Resale value of special editions
 

Do special editions of frs/brz/86 generally hold value a little better?

Right now, hardly. In 40 years probably

very few care about special paint when the rest of the car is essentially the same as the 40,000 other 86's produced.

it might be a $500-1,000 premium over a similar non-special 86. at 40 years, pricing on any of these cars that survive that long will be skewed more by being a survivor more than being any sort of special color.

Just recently seen an unmolested very low mileage RS1 sitting on the internet right now at almost original cost but judging by 99% of used twins for sale right now,
special editions don't do much as just having that low mileage on them.
Having a different color paint, brakes,stickers, etc on the car were all included in the original price paid by the first owner so if they appear to be even a few thousand
more than a base one, it doesn't mean much. They don't hold value better and appear to devalue at the same rate as a base version does.
This subject already came up a few times here recently and the consensus was that it would not be worth holding any of these cars in storage and wait for a massive price
increase in the future similar like what is happening with air cooled Porsches. They're just too common.
If you're in the market to purchase one, just pick a color and transmission you like and then mod the crap out of it to fit your needs.

Yes, but not by much. There's nothing especially special about them.

Key word there is "sitting". People can ask whatever they want but that doesn't mean it will sell for that. If it does then congrats to the seller for finding a sucker!

i hate low mileage cars. if it's over 10 years old, it better have at least 50,000 miles on it. anything less means that it barely got driven ever, and to actually use, i'd need to replace much of the plastic and rubber driveline parts.

I agree and disagree with this at the same time. A 10 year old car with 20,000 miles that was driven 2,000 miles a year would be fine with me. A 10 year old car that was driven 20,000 miles in the first year and then sat for 9 would not.
Mileage is only one consideration anyway and with cars like the Twins it is probably the lowest thing on my list I would look at. Makes sense for a family sedan that are likely all driven about the same but we see a huge variation of how the Twins are used on here. I would take a 100,000 highway miles, well maintained sample over some of the 20,000 beat to crap, Ebay modded, boiracer modified ones any day. All in all I personally consider looking at mileage as a priority factor to be a trap to avoid when talking cars like these.

I feel like on this forum, not many people have to consider that "sitting dormant" could mean "everything under the car is rotten" if it wasn't garage/barn kept and prepped for storage. I've gone to look at a few lower mileage cars, like a 68 Opel GT. They said it hasn't been started in about 20 years. I took my flashlight and stooped, only to find that they'd clearly only recently moved it to the garage, it'd been in a field, the underside was totally rotten.

As Tcoat explained, mileage is only one of many considerations. What good is a low mileage car if it can never be road worthy?

I just assume my special edition will be the same as or slightly more than any other twin. But I bought it because its special to me.

Typically, here at least, a limited edition is worth a few K more than a non LE of the same milage and condition.

As always there are variables

nada says my series.blue is worth $17775, but if it was only a limited it would be worth $16,025. Just as a note, the value of my car was about $17k 2 years ago, and has fluctuated between $17 & $19k in the past few years. I assume in a year or two it will start dropping.

I chased the RS2 and hyperblue for awhile before getting mine. They seemed to go for 1-2g more, and I think most of that was just because of the much nicer looking interiors. Without any mechanical differences, they just aren't that special.


If you are looking at depreciation percentage since new, base model cars almost always depreciate the slowest.

Typically in the automotive world, special editions only hold additional value in the used market if the package came with a special engine or increased power. Special editions that are nothing more than another trim level don't.

Examples of the first include Shelby Mustangs, SRTs, etc.

Examples of the second include the BRZ Series.Random.Color, FR-S RS examples, etc. In a decade not even the performance package or TRD options will be seen as special enough to bring more money.

What would keep its value is a special edition BRZ or 86 with 300 HP from the factory, produced in limited numbers and sold through a dealership, then kept very close to stock. That's why we're always so disappointed every time a new special edition comes out and the only performance tweaks are suspension upgrades. Give us a special engine package, and that will be sought after.

There are of course exceptions. AMC had a special edition Mark Donohue Javelin that wasn't necessarily more powerful than other Javelins from the same year, but the AMC people spend a lot of money to get their hands on them. But for the most part power is where the money is, and the special edition twins don't have it.