...........................

There's two kinds of drivers, image drivers and enthusiast drivers. I drive the car because it is so damn pleasurable and a blast. The handling is superb and I can't help but find myself with a $hit eating grin from the unavoidable mischief this car just evokes. With the Boxster I'd give a 996 a run for it's money on the track. To call the Boxster a poor man's porsche is somewhat daft; it's like calling a f430 a poor man's Ferrari because you don't have an Enzo... The Boxster didn't just get so many good critically acclaimed reviews for nothing :).

......................

I have 3 Porsches all of which are probably the cheapest way into a Porsche you can take. Boxster, 968' and 911 Sc. I'm not one bit ashamed of taking any one of those routes. All are great cars in their own way. And yet they are so different. 968 is bone stock, 911 sc is except for SsI's and losing the cat, Boxster not at all stock. Of course the Boxster is faster, but there are days when I prefer the 911. Mostly in cool weather. IVe grown accustomed to working AC. The 968 is a fabulous car which a lot of people don't get a 4 cylinder Porsche, with.the engine inthe wrong place, but the cars handling is pretty much on par with the Boxster and its a convertible , although not purpose built that way. I think id rather have a coupe, but it took several years to get it sorted out and all the Porsche bugs exterminated. Same with the SC. The 3.0 is n acclaimed as bullet proof, but only after you upgrade the tensionsers and air box seems all Porsches have issues. It's just there are more m96 owners than any other class of Porsche, and more failures as a result.

The fact that Porsche took a lot of short cuts with the m96 got them out of debt, into the black and and put us into a state of panic when first learning about IMS and d chunk failures doesn't make m96s bad cars. But if jake, Charles, and probably others I'm not familiar with had not come along with aftermarket solutions, the Boxster would not be on the list of affordable P-cars. There would be a ton more of them in junk yards Porsche was doing nothing to help

It appears that madmods has apologized profusely for his recent posts. I suggest that we all look to our forgiving nature and move on now.

Just sayin'..................

TO

"Can't we all just get along?" Rodney King, after the LAPD beat the everlovin' crap outta him!

Boxster experience
 

With regard to owning/driving a Boxster....waited 40 years to buy my 1st Porsche. Was a no brainier decision....a 97 993 C4S, and it has been everything and more than I hoped for. Last month, picked up an plain old 2000 Boxster S, a Tip no less, for my daily driver (suffered a stroke recently and decided to sell my 06 Miata 6 speed for the Tip Boxster and ease of driving around town. 110 degrees common here in Phoenix and the Boxster a/c is tremendous. Not only that but even as a Tip it's a blast to drive!
I could care less what anyone else thinks...very pleased with both cars, when I feel the need to double clutch/heel and toe, the Carrera comes out but the Boxster fits the bill for my needs at this time. I can only imagine what a manual late model Boxster must feel like. Some day, I'll know. The MX-5 was a fine little car, however the Boxster is so much more! Love it.

Yeah, I'd like a 911, but in addition to my Boxster and not in replacement of it.

The extra HP in a 911 would go to waste on me, in all honesty. The (base) Boxster suits me just fine for how I drive. For what it is, the car pleases me and I enjoy the drives (will enjoy them more when I don't have to commute in it but can just drive for fun).

Generally when I see 911s in traffic they wave back. Boxsters? Not so much.

haha PL,

There are 3 National SCCA AX champions in that top 10. But they do still appreciate a little wine and cheese now and then.

:cheers:

Like it or not, this post has certainly attracted some attention and put a little zing into our forum. Maybe Madmods is the Andy Kaufman of 986forum!

:D
The museum and vineyard tours aren't my thing , but don't disrespect the pca drivers please mr perfect lap .
There are some pretty Frikin awesome pca drivers ;)

The perfect lap on Saturday was 52:31 on his 3rd timed run .
His first timed run was 54:51 and his second was 54:40 .

Pretty impressive by ANYBODIES standard .
But bear in mind his slowest first timed run , which he improved on by over 2 seconds, would have netted him 3rd place :eek:

Ps : did you ever get your Lloyd's mats sorted out ?

