Hi,

need some advise to make up my mind:

I am currently driving a 2002 Boxster S and it's time to add more umph to my ride. I usually do 10 track days a year (40 so far sin ce I have the car).
Now I am undecided to either drop a 3.6 or 3.8 into my Boxster (and have a sleeper mid-engine racer) or sell the Box alltogether and upgrade to a 997S.
Anyone here who went a similar route and specially who has some comparison between a 997 and 986 during track days? (kind-a worried about the handling of a rear engine P-car vs. my mid-engine P-car)

Thanks
Chris

 

Go for it. I had both. 986 is an awesome car but there is 7 years of research invested in handling, breaking and transmisson to make 997S a VERY fun car.

Make sure you buy one with chrono pack. I love the way it acts on track.

 

I was in the same boat and changed (not to use the word upgraded) from 2005 Boxster to 997.2 S. Some say there is little difference between Boxster and Carrera in general but I think they're fundamentally different cars. I haven't tracked my Boxster to be honest and just started taking out the Carrera on the track so take my comment with a grain of salt. That said, I found the boxster to be sharper around the (tight) curves and more gokart like. The Carrera is almost 300 pounds heavier and combined with more power just has more to give especially in higher speeds.

But take a look here:
And here: http://www.caranddriver.com/features...et-test-page-3

That said, personally, I would never take a convertible on a track for various reasons. I'd decide between Cayman S / R and Carrera S or may as well look into GT models.

But then again, the Boxster was an awesome DD (two trunks and convertible for some 50K less in my case).

 

Agree with the above poster. I've tracked my brother's boxster S in Texas and I've also owned a Honda s2000 for the past 10 years prior to moving on to a 997S. I haven't tracked as much as many on these boards but have done many very spirited mountain runs with car groups over the years.

The lighter cars like the boxster/s2000/miata's are very nimble in corners and breaking but there's something with the added weight/power of the 997 that makes the car feel more solid when accelerating out of corners. Really not sure how to explain in but that above video describes the feel perfectly imo.

I wonder if even putting a bigger engine in the 986 would still lack the "911 feel" that many drivers talk about when taking a 911 on the track.

 

I had a 2001 Boxster (986S) before my 997S. I'd say the 986 is more fun doing AX but the 997 is a better track car.

 

We moved from an '09 987S to our current 997 C4S cabriolet. Two different cars and handling. Both are awesome in their own right. If you plan on tracking a 997, then go for a coupe. One thing I noticed immediately was that our 997 Cab has much more cowl shake (and a few more rattles as a result) on the road.

Pound for pound and dollar for dollar, the 987S is an incredible deal, but the 997 C4S is an incredibly sexy car, and I LIKE "sexy."

 

Thanks guys :-)
Sorry I should have made this clear my 997 will be a Coupe.
I have a budget of around $45k, so that probably puts me in the 2005 ~ 2006 range, hope that's realistic.

Question:
I want PASM, and Sport Exhaust
Is that automatically included in the Sport Chrono package or not?
My understanding that Sport Chrono Plus just adds a few gimmics like seat memory over Sports Chrono - also correct? I really don't need the stop watch (I have a much better lap timer), were there also options Where you got PASM and Sport Exhaust w/o Sport Chrono?
Please forgive the stupid questions but I am just learning the ropes and option codes and the only button my car has is "PSM OFF" ;-)

 

You can get a very nicely options 2005 for that S model, i had to have CHrono + Full Leather + Bose... i found some 2006 with a bit higher miles, and less options for that...either year is the same. If your one of the people who worry about IMS, then i'd suggest getting the EARLY PRODUCTION 2005's because you can change the IMS easily in them when doing the clutch..

 

PASM and Sport Exhaust came as separate options. In other words, you do not need sport chrono to get PASM although PASM was included in the sport crono package.

As a price comparison, I bought my 05 C2 (non S) this Feb for $36.5K. It had 32,000 miles, and are optioned with full leather, Bose, nav, PASM and factory areo wing. C2S's usually go $6k-$8k over C2's. So for your budget you should be able to find a nice 05 C2s with less than 40k miles.

 

man you got an amazing deal, specially it was in february!!! that is not a normal deal... i looked at dealers prices for 2005 S when i was buying 2 weeks ago and none were under $45,000 if they had low miles, CPO were even up there at $50,000, i ended up with a CPO but from private owner with only 18,000 miles fully loaded and i still paid over $40,000

 

IMNSHO, Chrono is a must if you are doing DE & AX - though you can also go w/ a tuning kit/chip. RE: exhaust... if it has sport exhaust, consider it a bonus but I wouldn't go out of my way looking for cars w/ it. There a many great aftermkt exhaust options which are scalable and weigh much less while sounding great at all RPMs.

Good luck

 

On 997.1's the only real advantage to sport chrono is the ability to adjust the traction/stability control to a middle "sport" setting.

The extra sensitive throttle response can be had with a sprint booster.

Also I *think* PASM is standard on S's

 

I bought a 986S new in 2001 and have used it as a daily driver since then, now with over107K miles on the clock. Last March I bought a new Carrera GTS (rear drive coupe). I love both cars, but they are like night and day, which isn't surprising. Still, when it came time to sell the 986, I couldn't do it, so now I'm paying to insure and service both cars. LOVE the GTS but gotta' have a rag top for those sunny cool days! I don't track often enough to comment intelligently on that aspect of it.

 

I have both, and track both. As has already been mentioned, 986 and 997 are way different. For the 997, I ended up changing the pasm out for damptronics, which is a good compromise for track and dd duties. I wouldn't waste money on pse, just do a gundo hack or get better cans / sports cats. I also got sports chrono but the wart is pretty much useless for track days IMO. I thought about selling the Boxster but with resale so low (and very low miles) I decided to keep it for weekends and track days (so it now has pss9, gt3 lca, r spec semi slicks and so on).

 

Bonus question:
So I revised my budget one more time and I think I have the following choices:
A) Keep the Boxster and buy a 2006 or 2007 C2S Coupe
B) Sell the Boxster and get a 2009 C2S Coupe

What would you do?