911

[Brucelee]

I buy and sell both. Different cars, both great fun to drive!

[Perfectlap]

No.

I was looking for a convertible to replace my Miata. I was looking at the usual choices: S2000, Z4, SLK and contemplated a Lotus Elise (which isn't really a convertible but sorta kinda you know what I mean).

If I had in fact decided I wasn't going to buy a drop top I would have bought a 996 or an M3.

I wanted a convertible 1st, A Porsche 2nd.
For me the only option with that criteria is a Carrera GT or a Boxster S.
Actually if you wanted a Porsche 1st and convertible 2nd I still believe the
best choice is the BoxsterS.

I don't believe in chopping the tops off cars to market them as convertibles. From a performance standpoint it's a major downside. At its core the Porsche is a performance car. Not a road car with a big engine. I think its sacrileage to cut the roof off a performance car unless it was designed to be so.

By the way I wouldn't mind owning a GT3 and my current BoxsterS together!
One for winter one for Spring and Summer.

[Pilot2519j]

My purchase of the Boxster was more of an accidental purchase than anything else. All my life until Dec. 2003 I did the predictable when it came to cars. I had owned Audi's from 74 to 2003 and was looking at buying my first V-8 engine car. The 2004 S-4. When I went there to trade in my 2001 S-4 twin turbo the trade in was very what I considered low. Add on top of that inequity the fact that this salesman that I had done business for years wanted over list for the car really burned my fuse quite rapidly. I went home moping and told my wife who suggested " Honey why don't you go see the Porsche dealer? I had the Porsche so far out of my psyche as an unattainable car that I really never did considered it.
Upon arriving there I was shown the Boxster and the trade in was much nicer that I bought a 2003 Boxster S. I fell in love with the car once I saw it. The clean roadster lines, a convertible another first for me, I never got a chance to test drive the car other than the manager told me wait till you drive it and you will love it. No truer words were ever spoken. The car is a blast to drive. It is faster than the S-4 I think it is one of the nicest designs in cars since the E type. I never did consider the 911 eventhough I could have bought it the 986 looks so much better. Basic differences are very small and insignificant at least in my mind. I use it every day in snow, rain, traffic jams etc and have yet to tire from it. The 997 genre is an old design that has evolutionized vs the 986-7, which is a totally new design as a roadster from the outset looking much nicer.
Sure it would be nicer to have all hp in the world but realistically where can employ and exploit all of that performance of the car. Being 1/2 second slower is not the end of the world but handling better than an Enzo is really a nice award to hang on your mantle.

I agree with Toolpants. Even if the 911 and Boxster are the same price I would still buy the Boxster. I like the lines and proportions of the car. I love the complete performance and I think my S is fast enough to drive 160 MPH through my town (I wish they would repave the streets with banked corners so I wouldn't have to break when turning) . What I mean to say is how fast is fast enough when you are using it as a vehicle to get to work in? We all rarely can drive over 100 and if we are its only for 2 minutes until the radar detector bleeps.

I am annoyed that Porsche positions the Boxster as an entry level car instead of just a different animal. I know people think of the 911 as the original car but I would argue that the older style 911 is better proportioned than the current one. And if you agree with that then I would further argue that todays 911 is a pig of a car in terms of appearance. I do like what they have done on the front end but the back of a 911 looks like a big fat clumsy butt on a sleek front end. It needs a trailer hitch on the back to complete the picture. I would love to see the Boxster get a new engine and get faster. I would likely buy one but I wouldn't buy a 911 to get that boost.

O.k. I am sure I have started a fight in some way so let er rip...

[Brucelee]

No need to fight, each car has its advocates.

Obviously, the 911 floats a lot of boats, certainly does mine (I am driving a 911 coupe at the moment and it is a fantastic auto and looks great to MY eye)!

Love the Box too for some of the same and for some different reasons.

Just because someone marries a blonde does not mean that they have to rank on brunettes or redheads. All have their place!

[Ronzi]

Let's look at it from Porsche's point of view.
The 911 dimensionally and component-wise is very similar to the Boxster. They can sell them all day long for $80k minimum, and more like $90k for the Cab.
The Box is more like $50k, to $60k for the S.
I don't believe the manufacturing cost of a Carrera is anything like 50% more than the Boxster. My guess would be that they make more profit $ on one 911 than they do on three Boxsters.
No wonder they pimp the 911 for all they're worth, and ignore the Boxster.
We may be in for a little bit of a change, though. I understand that the US Porsche dealers have been agitating heavily for Porsche to promote the Boxster more actively.

[Perfectlap]

you know I was thinking that Porsche probably marked up the 911 to pay for all the expenses involved in making the Boxster. As I read in Excellence, back ten years ago after the plans for Boxster were drawn up they were told by the production meisters that the car would cost $80,000 to build. In came some Japanese production consultants and out went Boxster parts to Finland and Austria for assembly, but that 911 never came down in price despite the terrific success of the Boxster. (where'd all the profits go???).

I'm sure they have recouped their Boxster costs long ago but like the Music industry and their intially expensive CD's back in the early 90's, Porsche have only further increased prices making Porsche more profitable than ever in its history.

The 2005 Boxster price didn't skyrocket which makes me wonder if the extra R&D funds to build the 987 came from the success of the Boxster, the markup on the 911 or the Cayenne.

If the Boxster and the 996 were the same price, and I picked the 911
I WOULDN'T HAVE A CONVERTIBLE!

I guess as long as the Boxster is lowest powered Porsche available it will be priced as the least expensive and inevitably the "entry level Porsche" label will stick. Although in the sportscar world of affordable options the power to weight ratio of the Boxster make it far from an "entry level" expense. The Corvette and S2000 may not be as refined as Boxster but they are not lacking in performance one bit. Yet the Boxster is more expensive and I'm not entirely convinced that after all these years and all of these Boxsters bulit its still a really expensive car to build for Porsche. I know that Porsche run limited numbers of production but how do we really know what it actually costs Porsche to build and market a Boxster vs. what's actually sold for? Is the difference in price between a Boxster and a similar performance sportscar all due to its smaller production numbers?
Or is Porsche pricing in some "exclusivity"(read more profits for Stugart).

I guess at the end of the day its less of a headache to run a smaller company with less volume and higher profits than a bigger company with way more volume and smaller profits. Either way its the consumer that funds which route a company will take. Those Porsceh guys are smarter than I thought.