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REALITY CHECK:

A two seat convertible sports car that starts at 60k is not a poor mans anything.

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Could not agree more!

I am well aware that the same fast drivers run in SCCA, NASA, etc. as well as PCA.
But we all know that SCCA's times are far more competitive than PCA as a whole.
Around these parts we've had SCCA events where the top 7 times were separated by half a second (maybe less) if memory serves. Whereas a PCA event might have twice, or more, of that gap. I also recall one pair of SCCA drivers who consistently won or lost their class by 0.09 or less despite being completely different cars.

Other differences I've noted. PCA drivers will often show up wearing "driving shoes" and Porsche design button down shirts, whereas SCCA drivers will show up in old grungy sneakers, lots of stubble, a Tom Petty concert T-shirt, oil-stained jeans and will generally drive the wheels off whatever they can get into. Hence the wine and cheese referenfce. :D

p.s.
I still have those $100 red 987 matts that the vendor would not accept a refund for.
The online order form simply said Boxster matts with no clarification if they were for 987 or 986 but they insisted on charging restocking and shipping.

you're not in control here!:)

We just got back from a trip through the interior of BC - lots of great curvy roads. As I was pulling as much g as I dared in the corners, I often thought to myself (and remarked to my partner at least once): Thank God this isn't a 911, or we'd be in the ditch by now.

Interesting thread...at least he is man enough to apologize!

Boxsters rule!!

How do I know? Look at the strong second hand market on these things! Yeah, price is low, but you need to think relatively. 97-02 SL500's are selling for the same price as an example, but they are twice the price when new.

If having a Boxster vs: a 911 defines you, Then some self reflection is in order.
I do have to admit that when a new 911...something something with 16 tail pipes sticking out, the adhesive marks still on the window from the sales sticker.. (6 digits) - I contemplate if he/she looks down his nose at me
It still doesn't wipe the grin off my face while I drive my Boxster

A couple months back I was driving, top down, gorgeous sunny day. I slowly passed a very nice 911 something. Driver was a professional looking gentleman in his pin stripe, button down collar shirt.
I assumed he would not care about the Boxster sharing the highway. As I went by I reached to sky and gave him a Thumbs Up.
As he passed me at the next light , he gave a wave from within his air conditioned 911 something.
We bonded.
At least I like to think so
I like to think maybe he was a little envious of my top down starter P-car for a moment
Then the moment was gone

Hell, for a year I hesitated to tell people I own a Porsche (Boxster), because I was uncomfortable with the fuss they made. "must be nice to be rich", "they're paying you too much" , etc.

I have only had one person say to me that I was driving a poor mans Porsche. My reply was simple and shut him up.

"Oh, what model do you drive?"

Never had the poor man's porsche comment. I did have a guy say "that's the girl Porsche"... My reply was "that's what people who don't know much about Porsches say"....

You know, some people think of Canada as the poor man's America . . .

And French Canadian . . . some say that's just a cheap version of REAL French . . .

Point is, anyone can insult someone, why would you DO that?

:confused:

What kind of car was this person driving?

I get at least one comment each day that I drive my car, usually when I'm stepping out of it to go into a store. And it's a better than even chance that the gas station attendant will smile and say "nice car sir". One time these two girls leaving a trendy W hotel started taking pictures of me picking up from the valet even though there was an AMG big fast whatever Merc five feet away that cost probaly 10X's what this old bucket is now worth. I think the owner of the AMG was standing there with his girlfriend and wasn't amused that the girls were excited by my car.

People seem to love this car particularly kids. They're always shouting from bikes or sometimes I see this glassy-eyed stare like if someone just switched on little mermaid on the TV. In all of those comments, I don't think I remember anyone ever calling it a Boxster, they always refer to it or ask about it as simply a Porsche. I almost think that 99% of the public don't know that the Boxster and Carrera are different cars. I've heard some Carrera guys say "no one ever dreams about owning a Boxster" but I have to tell them that I've lost count of the number of people over 10 years that went up to me and said "you have my dream car". And they span all ages from teen agers to senior citizens who seemed sad they never had one. That makes me realize how much self-inflicted nonsense Porsche owners buy into, all for Porsche to get more money out of them.

