010 on their GT3R Hybrid.
So their race car.
And this was such, I just remember saying this is such a cool, like out of the box,
like what technology instead of heavy batteries in this hybrid race car,
they used a flywheel energy storage system.
And so what I want you to picture is like you have this race car,
you have the driver and the driver seat.
And where the passenger seat is, is like this.
God, all right, if you folks have ever baked a cake
and you put it in like a Rubbermaid container, it's like an oval,
it looks like a big Rubbermaid donut.
That's kind of what it looked like.
And it sat where the passenger seat is.
And this thing was essentially like a centrifuge.
It was just a spinning flywheel in its spun at 40,000 revolutions per minute.
I mean, it was essentially like this mechanical bomb
that sat next to the driver and it would capture the braking energy.
And then it would give 160, 170 horsepower boost to this electric motor
to help it pull out of corners and pass where you needed it.
And I just remember thinking like, what in the world is this?
But how cool.
And of course, this was a precursor to their hybrid technology
that they brought into the more modern cars, more specifically the GTS,
which is on sale now.
So it's this kind of wild research and development
is why Porsches are of course special
and also maybe a little bit why they're so expensive.
Okay, so I've given Porsche their grace, all right.
Now I want to plead with Porsche to why this isn't a great idea.
In my mind, Porsche has always been an aspirational brand,
not an unapproachable brand.
And I'm comparing this to Ferrari, right?
I mean, Ferraris are sick.
And back in the 70s and 80s, the kind of cars you could get
on the streets were incredible.
But I feel like in the last 20 years,
Ferrari has gone down this road of making these ultra high-end,
super expensive.
If you know someone, get on your Rolex list to perhaps buy two or three cars.
And then maybe you'll be looked at to get the super halo car.
And that costs millions and millions of dollars.
And it sits in a collection and blah, blah, blah.
Now listen, Porsche has done that too, right?
Like buy a couple of McCons and we'll get you on the list for a 911 R or whatever.
Whatever that is.
Hey, we have to sell a couple tie cans here.
Same thing.
But Ferrari has built their brand on exclusivity, okay?
It's marketed to the elite few who have bank accounts
that won't even feel a pinch to drop a couple million dollars on special cars.
But Porsche to me and to millions have always been in an everyman supercar.
This was something that you worked towards.
This car was always a reward for hard work.
It was something that a guy or a girl could have a good job and save up for.
And it was maybe a car that was on their wall,
or it was something that they watch YouTube videos all the time about.
And they became so passionate about it.
They had this dream and then that dream could be realized
and they could put that car in their garage.
But here's the disconnect, right?
Like if a car comes out and it's many hundreds of thousands of dollars,
I'm just not interested.
I know it's not in my future.
I know it's not going to come down over time
and on the same devaluation curve as most cars.
And so I know it's not going to be in my future and so that I lose interest.
But the problem is, is that makes me lose connection with the brand.
Because if Porsche keeps coming out with these high expensive cars
and they're not coming out with the volume cars that still give us a taste of what the brand is,
then what happens is, is I start to think that they're Ferrari.
And I start to think that it's an exclusive brand that I don't have any part of anymore.
And I don't want that to happen because it's such an amazing car company.
It's such an amazing product.
And it's, and it really resonates with the hundreds of thousands,
millions of people that own and drive these cars and just have this connection.
And the next generation isn't going to have that.
They talk about the next halo car, which is $3 million.
And that's what everyone kind of looks at.
I mean, how many people have a Cone's Egg in their future
that they're going to be picking up in the next six to eight months, right?
I don't want these cars to become museum pieces.
I want them to become fun, approachable tools
that bring a lot of pleasure and a lot of happiness into daily lives.
And here's the other thing that I think that we all have to really consider.
And it's the vacuum effect.
And some of you might have heard me talk about this earlier,
but it's essentially like this trickle down vacuum effect.
See if I can throw any other analogies at you.
I had a gentleman reach out to me.
Some folks reach out and send me their builds like on the configurator.
And if I have time, sometimes I like to look through them
and give feedback and stuff like that.
And a lot of times with kind of my consulting stuff,
people will sit with me for an hour and we'll go over what they really want
and what makes sense.
And so I remember specifically I was looking over this build for a GTS
that was well north of $200,000.
And it was a beautiful car.
I mean, what a great build.
