[legion]

I've owned two 944's which is the direct precursor to the 968...

I've driven both multiple times.

Me? I'd take the Boxster. The chassis on a Boxster always felt WAY stiffer than the chassis on any hard top 944 or 968. I imagine that a soft top 968 would have an even more flexible chassis (not a good thing).

That said, what do you want?

Handling? Boxster wins.
Power? 968 wins.
Collectability? 968 wins.
Cool factor? 968 wins.
Maintenance? Well, that's not so easy to call...

The 968 is easier to work on, but the parts for it are expensive and hard to come by. The Boxster is harder to work on but parts are widely available and should be comparatively cheaper.

Both are plenty easy to modify as well. There are tons of aftermarket parts for the Boxster. The 968 can have the variocam ripped out and the cylinder head from a 2.7 8 valve 944 installed. Why would you want to do that? Because then most of the parts for the 944 Turbo (951) become bolt-on. That's right, you can turbo a 968. If you want to go an even more elaborate route, I believe someone on this BBS kept the 968 head and had a custom twin-turbo setup fabricated. Just for comparison, Powerhaus did a single-turbo 16 valve 944 S2 that saw over 500 hp at the rear wheels....

Oh, and I think the 968 is a more forgiving car at the edge. With the weight pushed out to the ends, it tends not to rotate on you. Of course, a talented driver can do more with a Boxster.