[Porsche-O-Phile]

A few years ago I was in the market for a newer car - my requirements were similar to yours, I wanted a good, solid, 2-seater convertible with decent performance and which would be reliable enough for daily driver duty. It needed to have good handling and what I'd call "adequate" power (didn't need to be a Corvette Z06, but shouldn't be underpowered either).

I finally decided on a 2002 Boxster S and went down to check it out. Unfortunately the guy had literally sold it that afternoon (broke my heart - it was sitting on the side with a "sold" tag on it waiting to be picked up the next day). So of course I asked what else he had that met my requirements. I test-drove the BMW Z3, Z4, the Honda S2000, the Mercedes SLK-230 Kompressor and the SLK-320 (which I ended up buying, more on that in a minute). I'd also previously tried out an Audi TT roadster and a Mazdaspeed Miata.

The Z3 was nice but too small for my liking. It also felt a little underpowered and wasn't as "tight" as I expected it to be. The Z4 was vastly improved but I was put off by the inherent ugliness and the over-presence of electronic doodads. The Honda S2k I thought was a total piece of crap. Boring looks, boring interior and no torque at all. But it did go like stink when you wound it up to 6,000 RPM or better. Problem is, I was going to be driving this as a DD, not a track car. I didn't fancy going stop light to stop light at 4k+ just to get ANY kind of performance out of it. Passed.

The Audi TT I'd driven previously I liked but it was overpriced (and being an Audi, concerns about maintenance dogged me - plus it was a turbo, making potential maintenance costs even more scary). The Mazdaspeed Miata I really liked. A bit small but doable. Like the Audi, it was turbo but it didn't scare me - what scared me was the fact I might not be able to "leave it alone" and it would put me on the slippery slope of having to upgrade ECUs, turbochargers, etc. I'd already been through that with a 951 so I knew first-hand just what a bottomless money pit forced induction cars could become. And I wanted a DD. So I passed on that one too.

The SLK-230 Kompressor gave me the same concerns as the turbo cars (I envisioned myself blowing $3,000 on underdrive pulleys and ECU upgrades and other crap after about two weeks). However it was really good, solid, stable, had decent power and handled well. So it was my top candidate - until I drove the SLK-320. The 320 had an honest-to-goodness manual 6-speed gearbox (not the glorified slushboxes that all the 230 had, and the Boxster I was originally going to buy actually...) I much prefer a manual. That was a big plus. And it was a normally-aspirated 6-cyl. Lots of low-end torque. More than the 230 with the supercharger. At speed the two cars were kind of even - I think the 320 had a little more, but with mods the 230 would certainly have been faster. The 320 was also a lot smoother (V6 as opposed to I4) and I felt it would be far more problem-free long term having less stress on the engine. Also the interior was nicer, so I bought that one.

As has been said above, you can find the "big brother" to the SLK-230 and 320 available now for under $20k (you couldn't when I was looking) - this is the AMG SLK32. Same V6 as the SLK-320 but with a supercharger, beefier suspension and all the nice AMG styling and fun parts. I would SERIOUSLY check one out - the R170 SLKs are great platforms and the AMG cars are fantastic. HOWEVER I would find some maintenance testimonials. A lot of the SLK32s are getting to be almost 10 years old now and quite a few I'm sure have been ripped on pretty hard. I suspect they could get frightfully expensive if drivetrain components started blowing out. But if you could find a well-sorted one that had been owned by a responsible person who didn't romp the p1ss out of it (which I'm sure you could if you looked around), I bet you could have a real winner there.

The only thing I don't particularly like about the AMG32 is I believe you can't get it with the manual 6-speed, just the stupid steptronic.

YMMV - there are a lot of interesting 2-seater convertibles to be looked at for around $20k. Enjoy the experience and drive a lot of them. But my advice is definitely don't overlook the R170s.