[speeder]

I've owned (almost) all of them and the 996 is a great car for what it is. It's true that it has sort of a cheapo looking interior, (especially the earliest ones), and in a lot of ways was a major departure from all previous 911 designs. I think that the hanging pedals were weirder to me than the liquid-cooled engine.

What a lot of people could never imagine, without owning one, is how incredibly strong they are with the exception of the well-noted flaws. I had one that was a real beater with over 200k miles on the chassis and it was tight as a bull's ass. No squeaks or rattles and that was with much firmer than stock suspension. Like all 911s before it, they respond really well to intelligent upgrades, from exhaust to suspension to aero, etc..

A stock 993 bores me to tears, to each their own. Same with a stock 996. Either one with some special sauce is a fun car on the street and at the track. I do think that 996s are worth a lot less than 993s or most other models because of styling, Japanese style manufacture and their fatal mechanical flaws. They do perform well and are rock solid in the way that only German cars are, but they don't look like they would be, IMO. You need to own one to appreciate them. I don't think that they will ever appreciate in value, at all, due to their styling and enormous sales/production numbers.

And being a rear-engined, flat-6 2+2 made by Porsche, it's definitely a 911. That said, if you want the most bang for the buck in a 911, there is only one choice. If you want more bang:buck than this, it will have to be a Corvette or some other well-used high performance car.

I think that 993s will stay pretty strong in retained value or appreciate because they are in the "driver" category of Porsches and most are getting well-used as we speak, so the number of really clean examples will gradually shrink. It already has. A clean 993 with a little help in the exhaust and suspension dept. and a weight-loss diet is a fun car.