I weighed the S2000 vs. Boxster S vs. Carrera proposition after autocrossing a Miata for a few seasons. I ruled out the Carrera because I had to have a roadster and 911 Cabriolet just ruins the look for me. I was about to pull the trigger on the S2000 (yellow
) until I spoke a buddy at the local autocross who drove an S2000 himself but pushed me toward the Boxster. He was a former junior formula racer who at point raced against a former F1 driver (McLaren). He was emphatic about the Boxster being the perfect roadster from a driver's point of view. Balance, torque, steering, responsiveness, seat position, braking and those intangible things like the induction sound. Okay so he got my attention. Top Gear ran an episode with Tiff Needell trying to determine what was the best 'pure sports car' you could buy today and drive every day. They decided on the Boxster. After watching him slide the Boxster S around the test track, laughing the whole time, I was convinced.
A week later the EXACT Boxster I was looking for appeared at a local Acura dealer as a trade in. The minute I put the car in drive and heard that induction and listened to the revs come up well even the salesman's (young guy) eyes went like this:
The car was spotless. Bought it a week later. Little did I know how hard it would be to come by a low mileage, silver/red, 3.2 garage queen.
The thing about the S2000 is that its perfect for autocrossing although I hear the repairs aren't as cheap as they are made out to be. In that respect I really regret selling my Miata. I should have kept it as my dedicated autocrosser. BUT...autocrossing the Boxster the first time was confirmation of everything my former racer buddy said. That car is perfectly set up right out of the box. You have to pretty experienced behind the wheel to find faults. And most of those are cured with a few modifications. That's something you can't do with the S2000's short coming (torque). I eventually hooked up Toyo R-compounds on the Boxster and it was on rails. But the IMS concerns at the time (pre-LN Engineering) cooled me on beating on the car too hard given the low mileage after four years. Now that I've done the upgrade and have consistently put 10K miles on the car every year I'm not so concerned but for what I spent on the big "major maintenace" items I could have picked up gen 2 Miata with extensive supsension, exhaust, wheel/tire mods with a few bucks to spare. Still thinking about it though but I doubt I'll ever sell the Boxster S, the money I would get would never ever put me into something on par that didn't need repairs. Not to mention I still get compliments, thumbs up, hot girl pulling over to tell me my car is "soooo sexy", and one black dude who pulled up in bumper to bumper traffic sayin "F*ck yeah! Now that's what I'm f*cking talkin' about.". Okay....What do you say that? I've also had many senior citizen guys come up to me and say "you have the dream car I always wanted but could never afford before startinga family". I guess people take this car for granted.