What is your next car up from a Boxster?

[chris97boxster]

Buy a 2nd boxster......drop a 3.8 in it. ....twin turbo it. ....19 inch wheels. .....we all know it will take the abuse. ...drive it.... I like the idea of TT's in a boxster.....pseudo carrera GT......besides didn't someone say something along the lines. ...in regard to Porsche "those who drive one. ...know". I do. ....I'm sure you all do too

[roadracer311]

Yeah, it depends on what you want to do. If you wanted to drive it a lot an R8 or a Gallardo would be a good choice. Heck even an air cooled 911 twin turbo would be good.

I'm planning to drive my Ferrari 5k miles a year. I'd say the average Ferrari gets driven less than 2k miles per year. They cost about $1 to $2 per mile to drive (a little more if you include depreciation). I'll bet an R8 or Gallardo would be more like $0.50 a mile.

The Ferrarri is a different experience. It's scary to own, scary to drive (because I'm always a little worried I'm going to scratch one of the wheels that cost $2,300 each... though the tire shop already did that for me yesterday). Or worse, I'm worried that the motor will fail, since a top-end rebuild is $20k.

I can't put my finger on it, but Ferraris are different to drive.

In the long run, I describe it to my friends like this: The Ferrari is like a hot/difficult girl I would date. The Porsche is like a girl I would marry.

[Kirk]

Originally Posted by roadracer311

In the long run, I describe it to my friends like this: The Ferrari is like a hot/difficult girl I would date. The Porsche is like a girl I would marry.

Well put... I kept my Boxster and "stepped up" last year to something more expensive. I very strongly considered the Ferrari F355 and the Maserati Coupe. In the end it was those $20K engine rebuilds, $2K+ wheels, expensive exhaust headers, expensive brakes rotors, expensive shocks, etc, etc, etc that pushed me away from the Italian cars. I'm more of a "mate for life" type of guy, I needed a car that I could "marry" that would be there for me (long term), work well, with few headaches or bills that require a home equity loan to pay off. I bought an '03 Carrera 4S.



Funny thing though is that I then replaced my Honduh beater car with a '72 Porsche 914. This thing has really just grabbed my heart. It's not great, but it's just got so much character and is so fun to drive. Plus I LOVE working on this car. The engine is hard to access, but there's not one $%^@!#* computer or CPU in the whole damn car. This is what I drive to work each day and the damn thing just keeps growing on me.



Kirk