For anyone looking for a sweet 987S
 

http://www.advantagecertified.com/im...ry/52226_3.jpg

2006 Boxster S, 30k miles, 6-spd, NAV, PSM, heated seats, xenons - $33k

http://www.advantagecertified.com/in...entory_id=1993

It came up in a saved search but we more or less ruled out 2 seaters for the time being. Still, it's gorgeous, so I thought I'd post it.

Damn it.

LOL. My thoughts exactly.

We're currently thinking about the possibility of ED-ing an F10 535i about a year from now (coordinating the trip to line up with the kids' spring break - so late March 2011). That takes a P-car off the table until I truly hit my mid-life crisis age.

But this is enough to make me want to re-think.

Bah. Buy the Porsche to drive in the meantime. How much can it depreciate between now and then?

Tell that to Tonya.

I'm already trying to figure out how to tell it to Rachael.

LOL. Just noticed the FB post.

FYI... Mine will likely be for sale in ~8 months.

:eek:

I will own another one. But it'll have to be one of the '09+ cars. So it's gonna be awhile.

Why 8 months?

And let me know when you do put it up :D

Looks like a velvet blue jelly bean. :ack:

Let me know if you decide to keep it until spring 2011. :eeps:

TD, is the interior of this car Dark Blue? It looks it on my computer, but I can't tell.

The car looks very nice, basically what I would want in terms of equipment and it appears to be in good condition. Yet, as much as I love blue, that color combo does not make me say "wow!"

Hmmm...

The kids will be going to a daycare starting in the Fall and I will need to drive them daily. I could keep it, but after driving it basically daily from march until then, I feel it is a royal waste to keep it parked. I rather drive something fun daily. Tentatively, the plan is to sell it in late Summer/Fall "tough it out" until the next spring with the Jeep and V70R, and get a sports sedan in Spring of 2011 (ideally ED on an M3 sedan, but we'll see). At that point we'll consolidate into one family vehicle but what is not yet clear.

I would love to get a 987S again many years down the road. It really is an incredible car. I'm already eyeing that Spyder.

The 987S is still worth way too much to keep alongside the new/ish sedan. It looks like I got a good enough deal that I should not take a massive bath considering the privilege of having driven a very modern Porsche with full warranty for two convertible seasons.

I just may, because I love Fall in NE and it's late in the convertible season. I won't fire sell it if I can still get 3 more months of even sporadic driving. So if it sits over the winter, so be it.

Again, this is the (likely) plan, but who knows. I may just keep it.

I'll probably change my mind again about a million times before then, but I am in the market again in May 2011 so I will keep you in mind if you still have it.

Count me in as interested as well. ;)

I'll officially list it here first, of course.;)

I wouldn't call selling a Boxster for a fat pig with shitty balance a "step up."

I think you're suffering a bit from winter withdrawal syndrome, once spring comes and you drop the top, you'll wonder what the hell you were thinking.

Ed

That and the fact the engine sits out past the rear axle - outside the car's wheelbase :yikes: That Porsche has been able to resolve many of the early 911's death-defying handling traits is a testament to the company's painstaking refinement of an antiquated idea and of course, electronics.

The Cayman and Boxster line is inherently superior to any 911, but that's not generally where the ego-compromised male mid-lifers live, so ...

So, here's a question--what about a 987 non-S?

There are lots of them around, so they're cheap and relatively easy to find. On paper, they look like a sad bet next to the S--no 6th gear, wimpy looking wheels, and only 240 hp from a 2.7L six.

But I just took one for a spin, and I have to say the non-S may really be all you need. It's plenty quick, though certainly not terrifyingly fast, and it handles like you'd expect a Boxster to do. Hell, it's got as much power (though not as much torque) as the 986S did. You have to row the gearbox more than you would in a 987 S, but then again, if you didn't buy a Porsche to row the gearbox, why did you buy one? The lack of a 6th gear is irritating, but it's not a particularly big deal in the kind of driving you are likely to do in a car like this. How many long highway blasts is one likely to take? Finally, the 17" wheels look stupid but that's an easy fix. And the compelling logic is this--even at a dealer, a 2006 with less than 30K miles is in the mid to upper 20s.

Interesting observation. It just might be the ideal car if you are buying it as a weekend toy and you don't want the cost associated with buying an S. It does seem like the regular ones are more plentiful and can be had for more realistic prices than the S models. Certainly eliminates some of the guilt associated with having a pricey car that does not get driven much.

Some of the regular Boxsters were sold with decent looking wheels, too... they don't all have the wimpy ones.

That's what I drove, it was pretty good. It had the 18's (or maybe they were 19's) and a nice trim package.

At the time, I felt it too pricey for what it was (3 years ago), but today, they're way cheaper than S's.

Personally, I'd rather row through a gearbox and work the engine - it's more of a traditional sports car thing for me (it's the way all sports cars I grew up with were).

What kept me from pulling the trigger was the noise and the cramped, narrow interior, and ultimately, the price (at the time). Also, Boxsters are pretty ugly IMO - I still can't get used to the push-me, pull-you styling and large overhangs, from some angles, it's downright weird looking.

Says the man who loves Z4's :)

I think you are right. I decided to use it yesterday and today and I find it tough to think I'd want to get rid of it. Also, on the 4th day with the nanny, we are realizing how helpful she is in the mornings. We may just keep her an extra year (after 9/2011 we really will have no use for her given our kids ages) and pay for part time schooling for the socialization part of it. Or maybe keep her 3 days a week, etc.

