Instead of a Boxster I wish I would have bought....

[tnoice]

Originally Posted by fivepointnine

come on guys, dont even try and pretend its not fun occasionally smoking someone from a dig...Im 32 and like to do it sometimes

Especially those old 5 liter mustangs.

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by Mark_T

You're drag racing a Boxster?? On the street?? And then you come on here spouting some crap about beating Evo's??

That's pretty lame.

i know! how dare I take a fast car and drive fast with it and then tell people about it... what was I thinking?

sorry, won't happen again for the rest of the day (probably)

[fivepointnine]

Originally Posted by tnoice

Especially those old 5 liter mustangs.

dont even get me started on those, or the sloooow 94-02ish Mustang GT's that the owners put a crazy loud exhaust on and think they are fast.

[986_c6]

Originally Posted by fivepointnine

come on guys, dont even try and pretend its not fun occasionally smoking someone from a dig...Im 32 and like to do it sometimes

May I suggest tracking the car...no seriously, not just 1 or 2 track days, but once a month at least.

There, you will find the true meaning of driver skills and the blurring of car capabilities. For instance, I can lap a GT3, but it is clearly the driver and not the car. Lewis Hamilton can probably lap me in a 80's Yugo.

After that, street driving will purely be cruising and enjoying the sound system/scenery.

[fivepointnine]

Originally Posted by 986_c6

May I suggest tracking the car...no seriously, not just 1 or 2 track days, but once a month at least.

There, you will find the true meaning of driver skills and the blurring of car capabilities. For instance, I can lap a GT3, but it is clearly the driver and not the car. Lewis Hamilton can probably lap me in a 80's Yugo.

After that, street driving will purely be cruising and enjoying the sound system/scenery.

already in the plans once it gets nicer weather around here!

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by 986_c6

Lewis Hamilton can probably lap me in a 80's Yugo.

I don't care who you put in that driver's seat, that'd be one hell of a challenge, and terribly impressive...we are talking about a Yugo......it might melt before completing a lap...

[rteichman]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

No regrets, but if we're gonna go into shoulda-woulda-coulda territory, I'd say a Lotus Esprit...ergonomics be damned.

I did buy a Lotus Esprit, so I now have the 99 Boxster and a 93 Esprit. The ergonomics of the Esprit is the least of it's problems. The shifting absolutely sucks, not to mention there is no power steering. That combined with basically no rear view means no parallel parking either, so you need to be very picky about where you go.

The Boxster is MUCH more fun to drive. But the Lotus is so rare and looks so good.... :roll eyes:

[Overdrive]

rteichman, you let me know if you ever get truly tired of that Esprit, I think I can help you part with it should that time come. I'm curious what in particular sucks about the shifting, if you wouldn't mind...

And maybe I'm wrong for doing so, but I'd lump shifting feel/effort into ergonomics when it comes to a car, kind of like keyboard/mouse placement at a desk. Take my Boxster, the gearshift movement is fine but the clutch feels higher effort than needed...certainly not the worst ever, but I'd prefer it to be less.

[SoK]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

I should have bought a pre-owned lotus exige. With each passing year, I only drive the box at the track and the exige is arguably one of the best street legal track cars you can buy.

i love my boxster, i've never had an issue with it since i bought it 9/2010. I really would have loved a white exige turbo with the blackout package...

but, i daily drive my boxster year round (only drive my civic when there's snow on the ground). The problem i had with the exige was that i wouldn't have been able to fit my golf clubs in it and the dealer is like 100 miles away...

i'll have one eventually though.

[VRsyncro]

VW Corrado

Still looking for that mint OEM Corrado....

[Mike_Yi]

I've gotten to the point where I have nothing but regret about buying a Boxster. I bought my car for $15,500 and have, in 3 years, put over $10,000 into it. It now needs another $3500. It was a mistake buying this car. I've only had one car that I regretted buying more than this one, and it was a '91 Mitsubishi Eclipse. It was a beater, and I had to keep putting money into it to keep it running. Nowhere near the kind of money that goes into the Boxster though.

