Originally Posted by qtong
I am looking at a CPO 991.1 4S with $10k miles for $91K. CPO is a must for any Porsche imo.
Oh boy, long story warning. I am probably over sharing but here goes.
My wife and I were a one car family when we lived in Houston. I got a job in E Texas that required me to get a vehicle to commute and I figured a truck would be the most practical. I got a great deal on the silverado toward the end of 2015. My dad's 20 year old 4runner was on its last leg I took him to a BMW dealership (we grew up poor, he never imagined being able to step foot into a BMW dealership so I wanted something special for him) and we walked out with a 328i. I drove it a few times and loved how great it felt so I naturally wanted one.
April 2016 I traded in the truck (broken even since I bought it at such a great price) I bought a 435i and loved it, BSM with red interior. Nicknamed Cow Blood because that was the first thing I could think of when I saw the interior and was initially disgusted. However, it kept throwing the check engine light and had a vacuum leak that the delaership couldn't figure out how to fix for more than a couple hundred miles. The last time they fixed it, everything seemed to work again. Rather than always worrying about if/when it would fail again or go through the lemon or buy back process, I decided to trade it in. I had it for 4 months, put less than 2k miles on it, and only got to drive it for half of the time I actually owned it.
I decided that I wanted an M3. I talked with several dealerships and finally found one with a CA that was fair and gave me great service. Autobahn BMW (Brian Hodge) in Ft. Worth. He gave me a fair value on my trade in and a fair deal on the M3 with a fantastic interest rate. I did the deal through text and only spent 30 minutes at the dealership to sign. Up to this point, I have never even driven a the F80 M3. I was in love. It was fast, the chassis felt great and it was practical. Well, after having it for 6 months, we were having some issues with the neighbors next door (renters) and talked with the owner who offered to sell us the property at a fair price. Now we were facing a potential long term cash flow issue. I was also having an itch for a 6MT and a coupe.
The Camaro was the cheapest option that ticked all of the boxes. I hate that car and still do. The blind spots were bad 98% of the time, but during that 2% where there is a merge lane, I was basically counting cars to guess the traffic pattern to guess when to merge. On top of that, the quality was horrible and the dealership was impossible to work with. Exterior quality issues: the paint is thinner than paper, the body panel gaps aren't uniform, the bumper was wavy, the sheet metal was very soft. Interior issues: I had no where to keep my sunglasses in the case because there wasn't enough storage, the padding under the leather on the seat shifted to where the plastic seat frame was right against it which lead to a lot of wear (and very soon to be hole), and the carpet was so thin and cheap, I could never get it as clean as I wanted. I do love the sound and feel of the LT1.
So one day, I pitched the idea of the M2 to my wife and concurrently shooting Brian at Autobahn a text. I did the math and based on the very fair trade in value he gave me and the cost of the M2, we would be at a near wash. I handed the keys over as soon as I could to keep from any additional wear and tear from happening and to get rid of it before the MY18s would destroy its value. I got rid of the Camaro and got a week 33 allocation. Then things get complicated again. The truck that I am rebuilding (I swapped out the engine with a crate motor) is taking longer to finish than I expected and my wife had to take me to work every day.
I bought a 1999 boxster a couple of weeks to drive around in the mean time because I always wanted to try a convertible and wasn't manly enough to get a miata. Well, I was really impressed with the Boxster. It is 20 years old and everything in it works flawlessly! Aside from the seats being worn and the exterior plastic trim fading, it was in spectacular shape. The car handles well, the engine takes the beating I give it, and I was amazed by the quality. Well now all of my hesitations about getting a Porsche in the past due to quality is starting to go away. To compound the issue, the renters next door moved out and we were able to do a more thorough inspection of the house and realized that it was not something we could afford to get into. It was far from an investment grade rental and even as a house to buy and keep for the family, it is a poor way to spend money. Let's put it this way, buying a 911 that will depreciate is a better purchase form a cash flow and equity stand point than the house. So the decision to forgo on the house freed up some long term cash flow (we are paying the rent on it until the owner sells it to make it right, I didn't want to put him in a bad position). Well, I did the pros/cons break down and reviewed our financials and realized that it was possible to get into a 911. I texted Brian to cancel the M2 order and enlisted his help to find me a nice CPO 991 and that's where I am today.
All of the vehicles purchased were brand new but I did get a great deal on them. I wound up losing a total of $35k on all 4 vehicles which is a lot but not terrible. THe truck was a well calculated purchase out of necessity, the 435i and M3 were passion purchases, the switch to the Camaro involved a lot of NPV calculations (which was pointless since I didn't stick with the plan long enough for it to pay off), and now the 911 is a passion/calculated purchase.
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