The FEDS are on to me...

[Leland Pate]

well, it finally happened.

Over the last few years the Network administrators for our machines at work have gotten more and more strict. And as of yesterday... this board is now officially blocked. It is listed as "chat".


Grrrrrrrrrrr.....

Now what am I supposed to do during lunch???? I'm going to have to rework my whole lunch hour schedule around this!

So, this being the case, I can only see the board at home, which is a major bummer.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know.
And as far as the sale of my car is concerned, I may have been misleading. After I re-read the other thread, I think I was too vauge in my reasons for selling the car. Partially because I don't want ot admit why it must go. I hate giving up on things.
I'm not selling it because I am doing something valiant like giving the money to the Peace Corps. Nor am I needing to use the money to buy a house for Erin and I.

I've really just gotten to the point where I can't put anymore into it. When I think how much I've already have in it, ($25K+ purchase price) moneywise, and how much I could ever get back out of it (hopefully $17K), plus the fact that there is still so much more I want to do to it, the numbers simply don't make sense.

And even if I ever did get the car perfect. I'd still want a coupe.
You all know this and have heard me ranting...

I just can't bear to throw this amount of money away anymore.

Erin and I have talked about it extensively and the bottom line is, that the car must go. It jsut makes sense. Someone could buy it and make it perfect and be a hell of allot better off than me.

Anyway, I still want a toy car and after allot of thinking on the subject (and you guys are going to be shocked) I've decided that what I need is a new car.

Not one that has problems that need to be addressed frequently, (meaning: no unexpected cash dumps) and gee, wouldn't a warranty be nice.
Something with air?
Something with a heater that actually works?
Something that can be driven everyday without a care?
Something that wouldn't require me to keep a Dodge ram and car trailer to haul it around?

I'm just wanting to simplify right now. The future isn't "bleak", but it is uncertain at this point.
I'm leaning towards getting a new car.
Can you believe it?!!!

That being said, let's see what is out there on the market...
I'd love to have a new Porsche, but obviously that is out of the question.

So, what else is there?

I'm trying to find something with a soul.
Something with a past, a history, a following.
Something fun, fast, and in my price range.

Erin read the "Parting ways" thead and said, "Lee, they think you're giving up the car because I'm making you".
That is not the case. I'm just trying to make things better for the two of us. I just want what's best.

This whole thing is really hard to do. You become so attached to a car and you never figure how hard it will be to part with it.

[jabb]

Buy a used 3 series BMW if you want something that is fun to drive.... make sure its a 5spd. I just picked up a '00' with 27000 miles.... you can not beat the BMW certified program. I get the balance of the factory warranty.... then another 2 years or up to 100,000 miles what ever comes first....

Good Luck

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by Leland Pate
... this board is now officially blocked. It is listed as "chat".
.

well, IMHO, every bureaucracy is constrained by narrow vision.. sidestep them.. don't fully accept the BS..

"The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy" .. by Sun Tzu, 500 BC

[pwd72s]

Lee? This much, I can tell you...going for practical transport after having driven a Porsche? No matter what you select, "fun to drive" is out of the equation. Once you've had a Porsche, there IS no substitute, no other car will deliver as much driving "fun". I don't like being this honest about it to you, but there it is. If you want fun in a car, and "practical" as well? Rots a Ruck. On the practical side, you might go to a library, read back issues of Consumer Reports. On the fun side? Money aside, you may already have it...New? Taurus, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord seem to lead the pack, for reliability. Fun? Well, I'm sure you read as many enthusiast magazines as the rest of us do....and I'm not sure Porsche leads the pack among the cars made today.

[usafa]

Leeland,

Do you think you could squeeze a 350Z out of your wallet? Or perhaps a WRX coupe? The only other one I can think of would be a Honda S2000 if you can live with a roadster. All of these have good all around performance and have all those OTHER things you are looking for.

