Which Car? ~$20k Sportscar Edition

Hey folks. I've never had a fast car and due to some good news at work, now's the time for me to rectify that. The fastest car I've even kinda owned so far is my wife's mazda6 with the turbo 2.5L, so the bar is pretty low. 

My budget is set at no more than $20k buy-in. I'm also not going to be seriously shopping for a few months. The frontrunner right now is a 6-speed C6, preferably with the Z51 package. Otherwise there's the Boxster S and the occasional 996 that pop up. The Vette has a significant horsepower advantage over both, but I'm not sure how much of the alleged Porsche magic makes up for that. 

What else should I consider? I don't like Camaros and Coyote-powered Mustangs are still a little too expensive.

K24 swapped NB 

So this is subjective but here is my take:

The Vette is indeed a lot of speed for the money and can do lots of things we here like to do BUT

I find Porsches to be a nicer place to be. I also like the balance better on Boxters and Caymans over Vettes

Unfortunately I can't tell you anything about the the differences on the running costs as I'm always driving other peoples Vettes and Porsches. 

I also always defaults to 20K will buy a really cool open wheel car; so I've never investigated the running costs.

Having owned several Corvettes and now a 996 and 986, I can tell you that they are night and day.  The Corvette is a sledge hammer, the 996 is a scalpel.  You need to decide which you want.  Outright speed, the Corvette is faster acceleration.  996 is a dog below 4k RPM.  Get the 996 wound up and it comes to life.  It has a feel and a balance the Vette doesn't.  The Porsche shrinks around you, the Corvette doesn't.... you're always aware of its size.  I absolutely love them both, you won't go wrong either way.  Just very different approaches.

986 is similar to the 996 except a bit slower.  I've never pushed it to the limit.  I think the 996 has higher limits, but it's easier to approach the limit in the 986 because of engine placement.

SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) said:

Having owned several Corvettes and now a 996 and 986, I can tell you that they are night and day.  The Corvette is a sledge hammer, the 996 is a scalpel.  You need to decide which you want.  Outright speed, the Corvette is faster acceleration.  996 is a dog below 4k RPM.  Get the 996 wound up and it comes to life.  It has a feel and a balance the Vette doesn't.  The Porsche shrinks around you, the Corvette doesn't.... you're always aware of its size.  I absolutely love them both, you won't go wrong either way.  Just very different approaches.

I too have owned the Porsches and Corvettes.  I owned a C4 ZR1 and it was a sledgehammer or a car.  I've driven plenty of other Vettes too.  

Honestly at this budget, I would be looking at used V8 Mustangs and Camaros.  They are both so much cheaper and easier to keep on the road than Vettes or Porsches.  After my stint with Porsche's and Corvettes, I am now owning and beating the every loving snot out of some seriously cheap cars and having a blast.  It's liberating knowing that you can comfortably repair or replace anything that breaks.  I'm about to spend $20k or so on a Subaru STI and it will be driven in ways I'd never be able to drive a Porsche or Corvette.  My Camaro was acquired for 3.5k and once I have $20k in it, it will be very fast and more unique than anything else I could buy for that price.  It will have somewhere from 400 to 500 reliable horsepower. 

Through my searching, Coyote powered Mustangs (at least the earlier ones) seem to be in the same price range as C6 Corvettes, so the right one might meet your requirements.  

I've been looking for a decent C6 under 20k as well, and pickings seems to be quite slim for that criteria.

What are you going to be using the car for. 

If you're thinking Autocross you might want to look for something that's competitive in whatever class it runs in.  I don't know anything about Autocross so I can't help you there but there are a bunch of folks here who can.

 If you're thinking track days and learning to drive fast then a Boxter is an excellent choice.

If you just want something cool and fun to drive it's hard to beat the visceral experience of a Corvette.

In reply to APEowner :

Cool and fun is the primary criteria. Whatever I buy will see autocross but I have no illusions about winning anything. I'd just keep my Miata if I was that serious about it. 

You want to come up and drive the Boxster first? Heck come to PIR on the 10th and autocross it. 

In reply to Puddy46 :

Yeah, seems like $20k is the bottom of C6 pricing. Same with the 996. Good thing I'm patient, right?

Javelin said:

You want to come up and drive the Boxster first? Heck come to PIR on the 10th and autocross it. 

Oh yeah? That would be awesome.

thatsnowinnebago said:

In reply to APEowner :

Cool and fun is the primary criteria. Whatever I buy will see autocross but I have no illusions about winning anything. I'd just keep my Miata if I was that serious about it. 

