Now that used Boxsters are available for about the same cost as doing a 914 well, will we lose our identity if we change over? Can we still be cheap assholes or will our pinkies go up? Will real Porsches wave at us?

Edit. Vote for both only if you can afford both Hell, I'd like a C-GT, too!

I voted for both...unless you have driven one hard and flogged it, you have no idea how well they really do handle

Compared to a 914 they drive and feel like a truck. Give me a Lotus Elise any day. Porsche should be ashamed of themselves.

I'd take one.... for a parts car!

Cole

It may be the case that you can get a boxster for a nicely done 914, but that boxster will probably need some expensive work or parts in its near future.... Just like a rough 914 would..


-Tony

Fuel for the fire. Put the disclaimer on 'both' only if you can afford both.
Jeff, agreed. I'd buy a $13,000 Elise in a heartbeat.
Tony, perhaps, but Type 4's have an engine life expectancy of less than 100k miles, new cars twice that much.

OH!, or is it AH!, yes, the Boxter S. They really P--- me off!

I have driven one a few laps at Heartland Park. And I have chased them around the track in our 914 with a 3.2 engine driving a 915 with a quaife, and I can tell you that they are a sweet car.

It is what the 914 would have evolved into, if Porsche had not been sidetracked with the 924 (what a piece of that was). Do not EVER volunteer to teach a student at a DE with say a 77 or 78 924!!!!!

But, get in line to work with a Boxter S, especially if your region insists that instructors drive the students cars for a few laps.

I'm not going to give up my 914, but I am saving my money! I just wish they were air cooled, but then, even my John Deere is water cooled, and it too is great!

I just recently made that choice, I'm getting my new car, My new car, I hope on Friday.

I never even considered the Boxster, not for even one moment.

They are "without souls", and way too many of them, and every one includes way too many "electrical features" to suit me.

It is just not much of a "sports car" with all that heavy crap in it.

The money is similar, but as far as I am concerned, --no way--

I am so excited, I'm probably glowing....

John

The current Boxster S is a very quick car, and is in fact Porsche's best handling car. The hardtop/fastback version (Cayman) is very much the equal of the 997 depending on the road course. I like the feel of an older 911 and a 914 too, but autos evolve. Porsche has executed their design brilliantly. The Elise looks great, and I wouldn't mind one either, but there is nothing Porsche should be ashamed about, unless engineering brilliance is a negative trait. Porsche can't sell an uncomfortable car to the masses and be profitable.
A plain old Boxster of about two years ago, easily left the quicker Z4 BMW on a winding road. There was no comparison. Comfortable isn't bad, only different. Buy the Boxster and make it a lightweight if you wish, but remember it is technically a brilliant bit of engineering, comfort or no.
You want quick (oh so very, very quick) and not so comfortable, buy a Caterham 7.

John, that is one nice car!

Is that hi-fi guy's car? It's a beauty if your getting it. Personally I really would like a boxster as my daily driver and if i could figure out how to get one tomorrow I think I would. I will never give up on my 914 though as we'll, the boxster is not a replacement for the 914. I think when you look at the 914 and try to compare it or bring it into the modern age you loose perspective of the car. For me all the mechanics of the car just feel great, I love the air cooling, I love that the steering is directly connected to the steering wheel, I love that I have a shift rod etc. These cars are about a time of the past, when cars were much more driver orrianted and much more mechanical, and I don't personally see how you can compare a car from 2000 with one from 1970's, they are both different beasts with plus's and minuses for both.When looking at the boxster I personally see a modern, fun sports car that draws from many ideas that I love in my 914 and I don't see how you really can go wrong. Yes it is extremly comfort orrianted, but what car of this vintage at that price isn't? anyway I'll take both.

Howard, it's even built further away from Stuttgart than the NARP 914, try Ussakaplunki, Finland.

anything without a type 4.

QUOTE (Eric Taylor @ Aug 2 2005, 06:25 PM)

Is that hi-fi guy's car? It's a beauty if your getting it.

Yes, it soon shall be "was Brian's car (HI-Fi-Guy)" Actually in a way, it will always be Brian's car.

John

P.S. Brian's vision for the makeup of this car so resembles what I may have "dream built" that I indulged myself, which I rarely do.

QUOTE (RAR @ Aug 2 2005, 07:21 PM)

Buy the Boxster and make it a lightweight if you wish

I've seen a few examples of this but none that seem to have done it completely right yet. I'm thinking there's a reason why Porsche hasn't built an RS Boxster, product competition.

