I decided to go with the 2003 Boxster S. I will be picking it up tomorrow.

It ended up being $3K lower in price after negotiation than the 2005 and I really liked the features/color of the '03 much more than the '04. It has virtually everything I want with the exception of the Bose stereo but that is no longer a factor as I will be installing a Pioneer Avic D3 this weekend using the install kit mentioned elsewhere on this forum.

By the way, there is a $200 rebate from Pioneer on the AVIC through the end of April.

Sloan, super66 and Bob O hit the nail on the head in that when I really thought about which car excited me, the black on black '03 quickly came to the top! The '03 was also much easier to upgrade to the AVIC and I love gadgets.

Can't wait to get behind the wheel. I'll post some pictures once it's mine!

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

excited for you
 

Well rahlstrom, this is great news and I'm excited for you. Please tell us about your initial impressions and thoughts once you actually have the car. Of course, photos will be great too, but don't let that hold up your initial report. Hopefully you're out picking it up now.

Congratulations! :cheers:

I've had the car for about a month now and I have to say I'm thrilled. The power, handling and sheer fun of driving it is fantastic. I'm always the first to volunteer if the kids need to be dropped off somewhere or if a grocery trip is in order. Not sure when that will wear off but one thing's for sure, i will always own a Porsche after driving this one!

By the way, I posted a DIY on this forum for an AVIC D3 install as a way of thanking all of those that helped me with my decision.

Cheers!

I'd get the '05. Low miles on an older boxster is something to steer away from not embrace. The '03 is 5 years old and has 20K. Probably more miles on it when it was new than the last few years. That means probably only 3K per year for the last several.

I don't trust a used car that has under 4K miles per year put on it. Were there long times spent in the shop? Was it stored and if so was it properly prepared for storage? If the car is so good, why didn't the owner drive it more?

The '05 with 34K sounds better to me. 3 years old means 11-12K per year. This car was driven regularly which means it wasn't babied to death. I'd rather have a car that the user drove and maintained than one that was garage sculpture and was polished and caressed as a love object.

As far as the perfomance difference goes, you're talking about 25 hp. The '05 is plenty fast, handles better and has a much nicer interior. Buy it!

Regards,
Alan

good job rahlstrom
 

I'm glad to hear that you've really been enjoying the car. Thanks for posting the photo - it looks great!

I hope that it continues to perform well for you, and that you never get tired of the fun of driving it.