In reply to rwdsport:
Well if you're done slinging insults and shouting opinions as facts, I'll gladly keep bench racing over a beer.
You drove a base Boxster. I have driven that and an S. I'm suggesting an S, which has a larger, more powerful motor, a better gearbox, a better suspension, better brakes, and a better interior than the car you were in, full stop. It's like damning all Miatas based on an NA 1.6/open diff car when everybody is saying an NB Sport is the answer. They are completely different cars with that one letter.
The RMS/IMS issues are extremely over-blown, and 90% of the cars that had that issue have been fixed by now, not to mention it was mainly concentrated on the early 996 911's and the 2.5 Boxster. The S never even really had those issues.
You say consumables tax but never actually looked up parts or asked around. We have multiple people in our club with both a Miata and a Boxster, and many of them claim it's a wash. The Boxster's tires may be more money, but the Miatas always end up needing additional work over a season (usually radiators). In my own experience, parts for a Porsche 944 were cheaper on average (and cheaper to maintain) than my 1.6 Miata was, and I was someone that used to rail against Porsche costs when I had an RX-7. If you don't look up the actual prices, you're ASSuming.
You already said you were replacing seats, and a Boxster is still well enough under your $20K spot to allow mods, so why can't you put seats in that?
What I'm trying to say is, you're already imagining a $10K Miata with $10K of mods being the best thing since sliced bread (the S2K), but you completely dismiss a Boxster based on it's "stockness", when you can easily have a $15K Boxster S and $5K in mods (seats, hardtop, wheels/tires, brakes) that would smoke the Miata on a road course and be a better street car.
And there's still plenty of other options, too, like Bob's C4 Corvette (which will annihilate both the Miata and the Porsche), the RX-8, a pre-swapped RX-7, or an MR-S.
Thanks for being civil in your electron exchanges.