And it was just, I mean, it was really just the bees' knees.
My point is, is that if someone is saved up for 30, 40 years, they're retiring
and this is their present to themselves, like good on you, fantastic.
I'm so excited because that's a dream realized.
But as the economy kind of changes and things are more expensive
and inflation happens and people are thinking about putting food on the table
and fuel in their oil tanks to heat their homes,
coming up with many hundreds of thousands of dollars for what amounts to a volume car.
It's not a GT car or something like that.
I mean, that's just a lot of money, right?
I think we can all agree on that.
Not saying it's not worth it, beautiful car.
But that car say five, six years ago was $150,000 car,
which was maybe a little bit more approachable as well.
And so this creates a vacuum because the people that wanted that $150,000 car
but now it costs over $200,000, they say, okay, well, I can't swing that.
What can I get for $150,000?
And so then they start to look into the previous 992 generation
market of pre-owned cars.
What does that look like?
And then they take that buying power and snap those up.
Now everyone who had aspirations for those cars are now looking at the next generation down,
the 991s that are hovering, you know, maybe around 80 to 100,000.
And those get snapped up.
And so it's kind of this vacuum effect where all these cars because of demand.
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Get snapped up.
And so the prices rise because there's only a finite number of them.
And now you're looking at 997s that are $60,000, $70,000 when forever in a day,
they were 30, 40, $45,000 cars.
So I mean, you get my point, I don't want to belabor it.
But when the true enthusiasts, the true drivers, the people that might never have had a portion
and really want to get into the brand, can't afford to get into the brand,
well, then they get disillusioned and they go elsewhere.
And that's not cool because I mean, I want everyone to be able to enjoy this stuff.
I'm all about this Porsche ownership kind of being more of like a dream realized.
But when the prices skyrocket like they do and the door closes,
I mean, that's everything.
But certainly for folks that own cars now and decide to hang on to them and keep them for some time,
most likely they will continue to appreciate in a vacuum, of course, outside of the greater
economic world.
Gosh, don't I wish that Porsche would kind of go back to that ethos they had when they were going
bankrupt in the 90s and they came out with the Boxster.
And it was like, hey, here's an amazing car that handles beyond your dreams and it's approachable
for the every man.
We're going to make a ton of these, we're going to try to make them price properly.
And so you can all enjoy what it's like to drive these kind of cars.
We're going to sell them like hotcakes because everyone wants that badge and that driving
experience and we want to try to put them in as many garages as we can.
Pushing really hard for a nine seat Cayenne that's partially electrified,
that's going to be like however many hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy for an SUV to
compete with a Bentley Bentayga or like a Halo car that's going to cost millions of dollars
is fine for the headlines, but it's not great for the you and me's.
I'll never forget, I can't remember what year this statement was,
but I'll never forget that Dettlev von Platten, he was a president and CEO of Porsche Cars North
America, he was asked a question about, I think it was the question was, would Porsche ever
consider developing cheaper new models to fill this vacuum or fill the desires of people that
want to get into driving a Porsche but can't afford 911 prices or even Boxster Cayman prices.
And essentially, to paraphrase, he said the cheaper new entry level models are pre-owned
Porsches and I understand that in terms of gatekeeping the brand and having a level of
exclusivity to a point, but we've just established through my long die tribe that
pre-owned Porsches are getting really expensive and those are out of the price range of a lot of
people and so I don't know, I'm just hoping there's a different way because they don't want
what I'm seeing to be the inevitable happen. So to put a final point on it, I really just don't
want Porsche to lose the next generation of owners and I feel like they're doing that by
engaging in this new strategy and it hurts my soul and I hope you agree.
All right, what I'd love to do next is I'd love to pivot to a question I received from one of
our listeners. Every week, folks are fantastic about reaching out to 11after9.com and on the
comments or the comment box leaving me some questions about what they're thinking or of course
on the YouTube videos and eventually hopefully within a week or two when I start getting some
YouTube videos up for the podcast, we can ask a lot of questions on there.
Anyways, what I think I'm going to do moving forward is with each episode, let's answer a
question or two because I'm sure if it's on some people's minds, it's on a lot of people's minds
and so as long as you guys don't mind me pontificating about what I think based on my ownership
experience, I'm going to answer it. So this week, the question was, hey Derek,
I have about $40,000 and I'm looking to purchase my first Porsche. What should I do?
