I am currently looking at buying a used sports car. I am looking to spend around 25,000 dollars max.. maybe a bit more. I have been looking at Boxster S's and Z4's, since there are an abundance in my price range with very reasonable mileage on them. Does anyone own either and can give me some insight on maintenence, pleasure of driving, or any other opinions?
Boxster S, no contest
[1] Mid engined, much better handling than the Z4
[2] Cleaner styling, BMW is far too busy
[3] It's a Porsche
Cars I drive (so you see where I'm coming from)
'88 Supercharged MR2 (mainly a track car these days)
'96 Miata
'03 BMW 330xi
If I was to replace my Miata and the MR2 with one car in order to downsize my life a bit, it'd be a Boxster S. I've autocrossed for about 20 years and done a lot of track day events. The Porsche has everything. The engine is in the right place, there's plenty of power, it has the famous great Porsche brakes, a convertible top, and it's gorgeous. To me the BMW is more of a car to cruise around in. If you want to carve up some twisty road or a track, there really is no substitute.
Check out the Honda S2000 as well.
You pay a lot for the Porsche name.
nalgene wrote:
Check out the Honda S2000 as well.
S2000's are cool ... BUT
Honda stuck a motorcycle engine in a car. 9000 rpm redline? 7500 rpm torque peak? Give me a break. It's good for bragging to your friends, and not much else in the real world. The car will get good performance numbers, but to achieve them you have to drive the car like you hate it. Guys at autocrosses were doing 8000 rpm clutch drops to launch the car because otherwise it'd fall on it's face out of the hole. Driven normally, or even somewhat quickly but not berserk, it's not as rewarding as a car with better low end torque, like the Porsche or BMW with their 3 liter 6 cylinders.
Plus it cost like $200.00+ to get the oil changed in a Boxster
2004-2007 Subaru STi...Best bang for you buck for overall handling and power...It will destroy both of those cars you mentioned above in both straight line and auto-x...
AWD > 2WD wrote:
2004-2007 Subaru STi...Best bang for you buck for overall handling and power...It will destroy both of those cars you mentioned above in both straight line and auto-x...
perhaps... but its a subaru. fugly looking as well.
S2000 i could do.. unfortunately the styling, while nice, is kind of old... also its a favorite of the rice rocket crowd since that street racing movie.
........................ wrote:
Plus it cost like $200.00+ to get the oil changed in a Boxster
seriously?? i have not heard this... that may be an issue, lol.
$13 to do it yourself like a real man should
yeh i usually do it myself... some cars its really difficult though based on engine placement.. now that i think about it i remember hearing about it being very difficult to change the oil on those things. anyone have any experience with that?
A Boxster or a Z4?
You are a woman, correct?
I've owned a 1998 Z-3 (the 2.8) and a 2000 Boxster (not S). Assuming you like the styling equally, I would recommend the BMW. The primary reason is maintenance costs. An oil change on the Porsche (not at the dealer but at a German specialty mechanic) is about $100, but the recommended interval is 7500 miles with synthetic oil, so that's not too out of line. However, it seemed like every little thing that went wrong with the Boxster cost me $1500. My car had 50,000 miles on it and I replaced the alternator, a coolant reservoir, and had to replace the transmission mounts. All of this work was expensive and surprising for a car that was not driven hard and didn't have too many miles on it.
In my opinion, the Boxster (like the S2000), required that you drive it like you stole it. You really had to keep your foot in it to have any fun. It is true though, that it handled like a dream and the engine sounded wonderful above 5000 rpm.
BMW engines are the shit, though. My Z3 had only about 190 horses (vs. 217 on the Boxster), but all that power was available from launch. I do most of my driving in town, so it was much more fun for me to drive the Z3. I also had no mechanical/maintenance issues with the Z3 (it did have only 25,000 miles on it though).
That said, I think the Z4 looks like snoopy and I wouldn't want to drive it, but the 3.0 has about 225 horses and excellent torque acceleration.
Tough decision.
I have a Z4. I mulled a Boxster, but I live in a snowy region and wanted stability control, which was going to force the Boxster to be newer and prohibitively more expensive.
The Z4 has many things going for it, but for me the ride on the crap roads here is terrible. I have the 2.5 w/ 17s and the sport suspension. It makes a Mini Cooper S seem comfy. The Z4 crashes over everything. Google the Top Gear comparison of Boxster/Z4/S2000 and they will echo my sentiment.
I'm hoping that replacing the run flats in the spring will help. Otherwise it may be traded early.
