Your car journey - How did you end up with a Porsche?

[Ninesomething]

2 hours ago, ½cwt said:

A lot of flat engines in that history!! 👍

Yeah. It wasn't deliberate. Never even thought about it till I wrote that list....

[Withy]

I'd been one to have Porsche's on posters on bedroom wall when I was growing up, and always had a desire to actually get one.  When the Boxster was launched it seemed more attainable, but practicalities (children) meant that in about 2000 when it seemed I could actually afford one, I ended up getting a Saab 9-3 convertible instead - huge compromise but did confirm a drop top was something I'd certainly wanted again.  

For a significant birthday present my wife booked us for a "Backstage Tour" in Stuttgart, and this just made the desire even stronger after a tour around the factory, and a visit to Weissach.  Kids got older, and a 2 seater would be acceptable with another car in the house and I was always looking for a Boxster of some sort. So eventually after the usual run of a few BMW's, Alfa's, Audi's etc a relatively local 987.1S came up for sale on Pistonheads, and I was just returning an BMW M135i at the end of a Contract Hire/PCP agreement.  It was a great spec, and a previous BoXa.net members car which had clearly been looked after with some nice mods like Parr motorsport fettling, 19" Lobsterclaws, and a Milltek exhaust.  As soon as I saw it I knew I was going to buy it - the deal was done, and I picked it up a week later.  I absolutely loved that car, and it firmly secured my brain into "We'll only have Porsches and MINIs from now on!"  It completely ticked the boxes for me.  Fast forward a couple of years, it was beginning to show its age and my eye was of course looking for the next one, and it had to be a 981.   Spotted on Autotrader an Agate Grey 981S PDK with my fav wheels (Sport Techno's) - sent pic's of my 987S to the trader guy and he offered me enough so that the 981S would be mine.  Trip to Yorkshire to pick it up was a bit strange - not having my 987 would be a loss, but it was a step up in almost every way to the 981 (noted by my wife who said the return trip to Scotland was significantly more comfortable!). I distinctly remember driving that car home thinking "why would anyone bother spending the extra money on a 911? This is all the car I'd ever need/want!"

981S was a joy, needed a bit spent on it though as I had drain hole issues, and after doing a couple of runs out with other owners, I knew I was probably going to spend money on PSE, liked the idea of painted rollover bars and missed some options that I'd seen on other owners cars.  Man maths took over when a GT Silver BGTS popped up in Essex, and I had a total "f@ck it - I'm buying it" moment and worked the deal out, and arranged pickup after a Porsche Experience Center session - that's a serious detour when travelling from Glasgow!"

In between the 981S and BGTS a Macan GTS arrived here too, so we are fully committed!

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Withy

[andygo]

Some great stories on here guys, all very lovely and personal.

Keep 'em coming.

[Boxer boy]

2 hours ago, daz05 said:

Maybe this is for another thread, but this community is the best of Porsche, generally people that like how they feel and drive.

Without saying too much i've found it's not always like that.

There’s no doubt in my experience the boxster is the best driving experience, It’s the steering feel chassis balance and flat 6 involvement esp with a manual.

Testarossa is too much rear weight bias so under steers ealrier ,and it’s brakes are disappointing.

Ferrari 360 esp with an F1 flappy paddles box you are just a passenger surrounded by Nannie electrotwackery..They are not involving enough on public roads within the law .

911 s are flawed balance wise .

 

If you come from a proper mid engined car anything other just feels unbalanced…….obviously!  
 

it seems to me theses days 

The thing is the Porsche  powerful marketing and imagery is aimed at folks  with plastic and poisons injected in the faces , with chemical washed hair , never off social media on there devices , with the advent do able “monthly’s  “ ( cheap money to fund ) - seems to turn prospective buyers into newer larger more electrotwackery infested cars .

Its incremental.Bigger , wider , loose the hydraulic steering , add larger dia wheels , loose the manual transmission, add comfy seats etc etc .

The balls out driving experience  of a boxster  or any other Porsche for that matter is secondary.

I feel the true enthusiasts % is shrinking evey yr .More so a Porsche inc sales in platform shared stuff like Cayenne, Macan , Tycan .

Boxster clings on .

 

[Carmand]

Another one with a white martini striped 911 turbo poster on the bedroom wall!  Eventually became the accountant for a couple of OPCs which was my first exposure to the real thing.

A few years later after moving into IT I traded my Golf VR6 for a nearly new black 968CS - £28k I think fro memory, and then under rated.  Kept that for a couple of years while I waited for a 986 Boxster in the ubiquitous silver - this moved on for a red 986S with all the bells and whistles including bucket seats - £48k in 2000.

Decided I needed to invest a bit more in property and pensions so was then Porsche less for 15 years (though I had a fantastic little s1 Elise for nearly 10 of those), before I took early retirement and started looking again.