Anyway, I'd love an extra year of driving the 987S daily plus nanny help. That's worth something to me. By 2012, used M3's and my 987S may be cheap enough that I could even have both. Who knows. I'll wait and see.

Vanilla 987's are great cars. They are also lighter by ~100lbs. Same brakes and suspension too. If on a budget, I'd really look at an early 987 over 986S'. They must be in the mid 20's by now.

Mental.

It's about not being happy with X because X+Y or Z is available...even if X would be suficcient to meet the objective criteria.

Three items of note directly related:

1. A couple years ago when John and I were running his 986S, we talked a good bit about the 987 non-S. What we kept coming back to was that the non-S just wouldn't do it because the S was available and it was "better" even though what made it better also made it useless for a very narrow application. Move on to the next idea.

2. When I was looking hard at the G8, the GXP was the only choice. With the exception of transmission avialability, the GT should have been perfectly suitable. The GXP doesn't make *that* much more power than the GT, but you can't get the GT with a stick. The price difference between those trims made for a very difficult mental block to get over (IIRC, the premium was often in the 40% neighborhood).

The other part on that car became clear to me in a conversation with Bren. For both of us, our fathers had never bought the top of the line bad ass motherfucker car. In the late 70s, my dad bought a 356B Coupe, not a speedster. In the early 80s, when looking for a GTO in the early 80s, bought a 1970 Olds Cutlass S, not a 442 (or GTO as originally intended). When he and I bought the '69 Vette, it was a 350, not a 427. The '89 Vette we bought was a non Z51 slushie. Etc.

If buying a G8, anything other than the GXP would have failed to satsify a basic mental need that was purely subjective and without redeeming objective value that would have made mental satisfaction with the car impossible even if the GT could be had with a stick...although it would have been perfectly fine if the GXP did not exist.

3. My experiences with my dad's newly acquired 2005 C6 Corvette last week was eye opening in some ways and perhaps a confirmation of a shift I suspected was going on in my outlook on cars. I still have to write up what it was like with the car for a week, but the short version is this: It's not a Z06 (it's not even the improved 2008+ LS3), it's kind of numb, it's far from perfect...but so what? It's fucking good enough as it is. Surprisingly so, in fact (even before considering autocross). It also went a long way towards confirming for me that I'd likely be quite happy with a Camaro 2SS despite the improvents coming on the '11 Mustang GT.

Says the guy who traded out a perfectly fine 335 for an M3.

I bought a 325 under this same logic. It lasted less than a year before I ordered the M3.

I'm with Clyde. It's mental.

The mental thing is a good point. And the marketers, with their red brake calipers and so forth, are very good at stoking the "you don't really want to settle for the base model" feeling.

It is purely irrational, but that doesn't make it less real. I just wonder whether it's something I could work around.

Everything that's for sale seems to come in three levels; base, mid and high end.

I recall purchasing my Vector Research receiver (still use it) in 1979, I got the VR5000 - the "middle" model, there was a VR2000 below it and a VR 9000 above. The middle model had the best combination of features and value, but the VR9k had cool lights ( and a lot more of them) and the VR2k reminded me of a Chevy Biscayne. :lol:

Ed

Non M E46? Check.
Non M E90? Check.
Non JCW Cooper S? Check.

I think you've done it before.

But did it work?

Non M E46 replaced (eventually) with an M? Check.
Non M E90 replaced with an M? Check.
Non JCW Coops S replaced with JCW? Not yet...

I would buy the non-S. Happily. But then I am not power hungry.

Its also how they generate the profits on these cars. The fixed costs of building a Boxster are essentially constant whether you buy a base or S, and the variable costs per car do not vary much from a base to an S. Some of the parts might have a slightly higher cost, but the cost is minimal. The real cost of red calipers is not much more than regular ones, etc. But they make you feel warm and fuzzy, they get our desire for status to overpower our sense of reason, and "bam"... Porsche just made a few thousand dollars extra off of us. :D

If *I* know that I can't work around this "issue", there is no way that you can.

...those bastards! :D

FWIW, it seems dumb, but just the 18" wheel upgrade (which IMO is necessary and std on the S) costs $2K. Is the difference still huge? Sure, but a .7L bump with its corresponding additional output in Porscheland is insanely expensive (see 911 vs 911S - and that is porportionately a smaller bump). Add the 6th speed, and much better sounding exhaust while surely a big premium, it's not vaporware.

A real 6K spent on a larger engine and better tranny and exhaust bitchslaps 6K spent on personalization which many do on a base 987. Nevermind that you get a bunch more in resale for the former. But this is nothing new. It's the "business case" made whenever anyone wants the premium trim on a model line.

You are making my point.

$2000 wheels; $6000 engine, tranny and exhaust.... how much extra does this cost Porsche when they are making the car? What is the extra cost of making a 18" wheel vs. a 17" wheel? The mechanicals do have an extra cost I'm sure, but is it even 10% or 20% of the extra retail?

Marketing 101... "price has nothing to do with cost." Do a good job of convincing people that they need the better model, and they'll spend thousands extra... and you're making tons of profit. And I'll say I'm guilty of falling for it too... we all are.

There was a story I heard someplace, perhaps apocryphal, about two laser printers, one of which cost $X and the other cost something like $2X. The primary difference between them was that the X unit was actually just a slowed down version of the 2X unit. No difference in manufacturing costs at all.

:+1

Wait, you mean like when BMW put the same engine in the E90 325i and 330i and tweaked the output a little bit... and then charged $5k more for the 330i? :D

Yeah, stuff like this happens alot actually. Cost difference between two items might be "x", but if the market research shows that people are willing to pay "10x" extra for the better model you sure bet they'll charge it.