Buy want you REALLY want if you can, I know if I had not bought an S I would have wanted one.

Bottom line... get the best price on what you want. Period.

When I was 20 I craved HP. Now I am 50... been there done that. I don't need no stinking 6th gear. My racing days are over. I have owned and driven lots of cars that were way faster and had way more HP but none to date were as much fun as my little Boxter. I use my car for spirited top down canyon carving, occasional track days just for kicks, and my wife likes to ARRIVE at parties in it. Sure an "S" would be a faster/firmer ride but I doubt it would be any funner (is that a word?).

No regrets here. Would I ever buy a Box S?? If I found a real sweetie at the right price, yes.

Right on Marc. The S is just fast enough to keep me happy. It would be fun to have a quicker car but when does it stop? I know I would be thinking woulda shoulda if I went with the base car. There will always be someone out there that is quicker, but I know I got the best I could've at that time and didn't hold back. I think that if the owner or potential owner buys the best Porsche they can then regret can't be a factor whether that be a base boxster, S, or whatever.

Maybe I can help
 

I don't know where you are in Alabama, but I am in Huntsville and considering selling my 2002 S to facilitate a 997 upgrade. :)

I'd be glad to let you test drive the car regardless of whether you chose mine or another. At least you'd have an idea of whether or not the differences are worthwhile. PM if you'd like. -Greg

I had a 99, and when that car was totalled (rear-ended :( ), I found a 2000 S in my budget. What a differece! The S is much more car. Because the 99 didn't have as much torque, it required a bit more throttle to get her going, particularly when starting on a hill. The S is not like that at all. I can practically let the clutch out at idle and she won't stall. It's so much easier to drive in traffic. As well, the S brakes better and feels a bit tighter through the suspension. The trade off has been a bit of gas mileage. The 99 regularly got 26-28mpg. The S gets 22-24. I'm happy to pay a bit extra at the gas station.

Primary car BMW 5 series, weekend car Non S and NO regrets.

I will suggest something different too, lol. Get a 97 with relatively high miles (like 100 thousand), do a 3.4 or 3.6 swap, put a pss9 suspension on, and paint your brakes red. Now thats hard not to consider. The high miles dont matter as much when you replace the engine and suspension.

no regrets here!

the S emblem is pretty cheap :D

I never considered an S and therefore never took one for a test spin. I'm sure the S does everything better (except for gas mileage) and is more fun to drive. However, for me, having never driven one eliminates any feelings of regret for buying a base. I'm more than happy with my decision.

ddb

This seems like a good combination.

I bought a non-S without ever driving the S. Why? Mostly due to "value". I had the cash to buy an S, I just chose not to.

The non-S is good enough for what I'm going to do with it (weekend drives on the coast, top-down motoring with the wife, spending Saturday afternoons in the garage fiddling with it, etc). If I was still auto-crossing or running track days I would have gone for a S without hesitating because I would kick myself for not having that extra power, better handling, etc. Since I have no plans for that, the added expense wasn't worth it for me, and I focused on finding the exact car I wanted with the exact options I wanted (and didn't want) and never looked back.

As a total aside, I drove a Mitsubishi Evo IX the day before I bought my boxster. I cross-shop some odd car combos. :)