picking children - 3.2 carrera or boxster 2.5?

I've got a bit of a dilemma I hope you guys can help me with...

I've got two fairly undesirable Porsches that I love and a wife that wants a new kitchen. Here's what I've got:

1984 Carrera 3.2 Targa, brown, runs good, a little rusty but not terrible. It's biggest fault is that it's a Targa.

1997 Boxster 2.5, red, recovered theft so "rebuilt" title, otherwise an absolutely perfect car with 80K miles.

The Boxster is a really good car that, if you never saw the title, you wouldn't believe it is a "rebuilt" car. It's fun to drive but not really all that fast.

I have to sell one of them and I think they are worth about the same. I like that, since I bought it so cheap, fixing the Carrera has an upside. The Boxster, on the other hand, will never be worth much due to the title status.

This would be an easy decision if the 911 were a coupe (I'd keep it without hesitation) or if the Boxster were an 'S' (and not red), I would take a Boxster S over a 3.2 Targa any day.

The logical thing to do would be to sell both and buy something I really want. Problem is, if I sell both, I'm not likely getting another Porsche - we would more than likely be getting bigger/better/more home improvements.

Any advice? Anyone want to vote Boxster or 911 to help me make up my mind? Thanks!!

The Targa will maintain is value. The boxster will not.

Beyond that which one do you like to drive more?

That's exactly why it's so tough for me to choose - I enjoy driving them both, but for different reasons.

I LOVE the dash, gauges and view out the front of the 911. I like how involving the car is. The steering is my definition of perfect. That said, I don't like the chassis flex, the feeble ventilation or the shifter. Sometimes it reminds me of my first car - a 1972 Super Beetle - in some good ways and some not so good.

The Boxster is a lot of fun, too - especially with the top down in the summer, at night with no other cars on the road. It's also more useful as a car. It has heat and A/C that work and a great power top. But, there's something about the 911 that the Boxster lacks. Somehow the 911 feels 'special' where the Boxster feels more like 'just a car' when I think about it.

No idea which car to keep, hence the post. Thanks!

Tough call sure.

Maybe you should sell both and get 3.2 Coupe with a G50.

I like the boxster, but don't like convertables. I live in Arizona so 115F summer heat is tough on a soft top. I have instructed Boxsters in PCA both autocross and DE. Nice well balanced cars and no where near as "truckish" as a 3.2. Still a well balanced 3.2 can be quite fast even with a Targa roof. Rust could be the big issue however.

I say definitely keep the 911.

I agree with the sell both and get one. You don't really like either car. Make a deal with the wife, you sell both, she gets a new kitchen, and you get a "new" Porsche before the kitchen's done.

P71 wrote: I agree with the sell both and get one. You don't *really* like either car. Make a deal with the wife, you sell both, she gets a new kitchen, and you get a "new" Porsche *before* the kitchen's done.

start with an educated target cost for the kitchen, and an educated target cost for a replacement porsche that is the car you want. get agreement to both in writing, even if it's just a scrawl on the family whiteboard / chalkboard. in fact, get a new whiteboard specifically for this scrawl, and the ones to come. use a sharpie on it, LOL.

sell both porsches, and fund the kitchen project as required. anything left goes into an insured money market that could someday become the porsche fund.

build the kitchen. dip into car fund as required, after agreeing (and noting the agreement on the whiteboard above with the sharpie above) that the porsche fund will receive all post-kitchen household discretionary spending money until the porsche fund is 100% filled to agreed-upon number.

enjoy wife with new kitchen. no eating out (pervs!) at restaurants until the relpacement porsche is tucked away in your garage.

happy wife, happy life (maybe). unhappy wife, miserable life GUARANberkeleyingTEED!

Well, you could divorce the wife, give her the house, & you keep the cars...but it may be cheaper in the long run to just sell that 911 & run the wheels off that Boxster...

If he divorced the wife he would still have to choose which one he kept.

I have a feeling that if you sell both, you won't "get around' to getting another for ten years or so. I say keep the 911; at a hair over 20 years old, it's at the bottom of its depreciation curve. And come on, who doesn't like 80's brown on their sports car?

I say ditch the targa.

Ditch the targa before the rust kills it.

Since the value of the boxter is already eroded you can track it without worrying about balling it up.... as much

how much?

Can't simply divorce the wife - I'm one of the few people I know who is actually happily married. She's stuck with me through cancer, too, so divorce and ultimatums are out.

