If you are a subscriber to the WSJ on-line you can read the whole article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...=ITP_offduty_1

Basically it describes a test drive in the 2011 GTS. It asks why anyone would plunk down $120K+ for a car that will be "obsolete" when the 991 gets released in September. It goes on to say that the 911 is one of those cars where the owners "covet" older models.

A good read and a reason why I believe our 997s will not lose much value when the 991 comes out. The 911 will always be desirable regardless of which iteration it is.

 

good article lacrosse. thx for posting. i pasted a couple of the more entertaining quotes below. for my 2 cents, i think the GTS is a helluva 911. but i also think it's short-sighted to buy one now, 7 weeks before the 991 drops. to do so, you're basically betting against porsche's innovation, knowledge of what customers want, etc. which i don't think is wise. look back at the last few models porsche has released -- b spyder, cayman r, RS4.0, etc. all winners in my book.

some say they won't buy a first year model anyway, so there's actually waiting 14 months or so. i see some logic in that, but imo it's less applicable if the car is actually driven and not a garage queen. presumably, any mechanical gremlins would show up within first 4 years of regular use.

i love my 997 targa and may well pass on all the 991's when they come out, especially since i'm disappointed with the anticipated 400hp in the S. i also am of the camp that to heck with worrying about depreciation -- life is too short to baby these cars or not mod them to your liking, etc. for that reason. but since having the look at the 991's is free, why not take it and then decide what to buy.

for what it's worth, i speculate, nothing more, that the 997's will drop more than folks think. the production numbers on the 997 are staggering compared to the 993 and earlier. to take an imprecise comp, look at how badly the F430's have dropped in price since the 458 came out, even though the latter still generally go for a hefty premium (i've regularly seen +$75k)to their sticker. i don't think the 991's will command that premium to sticker, and they certainly won't have a 2.5 year wait list like the 458, which suggests that the 997's are even more price vulnerable. other decent comp would be the 996 prices against the 997. you decide how severe those drops were. or how about 997.1 vs. 997.2 turbos, adjusting for miles, MY, etc.? seems pretty bad depreciation to me.

most of all, at the end of the day, i think us guys here on the board are the minority of purchasers, in that we care and pay attention to the performance and engineering details. for the majority of buyers, IMO, the drastic change of the interior will be a push towards "updating" and keeping up the image that made them buy a porsche in the first place.

quotes from the article:

"It is certainly not the most powerful car in Porsche's lineup—that distinction goes to the 620-hp GT2 RS streetable race car, which could easily be the star in the remake of "How to Murder Your Wife." Nor is it the most focused. The variable-rate steering feels noticeably relaxed on center, compared to some of the company's more dance-y products. The cabin ambience is more relaxing and quieter than the sawmill that is the GT3."

"Then there's the weird mentality of 911 aficionados. The older cars, with their snatchy throttles, eruptions of turbo boost and catch-me-if-you-can oversteer, constitute a kind of hazing to be endured before one can join the 911 fraternity. Sure, anybody—even a poseur like me—can be fast around Laguna Seca in a new 911. To be fast in a '76 Turbo whale tail? That takes talent."

 

I learned in that article that the GTS has 'three-way suspension dampers'.

 

Actually, it's very difficult to learn anything new when you already know everything...