Help me choose a Boxster - which would you choose?

[husker boxster]

Have you driven a base and an S? That may help you answer your question. Some people are OK with a base with less HP, some people aren't. If you buy a base, you're pretty much stuck with that HP. You won't be able to reasonably bump the HP with garden variety mods. There are loads of threads from owners who buy a base and then are disappointed with the power and think it's a small block Chevy that will open up with a set of headers and free flowing exhaust. Not happenin here. You can spend $5K in mods and pick up 20 HP tops. It's cheaper to buy an S. IIRC, an 01 base has 210 HP while the S has 245. There is a difference.