I see lots of Porsches in Houston, Boxsters, 911s, Cayman, Cayennes and Panameras. You would think that there would be a ton for sale, but I'm not seeing many that I want to look at, too many tiptronic cars and too many high miles cars. You can find low miles, very late model cars, but I'm not planning to spend nearly that much money. Of the handful that I looked at today, all but 2 had front fenders that had been replaced.
Today I drove this guy,
2001 911 Turbo blk/blk, 43k miles, $40k. I think the front fenders have been replaced but the lines looked good except that it looked like the front bumper cap was a little misaligned. I was expecting a lot, 415hp, turbo 911. It was fast, but I was underwhelmed. The shifter was horrible. The throws felt like they were 2 feet long. I am a bit spoiled by the rifle-bolt-short, mechanical throws of the short shifter in my miata, but still. It was fast, but it didn't
feel that fast unless you were accelerating in 1st. It also didn't feel like a sports car too me, but more what I would imagine a GT car to feel like. Most soft and isolated. Like I said, I think it has been in an accident, and despite otherwise being in very good shape, it may not be a good example.
I saw a couple of others that also appeared to have been in front end collisions, and didn't drive those.
Then I drove this guy,
2007 Cayman S, 40k miles blk/blk, $29k. (honestly, I don't want a blk/blk car, but I would take one if it was right)
Now that's what I'm talking about! This thing was very nice to drive. The acceleration and throttle response felt great. The suspension and chassis was nice and tight, but was still compliant and comfy on bad roads. I LOVE the sport seats. I can't imagine NOT having sport seats in a Porsche. It's in good shape and has decent miles, but the outside is showing a few dings, and one spot on the front bumper cap had a gouge through the paint down to the plastic. I would have thought they would have fixed that before trying to sell. It was in very good shape, but if I'm getting a loan to get a good car, I want one in pristine condition. This is still in the running. We don't plan to get a loan for the full amount, so this would be a relatively small loan for a very good car.
Then I drove this guy,
2007 Cayman, 11k miles, wht/tan $32k. This is a very odd deal. They've had the car on the lot for over 3 months. The crazy thing is that some guy that's not local has had a deposit on it for 3 months. But the salesman told me that because it's been so long they are willing to sell it out from under him. It's in great shape, I'd give it a 99.7%. The 2 buttons for the AC temp and fan need to be replaced, and there's a scratch on the inside driver's side door handle. Other than that, I couldn't find a problem with it. Well, no problem other than that it's not an "S" and doesn't have sport seats. I really didn't expect the difference between the feel of the S and non-S to be that much. I guess I should have, otherwise why would they have an S model and how could they sell them for a premium. It was still very good, but just not quite. It's entirely possible that being driven too little has made it sluggish, and it's not really broken in yet. It may get better.
I'm still looking. I was avoiding the Boxsters and 911 cabs. I had a 911 targa and enjoyed taking the targa top off occasionally, but it's darn hot in Houston, and the weather is very unpredictable. After the 911, I've had 2 miata. I loved them and put the top down from time to time, but both miata and the 911 could be quite noisy at highway speeds. I'm sure the Porsche tops on the modern cars are much better, but hey, better rigidity, better protection from weather or God forbid a rollover, and less weight. What's a good reason to not avoid a convertible. But, I've started looking at boxsters. Still, most have a ton of miles.
Ugh!