Should I buy a higher mileage 997.1 like you did or should I look at a 981 Boxter or Cayman?
And so the 981 Boxter Cayman for those of you not quite in the know is the generation of Boxter
and Cayman that started in 2012 and went to 2016. I think they look absolutely beautiful.
They have some really sharp lines with the wheels pushed out to the utmost edges of the cars.
They're just, they just have a really beautiful stance to them. They are very fast, very fun
and on the up and up. And so both are great choices. $40,000 is no small amount of money,
but it is an amount of money that really does kind of open up the book in terms of some
really cool choices. So let's talk about these two. I'm very blessed to have owned both and own
both now. I have a 2014 base 981 Boxter, as you probably all know, guards red on black
with about 47,000 miles on it. And about a month or so ago, I picked up a 2005 997.1
with 103,000 miles on it. All right. So first, what I'm going to do is I am going to give you
a very tired, stupid piece of advice, but I feel like I have to do it. And the question really is,
you have to go drive both. These are fundamentally two entirely different driving experiences.
This isn't like, oh, you know, what are the nuances between a 996 and a 997 or
should I do the 997.1 or 997.2? What are your thoughts? Those are more, that's more of a
nuanced discussion. I mean, these are fundamentally two extremely different chassis setups, two
extremely different driving experiences, both amazing, both engaging, both very different.
So let's get into it a little bit and I'll kind of share with you my thoughts. You know, when you
have a 911, of course the motors in the back, 911 is a car that you have to meet halfway. It's an
extremely engaging experience, but it is very unique. And the fact of the physics of the car
mean that when you come into a corner at any kind of speed, you really have to get your braking
done early. And then when you turn in, you feel kind of the front end bite. And then you can get
into the gas early in the turn and you feel like, let's say you're taking left turn, that passenger
side rear tire really sits down tight and digs in. And that pendulum really does start to swing and
you feel the front end of the car just rotate really, really quickly. And so it's a super
rewarding experience, really unlike anything out there. And for the people that get really good
at it over time, it's a very rapid way to get around corners. But it doesn't come naturally.
It's something you really have to learn. And of course, it's much more pronounced in the older
cars and then the newer cars with suspension setups and nice wide tires and wide stances.
It has been kind of built out of the experience a little bit, but it is still there. But when
you can get good at it, and I mean, feel the car enter the turn and you just become kind of one
with this idiosyncratic vehicle. It is so rewarding and it is the feedback is brilliant.
And it becomes like a slalom fun arcade game of how can I take this corner and come screaming out
the exit. The Boxster on the other hand, it's a mid-engine car, the motor sitting right behind
you. And this is a car that's just like a loyal friend. It comes to you and it says, how do you
want to drive? How fast you want to drive? I'm there. I can do it for you. As a matter of fact,
it is such a forgiving chassis that quite often, admittedly, if I come into the corner and I'm
cooking a little too hot and I might break mid-corner, which is a no-no of course in any car,
or if I decide to downshift because I'm not carrying enough speed, the chassis really isn't
upset. Or if it is upset just so briefly, the car just shakes it off and says, no problem,
we'll do better next time. I mean, that's just such a fantastic partner to really get out and
enjoy driving these cars. With the 981 on the electric steering, the car moves as you just
brush your fingertips across the steering wheel. It is very responsive. You have an excellent
sense of where all the four corners are, where the tires are planted, and you can place that car
with such precision that it really does feel more of like a scalpel than a sledgehammer. The 997
still definitely harkens back a little bit to kind of that air-cooled 996 where a sports car was
supposed to have character. And by the definition of having character, it means that there's some
things that you might not love or that the car is going to have, and you have to come again,
meet it where it is. Both offer great experiences. Both, once you learn how to drive them, allow you
to drive pretty much as fast as you want, but you can drive a 981 to its higher level. You can
drive it at 8 tenths, 9 tenths, a lot more quickly and easily than you can an older water cool car
like a 997. So take that into consideration if you're looking at these two cars. Neither is bad,
both are different, but in my mind both are a wash. What I do want to talk about, which I think is
also a wash, is the maintenance myth of a boxers might be cheaper to run an own because they're
cheaper to buy. And that is categorically not true. Listen, the labor rate is the labor rate.
And if you go to your Porsche dealer, it's going to apply to a Boxster Cayman or a 997.1 equally.
