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I've never owned a convertible so I want to give it a shot.
My budget is under $15k. Which would you choose?
Corvette C4 (early-90's)
Pros: my favorite in the style category, cheap to maintain, easy to mod, V8 torque.
Cons: low ground clearance, rattles, hard to find with a stick, 'redneck' jokes from friends.
Corvette C5 (late-90's/early aughts)
Pros: better power, handling and refinement, looks baller with the top down, also cheap to maintain and easy to mod.
Cons: highest price, too big for city maneuvering, most common on the road, eats up tires.
Porsche 968 (mid-90's)
Pros: rarest on the road, great handling, will always get questions at gas stations.
Cons: hard to source parts, underpowered, looks like a Miata from a distance.
Porsche Boxster (late-90's/early aughts)
Pros: excellent handling, well built, tossable in the city.
Cons: arm & a leg to maintain, IMS bearing fear, 'douchebag' jokes from friends.
Honda S2000 (early aughts)
Pros: most fun handling, somewhat rare on the road, mod options galore, tossable in the city.
Cons: no torque taking off from stoplights, impractical space, also looks like a Miata.
Mercedes SL500 (mid-90's)
Pros: also has a V8, refined, styling has aged very well, somewhat rare.
Cons: no stick, interior looks too...German.
If you don't like any of these, suggest your favorite. (although I'm generally not too interested in anything by BMW or Audi.)
Yamaha R6. 10 times as fast, in terms of acceleration, as any of those cages you mentioned and about 100 times as much fun. Not enough top speed? Get the R1. It'll smoke all of those cars.
Out of all of those, I'd pick the Boxster. In Dallas right now, you can even find 2000 Boxster S models around 10-13k.
Do NOT get a used SL500. That will be FAR worse than any of the others in terms of reliability and cost to maintain. Trust me, I know.
A good friend of mine has an S2000. After riding, then driving in my old 2001 Boxster S, he said his car just didn't compare.
Out of the rest of your choices, the C5 is the only one that I would even consider. It won't feel as good as the Boxster in handling or steering feel, but it'll have more low end grunt and will be a bit faster. (Though if you get a Boxster S, a race with a C5 would be fairly close.)
If you go with the Boxster, make sure it's a 2000 year model or up. The base Boxster engine size was increased, and power goes up to 217 hp IIRC, along with some other improvements. The S starts at 250hp with bigger brakes, wheels, and better suspension.
Yamaha R6. 10 times as fast, in terms of acceleration, as any of those cages you mentioned and about 100 times as much fun. Not enough top speed? Get the R1. It'll smoke all of those cars.
Out of all of those, I'd pick the Boxster. In Dallas right now, you can even find 2000 Boxster S models around 10-13k.
Do NOT get a used SL500. That will be FAR worse than any of the others in terms of reliability and cost to maintain. Trust me, I know.
A good friend of mine has an S2000. After riding, then driving in my old 2001 Boxster S, he said his car just didn't compare.
Out of the rest of your choices, the C5 is the only one that I would even consider. It won't feel as good as the Boxster in handling or steering feel, but it'll have more low end grunt and will be a bit faster. (Though if you get a Boxster S, a race with a C5 would be fairly close.)
If you go with the Boxster, make sure it's a 2000 year model or up. The base Boxster engine size was increased, and power goes up to 217 hp IIRC, along with some other improvements. The S starts at 250hp with bigger brakes, wheels, and better suspension.
Good luck finding your new toy.
I like Boxsters, and price can't be beat, but I'm worried about the IMS/RMS issue. Probably overblown all over the web forums...but still it is somewhat concerning. What do you think?
Yamaha R6. 10 times as fast, in terms of acceleration, as any of those cages you mentioned and about 100 times as much fun. Not enough top speed? Get the R1. It'll smoke all of those cars.
Now that's my kind of toy. Except I have a GSXR 600. Got it brand new for 8k. Love the R1 though.
I like Boxsters, and price can't be beat, but I'm worried about the IMS/RMS issue. Probably overblown all over the web forums...but still it is somewhat concerning. What do you think?
For any Porsche, getting a PPI is a necessity, at a reputable dealer or independent specialist. They'll be able to tell you whether the car has been abused or not.
If the car checks out, then you can invest in the IMS Guardian. It's an aftermarket sensor that monitors whether your IMS bearing is about to let go. It's not terribly expensive, I've known some guys that have installed them in their 996's, I didn't have one in my Boxster.
If nothing else, it will give you peace of mind in case you do have problems. Not all engines suffer from IMS failure, so you may buy it and never have any problems.
If I was going to buy an early Boxster now, with probably 50k+ miles and no warranty, I would probably get the IMS Guardian for it.
I like Boxsters, and price can't be beat, but I'm worried about the IMS/RMS issue. Probably overblown all over the web forums...but still it is somewhat concerning. What do you think?
Maintenance issues and cost is the primary reason the early Boxster's are so "affrodable" in terms of purchasing price. While things are generally overblown online, I think this one has some truth to it. If you feel you can afford the maintenace though a 2000+ Boxster S is a real fun ride.
Of the cars on your list, my picks would be the C5 or S2000. The C5 Vette is easily the best performance car on the list and like you said, easy to maintain, not trouble prone and cheap to play with (relatively). The S2000 would be my second pick. They aren't the fastest things in the world, but are an absolute blast to drive.
Maintenance issues and cost is the primary reason the early Boxster's are so "affrodable" in terms of purchasing price. While things are generally overblown online, I think this one has some truth to it. If you feel you can afford the maintenace though a 2000+ Boxster S is a real fun ride.
Of the cars on your list, my picks would be the C5 or S2000. The C5 Vette is easily the best performance car on the list and like you said, easy to maintain, not trouble prone and cheap to play with (relatively). The S2000 would be my second pick. They aren't the fastest things in the world, but are an absolute blast to drive.
I admit the S2000 and C5 are the two I'm most considering. They're on opposite ends of the spectrum, I know (although I've seen some great S2000's swapped with LS1 on Youtube!)
Right now my DD is an Accord--love the revs but no power. A C5 would be a perfect complement. However I think my next sedan down the road may be a CTS-V, so in that case then the S2000 would be the complement. Hmmm...
we had an 05 s2k for a couple years, and yes it was a blast to drive even stock. Who cares if it has less on the low end, as it revs quickly and will pull hard thru the vtec... and we could still get upper 20's to near 30 mpg which was fine for us. Trunk was reasonable considering.
We took the one we had over a miata, mostly due to power. And they are easy to mod, our daughter/son in law's s2k is in the 500hp range, with more to go.
We loved it, just as a second car wasnt as practical for our needs but if it's just a toy then i'd highly recommend one (try to find a stock one though which was a bit hard, not a car already hit by the tuner crowd lol)
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