01 986S or 06 987.1 base?

[professorman]

I have a speed yellow 01 986 Boxster S that has been my daily driver shared with a few other cars for 1.5 years now. This was supposed to be my long term keeper, right around 97k miles now and I planned to keep it to 200k+ miles. I have been slowly working my way through the maintenance refresh and have quite a few of the major things done. It is definitely a head turner, even though it needs a repaint badly, with pealing paint, I still get complements everywhere I go.

I picked up a 06 987.1 Boxster base and I am in love with the sand beige interior. The exterior is silver which is not as eye catching as I want it to be. They both have similar mileage. The main downside for me is the 5 speed vs the 6spd of the S.

They seem to have around the same hp, with the 06 base claiming 245 and the 01 S claiming 250hp. The 01 is the right amount of power for me, and I have a feeling the 06 might feel a tad less especially with the 5spd transmission. My 991 has 7spd, so I like the increased gearing.

What are your thoughts? Which would you choose and why?