03 S vs. 05 base ? (helping out a potential Boxster owner :-) )

[944boy]

I've had no out of the ordinary problems with my '05. At 77,000 + miles I say that if something was to go wrong, it would have. I also expect to replace things solely on the fact they will wear out from use (switches, bushings, etc).

As for PASM, I was not keen on getting it when i was looking. But now that I have it, I love it. For the street it is taught without being too harsh with the button off, and with it active it becomes kind of jarring but the handling when in a corner is flat out impressive. The handling even on "eh" tires is still excellent. And on the track I was harassing a Cayman S with a good driver for most of a session. I was having enough fun to chunk HTRZIII's quite badly and vaporize stock brake pads (much better with Hawk race pads).

My only concern is when they finally let go, the cost of replacing one or all the units might be horrendous. I may just go with coil-overs when that day comes. But for now, I'm keeping them.

The only 987 I drove without PASM was a tip, but it also had sticky tires and an auto-x alignment so there was not much of a comparison. The 03S I drove had coil-overs, and the 1999 base did not have the confidence that the 987 has. So I do not have any direct experience. I can tell you that at the nation PCA meets, the PASM equipped cars were cleaning house at the auto-x.