Choices...Choices
 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to sell my 951 next spring. Am I giving up on Porsches? Hell no. I have two ideas:

1) Buy a 944 NA Race car.

A road course is going up a mere 20 miles from me. I figure for what I can sell my 951 for, I can put together a full race setup, including a trailer, spares, some additional tools, tires, etc...

2) Buy a Boxster.

I'm thinking 2.7 or 3.2. I think it would be cheaper to tool around in a 2000+ Boxster than race a 20-year old 944. I think my 951 would buy me half (or less) of the Boxster I want.

My wife wants me to get a Boxster, mostly because she wants me to teach her to drive stick and she has no interest in racing. Realistically, I'm not sure that I have the time/resources to seriously race.

Thoughts?

If you want to race seriously, the inital investment of car, etc is just the tip of the iceberg in cost & time.

Re: Choices...Choices
 

You can have my 944 relatively cheap. It already has Corbeaus and a MOMO wheel, as well as Turbo S sway bars, stiffer front springs, etc...

If you are going to Race (W2W), then IMHO, you have to go in 100%: Safety equipment, instruction, well prepped car, expect things to break, etc. You said that you are not sure if you have the time/resources to seriously race. So I'd guess you'd be happy doing DE's or TT's. And a Boxter would make a nice platform car for AX, DE and TT, and still have AC for those hot IL summers.

Make the wife happy and buy the Boxster. Racing isn't for the half-hearted and is a royal pain in the ass for a spouse. Way expensive to do it right and way stupid to do it half-assed.

Think of it this way; the more enthusiastic your wife is about the car, the more likely you are to get to enjoy it, or add another one (car, not wife) to the fleet down the road.

JR

I'll second or third the cost of racing. If you race a full season you'll easily exceed the cost of the racecar your first year. I was spending about $10K a year to race a kart. And karts were supposed to be cheap.

i'de keep the 951 ,learn wife to drive that stick, and then explore the track with your 951 with an instructor to get a feel for it

i would definately not ditch the 951 for a 944NA...

.... OR you could buy my 944. I'll even throw in a 951 tranny.

The thing is, I know I will end up at the track a lot of the time regardless. Either I will be spending my money to race, or be part of a volunteer pit crew for a friend (helping him spend his money).

Maybe it would be better to help a friend spend his money for a few years and enjoy a Boxster in the meantime...

911

I don't think I'm ready for an air-cooled car yet...and I can't afford a water pumper. Besides, I'd like to learn to drive on something more "balanced" before trying one out.

Actually, I was reading a 951 vs. 911 Carrera 3.2 comparo road test the other day, and they claimed the opposite of what is common knowledge: the 951 was more tail-happy than the 911, AND had more throttle-lift oversteer! Moreover, the 951 pulled away on the straights, but the 911 cornered faster and could brake later in corners.

The complete opposite of what I expected.

a well sorted 911 can be cheaper to run at the track than a 944 or Boxster.

Look at what groups you might be running with, and what classes are available to you. Here in SoCal, POC is where the racing is (PRC in NorCal). POC has a *great* spec 944 class that generally sees about 10 cars running in any event. Target cost to build out a car is $16K and that includes the donor. These are stripped out full race cars, and they turn comparable times to my '79SC...fastest guys a second or two faster than my II prepped car, about the same in IP but I'm still learning the setup). But I see guys working on them a lot more than I do on mine while in the pits.

POC also has a nascent Boxster spec that will be very cool. For that group you're looking at about $15K for a donor (97-99 only), and another $15-20K in prep. The cars run a few seconds quicker than my II prepped 911.

Consider though that you could find a solid SC or Carrera for about $15K, add about $5K in safety mods, and run in a relatively stock class and have a blast. If I had it to do again I would have stayed in II (slightly improved) for another year or two. As it stands now I'm sticking in IP, resisting the urge to bump a class...as I still have about 4-6 seconds left in this car that I haven't found yet.

No one is really "ready" for an air-cooled car, particularly a 911. But once you've had one for awhile, you'll be very happy with the results. The 911 is a tough, fast, and well-handling car. And if not subjected to copious amounts of modifications, can be extremely inexpensive to own.

But seeing you might stay with the devil you know (i.e. water pumpers), I'd say go with the Boxster - a 3.2 if you can swing it. They seem like they hold together well, and used Boxster S cars aren't terribly expensive.

My two fears about a Boxster, or any 911 variant after the 993, is the "what if" factor. What if something breaks down? How expensive will it be? Can I take it to my 911 mechanic instead of the dealer? Is it still under warranty?

I don't believe Boxsters are as easy to repair (or even diagnose) as air-cooled 911s, which should be another concern when considering the newer Porsches.

I believe the key sentence here is: The wife wants me to get a Boxster...

Kind of limits your options, doesn´t it ? ;)

Livi , bit dissapointed now , your talking like your still under the whip...

mate , you're out of the box, now think out of the box as well :D

Busted ! I need to work on my integrity and self esteem.

What you mean ?? I can make decisions on my own ??? :D

Not at all. We have an agreement: I get one expensive motorized toy at a time. It is my toy, and I can do with it as I please.

I asked my wife's input on the dilemma, and she preferred a Boxster. There is nothing in our agreement about me having to listen to her...

How long have you been married? ;)

Seriously, think about a well sorted 911. For the price of a Boxster you could get a solid car and have money for safety mods.

Which is very good to hear if I ever consider one - which off and on I have been doing.

But I hear things: things like rather than repair an engine/tranny issue, Porsche just discards the assembly and fits in a new one to the car? What about modifications? What about reliability of the parts? Any electrical issues? And how much $$$$?

In short, are the watercooled cars disposable like any other car out there? This is my quandry: if I wanted a disposable car for the cost of a 996, for example, I could get a Honda, a VW, a Mazda, a...anything.

Disposability was never the idea I had behind getting a Porsche. It's not just about a fast well-handling car, but an investment of time and love into an automobile. I can't rely on that happening with the toothpaste-tube virtures of many of today's cars.

Or, Wayne, are you saying that the 996s, 997s, Boxsters, Caymans, etc., are as reliable as 911s, and that my concerns are really of no concern? I hope that's the case, because for a while now, I've thought of the 996 and 997 as really nice cars...on paper.

from what I've been told $7500 for a crate Boxster engine. They don't rebuild them, they just swap them. The spec Boxster series mandates stock engines, so opening them up isn't even an option.

Keep the 951 and buy a spec-miata for racing. Very cheap to run and probably faster lap times than your stock 951. I see fully preped- used ones in good condition for less than $10,000 all the time.

I drove a spec-miata at the track a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun, but I hear you won't come away from a race without dented fenders. Since you're required to not to have dented fenders at the start of a weekend, I would imagine it could get kind of expensive too.