thanks guys. All great advice.

I agree - buying newer in general is good. thenewer / lower miles on the car, then the less chance of problems - that's just common sense, but of course no gaurantee.

in terms of what CAR I want - i do want hte porsche. i'min the market for something fun. this is goign to be a third car. we have a new SUV for family stuff (wife drives that during the day with the 3 kids) and I have an old late 90s volvo sedan for commuting to work.

i live in southern california..so a third car that is a convertible would be ideal.

anyway...the cars Ive considered so far are the boxster, the s2k, and an RX8. I want something small, lightweight and fun.

i'd like to spend about 15k on the car. i could go slightly higher, but i'm tryin to keep that as a target. obviously if i got an rx8 or s2k i could get a newer lower mileage car for the same money...

but in this economy, you never know. there may be some boxster owner who owns hiscar free and clear and needs the cash now and will deal hard on price. it's not impossible to believe that a car with a 20-21k asking price might say "okay" when I presented him with a check for 15-16k.

you guys think i could find a base model boxster - eithe a 2001-2002 (or maybe a 2003) under 20k? like 16k?

in terms of rx8s- easily could find an 05 with under 40k for 15k or 16k. not as much fun, not as fast, but fun and sporty and somewhat practical.

i want the boxster,but if i had to buy somethign else i would not be devastated....i might rather get somethign fun, insteadof waiting another year or two for the porsche... of course that is always an option... wait one year and see what i can afford then. good things come to those who wait. :)

I can't believe I'm typing this, but I think you should buy a low mileage Honda S2k. I've heard the car is loads of fun and very dependable and not terribly expensive to maintain or repair compared to a Porsche in the same price range.

Buying a $15k Boxster that one keeps for more than a year requires the owner be doggedly determined to own a Porsche and only a Porsche. He is also willing to deal with all the crap that goes wrong with a 986 of that age and mileage. I bought a $15k boxster four years ago. Granted, I bought a beat-to-hell example of the car, but nevertheless, the normal stuff that goes out on our cars went out on mine and none of it is cheap to fix compared to a rice burner.

If you're looking for a Boxster that you won't spend a lot of time and cash repairing, you will spend at least $25k. Actually, I'd push that to $30k or more because the 2005's and younger are much nicer and seem to be more reliable than the 986's... but that might be a simple issue of lower mileage and less days on the road.

Let us know what you finally buy and do post pics, even if it's not a Boxster. We won't diss you because you chose a different ride. :D

Of course, if you install a fart can for an exhaust on that S2K you'll get all sorts of grief from forum members, including myself. :cheers:

I HATE those fart cans. They reign supreme here in SOCAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Take this with a grain of salt, as I've only been a Boxster owner for a little over a month, but given your budget (if it is fairly firm) I'd have to recommend against the Boxster. I saw a quote on this board saying something to the extent of every Porsche is a $20,000+ car whether you pay up front or in repairs. I'm finding this to be true with mine, so it's a damn good thing I've been a Porsche nut my entire life and would have been disappointed with anything that's not a Porsche. That being said, the S2000 is a very good car, far cheaper to maintain, more reliable, and you can get a newer one for the same money. (It'll never be a Porsche though.) As I've paid $3000 in 2 visits to my trusted independent mechanic over my six weeks of ownership I've just kept telling myself that you've got to pay to play. My repair bills include the 60K service, front brakes, oil tubes and seals, idle air control valve, MAF, and ignition switch. Hopefully she'll behave for a while now. As expensive as she is, she makes me smile every time I open her up on an entrance ramp or take her to an autocross.
For me, there is no substitute. For other people there are plenty. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. Good luck making your decision - you probably can't go wrong with either of them.

Mazda is a very, VERY good customer, so I have a hard time saying this, but stay away from an RX8. They make me a lot of money, because I manufacture the plastic shipping containers they use to ship the RX8 engines back and forth to reman, and they buy ALOT of them.
The platform is an excellent car, except it's kind of uncomfortable for the passenger, hence I now own a CX7 for my DD, instead of the 04 RX8 it replaced.
They have considerable issues with the rotary engine because they are trying their best to keep it alive in today's market and that won't happen much longer. They are running it much leaner than it wants to be run in order to keep emmissions down. The rotary is a two stroke that is exhausting gas before it has completely burned. They get horrific gas mileage, I'm talking friggin terrible. You could hot rod the hell out of a boxster or S2000 and get better fuel consumption than babying an RX8. My 04 was down to under 15 mpg communitng on the open interstate.
All this said, Boxster owners with rear main seal issues and other catostrophic failures could only pray Porsche would take care of them the way Mazda has done RX8 customers.
If Mazda figures out a compact piston engine to keep the RX8 platform as is, I'd buy another in a flash. I really did love driving the RX8 and it was the roomiest, practical sportscar ever.
On to S2's. Too cramped inside. I love the cocoon feel in my Formula car, but it gets old fast in a street car.
:D :D :D :D

I can crunch numbers all day and the answer is the same... I like the Honda, I love the Porsche.