Speedster vs. Boxster

I know it is an apples and oranges question,but as both the speedster(replicas)and older Boxsters may be in the same purchase point price range,which do you folks ,with experience owning both ,think is more economical to own and operate over time? Both cars exude a certain voluptuous charm and appeal for different reasons.

The Boxter that can be purchased for $20,000.00 will cost a lot more over 5 years of ownership than a Speedster replica purchased for $20,000. A $20,000 Boxter is at the point that the very expensive systems on the car, i.e. engine,A/C,power windows,exhaust,etc are going into the need to be fixed stage. I have not owned a Boxter or any "Modern Porsche". I have heard some pretty scary prices on parts and labor to keep that nice 6 cyl purring. The $20,000 Speedster replica will be an almost new car built from very inexpensive components. The cost to drive the car for 5 years will be minimal in up keep. Also the depreciation on a Speedster bought right is pretty small. The Boxter has already taken a big hit in price from new and will either depreciate more or cost so much to keep on the road that you can spend $10,000 to keep the wheels turning. The Boxter is a much better everyday driver. I love my car, but it is not a good car to commute to a law office or make a 100 mile round trip commute in rainy weather. The replica is a nice toy. The Boxter is a real car, but will cost a lot to keep for 5 years. The Speedster is a lot cooler IMHO!

A Boxter is very cool and fun, but will never turn anywhere near the heads a Speedster will. To me the nostalgic feel of a 50's sports car is what it's all about. Plus I like driving something few other people drive. Depends what you want. Still, if you need an everyday driver, go for the Boxter.

Put a turbo in the speedster and there is only one choice......

That Porch is a BoxSter.

I've owned three of these cars, moving up the food chain from a $15K car I bought on ebay, through a JPS speedster built to my specs, and into my current Intermeccanica. My 2 cents worth for you goes something like this:

If you could be happy with a Boxster, then I'd heartily recommend buying one. A $20K Boxster is going to be a car you can use daily, in any weather, in any climate. It'll have crumple zones, and fuel injection, and air bags, and a top that really works.

A speedster replica of any manufacture, regardless of price, is a car with some significant compromises. A $20K speedster really is a 4 wheeled motorcycle. They leak both air and water into the cabin, and oil on the driveway. The tops are pretty much a joke. A certain level of mechanical aptitude is really pretty much required for ownership (valve adjustments every 500 miles, etc.). There is a distinct lack of creature comforts (like a real heater), as least as anybody under 60 years old has ever known it. There will be myriad issues related to the VW underpinnings, etc. The electrical is typically marginal.

A speedster replica really isn't for everybody, and that's why there's a LOT of 1 year old cars with 500 miles that "must be sold"-- guys fell in love with the pretty face, and had no concept of the actual cost (in terms of time, talent, etc.) of ownership.

So, if you could be happy with a Boxster, Z3, Miata, Solstice, etc., I'd really recommend buying one. You aren't really a good candidate for a speedster unless it's the only possible scratch for your itch. It's a disease, and funny little plastic cars are the only real cure. You have to enter into it understanding that owning one is not going to be a "second car" proposition-- this will be your third car, or fourth.

If you want to commute 365 days a year, and have some kid at the jiffy lube change your oil every 5K mi, and just forget about anything but detailing the car, buy something else.

If not-- then there's nothing else for you.

Stan, my man: Well said. You nailed it. I regard my Speedster as my second car because, well, it IS my second car. My second car is a toy -- so what? That does not count my '84 F-150 pickup, which mostly sits and is really just a motorized wheel barrow I use around the ranch.

Listen to Stan.

"I got a fever - and the ONLY cure is MORE COWBELL!!"

...WHAT!!!

Men, grateful your thoughtful replies. REading many threads here has given me the general gist of what owning a speedster replica is all about. I'm a tinkerer so the speedy thing turns me on. It would be a fifth or sixth car so the daily drver issue is not one.

Reading of the leaks in the JPS coupe is troubling. Stan and others: what gives with the inability to get a hardtop to fit on the convert. body. I see a darkblue car on the JPS photo gallery with a top of a different shape than the Glasspar one Stan had on his car. Available anywhere? Also, do these cars all leak water up from the road as implied in some of the posts regarding the Green JPS coupe?

Peter: Interestingly enough, even the original steel 356 Speedsters leaked - they're notorious for it, but mostly from around, and in the vicinity of, the top. They never leaked at the base of the body, although some leak around the door seals.