He was driving a lexus or something like that. This was a couple of years ago. Really, that's the only comment I ever remember. Like you Perfectlap, 99% of everyone just calls it a Porsche and I get the same reactions from kids on bikes too!

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Make sure to take it with you when buying a house then!!!!!!!

I know what you mean though. I usually take the wife's mini van if we are buying something where the car would be noticed. I also make sure the garage door is closed when a service guy comes to the house.

When someone does make a comment about being rich, I ask what kind of car they drive, and 90% of the time they paid more for it than mine is worth. They usually are very surprised to hear that.

Lexus cars are fine for people who play bingo and hit the early bird at Friendly's.


I'm a bit baffled as to why roadsters get the the girly car label when most women avoid manual transmission cars. They (mostly) go for automatic VW Beetles and Cabriolets, FIAT 500s, automatic Mini Coopers, automatic Range Rovers (the #1 chick dream car) and automatic Cayennes, automatic Jeep Libertys, automatic BMW and Merc sedans.

A female driving a small, cramped manual transmission car that can only fit one girlfriend is stuff you (mostly) only see in movies. Usually its a middle-age white professional male driving a roadster. Everyone else in the world wants an SUV.

My wife and I own a BMW 323i(mildly modded plus 2 rims, lowered, tinted windows, etc., etc.) no one refers to it as a poor man's BMW even though it is the least expensive of the line up and a BMW Z3(no mods, but factory M appearance package) and much more of a girls car, even though I love to drive it and a Guards Red Porsche 986. The point is none are near the top of the marque's high dollar cars. I just consider myself very blessed to have 3 such awesome cars and I could care less what others think or say. How many of them own any of these cars? My guess is not too many! It's a funny thing that people that do own more expensive cars never call the 986 a poor man's Porsche, it's the one's that drive really ordinary cars that call them that!

[QUOTE=Perfectlap;358761]Lexus cars are fine for people who play bingo and hit the early bird at Friendly's


If my wife hears you saying that at a traffic light, all you will see when the light changes is pictured below & you will be powerless to change your view! :cool:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1377195879.jpg

Huh. Never had the "poor man's porsche" comment. As many have pointed out, quite the opposite where I am nervous to mention the brand because most people have the perception that it is an unattainable luxury car.

Your eyes are closed and your heart is weak, you have insulted my honor and now you must defeat my five style dragon fist :dance:

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The Mullett is strong with this thread......................


http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...psbfb2fa7b.jpg

In my experience, the people most likely to be disparaging are car guys who don't know as much as they think they do.

Non car people all think early Boxsters are lovely in my experience. Even quite knowledgeable people often think 986 Boxsters are girly and crap. Until you take them out in the car and they are typically fairly stunned.

Not because an early 986 has supercar performance, obviously it doesn't, not even close. But they very quickly realise that 986s sound fantastic and feel great. Put simply, they're fabulous driver's cars and anyone with even an ounce of appreciation for what makes a great driver's car recognises that very quickly when they actually experience them.

You can't really blame people for thinking what they do. Unless they've been in a 986, they've no particular reason to know what they're like.

Personally, I say long may it last. Keeps 986s nice and cheap.

There is little anyone can say about my Boxster that will hurt my feelings now. I heard it all when I owned a 924 for 10 years. It was incredibly fun to drive especially after I puts carbs in it.

I seemed to get a lot more "nice car man"s in my 986 than my 987....

I get a lot of "Sure wish I had your job". My response is always "Why, so you can drive a 14 year old car to work too?

Hey, we're bigger and we're on top. If this was prison you'd be our b*tch! :D

Ha, I did have one guy make a comment behind my back that my Boxster wasn't a "real Porsche". Pretty sure the guy didn't even own a car, let alone a rust bucket. :D