I like the Boxster when I think of it as a new generation of 550 Spyder, but not as the Miata that Porsche built.

QUOTE (Flat VW @ Aug 2 2005, 06:41 PM)

QUOTE (Eric Taylor @ Aug 2 2005, 06:25 PM) Is that hi-fi guy's car? It's a beauty if your getting it. Yes, it soon shall be "was Brian's car (HI-Fi-Guy)" Actually in a way, it will always be Brian's car. John P.S. Brian's vision for the makeup of this car so resembles what I may have "dream built" that I indulged myself, which I rarely do.

How'd they do that front bumper with cut out for the oil cooler.

Looks cool.

It's quite likely that I'll get a used Boxster in a year or two for a daily driver.

Only when they come out with a masculine model....

QUOTE (olav @ Aug 2 2005, 07:51 PM)

QUOTE (Flat VW @ Aug 2 2005, 06:41 PM) QUOTE (Eric Taylor @ Aug 2 2005, 06:25 PM) Is that hi-fi guy's car? It's a beauty if your getting it. Yes, it soon shall be "was Brian's car (HI-Fi-Guy)" Actually in a way, it will always be Brian's car. John P.S. Brian's vision for the makeup of this car so resembles what I may have "dream built" that I indulged myself, which I rarely do. How'd they do that front bumper with cut out for the oil cooler. Looks cool.

FG - cool silver paint...

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 2 2005, 07:00 PM)

Only when they come out with a masculine model....

Sure...you know if you could figure out how to piss someone off by owning one you would have one.

QUOTE (GWN7 @ Aug 2 2005, 07:11 PM)

QUOTE (SEEMORE BUTZ @ Aug 2 2005, 07:00 PM) Only when they come out with a masculine model.... Sure...you know if you could figure out how to piss someone off by owning one you would have one.

Can't say yer wrong.....

I think the bumpers, which he says are FG, are from GT Racing, and painted silver and black. It is suprising how good FG bumpers can look when painted. Especially if you apply the 40/40 rule, or even the 10/10 rule.

QUOTE (jkeyzer @ Aug 2 2005, 05:15 PM)

Compared to a 914 they drive and feel like a truck.  Give me a Lotus Elise any day.  Porsche should be ashamed of themselves.

I think the Boxster is very agile and is almost impossible to upset going into a corner. Boxsters have shown their agility over and over at AX events I have attended this year, infact Nathan, Trekkor and me have all been beaten by relatively stock Boxsters this year at GGR and LPR AX events. If youre willing to put up with bare bone basics of an Elise or a 914 why not rip out the convertible top and lift mechanism, tear out electric seats, install lighter headers and exhaust, slap on CF front hood and rear trunk lids, remove the tons of insulation and you'd have a car that was very close to weight of a 914-6.

I would agree that in stock luxury form Boxsters are a little over weight but If you were to put them equal to what an Elise or 914 offer in accomodations they come down to a very reasonable weight.

Given you can pick up a nice Boxster now for around $15K they are a tremendous deal. I'm thinking of picking up a second one. Guess you could have an Elise for $40K + not sure they are worth that much?

Not an expert by any means, but I have had a LOT of fun in a Boxster S in the past year. We have had it our for DE and AX and it is a very well balanced car with GREAT brakes. I miss the raw experience of a 914 though.

Truck racing video :

http://www.porsche-racing.at/video/pannoni...niaring0405.wmv

The purchase price of the car is only the beginning. How many people have been sucked into the misleading allure of a sportscar that is 'only' $2500?

The allure of a 'just' $15K Boxster is as misleading as a $2500 914 -- "It handles great! I won't have to do ANYTHING!"

Then, something akin to the competition version of Dirk Wright's Disease takes hold, and nobody is content with the entry level car, or a car so similar to every body else, so the spending begins. You wind up with a $30K spec Boxster. Granted, it would be an awesome car, yet, it would be just like everybody else's.

Therefore, the cheapest work I can do to my car to have perform to a satisfactory level is to adjust my contentment threshold downward, and be happy with the 30 year old POS.

QUOTE (Maltese Falcon @ Aug 2 2005, 06:26 PM)

Howard, it's even built further away from Stuttgart than the NARP 914, try Ussakaplunki, Finland.

Cough ...I dont know why Porsche allows these guys to put this picture on their website, but I always laugh when I see it!