So there's really no cost savings there. And even if you go to an independent mechanic,
they're still going to charge the same rate depending on which car you have. I mean, arguably,
you could say that if you do a lot of your own work yourself, earlier 911 might be a little bit
simpler to work on, less computers to interface with, etc. But I think that's marginal because
Porsche parts still cost the same. They have that Porsche tax. It's not a cheap car to buy and run.
And it's something, of course, that you always want to have a little kitty.
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up, you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost. Grow helps you find therapy on your time.
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To save up for those rainy days, it's going to cost you a couple thousand dollars a year.
So there's no great savings. The other point I'll make, and some of you might know this,
is that there are no cheap Porsches. If you go and get yourself a cheap Boxster,
986 Boxster, 986 Boxster ass and say, oh, I picked this car for 12 grand, unless you happen to steal
something that's been well maintained, that car will, with maintenance, cost you as much as, say,
a $14,000 986 Boxster. You're going to have to put parts, you're going to have to put time and
effort into that car. And so there are no cheap Porsches to own and run. Just realize that going
in. Have a what if fund, have an old crap fund, but I do think you have to take money off the table
as a factor when it comes to maintenance between these two cars. So let's talk about the value
discussion. The value discussion is should I buy one over the other because I think it's going to
maintain its value or it's going to go up in value over time. This is a tough one, right? Because you
can't look in a crystal ball with these cars. There's certainly not investments over time,
paying insurance, paying maintenance and repair costs. Both will cost you a fair amount of money,
which will eat into any profits you have, unless it's some sort of crazy special model or something
like that. Listen, the 911 is always going to be the 911. It's a nameplate that carries a level of
respect and it also maintains a price floor that rarely breaks. Once it depreciates down to a certain
level, generally you don't see them dip further. As we talked earlier in this episode, the vacuum of
its sister cars might make it appreciate over time as it becomes more appreciated and goes up,
kind of like the 996. But generally you can expect that probably what you put into this car in terms
of a purchase price, you should be able to get out of it unless you pile on crazy miles. And that
really is kind of the ultimate deciding factor is if you pile on crazy miles with these cars,
regardless of how much they appreciate in value, miles will affect values over time.
But 911s are a little bit more protected. And if 997.2s continue to appreciate and people look at
the 997.1s, you know, that star will continue to rise and you will see a gentle upward progress
in values. But the 981 is really interesting too, because it's 10 years out. It's at the bottom of
its depreciation curve for the most part. And I think its values are a little bit protected as
well. And this has less to do about the car because obviously there's plenty of them out there.
But more about the actions and movements of Porsche as a company. Following the 981 generation,
Porsche moved to a four cylinder turbo motor in 2017. And a lot of people look at those cars as
not Porsche, which is completely wrong by the way. And we'll have an episode about
the four cylinder turbo boxers and Caymans another time. But that really does keep the values
artificially up because people when they think Porsche want a normally aspirated six cylinder
motor, I can understand it. I get it. I understand what they're saying that does protect the values
of these cars. And then especially because at the end of the run of these four cylinder turbo
boxers and Caymans, Porsche decided to move to full electric. And so as of last year,
they stopped making boxers and Caymans entirely with the advent of EVs coming down the track.
Again, as we talked about earlier in the episode, that's not to be. While those cars will be coming
out, Porsche made the decision to also come out with internal combustion engine models as well.
But that won't be for another year or two. And so people are still going to go back to
a normally aspirated six cylinder car, especially if you can get it in a stick. Because what we
don't know is if you're going to be able to get this next generation with a stick as readily as
you can, the 981 generation. So these are all things to consider. I actually think both are
going to hold their value pretty well and eke up maybe the 911 a little bit more than the Boxster.
But both I think are a great place to put your money and you should be able to get it out when
the time comes to move on to your next model. I will say this though, please don't settle.
Let's call this the don't settle rule. If you've always dreamed of a 911, buy the 911.
If you buy the Boxster just because it's newer or maybe a little bit more quote unquote reliable,
you're going to kick yourself every time you're at a stoplight and you look over at someone in
a 911 and that's the car you really wanted. Save up a little longer, look a little harder,
try to find a car in your price range that has a 911 badge. If that's what you've always wanted,
that's okay. I give you permission. But I can tell you this, people I know with
fairly large Porsche collections are buying Boxsters. I think that they've owned a lot of
911s and they've come to realize that Porsche really hit it out of the park with a very special
chassis setup, very approachable speed, a very fantastic Porsche experience and people go back
to these Boxsters saying, if I want a driver's car, I might go Boxster and that's something to
consider too. They're both fantastic in their own rights. All right, so what's my verdict?
