If you had about $50K to blow...
 

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! http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...radtan/911.jpg http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...adtan/9112.jpghttp://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...radtan/bmw.jpg

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

-Matt

Porsche. Everybody has a BMW.

@ 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!

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.

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.

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

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.

Get the Porsche.

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.

Neither, get a new Boxster S!

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.

A nice used GT3. :)

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 :D


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

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.

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.

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.

^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.

You got a good point there Lil B :cheers:

And probably Perfectlap could point you the the right direction.

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

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.

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.

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! :cheers:

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.

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.

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.

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.

IMO this is the best advice, but you're not me either. Surprisingly, I looked up 2004 911's in Consumer Reports (I know, I know) and it got horrible marks. 911, more fun and flashy, BMW V-8, awesome growl and usable back seat and more practical.

drive both and that should be the deciding factor since you're obviously set on getting a new ride. While the advise posted has been spot on, it sounds like you want something tangible to justify the hard work you've put in at work. therefore, if limited to the 2 choices, I would go with the C4; however, like the others have said, you can do better on the price. btw, don't get me wrong, the m3 is a nice ride, (I had an '02 cab), but the 911 will probably fit the bill between performance, prestige, familiarity (since you've already got a boxster) etc. But again, drive both, you might be surprised.

somewhat off topic, if I had $50k, I would go w/the cayman S!

I'd pick up a Ferrari F355 rag top.

There are several of them on craigslist in the bay area right now. Someone just listed one today for $42k. It's got 45k miles on it, which is higher than average for one of these. They are also really expensive to service, but if you don't drive that many miles per year, it would be really fun to own.

50K? I would go for 911 or just add more blings into the boxster to make it more fun! PS9, expensive wheels, stereo?, 3.4 engine conversion?, supercharger etc. I wouldn' go for cayman since there's zeintop and you can have the best of both worlds with the boxs...

If you love American cars, then corvette ZR is the way to go! You can always stuff your friends on the trunk and let the lady take the seat :p

$8000 oil change along with $19k for major maintenance. Yep they're good deal to buy.

http://www.ferraris-online.com/pages/cardetail.php?reqcardir=FE-355S-106122

Though tempting. those prices are high right now.

I just sold my 911 and was a half second from picking up a 2003 4s for 29k before I realized I shouldn't do it and I sold mine for a reason. That was a steal.

Turbo's can easily be had for 45k now a days. Keep shopping and go big with it

so what did you buy?

911 turbo??? :)

He decided to save the money for now....

I faced the same kind of quandary. It's funny that a 911 C4S was also one of my top choices. My other top choice was a Maserati Coupe GT. I also considered the Lotus Exige, MB SL500/SLK350, Audi TT, and Infiniti G35. I test drove most of those cars. I was leaning more towards a 2+2 coupe though as I really wanted back seats for my kids and dogs. Based on my positive experience with my Boxster I ended up keeping it in the family and getting a C4S, like the original poster wanted. No regrets.... well except I didn't realize just how close the Turbos are now in price to the C4S. Still I don't think I could have afforded that additional jump up to Turbo territory. HOWEVER, it is certainly something for the rest of you to consider right now. Good used 996 Turbos are relatively "cheap" right now!

My purchase from April:

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...TechArtC4S.jpg

Kirk

Sat in a Lotus Elise for auto-x on the weekend, you really have to be a contortionist to get in and out of that car!

And forget about girls wearing skirts. She will NOT get in or out of the car for sure unless her name is Lindsay Lohan.

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.

I'll be doing my own oil changes. If I had a lift, I'd be doing my own engine-out service. A major engine-out service including replacing cam belts is usually $5k to $7k. Whoever owned the car in that link got hosed for service. A good clean <20k mile Ferrari 355 with services done is still going for about $65k though.

I thought about an F355. I've been shopping for a year and I've seen 50K mile cars in the low 40's and 30K cars running in the mid 50's down to high 40's. Not bad IMHO for a mid-engine V8 super car. Part of what scared me away from them though is not just the high cost of service, but also the high cost of parts if you decide to do the service yourself (which I do). For example, I just changed the rear wheel bearings on my Boxster and they were $36 each. On a Maserati (Ferrari parts) they are $630 each. I think they're a bit more, like $50 each on my 996. What's nice about Porsches is that the parts are more affordable and there are several discount parts sources on the Net. For example, there is only one Maserati discount source on the Net and they don't carry everything. If I blow the engine on my Boxster or 996 I can get a used one for $5K. How much would a used engine on an F355 be? Last I checked I could only find one for $20K!!!

The other thing about the Ferrari is that I saw one this last year at a car show when I was seriously considering them. The car looked nice and I watched the car drive off and it sounded okay, but honestly it didn't stir my soul like the TechArt 996 does with the FabSpeed exhaust. I didn't think it was really worth the extra coin. Beautiful car, no doubt, but I think the hype over the wonderful noise and sensations of this car is a bit over done.

As for the Corvette Z06 - nice car but honestly they're a dime a dozen and it's nearly impossible to tell the Z06 from a standard Corvette when it's zipping down the highway. I've never been much of one to care what others think, but it is nice to have a car that really stands out and people admire. I picked up my 996 in Monterey, CA and on the 4 hour drive home I had someone take my picture while passing them on the highway and I had someone getting a picture of their kid with the car at a rest stop. It gets attention. If I had been driving a Z06 these people would have just yawned. :p

Kirk

Hehe... you guys are great! :cheers: I put the money in the bank and am waiting for the newer model turbo prices to come down a bit more. I don't think there's any other option for me! :D :D :D