Valmet

Oh yeah and they will build the new Cayman S at Valmet too. They're too busy building SUV's in Germany!

This is a good one too!

Im still considering a stripped boxter with a v8.

its a big debate in my mind

I like the cars ok, I really like hardtops on 'em.

Ravenna...


M

I have driven both the Boxster and the Boxster S on a race track. The base model was just OK. I was impressed with the S version. I did seriously consider one in my recent search for a new daily driver. In the end, I decided it did not offer enough more of anything that I don't already have in my 914/6.

I would never consider a Boxster as a replacement for a 914. There were several other cars that suited my wants / needs better than a Boxster as a compliment to my teener.

I voted that they are for sissies..

Around here (greater Boston area), with a few exceptions of course, the typical driver of the Boxster is a dude who's made some money in the hi-tech industry and wants to buy a Porsche.. but not so much money that he can afford the likes of a 911: nor does he have the skillset to get into the vintage scene - not to mention the grease under the fingernails he'll have to pick out at work the next day.

This is all well & good - everyone is entitled to buy what they want - but where it falls apart for me is that these Boxster drivers, for the most part, haven't a clue as to WHAT they are piloting. It's just another fashion accessory for them. They may as well be in a Chrysler Sebring or Miata - poking down the highway obeying the posted speed limit (I tend to push that limit, but be sure not to be the fastest guy on the highway). You'll never see a Boxster close to it's limits on the roads around here. Ever. Also, they don't acknowledge other Porsche drivers, let alone realize the heritage of their beloved Boxster (our 914's). I speculate that this is mostly in part to the fact they are yapping on their cell phones while preening in the oversized rearview mirror, listening to the Top40 station. It's all very trendy, you see.

Furthermore, their roofs are up most of the time, and the vast majority of the cars I've seen have been Tiptronics. Yawn. The typical Boxster owner adheres to the same principle that first-time Ferrari owners tend to, that being, one's first F-car is typically red. Look-at-me-Red. The new P-Car owner goes for the turn-key Porsche - whatever is on the dealer lot at that moment. Even if I could afford it, I wouldn't be tempted...

I'd take a Boxster - sure - and sell it immediately upon contact... thereby funding another vintage project and stashing the rest in savings. I agree: they handle really well, especially the S variant - but a bit too refined for me. I'm not a fan of safety nets in my car.. The more utilitarian, the better - I prefer to be more vigilent on the roads than relax from within the airbag-cushioned interior. I like a car that gives back what I put into it. I like my 914. A LOT.

OK.. time to get my ass to work (in the 914)..

greg

I would Like to do a V8 Boxster.... I think that would be very cool...

Anyone seen any or know of any that have been done yet, just a matter of time now as the prices come down and engines fail

OK, I have both! I really don't care what anyone thinks about either one!!! I didn't get either car to impress anyone but me. Oh, yea and mine's a Tiptronic too. Don't worry, I know how to shift gears and my driving ability or testosterone level is not linked to a clutch pedal and gear shift lever.

The more I live with my Boxster the more it feels like a 914. Prior poster said it right, it's what the 914 would have evolved into.

Most Boxster bashers would shut their yaps if they lived with a Boxster for awhile. If they could afford the price of premium gas that is. And please let's not fault the car because some owners are posers.

After all these years of 914's getting the brunt of the NARP BS, I guess SOME 914'ers have to find somewhere to vent any internalized insecurities.

I like all Porsches, some not as much as others. How bout a useful thread for a change???

jeanne thinks they're cute. ok. then i remind her of craig's experience with the $1700(?) motor/transmision to raise and lower the top. i like the idea of a convertible with ac so i can drive around on sunny days with the top up.

k

Lets face in guys and gals.

When our 914 "babies" were new, back in the 70's, (for those few of you that are old enough to remember):

Our "babies" were the brunt of all kinds of jokes, from "isn't that really just a VW?" to 911 and 356 guys (who's beloved porsche was made by karmann too) would IGNORE 914s. They hated us because we had the cheap p-car that was half p and half v. And we were ruining the value of their cars. One time at a meeting, a guy actually said, "well the dealer says it is a porch, but it says VW on all the glass, and the door handles, so I guess it is a vw that the p dealers sell"

In the early 70s I think the beloved PCA did not even want to let us in their club. Seriously, we were the outcasts.

