The Best All-Around Porsche

At the Scottsdale 2020 Collector Car Auctions, Hagerty Insurance conducted a seminar with Porsche Club of America and RM Sotheby’s Auction House experts to discuss what the Best All-Around Porsche is in their opinion.

Porsche 911R - A Best All-Around Porsche

Air Brigade attended via a Facebook Livestream event that is possible for you to view if you are a Facebook member.

The moderator of the event was Brad Phillips, Hagerty’s Director of Business Development. The three panelists included 1) Nathan Merz, owner of Columbia Valley Luxury Cars that specializes in Porsches, 2) Rob Sass, Editor-in-Chief of Porsche Panorama and Matt Malamut, a car specialist at RM Sotheby’s with Porsches in his blood.

Before we get into what the panelists’ picks were for The Best All-Around Porsche you need to define the phrase Best All-Around. The Air Brigade definition is what Porsche should one own that provides you with the Porsche experience of performance, engineering and value. As you listen to the panelists you’ll note that some went with this definition while the RM Sotheby’s panelist focused on collectability and the Hagerty moderator focused on the under-valued model in the Porsche line-up.

This will be one of the few times that an Air Brigade article will not focus on the air-cooled Porsches as none of the panelists chose an air-cooled Porsche for their pick. Later in Q&A of the seminar a question is asked specifically about air-cooled Porsches. Their answers will be addressed in a later article or you can go to the recording of the seminar for immediate understanding of their opinions.

Porsche Boxster Spyder

The first panelist to answer was Nathan Merz, the Porsche car sales expert. His choice: A 987.5 Boxster Spyder. His choice: A 987.5 Boxster Spyder. Nathan suggests this car based on it being good for use for cruising, autocrosses, track, wife will ride in it and the value has held on it. The suggestion for long-term collectability is to buy a manual transmission model with the carbon bucket seats. The RM Sotheby’s Specialist was holding back with regards to whether this is a future collectible due to the numbers made. Time will tell.

Porsche 996 Turbo

The next opinion came from Rob Sass, the Editor-in-Chief of Porsche Panorama. His choice: a 996 911 Turbo. I agree with him on this one as I own a 997 911 Turbo that is a similar performing car but differs with styling. The 996 Turbo offers outstanding performance, AWD and great value. These cars can still be purchased in the $40,000 range but are now starting to go up in price. Similar to the Boxster Spyder, it was recommended to buy a manual transmission model. For ultimate collectability purposes the 996 Turbo would also have the X-50 performance package with the car in a unique color.

Matt Malamut, the Specialist from RM Sotheby’s, an admitted air-cooled junkie, weighed his pick more on collectability than usability as his pick was a 2016 Porsche 911R of which only 911 were made and they are selling for a quarter of a million dollars and up. Granted it is a great car but is probably out-of-reach for most of us.

Porsche 911 R

The moderator Brad Phillips from Hagerty then voiced his opinion and went contrary to the panel by picking a 1985 928 GTS. Brad based his pick on the 918 being fast with room and at the time was considered the best on the road. As he stated: “This is truly a magnificent car.”

The seminar then went into a question and answer session that brought up a smorgasbord of Porsche questions. These will be dealt with in separate articles. At this point you will have to be a Facebook viewer to watch a replay of the seminar.