However, if you are expanding your family anytime soon....how about a nice SUV? Just kidding!

Wish I could consider buying your car though! I passed up the chance to buy an almost perfect all original 78SC coupe 22K mi with just about every option available White/Red full leather and had the Martini Racing stripes decals. You could eat off the interior of the wheel wells! What was I thinking?

[alf]

This might get me kicked off the board, but check out the WRX. WRX Wagon if you really want to be practical. The stock suspension is a a little bit boaty, but that is a simple fix, then you want to get a bigger intercooler, perhaps a cool sounding waste gate, boost controller... But at least you do those things on your terms not when the car decides it is time to.

It is damm ugly though and some 18 year old kid will have one that is faster than yours.

[nostatic]

agreed....WRX wagon is totally cool. Functional and fast. Fugly too, but what are you gonna do?

[scg]

Wait for the WRX sti to get here this summer: 300hp/300lb-ft

[dd74]

I read the thread about "parting ways," and never thought it was because of Erin. Good women know good men need good toys, and taking this from experience, knowing how close I am to my car, my wife would never want me to give it up unless that involved something dire...

Buying a house IS dire. It takes literally everything you have out of your bank account and yourself. But believe me, it is the wisest choice around. No car - none on the planet - equates to owning your own property.

As far as practical transportation, that depends: you have to involve your wife in this one (unless she has her own car - I don't know), but if it were me, I'd go with something simple to drive, well equipped AND depended on the future (kids?), safe.

I'm currently down on BMWs because out in L.A., they're a dime a dozen. Yet, they're darn good cars, so I wouldn't rule them out. I like the 3 and 5 series.

Audi is my current favorite - real practical, somewhat sporty, and cheaper than BMWs.

The small Mercedes is nice too.

Volvos are another thought, Subaru (as mentioned) is good, though the wagon seems smaller than the four-door version of the brands I mentioned.

Don't buy American unless you want an SUV. If so, go Ford.

Good luck. Hope you're safe out there. Things are starting to look a little dicey.

dd

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by scg
Wait for the WRX sti to get here this summer: 300hp/300lb-ft

That's pure weenie...wait for a soon to come Dodge Sport Wagon, with rear wheel drive courtesy of Mercedes technology and a supercharged 435 horse hemi V-8 up front...estimated to be in the showrooms as an '04 model for around $35K...

[beamonk]

You have got the bug man... anything else would be compared to the Porsche. You will hear every every rattle in the car. Although M3'a are nice, you will cuss the plastic. There ain't no cure for the summertime blues.
John

[Chuck Moreland]

Cost of ownership of a new car is going to be more than the SC. New car maintenance will be low, but when you factor depreciation your SC comes out ahead. And insurance on a new car will be more too.

Your SC is at or near the bottom of the depreciation curve. You've already done the engine rebuild, it should just be routine maintenance for a long time.

[Kevin Stewart]

Lee, things will not change and this may be to bold to say, it doesnt, next year etc, if you sell your car your just gonna buy another porsche, or be unhappy, it happens to all of us, I have a 90's conversion van so i can pull the race car and drive in the winter or when the porsche is down, it sucks in the winter when i drive it i will not lie, But we do have a new Volvo that the wife drives, so buy the wife a new car and keep the porsche, you dont have to make the porsche perfect drive it, but maintain it well, im putting a 3.6 in right now and she says why, just go buy a new boxter or a 993, the truth is i love my old car, and i love to tinker with it, it will take me till fall to recover most of the cash, I plan to buy a new vehicle then, it will be the first for me at 42, but the family has had 5 new cars in 15 years, the wife says i will believe it when i see it, she may be right, i may sell the p car and buy a 993 turbo, then she will say its a used car, now to the part thats being bold, we have seperate checking accounts and we have a family account, she does with her spare money what she wants, i do what i want with my spare money, as long as we cover our share of the family expense first, i think we have made it this far because we have seperate accounts, we do have a few arguments about money but not like my friends have, and it causes divorce, ill be married 17 years on valentines day, and i love her like the day i met her, only because we dont fight about money, I dont know what your situation is, but money destroys marriages, Kevin