Smooth roads = Z4 as option
Bumpy roads = would probably reconsider stability control and get a Boxster (or pony up and go newer), or get a non-runflat 3 series (I had a '99 sedan before, and it was bloody brilliant)
As far as $200 oil changes, change your own damn oil. I just did it on my wife's Mini and saved $70 over the stealership. Never tried a Boxster oil change, but it's certainly worth a shot.
garmo wrote:
I've owned a 1998 Z-3 (the 2.8) and a 2000 Boxster (not S). Assuming you like the styling equally, I would recommend the BMW. The primary reason is maintenance costs. An oil change on the Porsche (not at the dealer but at a German specialty mechanic) is about $100, but the recommended interval is 7500 miles with synthetic oil, so that's not too out of line. However, it seemed like every little thing that went wrong with the Boxster cost me $1500. My car had 50,000 miles on it and I replaced the alternator, a coolant reservoir, and had to replace the transmission mounts. All of this work was expensive and surprising for a car that was not driven hard and didn't have too many miles on it.
In my opinion, the Boxster (like the S2000), required that you drive it like you stole it. You really had to keep your foot in it to have any fun. It is true though, that it handled like a dream and the engine sounded wonderful above 5000 rpm.
BMW engines are the shit, though. My Z3 had only about 190 horses (vs. 217 on the Boxster), but all that power was available from launch. I do most of my driving in town, so it was much more fun for me to drive the Z3. I also had no mechanical/maintenance issues with the Z3 (it did have only 25,000 miles on it though).
That said, I think the Z4 looks like snoopy and I wouldn't want to drive it, but the 3.0 has about 225 horses and excellent torque acceleration.
Tough decision.
thanks for the opinion. i do like the styling of both, and my main reason with going the boxster S route was the little extra hp (250ish)... not worth it if the maintaining it costs so much though. my rents have owned bmw's and they have all been very reliable.. i also do most of my driving in a 6 mile radius in the city, so having more torque is always a plus..
i wonder if anyone else has had any problems with maintenance? right now i will have to lean towards the Z4, even though i do like the boxster styling better... i really wish there were more competitors in this market segment... acura anyone?
excellent points from the poster above, but remember that 2000 was right around the first batch of boxsters ever made. they have drastically improved since then. i actually prefer the twice a year sythetic oil changes. might even be best to save your money for an older carrera. as, the typical 30k millionaire around here drives a boxster. that is, if that even matters to you. bottom line, the boxster is a great car and drives like you are on rails.
Have you considered a Corvette? You can find plenty of C5's (1997-2004) in your price range. Auto trader online shows a few clean 2004's for $25,900. Older C5's can be had much cheaper.
You'll find them in a variety of conditions, but my experience with used Corvettes has been that they have either been pounded around the racetrack by younger aspiring racecar drivers, or they are spit-shined and babied by the show-car crowd. It's not hard to tell which is which.
The LS1/LS6 engine is god's own powerplant, and it is absolutely dead solid reliable. It has a torque curve that will crush the S2000 and Z4, and yet it gets great gas mileage. The Corvette gets 24-26 highway MPG, depending on the transmission, compared to 25-27 for the BMW and 23 MPG for the thirsty Honda. (Did I just say that?)
Driving dynamics are not what you might expect. If you haven't driven a Corvette, you really owe it to yourself to try it out.
And that's my heavily American-biased two cents. Good luck.
AWD > 2WD wrote:
2004-2007 Subaru STi...Best bang for you buck for overall handling and power...It will destroy both of those cars you mentioned above in both straight line and auto-x...
STi FTW!!
I just went through that process 6 months ago. Except I was buying new, not used. Tested Z4 3.0i, Boxster (not S) and Audi TT. All very close in price.
The Z4 won in every respect. Main complaint about the TT is that it's too small, both trunk and cabin (with top up).
The Boxster came in second. It's a fun sports car, no doubt, but when you don't feel like driving it like an asshole it's not as comfortable as the Z4.
It wasn't a close call. The Z4 has as much power as the Boxster (in the trims I was shopping for), has equally good road grip, it's more comfortable for cruising, and I like the BMW styling better. The Z4 is less expensive too, so there was more left in the budget for extras. Better gas mileage too.
6 months and 8,000 miles later and I haven't regretted my choice for a second.
as a 968 owner I can tell u....only hair dressers driver boxsters.
The 1 series will be available in the spring, in both hardtop and ragtop. It looks like an incredible machine.