still don't get why Boxsters drop in value so fast

[Perfectlap]

Boxsters don't have it so bad when it comes to losing value. If you were following prices closely when the credit bubble finally exploded about 5 years ago and had the misfortune of owning a Carrera still under warranty in those days, taking a $30K-$40K bath in a single year was not at all uncommon. That's enough of a loss to buy a Boxster S outright. The Caymans and Boxsters didn't take nearly that badly a pounding because they weren't so over-priced beyond what the cash market was willing to pay once all the loans dissapeared for all but the best applicants

Today with a 991 Carrera S priced into the nosebleeds if we were to see a similar financial collapse repeated those buyers would take an even bigger bath. Think $60K in a single year. Porsche may think it's six figure car but those holding cash don't agree. They'd probably go for a Ferrari or Bentley and cross that off their bucket list before putting that kind of dough into a Porsche.

A second-hand Boxster is good value because its not priced that high into the sky to begin with. Granted you are still paying a huge premium over similar cars on laptimes from the U.S. and Japan. What the Boxsters have going against them is that it's an impractical car at a time that everyone and their sister wants a stupid SUV to bust up the roads and encourage people to drive fast (who don't know how) in cars not designed to do anything of the sort. At least the Carrera has the false appearance of having room for more than two passengers so it's not as problematic for someone who thinks their buying a Lotus Elise when they look at a Boxster. A girl once described my car as a "toy car". People have better things to do with their money these days largely because they don't have any.

p.s.
Regarding your comment about a second hand Boxster being "worth" as much as a 944. When I visit my Porsche mechanic I can be sure of usually seeing two things:
old tires against the back wall and a 944 needing work. What it costs to buy a Porsche is not what it costs to run a Porsche. Which makes the Boxster one of the best Porsche values you can buy on performance and reliability. Problem is Porsches are not the greatest values in the sports car market and its getting worse.

[papasmurf]

pretty much any early 90's porsche is a rare car as the 944 was being phased into the 968 (which didn't sell any better) and the 964 model 911 was expensive and receiving mixed reactions from the public. Boxsters are much more common than any of those cars so the market it somewhat saturated and the demand is low. Corvette's (for reasons I cannot fathom) have ridiculously high resale values I assume because it is one of the few american sports cars available besides the viper.
The build quality is poor, they squeak, rattle, and for being such large cars, have absolutely no interior room (C4's especially) but there is something about them that attracts buyers. I am not convinced the IMS issues have done as much damage to the resale value of the boxster as some think as most buyers really do not do much research when purchasing a car and the IMS issue is really only well known among enthusiasts and current owners.

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by papasmurf

pretty much any early 90's porsche is a rare car as the 944 was being phased into the 968 (which didn't sell any better) and the 964 model 911 was expensive and receiving mixed reactions from the public. Boxsters are much more common than any of those cars so the market it somewhat saturated and the demand is low. Corvette's (for reasons I cannot fathom) have ridiculously high resale values I assume because it is one of the few american sports cars available besides the viper.
The build quality is poor, they squeak, rattle, and for being such large cars, have absolutely no interior room (C4's especially) but there is something about them that attracts buyers. I am not convinced the IMS issues have done as much damage to the resale value of the boxster as some think as most buyers really do not do much research when purchasing a car and the IMS issue is really only well known among enthusiasts and current owners.

I agree, few people know about IMS unless they've done research.

I think the corvette high resale thing has to do with.... a different class of people. Children grow up wanting one of two vehicles: an exotic like lambo, ferrari, porsche, etc or american, which is basically the corvette for the past 50 years.

They get older and that carries over, so they see the used corvette car they dreamed about since high school now selling for less than the price of a new Focus and they run out and buy it, not realizing how ****************ty a car it really is since they're in dreamland and nothing can pull them out of it

I have a feeling if a poll was done a lot of people in southern states would probably want a corvette over a porsche, and on the east and west cost they would probably want a porsche over a corvette. It's a different cultural.

[Perfectlap]

sorry but the Corvette is NOT a ****************ty car. It is a fixture at every track and autocross event across the country. I don't think I've ever attended one such event where I didn't see at least a couple of them. In fact, I would venture to say that as a % of its owners, there are more Corvette owners who actually know how to drive their cars, as in they've received on track instruction, than there are Porsche owners who can say same.
When you go to the LeMans race in France the locals line up just to see it and its a proven winner in sports car racing. Also, It is a car with legit racing cred in BOTH sprint and endurance racing

[papasmurf]

are great cars for the money and are very competitive and track ready straight from the dealer and have an extensive and growing racing pedigree. The prior models like the original poster illustrated (C4) are not that great of cars and do not have the racing pedigree like the later models. Whether or not the owners know how to drive the car on a track is somewhat irrelevant to the original discussion but that may be the case. Most of the corvette owners I see are 50-60 year old men that do not seem to drive them that aggressively, but then the same could be said for most porsche owners.

[pothole]

The main answer is simple and comes in two parts:

1. They built a lot of Boxsters
2. The broad trend is towards fuel efficiency / low emissions

Number one is the most critical factor. Number two is less important in the US, hence values have held up slightly better there.

The end.