The one thing I hate is at the end of a YouTube video when someone goes, well,
I know I gave you two different experiences, but you got to choose your own. They're both great.
Well, that doesn't help. I want your experience said commenter, tell me which one I should buy.
So I'm going to do my best. I'm going to give you the scenario you should buy one over the other.
In my mind, I think you should choose a Boxster or Cayman 981. If you want to drive a Porsche
four to five days a week, if you want a modern car that most likely will start every time,
especially if it has sport exhaust, it has air conditioned seats, it has two trunks,
it's a sensible masterpiece of a Porsche. The driving cannot be beat. They're fun,
they're engaging. They are, in my mind, such an approachable every man's sports car,
every man's baby supercar. And I can't tell you how much I think the world of them,
but I do think maybe because they are a little bit newer, they do have a little bit more of the
creature comforts. If you're thinking about driving them more days than not, that's your choice.
I want you to think of the 997.1 if you want a little bit more drama in your life. If you are
maybe a little bit more attracted to the older cars, the cars that have characteristics that
might be a little painful to live with from day to day, maybe the air conditioning is an ice cold,
maybe you have to let it warm up a little bit longer before it starts to drive like a Porsche
should because it's a little grumpy. Those kind of things really add to the experience of a 997.
You feel the motor behind you and it's wailing and the inconsistencies of that older car are
what really make you fall in love with it. It's kind of like addition by subtraction. Listen,
I bought them both. I bought the Boxster first and I absolutely adored it. And then I bought that
997 because I wanted a little bit more of that old school grit while still having some of the
moderate conveniences that I don't have in my 1972 911. So I'm not sitting in your seat and only you
know which badge is going to make your heart race. But I can tell you that if you go either way,
you won't be disappointed. You really just have to look at your use case. And there I go,
sounding like that YouTube commenter that I don't like. So sorry about that, folks. But those are
my ideas when it comes to those two cars. And I just really want to thank you again for coming
along in the journey. Once again, just asking very gratefully if you don't mind getting on to
Apple and Spotify and leaving a star rating and also leaving a written review because that's going
to be huge in terms of making this podcast explode. I'm so excited for what we have upcoming. It's
going to be truly fantastic with the guests we have going. I'm going to be bringing some video
podcasts out for those of you that like to consume it that way. And we're just going to have a great
time. We're building this together and I'm very grateful for all of you. And so with that, have
a great week and I can't wait to see you next Tuesday on 11 After 9, the podcast.
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About this episode
Porsche’s recent financial pain—China sales slump, heavy EV bets, and tariff hits—sparks a debate about whether Porsche is drifting toward Ferrari-style exclusivity with ever-more expensive “halo” cars. The host argues that this strategy risks disconnecting Porsche from the next generation of owners, creating a “vacuum effect” that pushes aspirational buyers into pricier used models. The episode then pivots to a practical $40k buying question: 997.1 911 vs 981 Boxster/Cayman. He says drive both, notes maintenance isn’t cheaper on Boxsters, and recommends 981s for daily-driver comfort while 997.1s suit those wanting older-car drama.
Original notes
Is the "Everyman’s Supercar" disappearing? This week on The ElevenAfterNine Podcast, Derek dives into Porsche’s recent financial shift toward a "Value over Volume" strategy. With operating profits seeing a massive shift and a new focus on ultra-exclusive halo cars, we discuss the "Vacuum Effect"—how rising new car prices are sucking up the values of the 997, 991, and 981 generations.
Later in the episode, Derek answers a high-stakes listener question: If you have $40,000, should you buy a high-mileage 997.1 911 or a modern 981 Boxster/Cayman? We break down the "Loyal Friend" vs. the "Idiosyncratic Icon," the reality of the maintenance myth, and the one "Don't Settle" rule every first-time buyer needs to hear.
Links & Resources:
- Official Website: ElevenAfterNine.com (Send your questions here!)
- YouTube: ElevenAfterNine – Watch the new 991.1 vs 991.2 Gearbox Comparison!
- Instagram: @theelevenafternine
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