Most of you do not remember that rejection. P sold a ton of 914s in the US. More that 911s in those years, and the rich snob 911 guys did not like us P/vw clone folks calling our vw's a por-che (WHEN MOST OF THEM COULD NOT PRONOUNCE IT PROPERLY). I hope you all say Por-sha . . . it is a two syllable name.

Well, I know that this is a rambling piece of but people that can afford new Porsches have always fallen in to two caragories. 90% are effete snobs who buy the car not to "really drive it" or "not to love it" but because it costs a lot of money, and they do it for show, and it is like Viagra or something for them. Then there are the 10% who are genuinely nice people. Most AX and DE participants fall into that 10% of nice folks. The 90% croud are not about to "tear up" their car. The 10% nice people croud is the group of people that we 914 guys get to know. Almost 100% of 914 guys and gals fall into that category (genuinely nice people), until the boxter is mentioned, and then we start to act like those efete 911 people did back in the 70.

PLEASE, lets not start to act like "them"! The boxter is a genuinely great car. If you ever get a chance, like I said, in the previous post, drive a boxter s on a ract track. You WILL be impressed, but keep an open mind.

In 30 years I hope that there are a bunch of guys and gals like us still rejoicing about the 914, because I am sure there will be a bunch of boxter fans doing what we do, and bemoaning the complexity of the competer operated hydrogen powerd beast made from this or that plastic and bemoaning the simplicity of the boxter, and how unfair that this new monstrocity will go 0-60 in 1.965 seconds and pull 4.0 gs.

IMHO, I like both but can only afford my 914. Instead of an Elise, how about this? http://www.lotuscarclub.org/

Lotus Circuit Car Pic...my likes very much!

Have both, and both with the "lame" engine.

I don't drive cars for other people, I drive them to DRIVE THEM -- what others think don't matter. So I've had a string of fugly cars I thought fabulous. 914, XR4Ti, WRX, and now Boxster. 'em all.

Sold my first 911, an SC, in just four months -- the shortest period I've ever owned a car.

Every car I've owned and really loved was flawed either in the "status" game or visually somehow (the 986 looks bloated, but good from most angles) but all of them pleased my eye, partly because of what they did and partly because a little work on stance and wheel pick goes a long way.

There are a lot of cars that are all about styling but suck to drive: Audi TT, BMW Z4, et al please stand up. The Boxster is NOT one of them.

That said, I've had my 914 since high school and always will. Few cars can match its blend of immediacy, nostalgia, handling, sounds, smells, and, yes, serious speed and pace compared even to modern cars.

The 914 was an amazing feat for 1970.

So is the Boxster today.

Go for a ride at Weissach in a 997 with a factory test driver, then in a 987. The first turn, a hairpin, can be attacked far faster in the Boxster -- at such a pace that all information you've accumulated (no matter how much that is) will tell you that the car simply can't do it. Then it sticks and rockets onto the next turn.

Now imagine dropping the weight by 300 pounds.

pete

I voted for both. At some point the 914s are going to be too old without rebuilding every single component to keep them on the road. The boxster is a great replacement as prices drop. Just a matter of time, I would say when is the last time you saw someone tooling around in a 356 - but not 5 minutes ago I saw one drive down my street (but before then it has been a couple years).

I've owned 914s and a Boxster. Both are great cars although not at all alike.

The Elise, Exige, et al, are great cars and perhaps the true spiritual successors to the original 914 legacy. The Boxster can be a bit too bulky and refined to provide the thrills that come from a 914 or an Elise (of course they said the 914 was too bulky and refined in its day too). The brits will never build a proper water-tight top that didn't require a degree from Erector to raise or lower and stow. Nor will they ever offer up two generous trunks like Porsche.

For raw interaction with less fluff the Elise gets a 10 over the Boxster which has to settle for a 7 due to being "too refined" for most purist. The Boxster steering is better though, IMHO.

I also used the Boxster on several road trips averaging 2000-4000 miles each time. Great hi-speed manners, easy to drive fast day after day. The Boxster is a great companion on the road for a long or short haul and the suspension is sporty without being harsh. I have not had the pleasure of driving an Elise for more than a few minutes so I have no idea how it would fare. The 914 interior is actually more comfortable than both if you don't count the occasional need for A/C

Counting the days until the new Cayman arrives in the states.... then I can start counting the days until I can afford one

I voted for both about 5 months ago.
The Boxster has classic timeless lines, a great motor and great handling.