[alf]

Yeah, come to think of it, i built a little excel NPV spreadsheet to decide what i should buy. Took into account depreciation, maintanence, insurance and the total cost of ownership. The 88 Coupe came up ahead of an E36 M3, Boxter and WRX. Chuck is right, the depreciation hit you will take on the newer cars will be *much* larger than your 911. Insurance on an old porsche is also less than the new cars.

[RoninLB]

Originally posted by Leland Pate

I'm trying to find something with a soul.
Something with a past, a history, a following.
Something fun, fast, and in my price range.

OK lee.. I'll try to get serious.......

what will you do with the new car?
big highway? or metro/250mi week?

1) Subaru WRX or WRX STi.

2) Volkswagen Beetle. My buddy has a 700hp (ok, 716 flywheel hp on the dyno) turbo engine in a dragster that's based on a VW air-cooled flat four. That's an extreme, and absolutely useless on the street, but it shows that the possibilities for those things are endless and relatively cheap compared to a Porsche.

3) Honda CBR600RR.

[surflvr911sc]

I held back from responding to your last thread on this subject. I figured, family comes first and what could I say, but now…

You do not seem prepared to sell your “first love”, and I really don’t seem any reason why you should. I bought my 911 six years ago. I’ve gone through the times when I haven’t had the money, time, space, motivation or a combination of the four toward the car. I even thought about selling her on two separate occasions. Both times I fought though it because my heart was not in to letting her go. I’m so happy I did and I believe those time are behind me.

I know so many that have said, I owned a 911 once but… I never want to be one of those guys. Some, very few, are lucky and come back to 911 ownership later in life, most do not. I have made a pact with myself that I will not sell one until I have another.

One thing that I think is really important is to always have another vehicle. Having a car that you can rely on so that you can enjoy the time working on the 911 without pressure to complete a project so you can make it to work makes it so much easier.

Keep the 911, another car will never pay for it self in the enjoyment you receive from owning, wrenching, and driving it. It’s not about the money, it’s about the feeling of accomplishment when you finish that new project and the smile on your face when get to the end of one of you favorite roads. Nothing can substitute for that.

[MMARSH]

I say Mini Cooper S. Thats a fun car. Lots of upgrades for it, plenty (ok maybe "enough" is a better word) of room for the two of you. You could autocross it on the weekends and still drive it everyday. Fully loaded with everything about 25K. less if you dont get the heated leather seats and glass roof.

[cstreit]

Wait Leland,

The money you've put into the SC is sunk cost. Gone, never get it back.

If you sell it for $17 you'll lose $8000 on it. Will you get it back with another car? No....

Plus, You said that it's too expensive to maintain for what you "want to do with it." If that's to expensive, simple, stop the modifications and just enjoy it.

Let's say you buy some used Japanobox for $15K, add the $8k you lost on the sale of the 911 then you're up to $23k... Difference of only $2000 from what you have in the 911.

Is moving from a 911 to an Acura worth a lousy $2k?

You've also said you want to avoid unexpected cash dumps... You CAN'T do that on a used car anyway, so then you must by a new car. Now you;re out $35K... Plus interest, $50k... Twice what you have in your SC. Even if you have ONLY $35k in your new car (Assuming you pay cash) are you really going to put another $10k in your SC? If not, the new car is STILL more expensive...

Honestly, the only good answer is to keep the 911 and enjoy it. Don't just sell it because you think it's the "mature" thing to do... Financially, it ain't.

[MMARSH]

Chris
Iit sounds like to me, Leland wont ever really be happy with his SC regardless of much sence it might make to keep it because it's not really what he wants. He wants a Coupe. That being the case I'd sell it and get what you really want.