If you had about $50K to piss away....

[unklekraker]

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]

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.

[Mike_Yi]

The Porsche, though in all honesty, I'd probably go for a Z06 that's a year to two old. I'd get an Exige too, but I don't fit in them by like two feet.

[Viper5]

I'm not a fan of bmw's and getting the porsche would be a bit redundant as someone said earlier. I would personally go with something like a dodge viper. You could get a convertible version for the same price if it were a 05 with about 10k miles. Thats just me.

[conradtan]

WOW and HOLY SMOKES!!! So many varied responses! Most seem loyal to the boxster/cayman line, others recommend other semi-exotics. Not too many fans of the bimmer M line. Yet others recommend putting the $$ under a mattress for a rainy day. I trully appreciate the input everyone! I really do! I just wanted a little something that says I've come a long way from driving a 1983 dodge colt for all the years of work I put into school and work. Seem silly to be stroking my ego I suppose but in a way, isn't that why we all own these cars? I do miss a back seat. Many times I have left my buddies on the sidewalk and taken the girl instead. (Haha!) I wish I did not have to finance the balance, but I'm not THAT successful yet! Well, for now the money is in the bank and this damn economy is still tanking so maybe prices of all things exotic will continue to fall. I'll heed the advice of the mattress bankers and save it up for now. Damn... that 911 sure looks good don't it??? And if I can get one for less than that one I found... maybe even (dare I dream) a TURBO? *pinches self* haha! Well thanks again for the input fellas. Much appreciated!

[Adam]

Originally Posted by conradtan

WOW and HOLY SMOKES!!! So many varied responses! Most seem loyal to the boxster/cayman line, others recommend other semi-exotics. Not too many fans of the bimmer M line. Yet others recommend putting the $$ under a mattress for a rainy day. I trully appreciate the input everyone! I really do! I just wanted a little something that says I've come a long way from driving a 1983 dodge colt for all the years of work I put into school and work. Seem silly to be stroking my ego I suppose but in a way, isn't that why we all own these cars? I do miss a back seat. Many times I have left my buddies on the sidewalk and taken the girl instead. (Haha!) I wish I did not have to finance the balance, but I'm not THAT successful yet! Well, for now the money is in the bank and this damn economy is still tanking so maybe prices of all things exotic will continue to fall. I'll heed the advice of the mattress bankers and save it up for now. Damn... that 911 sure looks good don't it??? And if I can get one for less than that one I found... maybe even (dare I dream) a TURBO? *pinches self* haha! Well thanks again for the input fellas. Much appreciated!

If your buddies are taller than 4 ft and you wanna give out rides then another reason to go with the M car. Can't fit more than a couple little kids in the back of a 911.

[vath2001]

If you must ... pick up a new Kia for $12 or the Nissan Versa for $10k. And put the rest under the mattress until you feel better about the economy.

In the mean time... drive the "fun" out of the Boxster.

[941MXVET]

If I had $50k to drop on a car I'd probably buy the Lotus Exige.

http://www.lotuscars.com/exige_s260_sport.html

I've seen some used ones for around $50k.

[AUDIOGUY]

No one said you couldn't keep your Boxster right...

I would go with a nicely worked Replica 356 Speedster... great weekender.

Secondly, I would add a 2002-2003 M3 coupe love that car.

Problem is that I am out of garage space at that point...

What to do... decisions, decisions.