[mts]

Replaced mine with a 993. I had to scratch that itch.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Mike_Yi

I've gotten to the point where I have nothing but regret about buying a Boxster. I bought my car for $15,500 and have, in 3 years, put over $10,000 into it. It now needs another $3500. It was a mistake buying this car. I've only had one car that I regretted buying more than this one, and it was a '91 Mitsubishi Eclipse. It was a beater, and I had to keep putting money into it to keep it running. Nowhere near the kind of money that goes into the Boxster though.

Mike, $10K in 3 years and still needs another $3,500? Can you give us a run down of the issues?

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by Mike_Yi

I've gotten to the point where I have nothing but regret about buying a Boxster. I bought my car for $15,500 and have, in 3 years, put over $10,000 into it. It now needs another $3500. It was a mistake buying this car. I've only had one car that I regretted buying more than this one, and it was a '91 Mitsubishi Eclipse. It was a beater, and I had to keep putting money into it to keep it running. Nowhere near the kind of money that goes into the Boxster though.

That's about $300 a month, a little high but not excessively so, I bought mine knowing I should put at least $200/mo aside for repairs and maintenance based on information on Porsche forums. These are exotic sports cars made by a company that only makes sports cars (until recently). You didn't buy a Ford or Toyota, Porsches will cost more to maintain.

Anyone that buys a Porsche and doesn't assume they'll spend at least $200/mo on repairs and maintenance is buying the wrong car and didn't do their research. It's the buyers fault, not the car. If you get lucky and don't need all $2400/yr then buy a new used boxster in 5 yrs with the money saved as a deposit

[Flavor 987S]

Originally Posted by 986_inquiry

That's about $300 a month, a little high but not excessively so, I bought mine knowing I should put at least $200/mo aside for repairs and maintenance based on information on Porsche forums. These are exotic sports cars made by a company that only makes sports cars (until recently). You didn't buy a Ford or Toyota, Porsches will cost more to maintain.

Anyone that buys a Porsche and doesn't assume they'll spend at least $200/mo on repairs and maintenance is buying the wrong car and didn't do their research. It's the buyers fault, not the car. If you get lucky and don't need all $2400/yr then buy a new used boxster in 5 yrs with the money saved as a deposit

Good advice. But, a Boxster is NOT an exotic sports car. Never was, never will be. I don't even consider the iconic 911 in this class. Maybe the 959 or the Carrera GT and the upcoming Spyder 918.

[RandallNeighbour]

You know, these last few posts have a lot of truth in them, but also a lot of potential for assumption on the part of the uneducated reader lurking here to learn about our cars in hopes of purchasing one sooner or later.

So many of the problems I've faced with my particular boxster could have been avoided. Here's a laundry list of my mistakes that lurkers should consider and avoid:

• I didn't even get this far into a boxster forum before purchasing my car. That was my biggest mistake. Had I spent a couple of months reading posts and asking owners questions the way I see many future owners doing here as of late, I would not have purchased my particular car that required hundreds of dollars in repairs each month for the first three years of ownership.

• I bought a car off eBay sight unseen. Boy howdy was the wholesaler good at photography! The price was just so good ($7k off blue book resale) that I lost all my common senses. Yes, this qualified for my shameful (and thankfully short) list of "the most foolish things a person can do."

• I bought a Porsche without a PPI. Had my car been looked over, I would have been told it had a new motor recently (which the wholesaler and I didn't know before the transaction) and that the new motor was quite a strain on the old tranny and it would need replacing, along with the cracked coolant overflow tank, the primary radiator fan, and so forth.

• I bought a 97, not knowing the subframe would not support 18 inch wheels and would not keep a good resale value, especially when the 98's and 99s are selling very well to the spec racing enthusiasts and new owners always want large rims with very low profile tires for that aggressive look.

• I have spent quite a bit of money attempting to eek out a modest 10% HP increase out of what I feel is an underpowered motor. I should have waited and purchased an 03S in 2005 instead of a 97 in 2004. The money I spent on mods and repairs would have covered the price difference easily.

So posting members above say you should budget $200 a month for your Porsche, and I somewhat agree and somewhat disagree. For me, $200 was the minimum I had to spend because I bought the wrong car the wrong way at the wrong time.

However, if you purchase the right boxster (clean, maintained, loved!) the right way (with a PPI) at the right time (when you have the money for the best example you can find... even if it takes a full year) you can put that $200 in the bank for tires and brake pads and DE participation fees!