The Targa isn't terribly rusty - it's got a spot in the trunk, one in the door jam and one on the fender. But it sure is 1980's brown..

Keep the votes coming, I appreciate the help!

Well, it doesn't sound like either of these are your main daily-driver. If one of them was, I'd think the Boxster would be the no-brainer choice.

Given the situation with the Boxster, I'm guessing it would probably take 20-years before you start seeing any increase in it's value, and even then, it's always going to be worth less than one with a clean title. OTOH, it sounds like you could invest a modest amount of time/money into fixing the rust on the 911 and have a nice, collectible classic car. Even if it doesn't have the value of other 911's, there will still be a market for it & it's value probably won't decrease once it's repaired, if it's maintained.

So if you're absolutely sure you want to keep one(vs. selling them both & buying one you truly want), I'd say keep the 911. Besides, if you sell the Boxster you could probably buy it back for what you sold it for - if not less.

sell the boxter, earmark a bit for repairs for the targa. complete the kitchen, then sell the targa , in that order.. this way the kitchen already done when the targa is sold and the funds (which will be maximized due to the earmarked repairs) can go right into the next car. everyone is happy...

Maybe I missed something, but you can't fund a kitchen remodel on the proceeds from the sale of either. Not without going really cheap on the appliances and doing all the work yourself.

That said, if the car is used for commuting, I'd keep the Boxster. If not, the Targa.

I would say keep the Boxster. With the rebuilt title you will never get even money for the value. Not like resale value, but value of driving, experience, etc. I think over the long run, the Targa will end up costing more in maintenance and restoration. Having said that, you appear to be more attached to the Targa.. keep it.

porsche on the cheap, sell them both and then improve your house to the greatest extent possible with the money. then when the market picks back up which it will @ some point sell the house take you FAIR share of the profit and go buy a used 993 twin turbo and for now buy a miata and have fun with that. Now that is a plan!

^^hmm, sell both buy a miata, sounds like a very GRM plan

I say keep the Targa. Maybe it's not the "desirable" Porsche of the era, but an 80s Porsche is a classic shape. At its introduction, IIRC, the Boxster was derided as being the unPorscheiest Porsche to ever Porsche. Oh the hue and cry from the faithful when those weird headlights from the Boxster made their way temporarily onto the 911... Edge- Targa. The Boxster isn't REALLY a real Porsche... ;)

And I'd drive a UPS-van brown 80s Porsche over a newish Boxster with a CLEAN title, any day.

My vote: Sell Boxster, keep Targa for now. Later, after the proceeds from the Boxster have gone into your wife's new kitchen (you'll enjoy it, too, though- keep that in mind), you can debate on taking some funds from the household discretionary fund to "pay you back" for the Boxster, and possibly selling the ol' brown Targa in favor of the Guards Red 86 Carrera coupe (or whatever) that you REALLY want.

Talk it over with the wife.

Oh, and what expensive hobby does your wife enjoy as a counterpart to your care and feeding of old German sportscars? Maybe ask her to give up something from that to fund part of the kitchen as well?

I have seen a UPS brown 3.2 carrera racer. Infact it had UPS decals all over it. It was pretty cool... Then again race car cool is not the same as street car cool.

PorschesOnTheCheap wrote: But, there's something about the 911 that the Boxster lacks. Somehow the 911 feels 'special' where the Boxster feels more like 'just a car' when I think about it.

There's your answer. There are plenty of nice cars out there. There are far fewer special cars.

I presume you'll have another appliance car. Or you can potentially talk the wife into letting you have a $5-7k appliance after selling a Porsche.

Or, sell them both and get a turbo miata.

Thank you all!

Here's the plan - sell the Boxster and keep the 911.

Here's the twist - I'm not going to restore the 911 or even fix the rust. I'm going to drive it until all of the home improvements are done (and paid for), then use it as an engine/transmission and suspension donor...

I

The plan is to find either a rust-free, pre-1974 non-sunroof coupe and transplant all my parts, then sell the Targa shell and paint said pre-1974 911 black or to do the very same thing only using a 1978-86 930 that's got a major engine problem as the the 3.2/915 recipient.

If I scored a blown up 930, I'd also ditch the turbo tail and bolt-up the Targa's regular non-spoiler engine lid as for some reason, an 80's Carrera coupe with turbo flares and no rear wing is the coolest car on the planet in my eyes. Black with black-centered Fuchs or old-school RUF 17's.

Anybody want to buy a $7000 Boxster?

Hmmmm.....

......cheap Boxster, black primer, Cragars....