Wanted to Introduce myself

[Perfectlap]

I do a bit of Autocross myslef. My last car was a 1.8 Miata with lots of Autocross oriented mods.
In my opinion this is the best car to autocross and drive daily.
But the chicks don't dig it like they do the Boxster

I've driven the the older S2000 and I have the 3.2 Boxster.
The first thing I can say is that its a differenc of low end response
and higher end performance. The boxster S in 2nd gear(autocross gear)
is something to behold. Into third gear and you hear the lear jet sound coming from immeidately behind you. The S2000 is...different. You really have to work that gear box to get the same off the fly feeling. But the S2000 is easier on your wallet with those more expensive gas prices in Florida. How far is your daily commute?

I can't speak for the newer S2000 with much more torque than earlier versions but against the old s2000 I think my Boxster is more to my liking.
Actually, much more so.
The japanese cars are just more reliable than Germans and less expensive to repair (no contest) but someone recently posted that the Boxster received an award for consistently passing the strict German inspections process.

The torque that the 3.2 puts down is instantaneous and the steering is
like a surgeone with a scalpel. The handling is better (in my opinion than the
S2000) because you really can't beat a mid engine car in abrupt changes of direction like is so prevalent in Autocross. And I'm not a big fan of Honda's although I think the NSX which was developed by the greates racing driver of all time Ayrton Senna is a piece of sports car history.

anyhoo...I would recommend a Miata or a Boxster S if you plan to autocross and drive every day. You can turbocharge a Miata and coilvoer a Miata and get close to Boxster performance.
I think if you can find someone (usually an instructor) who has Autocrossed both a Boxster S and an newer S2000 you can get a better understanding of which you'll enjoy more.

[Adam]

How much money are you looking to spend? How important is power to you? IMO S2000>2.5 boxster=to 2.7L and < than a 3.2L

[QporscheQ]

My best friend is a EE from Rose. Welcome to the group.

[wombat7]

My daily commute is going to be about 10-15 minutes at the most. I'm going to try to be as close to the beach and the base as possible, like every 21 yr old USAF officer would

I'm looking to spend $23 - 25K at the most. I'm not looking to buy right away, probably not until next winter, but its never to early to start looking. I would love to get an S, but right now there are no mid to low mileage S's in that price range, or none that I could find.

I'm definately more of a torque guy than a huge hp guy. I rode in my friends S2K and that's one of the things that bothered me. You didn't get that thrown back feeling like I even do in my 944, which is pretty sad. Another thing that I didn't like was the fact that until the VTEC kicked in, the car felt like a Civic.

I've tried to get some fellow Porsche guys to come to autocrosses in Indy and surrounding areas, but no one will venture out.

Thanks for the input guys... keep it coming

- Chad

[Adam]

Hey, you live in Terra Haute? I live in Charleston IL about 45 min west of you. I'll drive over to your town if you want to check out my S and go for a spin.

[wombat7]

Perfectlap - I was looking at the 1.8 Miatas, but I just don't like the looks of them or the image that they have. I just can't picture myself driving a miata even though I know they are a very good autocross car... One of my friends got one and I just didn't like driving it.


Adam - that would be AWESOME!! Just let me know when will work for you to do that, I will be gone for the next couple weekends, I coach a volleyball team and we have a big tournament this weekend, then I will be in Italy for the next two. Our college team is going over there. The weekend of the 10th would work for me, if that's ok with you, or during the week is fine too, but i doubt you would want to make that drive during the week. You can PM me if you want and we can work out specifics...

[Perfectlap]

since you are a member of the the armed forces I think you should get a discount

if you can get the 25K together try and find someone with a dealer auction license and fly up to Pennsylvania one weekend. They have auctions for Porsche's there that are returned for leases. I imagine the discount is quiet steep. It will require some investigating and a bit of legwork to get a licensed dealer but I'm sure at least one of them is a veteran. or you can wait for a good deal on low mileage S to pop up.

My Miata had excellent acceleration from a stop. even with only 150 hp.
I never really liked the styling but I would have found it difficult to part with the overall responsiveness/handling unless I was getting at least another 100 HP. And even with the extra 100 ponies the S acceleration not two levels better than my lightweight Miata. Just one level. When you consider the price difference between a used well maintained/tweaked Miata and a standard Boxster, its hard not to be impressed by the chick car with stupid lights.