With replicas, on the other hand, IM, Beck and SAS don't seem to leak, especially the IM and SAS cars, because greater care has been taken in weather stripping them and they have roll-up side windows (with better seals), while Becks have insert side curtains (which seal - mostly).

For the rest, well....they leak. The amount that they leak around the body to frame/pan seal depends on how much care went into prepping the frame/pan and how much sealant was used to "glue" the two together. VW used a robust rubber seal between body and pan, but that is usually not used on Speedster replicas. Some don't leak at the body to frame/pan seam at all (because the builder probably used 6 - 8 or more BIG tubes of silicon sealant to seal the intersection), while others leak like a sieve and it's quite hard to retro-fit a seal there. Not impossible, but quite hard.

On the Boxster, I have a number of friends who've had at least one Boxster. The early ones were problem-prone, and I wouldn't touch one before 2000, preferably after 2002 when they got a lot of the nits straightened out. Service never seems to be cheap (it's a PORSCHE, after all) but the engine is buried in the middle of the car, often making even minor repairs a really big deal. What this means is that, on a "Total Cost of Ownership" basis and if both cars cost $20K, you would come out way ahead owning a Speedster for several years, but would only be able to drive it reliably on mostly sunny days.

gn

Stan: Valve adjust every 500 miles? That a typo? I do mine every 3000, only because of the zero lash. If I set 'em at 4 and 6 I would probably check them every 6K.

"I got a fever - and the ONLY cure is MORE COWBELL!!"

Good one Jim!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P37M_jiGdA

Mark

Good catch, Gordon. My mistake-- I meant to say 5000, as in 3000-5000 miles.

I've done a lot of trade-driving since I got mine. If someone wants to drive my car, I'll ask for equal driving time in theirs. I usually reserve that offer for folks whose cars are Volkswagens or Porsches, and I've been able to drive a pretty good variety because my car's a bit unusual.
One was a 2004 Boxster. Nothing off the clothesline, but it was still in pretty darned good shape for being driven daily. I think there was a fast-food wrapper on the passenger's side floorboard area, but hey. It was what it was. Dry day, big parking lot at a mall with nobody else around.
It was in good mechanical shape, no dents and no tears, but the guy who owned it said he'd bought it because he couldn't afford a 911. He wanted to drive my car because the engine was in the back, and I wanted to drive the Boxster because the engine was in the middle. We traded time right there, each telling the other to knock the cars around if we wanted to.
He went first and had a good time. I followed his route for the sake of comparison and realized that the mid-mount was very, very exciting. It was kind of like putting on a good running shoe and launching off of a starting block when I mashed the gas. The clutch wasn't what I expected at all. It was very quick through the first three gears, and as I downshifted to second to take the first U-turn on the route he'd taken, my track was a whole lot shorter.
My steering was tighter than his, but I didn't have to work to countersteer out of it. I was still on the throttle through the turn, and I was able to accelerate out of it with grace the Hoopty couldn't possibly match in a straight-line recovery. Brilliant. Not a hint of trailing-throttle oversteer. His gearbox was very nearly on a par with mine, but his suspension and balance was a whole lot better.
The second straightaway was absolutely wonderful -- even without being able to get to fourth. Third went by really quickly. It might have been faster through third than either of my old 928s, leaving me with the impression that I could have stayed in third for only a couple seconds longer than I did.
I hit fourth on a giant lap around that Sears parking lot only once, and never made it to fifth. Without fail, the gas pedal was uber-responsive. Dude assured me the car was only in factory tune, but I found it hard to believe. I wouldn't have known what to look for, anyway. That's a complicated-looking engine compartment.
The Boxster had similar curves, a familiar power band and a really good note to the exhaust, but I really didn't fall in love with the car. It didn't really "say" anything to me. It just was what it was; a very well put-together machine designed to keep the driving experience at the least-common denominator. Still, it was just a machine. I don't know that it could ever really be a member of the family.
For that guy, it was what he was looking for. I think he found the Hoopty's handling and brakes inadequate for his style of driving -- and I can't blame him. Both suck; you have to actually DRIVE my car, or it will kill you. I know he enjoyed it, but I don't think it was for him.
I think I'd make the Speedster vs. Boxster decision based on what kind of driving you're going to do and how in touch you want to be with your car. If you want to strap on a really agile rocket you don't have to out-think, maybe the Boxster is it for you. I can't say enough about how much fun it was to borrow for a few minutes.
If you'd like to put a little blood equity into a personalized signature, you don't mind the oil on your clothes and the grease under your nails and you can stomach the occasional hell of not figuring something out and asking for help, I'd heartily suggest a Speedster. For me, that pain is part of the joy.

