Home » Why Do Two Porsche Bucket Seats Cost More Than An Entire Boxster And An Entire Cayenne Combined?

Why Do Two Porsche Bucket Seats Cost More Than An Entire Boxster And An Entire Cayenne Combined?

Porsche Gt3 Seats Ts
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It’s been years since the air-cooled Porsche 911 market reached escape velocity from the means of average folks, but that doesn’t mean the Porsche market is done cranking yet. From inflated GT3 values to unloved 968s becoming collectable, the Porsche appreciation train just won’t stop. For instance, you could pay nearly $20,000 for a pair of seats. Yes, a pair of seats. What the hell is going on here?

There are two varieties of thrones that make up the upper echelon of modern Porsche seats — the carbon-backed buckets available in the 997-generation 911, and the carbon buckets available in the 991 generation 911. Both were available on high-performance models including GT3s, and both now command insane asking prices on the second-hand market.

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Take these 991 GT3 bucket seats, for example. On Tuesday, they sold on Bring A Trailer for $17,420. That’s not a typo. That’s a five-figure price tag for a pair of seats, and the orange striping in the upholstery means that they’re likely best suited to people with orange cars, or greyscale cars with orange graphics. That shrinks the target audience, doesn’t it?

Porsche Gt3 Seats

Taking things back to August, this pair of 997 sport bucket seats sold on Bring A Trailer for $20,000. Yes, a pair of seats that costs more than a Nissan Versa or a Mitsubishi Mirage. Wilder still, the photos of the seats aren’t that great, and the leather upholstery has started to get a big baggy, particularly on the driver’s seat.

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Porsche 997 Bucket Seats 1

Here’s another example, a pair of 997 sport bucket seats that sold on Bring A Trailer in July for $21,500. Sure, they might differentiate themselves from the majority of carbon fiber seats by including side airbags, but we’re in new car territory for a price of used seats. It really makes you wonder, is there some sort of general underground seat mania that we don’t know about, where these Porsche seats are actually low down on the ladder?

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Nope, it’s really just these Porsche seats that’ve gone simply freaking mental. For context, a set of Euro-spec Ferrari F40 carbon-kevlar bucket seats recently sold on Bring A Trailer for $9,400. Not even five figures for seats from an iconic and exclusive seven-figure car.

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Fuck it, let’s go one step further. Here’s a manual 1999 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet that sold on Bring A Trailer last month for $14,497. That’s an entire 911 for less than the cost of a pair of these seats. You can’t drive a pair of seats to work, or take them around a track, but you can do all that and more in an entire Porsche 911.

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In fact, the 996-generation 911 held its side impact airbags in the doors, so you can really just run whatever seats you like without throwing airbag codes. Pick up a pair of Recaros, or Sparcos, or Sabelts, or Tilletts if you’re feeling extreme, they’ll hold you in place alright. Oh, and if you do so sensibly, you can have an entire 911 with a body-hugging pair of seats for less than the cost of a set of Porsche OEM carbon buckets alone.

Porsche Boxster

Or, let’s say we take this to the absolute extreme. If you shop around carefully, you can pick up an entire Boxster and an entire Cayenne for what a set of these seats costs, and have one killer two-car solution for, again, the price of two seats. Let’s start with the Boxster. Since it’s a weekend car, you’ll likely want a reasonably nice 986 rather than a ragged example, and here’s one. It’s a 2002 model with just 31,000 miles on the clock, and although it might not be the most desirable color combination around, it seems to be well-kept. The hammer price on Bring A Trailer? A reasonable $12,850. If we’re going by that $17,240 pair of 991 buckets, that leaves us with $4,390 for a Cayenne. Tight, but still doable.

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Porsche Cayenne

See? This 2005 Porsche Cayenne S is listed on Craigslist in Florida for $3,850, and although it may have a whopping 185,000 miles on the clock, the spec is excellent and the condition seems plenty good enough for daily beater duties. Better yet, it rides on standard coil-sprung suspension, meaning air suspension is a potential headache you won’t have to deal with.

So yes, you can buy an entire Boxster and an entire Cayenne for the price of a set of modern Porsche bucket seats. Admittedly, I must say they are good seats, but the pricing we’re seeing is absolute insanity. Mind you, the only way Porsche can keep a lid on the market is by grabbing a slice of them and building a batch of seats, so these crazy prices are unlikely to stop anytime soon.

(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer, Craigslist seller)

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Lotsofchops
Lotsofchops
21 days ago

Corvette guys (rightfully) get flack for their “I know what I got” attitude and “rare 1 of 1 C4!!!!” but I think Porsche guys are worse just due to the money involved.

Moonball96
Moonball96
22 days ago

I keep hearing how awful the economy is but people out here dropping $20k on seats

Jakob Johansen
Jakob Johansen
22 days ago

Because. somewhere, someone is willing to pay that amount.

Slow Joe Crow
Slow Joe Crow
22 days ago

People pay obscene markups on gotta have it cars like Hellcats, first year Brocos and GR Corollas, why not seats? Sensible, or skint people don’t have to pay those prices for these seats.

Vad A
Vad A
22 days ago

964 Carrera RS and Speedster seats (and 993 RS, which are the same but cloth, not leather) sell for the same money and they’re literally essentially Recaro Pole Positions/Profi SPGs.

This set sold for $21,500: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/seats-41/

This one for just over $15k: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/seats-14/

Robert Runyon
Robert Runyon
22 days ago

Having bought a vehicle on Bring A Trailer I can honestly say never again. Most people on Autopian are car wise. BAT is a Swift concert disguised as a car site. Lots of strokes, lots of noise, lots of money, not much value.

Last edited 22 days ago by Robert Runyon
Parsko
Parsko
22 days ago

I think I just vomited in my mouth a little.

Bucko
Bucko
22 days ago

I’m a bit jaded by seat prices. Those Recaro seats that are optional in the lowly Miata sell for $4,000 to $6,000 each new, and are really difficult to either new or used. Try to find the ones trimmed for certain special editions….So $20k for some rare carbon fiber Porsche seats? Sounds about right to me.

Those Ferrari seats don’t really count, as they have been reupholstered, and have a crack in the carbon fiber. Also, they appear not to be equipped with airbags. Blown airbags tends to really thin the pool of available seats.

Shooting Brake
Shooting Brake
22 days ago

The rich have too much money.

Robert Runyon
Robert Runyon
22 days ago
Reply to  Shooting Brake

And dense when it comes to sense.

Cody
Cody
22 days ago

so the answer to the question “Why Do Two Porsche Bucket Seats Cost More Than An Entire Boxster And An Entire Cayenne Combined?”is “I don’t know, but they do”

Cerberus
Cerberus
22 days ago

I mostly get people who are obsessive of all manner of weird, generally uncelebrated cars, but Porsches and Jeeps are things I will just never understand.

Phuzz
Phuzz
19 days ago
Reply to  Cerberus

I think Land Rover people are quite similar to Jeep people.
Which is a fact I’m sure they’d both hate 🙂
(Until a Land Cruiser turns up)

Rob Hays
Rob Hays
22 days ago

Hey, this was my garage until the Cayenne finally crapped out this spring!

V10omous
V10omous
22 days ago

July: $21,500

August: $20,000

September: $17,420

Looks like we’ve got inflation beat, folks.

Ottomottopean
Ottomottopean
22 days ago
Reply to  V10omous

This data tells me I will be able to buy these seats for nothing if I just wait a year.

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