I would suggest driving both and seeing what you think.  They are both an absolute blast, but in very different ways.  $20k will give you slim picking in C6, and it likely will be high mileage/damaged/etc...  $20k will buy you one bad ass C5.  You did talk about speed a decent bit in your original post.  I'm guessing you may like the Corvette better.  It's got that power and speed rush that the Porsche is missing.  You can get a C5 that will pin you in your seat AND turn corners damn well for your budget.

Does $20k get you a decent S2000? That also lacks the speed of the Corvette but folks seem to love them. 

dyintorace said:

Does $20k get you a decent S2000? That also lacks the speed of the Corvette but folks seem to love them. 

Maybe.  I looked hard at those recently.  Fun, very visceral.  Loud, etc....raw, which is the point.  The deal breaker for me was it is utterly lifeless below 5000rpm.  For a race car, sure.  For a street car, not so much...IMO

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

The options you mentioned are right up against the 20k budget-you're not leaving much room for maintenance and breakage. I'd be ok buying a cheap s2000, but a 20k 96 with the m96 is probably just a hot potato hand grenade. 

If you want fast, do the k-swapped nb or c5. If you want status, figure out what group you want to impress...

In reply to CrustyRedXpress :

I'd agree.  I wouldn't want to spend my entire $20k on a m96 equipped car.  At the same time, $20k will buy a very nice older Boxster with a TON of room to spare.  Many of them had the dual row IMS, which is far, far less prone to failure.  Or you can get one with IMS already done.  I actually have an '03 Boxster (non-S) I may be selling super cheap in the very near future.  They're phenomenal cars.  I love the S2000 and yes they're as reliable as the sunrise.  It's just a personal taste thing for me.  I can live with...and enjoy...how "raw" they are.  But the fact that my sons' HHR is just as fast as it is when below 5000rpm is a deal breaker for me.  I don't want to have to absolutely wring a cars' neck every time I want power.  The C5 is a fantastic option too.  Well within the $20k budget.  

No offense to Anthony but I've owned an STi and in no way would I compare it favorably to any Porsche.  Period.  I was very disappointed in the STi, the transmission is nice but the motor has several large flaws that can make it go boom and the overall quality of the car, to put it nicely, is garbage.

The Porsche is a much, much, much better built car and a much, much nicer place to be.  The STi would be the *last* "pocket rocket" on my shopping list. 

At your price point you're better off with a nice Boxster S, or maybe a Mk4 VW R32.  Other than that, the already mentioned domestics of mustang/camaro/vette can't be ignored for their bang for buck ability

I'm buying an STI for my purposes which are dirty.  I recommended a Camaro or Mustang in this case.  Both are more reliable and cheaper to feed and repair than any Porsche.  If you can't afford a turbo, GT or new 911, you probably don't want a Porsche long term.  You can rebuild an F body or Mustang many times for one Porsche engine rebuild.  

What about an BMW e46 of some sort like the 330Ci?  Not sure if really nice e46 M3's are available for $20k and maybe it makes more sense to go with the 330's as they shouldn't have the "M tax" to pay for. 

135i might also be worth a look.  I have no first hand experience with these cars.  I think the e46 coupes and convertibles look really nice and I like the size of them.

Jag F-type V6 convertible with a manual trans really interests me but they're not inexpensive enough and I don't think they're really what you're looking for anyway.

2004-2005 Mazdaspeed Miata.  GT version with low miles and hardtop should be around $20K.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Or a Z4. And no I'm not trying to push mine out the door. No Corvette, but they have power down low a lot of the other roadsters lack, and if you're looking for unique, depending on where you live you don't see that many. 

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

And again, I'm looking at WRXs and STIs for me.  In this case, I agree, they are probably a bad choice.  I think a Camaro or Mustang is still a likely solution.  I think the E46 and Z4 options are worth exploring too.  A Miata is also a great choice, but they aren't typically "fast."  V8 pony cars tend to be fast and less expensive to keep going.  They have their own set of compromises and sports cars, but they do a lot of different things pretty well. 

If the budget goes to $30k, I will start pulling for a Cayman S.  They aren't as fast, but they are a wonderful handling car, possibly one of the best.  Porsches also do well on stock suspensions and brakes and don't really need major upgrades.  Good quality dampers and making sure everything is factory spec is quite good.  With V8 pony cars, you can modify them to do most anything, but it always results in trade offs (handling vs ride, noise vs power, vibration vs reliabilty, etc.).  With a Porsche Cayman you kind of get everything and can still enjoy driving it for fun.  My next Porsche will be a Cayman S, if I ever have a next Porsche. 

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

A cayman S would 100% be my first choice if I was willing to outlay that much money. They're such good looking cars.

Looks like I was wrong about coyote-powered mustangs (see my recent S197 thread) so that's another option. I really like the grabber blue they came in.