When Is a Porsche Better Than a Porsche?

January 03, 2023

Just a few years ago it took a real Porschephille to recognize just how special a RUF was, and even they probably weren’t aware of RUF’s 997 Turbo variant, the RT12. But over the last year or so, with the meteoric rise of all things Porsche, the market has discovered the 685 hp beast from Pfaffenhausen.

Before 2021, the nicest example of an RT12 was still a sub-$300,000 car with most trading hands privately. But this year we’ve seen 10 cars offered for sale with the lowest price paid being $434,000 for a 31,000-mile ‘S’ example and $910,000 is the highest paid for an early 17,000-mile car.

Our Spotlight car, a 2009 example with 23,000 miles finished in Guards Red hammered down for $450,000 on Bring a Trailer yesterday. Top-tier cars are still bringing good money but showing signs of slowing. With a recent no-sale of a similar car with similar miles a few months ago just shy of $400k, I wasn’t so sure this one would hit the mark.

But with the seller having purchased the car in 2014, way before the market exploded for such cars, I did hope there was a reasonable reserve as even at a low point in the price history, they were sure to make a decent return. But buyers were alive yesterday and the car found a new home along with another RUF purchased this year.

For the money, I’d call this one well-sold but I don’t think this will be seen as poorly bought over the next five years either. Well done by both parties.