So I hope this helps bring some balance to anyone lurking here and reading this thread. Buy a car right and the regrets are few.

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by Flavor 987S

Good advice. But, a Boxster is NOT an exotic sports car. Never was, never will be. I don't even consider the iconic 911 in this class. Maybe the 959 or the Carrera GT and the upcoming Spyder 918.

That's up to debate. Google disagrees
porsche boxster exotic sportd car - Google Search

And the boxster matches the definition of exotic sports car, or at least the definition this website has presented:
Exotic Cars 101: What is an 'Exotic Car' (by definition)? - National Exotic Car | Examiner.com

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

You know, these last few posts have a lot of truth in them, but also a lot of potential for assumption on the part of the uneducated reader lurking here to learn about our cars in hopes of purchasing one sooner or later.

So many of the problems I've faced with my particular boxster could have been avoided. Here's a laundry list of my mistakes that lurkers should consider and avoid:

• I didn't even get this far into a boxster forum before purchasing my car. That was my biggest mistake. Had I spent a couple of months reading posts and asking owners questions the way I see many future owners doing here as of late, I would not have purchased my particular car that required hundreds of dollars in repairs each month for the first three years of ownership.

• I bought a car off eBay sight unseen. Boy howdy was the wholesaler good at photography! The price was just so good ($7k off blue book resale) that I lost all my common senses. Yes, this qualified for my shameful (and thankfully short) list of "the most foolish things a person can do."

• I bought a Porsche without a PPI. Had my car been looked over, I would have been told it had a new motor recently (which the wholesaler and I didn't know before the transaction) and that the new motor was quite a strain on the old tranny and it would need replacing, along with the cracked coolant overflow tank, the primary radiator fan, and so forth.

• I bought a 97, not knowing the subframe would not support 18 inch wheels and would not keep a good resale value, especially when the 98's and 99s are selling very well to the spec racing enthusiasts and new owners always want large rims with very low profile tires for that aggressive look.

• I have spent quite a bit of money attempting to eek out a modest 10% HP increase out of what I feel is an underpowered motor. I should have waited and purchased an 03S in 2005 instead of a 97 in 2004. The money I spent on mods and repairs would have covered the price difference easily.

So posting members above say you should budget $200 a month for your Porsche, and I somewhat agree and somewhat disagree. For me, $200 was the minimum I had to spend because I bought the wrong car the wrong way at the wrong time.

However, if you purchase the right boxster (clean, maintained, loved!) the right way (with a PPI) at the right time (when you have the money for the best example you can find... even if it takes a full year) you can put that $200 in the bank for tires and brake pads and DE participation fees!

So I hope this helps bring some balance to anyone lurking here and reading this thread. Buy a car right and the regrets are few.

I feel I must comment on the 2.5's power because I feel it gets a bad rap.

If your daily driver is a 1999 Trans Am the 2.5 will feel underpowered. But if your daily driver is a 200-240hp V6 (or less powerful engine) in a 4-door sedan then a 2.5 manual will be plenty fast. Remember the 2.5 has a 0-60 time of 6-6.2 and 14.5-14.7 quarter according to several magazines
Weissach.net - Boxster/Cayman Road Test Summary

That's equal to modern 2010 300hp v6 camaros and mustangs.

If you get an automatic it will always be slow compared to anything you are currently driving

[mts]

Originally Posted by 986_inquiry

That's up to debate. Google disagrees
porsche boxster exotic sportd car - Google Search

And the boxster matches the definition of exotic sports car, or at least the definition this website has presented:
Exotic Cars 101: What is an 'Exotic Car' (by definition)? - National Exotic Car | Examiner.com

Pretty wide definitions and certainly open for debate. I personally have never thought of the Boxster being anywhere close to an exotic. My neighbor, who really isn't into cars at all always told me he thought my Boxster was exotic (of course he also told me he thought I paid over $100k for it).

I think the exotic part is ultimately all relative to the individual.

[ddb]

Originally Posted by mts

Replaced mine with a 993. I had to scratch that itch.

mts,

How are you enjoying the 993 thus far? Love the wheels!

Thanks,

ddb