holgum

Stretch your budget a little and get a 981 Cayman S. Test drive one and you'll be convinced. I still miss mine more than any other past car.

Qwksnke

The Boss cars are great. It was on my shopping list when I bought my 997.2

Mike Murphy

Corvette, Turbo Miata, Turbo FRS/BRZ.

140.6er

Although I would never sell my 997.2, if I were to venture outside the Porsche family it would have to be a E30 M3. That car is a blast to drive.

SpeedyD

I couldn't sell my 997.2 - at least not without having to... but I was looking at adding another car recently...

Though I ultimately went a much more expensive (and personally satisfying) direction, I was considering Caymans and Audi TTRS (prior generations) as lower-price additions. I do think the 987 Caymans are going to age the best (they are already aging a lot better than 981s) and make compelling cars, at any price point.

Another interesting and fun car would be an M Roadster or M Coupe, though they have more potential issues that you really need to understand to make sure you're getting a good deal.

qikqbn

There is nothing quite like Porsche steering and feedback through the chassis. For a fun weekend or track toy that will not put too big of a dent in your budget, then I also vote for the 987.1 or 987.2 Cayman S 3.4 . The Boxster S is awesome too and in 2007 they all went 3.4 liter. I think the 987.2 Boxster front end looks has aged better. The Caymans are about 15% more precise all around with the hard top and less prone to rattles long term, but if you like the top down then the boxster is a great experience. They are super fun on the track and just to blast around the canyons.

Petza914

Ariel Atom

C4SDayton

If you need torque, consider Vette or Mustang. If you want a fun track toy you can lope around town in too and have reliability and you like 9k rpm, test drive an S2000. I'm biased because I kept mine when I got my C4S to be my DD. The S2k has low torque, but the engine screams, the steering feedback is great, and service is simple. They have the best manual transmission perhaps ever. You get a convertible, but can throw a hardtop on in your price range. And plenty can be had with turbo or supercharger for more torque, but it never will be a V8 or larger displacement V6.

GTS Sully

Vote #2 on this selection. To be fair though, I'm not getting rid of my GTS.

MexicoBlueTurboS

What I envision and what are the realities are probably two different things. The problem is, many Porsches are just far too nice to hoon a little but it's hard to step down to the plastic interiors of many of the cars mentioned here. This whole damn adventure started because someone posted a $9000 BMW Z in Nextdoor about 2 years ago but a short test drive convinced me I want better and reignited a childhood passion for a silver 911 from late 60s - early 70s. But those are out of reach and it would be sacrilege to beat on one of them. I feel like we have a responsibility to be good stewards of most objects.

The best of all worlds would be a car that I could drive to the track, competitively race with in my class and drive home. I don't think I want to get a p/u truck and trailer and turn my life upside down at this point. Even just a little looking around and reading puts damper on this idea. Last night I had every intention of looking at and driving a Boxster S this AM but it's probably too nice to race or beat on and the only advantage to the C4s is that I can legally put my son next to me when we go out for top down drives. He never liked the wind situation in the cab.

I don't want to do any advanced wrenching any more (oil changes, brake pads and other 'easy' tasks are ok) and have found warranties to be useful considering the complexities of modern cars. I've really realized that mileage impacts prices more than anything. So a car with less than 10 or 25k miles will give huge savings when adding a warranty.

C4SDayton

If you want something with cheaper tire choices you can drive to and from track and be competitive, assuming you can drive to cars limits, with better reliability than German and American sports cars, and you won't mind beating the crap out of it, than Miata or S2k are best choices. Everything else requires more of everything, gas, tires, disposables, other fluids, service cost etc.

8x57IRS

Check the V8 conversion of flyinmiata.com

Ben@ThomasClassics

What about a Lotus?

cwheeler

Fun car. Way too expensive. IMO. Turbo the way to go.

Cw

Ben@ThomasClassics

I agree. I had a turbo'd Miata. It was some of the most fun I've ever had in a car. Only downside is no one can see you and they are marginally safer than a motorcycle lol