If you had about $50K to piss away.... - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

conradtan · 03-03-2009, 07:48 PM

Which of these two cars would you choose? The 2004 911 Carrera 4S Cab has 17K miles - $45K and the 2008 BMW M3 Couple has 16K miles - $52K. I have been working very hard at my job and despite this economy, I'm got a little bonus/raise this year and am considering handing down my boxster to my 23 yr old son and getting one of the other cars. I am probably going to put 20 or 30% down on one of these cars and finance the rest. If it were you, which one would you choose? Thanks in advance and all advice is much appreciated!

Tricknique · 03-03-2009, 08:21 PM

Get the Cab! You're in sunny San Jose so perfectly situated to enjoy it year-round.

-Matt

Grizzly · 03-03-2009, 08:29 PM

Porsche. Everybody has a BMW.

conradtan · 03-03-2009, 08:36 PM

@ Tricknique and Grizzly: I know. I thought about it. But damn... I'm being lured by that 414hp V8. Haha!! Hey thanks for the replies by the way. I've always respected everyone's views and opinions here!

j.fro · 03-04-2009, 02:06 AM

What are your thoughts on how you'd use either car? And, more importantly, have you driven both of them?
If it were my dollar, I'd be considering an engine swap in my own Boxster, or possibly the purchase of another one for an engine transplant, suspension makeover, and weight loss therapy.

E Kaplan · 03-04-2009, 02:29 AM

If you need a functional back seat, I would go with the BMW. But, if a back seat is not needed, the Porsche wins in my opinion. I just think its more fun to drive a Porsche. Driving with the top down on a beautiful day. There's nothing like it.

JackG · 03-04-2009, 02:46 AM

Neither. Barely used Audi S6. The Audi chassis with Quattro V8 goodness.

bkiersz · 03-04-2009, 03:25 AM

Get the Porsche.

If you are lured by horsepower look at a 2009 CTS-V.
556 hp, 0-60 = 3.9 seconds. 12 second 1/4 mile.

Jaxonalden · 03-04-2009, 03:56 AM

Get the Porsche.

03-04-2009, 03:59 AM

That is NOT a good price for the Porsche. I don't know much about BMWs.

If you can not pay cash for either, I'd take a pass.

stephen wilson · 03-04-2009, 04:38 AM

Neither, get a new Boxster S!

Boxtaboy · 03-04-2009, 05:28 AM

I would get the 4S Cab, but you can probably get a better price than that. I saw an 03 Carrera Cab at a dealer in NJ with full leather interior for $29k asking price.

Topless · 03-04-2009, 06:18 AM

A nice used GT3.

unklekraker · 03-04-2009, 07:18 AM

I agree with Trick, Grizz and EKap esp. to Bmuss regarding the price.

But if it's me, I would rather buy a slightly used 04 and up Boxster S or if you preffer coupe, get a Cayman S and if there's money left over...buy me Jolibee Yumburger...LOL

Im gonna be honest here...the only reason why "I" would buy a car in 911 line up is for status symbol only not unless it's in a GT's line up.It's so cool responding to someone who ask you..what car do you drive? Oh, me..ahhh Porsche 911

conrad, just get your plastic window instead of buying a new car, more cheaper...way cheaper...hahahahaha

Perfectlap · 03-04-2009, 07:25 AM

take a gander at this month's Excellence.
They take a CaymanS, 997 Turbo, and 997S through their real world paces.
All of these cars were well modified from different tuners. The CaymanS had like $30K in upgrades, the donor car was about $35K and in the driver's opinion was the best per pound and pony. "No matter who was driving the CaymanS, it was right there with the other two".

If power appeals to you, (being that your considering an M3) and you are looking to plunk down $50K, I'd take a look at taking a nice Carrera or Cayman getting some of those tuners who are hurting from the economy to make some upgrades.
Maybe call the tuners featured in the Excellence article directly and see if the have cars for sale.

Adam · 03-04-2009, 09:07 AM

If you are keeping the boxster in the fam then I'd get the BMW. Adding a 996 to the stable is a bit redundant.

Lil bastard · 03-04-2009, 09:09 AM

With the market being what it is right now, if I had 50 large to play with, I get into some carefully selected equities and forget the car altogether.

Good, solid stocks are incredibly cheap right now, maybe the best bargain hunting in our lifetime! In little time, you could easily see gains of 100-200%, and then you could walk into the showroom and pick the exact model you wanted and pay cash for it.

Of course, there is some risk. But, a car is the surest depreciating asset I can think of. There you'd easily see your $50k turn into $30k in just a year or 2. In any event, there would certainly be absolutely no prospect of a gain.

ekam · 03-04-2009, 09:18 AM

^He doesn't have 50K, he said he'll pay 20-30% and finance the rest.

Well, we need to go get this economy going again sooner or later. Go ahead and treat yourself with a new ride.

unklekraker · 03-04-2009, 09:20 AM

You got a good point there Lil B

And probably Perfectlap could point you the the right direction.

*don't mean to put you in the blast, PL

Perfectlap · 03-04-2009, 10:20 AM

Yeah since its a bonus and you're not selling your current Pcar, I was going to suggest investing it like LB says. But this is not an investors market yet, definitely a traders market.
The exception being that I was going to suggest buying gold (GLD or IAU) and T-bills until the market starts to pull back up instead of continuing to search for lower and lower bottoms. Once we see a recovery in the stock market (which will probably come well before an economic recovery--house prices going up, unemployment going down) get out of gold and bonds slowly and get back into stocks like energy, tech and bio tech. You'd probably miss the first 10-20% of the recovery with this strategy but if you are speculating on 100% to 200% return then you aren't missing out much, you just have to pay attention. We had a nearly 30% pull back after the Presidents inauguration in financials like Bank of America and Chase but that disappeared quickly....there's just still too much bad news yet to come like we saw with AIG this week. anyhooo.....

But if you're going to throw away money at a car, this might be the best time to be a buyer. Just drive a very very hard bargain. Like "your life depends on it" hard bargaining. That car will be worth way less in 12 months, which is how long I think it will be --at least-- before people start getting comfortable with loans again.
It's a tough call. Depends how much you have in your retirement already.