"...the pain is part of the joy." Well put.

I would think that an ideal situation is to own both. The Boxster would be a daily driver, allowing comfort when you want it, fun when you want that, and overall peace of mind for relatively stress-free daily travel. The Speedster is for when you want passion.

Cory, drive to Morro Bay in April and take a spin in my Ghia

why not put a speedster body on a boxster frame?

I've owned a 914 and now have an Alfa spider. The 914 was a pain for anything more than oil changes, but a snug,balanced,taught-feeling car, though seriously underpowered. The Alfa is,well, Italian: sexy,lethargic and more about style than anything else.

I miss the 914 but not the maintence (access)hassle. Think I will stay away from the Boxster. By the way, the Alfa leaks all over the place.Speedster would be a melding of alfa and 914 virtues...(?)

To quote MUSBJIM, Re: Speedsters -- Zero-to-cool in 3.1 sec. i.e., the time it takes to sit in one. Just about says it all. While I was waiting for my car to be built, I drove an '07 Boxster at a local dealership. Large engine, 6 speed. W/ the salesmen on my right, there was not so much of what Corry and other dude did in the parking lot, but we toodled around some, and wound it up in lower gears a little. Some impressions: I cannot believe the this "little" two-seater Boxster weighs more than 3,000 lb.; the cabin is cramped, insofar as there is only room for you to be caressed on all sides -- the center is all equipment (cup holders, and so forth), and the dash/cabin layout looks very much like any other modern car you care to name: Honda, Toyota, etc., same synthetic materials used. There are many safety features, not the least of which are all those lbs. The car is very solid, and is designed to save your butt big time should you get off the road at speed, come to a sudden stop, roll over, go airborne or come up on the wrong side of an SUV going the other way. Each of these maneuvers is likely not going to kill you, and the salesman had several (presumed to be true) stories to back that up. Tinkering? fuggedaboudit. there is no engine to be seen. Just to see the top of the engine would cost you $300 at a dealership. It is very quick and very agile, and all that new tech: variable valve timing, electronic FI and management, is truly wonderful.

If I were a rich man, I'd probably have one, as can think of no other modern sports car I'd rather have, except maybe one of the 911s. While cool to look at, a Boxster cannot, IMHO, hold a candle to a '57 Speedster, replica, real or otherwise.

I'm just sayin' . . .

"I think there was a fast-food wrapper on the passenger's side floorboard area"

That was funny!!! It's been a long time since anything was funny on this site to me.

...powerboat OR sailboat?

...Goldwing OR Bultaco?

...LearJet OR Piper?

...Stephen Colbert funny OR 3 Stooges funny?

Stephen,

Do you just skip over MUSBJIM's offerings? As for humor, he is very reliable, IMHO. Funniest fellow on these pages, for sure. Helluva nice guy too.

Glad SOMEBODY caught that, Steve-O!
Vince, next time I'm out that way I'll absolutely take you up on that offer! If you come out this way -- even for an afternoon -- my keys are yours.

Back to the Boxster comparison for a minute -- I forgot to mention that the Boxster had MUCH wider tires than my Speedster did, and -- as Kelly pointed out -- it was almost 2,000 lbs. heavier.
It was interesting to feel, even as heavy as it was, it didn't seem heavy or ponderous at all. It felt oddly light enough that I had a good idea of what the road surface felt like to the tires, like a 'Princess and the Pea' thing going on there.
If you could open the door and lay your left palm on the roadway as you drove, your right hand on the wheel would telegraph the same sensations. When my steering box was on the chopping block, I went to great lengths to replicate that feeling.
Accurately interpreting max feedback from my front end really makes a difference to me in how much I hang over the edge when I'm driving, but it took the Boxster to help me figure that out.

Some of the most fun I've had driving (on a track) in a long while was in a Boxster "S" - Surprised the heck out of some "Spec Miata" racing cars with it, and it was showroom stock except for better brake pads.

Steven kinda sounds like Marvin the Robot on "the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" http://www.memoryhole.net/marvin.jpg