Have you guys seen the latest Excellence magazine?? - they did a great subjective test for the best "$20K Porsche"...very subjective, but they pitted a 968, 3.2 Carrera, and a 2.7 Boxter mostly in twisty street driving...

Final came down to the Boxter and the 3.2 Carrera....guess who won???
Hint, I was proud

 

Yes, I didn't spell boxster right....

 

It was a nice article. The author did a good job explaining the strengths and weaknesses of each car. The Carrera was not stock as I recall and had some suspension work done.

 

Hard call, depending what I was going to be doing with the car I don't know what way I would go. I love my 3.2, but I might take a Boxster. (I am probably going to get thrown off the board now)

 

yep, a little suspension work (which it should have as a 17 year old car) - I would agree with the article - for everyday the boxster would probably be the better choice - better AC - more liveable. But for pure enjoyment - the 3.2 is pretty darned good.

 

Oooooooooh. The Dark Side is strong in this one.

 

I was a bit hesitant when I read the 911 in this comparo was modified and wondered how that would affect the outcome. I'm somewhat of a purist on these articles and probably would have favored a comparo with bone stock cars. However, the mods done to the 911 in this article were pretty tame and I actually thought that the suspension mods were nothing out of the ordinary and probably would be something that typical owners would do to their cars. So, in the end, I don't think the mods really affected the outcome all that much.

However, you'd think by being in sunny CA that finding a very nice, stock, well maintained 911 would have been very easy for this mag article. It seemed that this car (the 911) might have been just a touch 'rough around the edges' from some of the descriptions they used...

That poor 968... It didn't fare well in this comparo...!

Jay

 

It was a 2.5 L Boxster, 1st engine generation. Nice article. I had a 2.7 L Boxster before getting my 911SC. The Boxster is a brilliant car.

Brett

 

i had a 99 base and 2000 s(boxster)..i loved the boxsters but love my 3.2 even more..i will say that i recently drove a new boxster base,and prefer the 99 to it..the older ones seem sportier..

 

There is almost 100 HP difference between the first and last Boxster, which makes them very different cars, IMO.

 

oh yes, I was wrong, it was a 2.5L Boxster...a 2.7L may have made it semi-harder of a comparison, but a 2.7L might be more than $20K.

 

did you guys check out the water cooled forum ? ..they just LOVED the article...

 

It just confirms what I had concluded several months ago. You gotta have two Porsches in your garage to fulfill every whim, desire, and need.

 

It seemed like it started out bad for the 3.2. It just won on soul!

 

I don't think the article was totally unbiased, but I managed to read through it five or six times.

They are all great cars, but the Carrera is the icon.

Might have been interesting with a tweeked 951 thrown in there. The thing is, 911s are so engaging. It still made me wonder if a Boxter was in my future.