Saw my Spyder go up for sale at Edinburgh on the Friday night, paid a deposit on Saturday morning, test drove on Monday and picked up a couple of weeks later.

Will have owned the Spyder 6 years in February, which is the longest I’ve owned anything other than the Elise and I I cannot see myself ever selling it while I can still drive.  I run it alongside a GR Yaris which is the perfect companion for my needs.

[hl8354]

Some interesting stories here, and also interesting to see what you drive side by side to your Porsches. 

As a 17 year old passing my driving test I was a named driver on my parents’ Mk2 Golf 1.6 and it wasn’t until I was in 3^rd year of uni that it was mine, when I convinced my mum to buy a Mk4 Golf GTI turbo from new.  Long before this however I had the classic Porsche/Lambo/Ferrari posters on the wall and memorised every stat from Top Trumps, although in reality I loved a Mk2 Golf GTI.

When the Mk2 was showing its age I inherited my dad’s Mk2 Polo GT (that one with the 1.3 injection engine) while I was studying my post grad.  When I came to working and saving for my own car I bought a Mk1 MX-5 1.8iS which I adored – for its gear change and RWD balance.  For London commuting I bought a Mk1 Focus 1.8 LPG which helped me skirt the newly introduced congestion charge.  As a FWD car it was miles ahead of the VWs I had experienced, however I was hooked by a soft top roadster and bought a Z4M roadster as a weekend/roadtrip toy.  The jump in power was insane (and the S54 straight six a masterpiece) and 2 of my friends went out and bought the same car after sampling mine.  One of them came out of a 996 and having driven it briefly I knew Porsche handling was on another level to anything else.  A 5 year stint abroad meant I had to sell my cars and on return I opted for an M135i – a peach of an engine but I never gelled with the handling.  At the same time I bought a classic E30 325i cabriolet for weekend open top fun having seen a great example for sale.  Moving house and losing a garage meant the E30 had to go, and doing a renovation required a workhorse so the M135i went too, replaced with a Mk3 Focus estate (boo).

That’s when I knew I had to get that special car once the house was done, and the search was on for a roadster (despite a new born just arriving too) – I was considering the R8 spyder manual, Elise 220 or 981S.  It was pretty easy to choose in the end as the Mrs said she would only drive the 981 (Elise too harsh and R8 too flashy) – whaddaya know the better half nailed it.  The one I ended up buying from Ashgood was spot on apart from a slightly poor rear bumper respray which I had knocked off some £ in the deal.  The manual shift is a gem and the PSE is the nuts, but it is the overall package and handling that is just so damn impressive.  Cue Jim Young in Boiler Room – look at the f***ing smile on my face, ear to ear baby!  Incidentally, a mate sampled my car and went out and bought a 981S himself. 

Haven’t really hankered for anything else yet, but if I did it needs to be NA, open top and manual.  Probably a Carrera GT then.

[EXY]

On 12/27/2022 at 8:20 PM, Boxer boy said:

Montesa cota 247 trial bike .

More than a few on here with trials bikes, myself included.

We even have a thread somewhere.

[RBD914 v2]

My journey began with a Mini 1275GT purchased after passing my driving test aged 17.

I had two of these before getting bitten by the Ford bug via an Escort Mk1 Mexico in bright orange with the flared front arches. This was followed by several XR4 and Cosworth Sierras. I then actually went to work for Ford Mo. Co. so had the luxury of a brand new company Ford every 6 months or so...which gave me a nasty habit of changing cars regularly, more of which later on in the story...anyway with the family car being supplied courtesy of Ford, I started to get into the sports car market for real.

My first convertible 2 seater was a Fiat X/19 SE which was a great handling little car, but a bit under powered. But I quite liked the open topped driving experience this provided, so this was followed by a MR2 T- Bar, the original dart shaped car, which in red looked like a miniature Ferrari, a great little car.

This led to a TVR 350i convertible with the V8 Rover Vitesse engine, which was always getting me into trouble with the local Plod due to it's noisy exhaust. What a car though, a beast to drive and it never let me down.

After the TVR I bought my first Porsche at age 28, a 924S which had a proper Porsche 2.5 litre engine in it, as opposed to the standard 924 which I think had a 2 litre VW LT Van engine in it! My wife was driving it one day when some idiot ran a red light and smashed into it, writing it off. Fortunately she escaped with whiplash and a sprained ankle. With the insurance payout though I bought a really serious piece of kit...an Alpine White Porsche 944 Turbo!

God was that thing fast once the Turbo came on boost, which was surprisingly quickly. Nothing could touch it for straight line acceleration in 1992. A lovely car in every way and it looked a million dollars.

I should have kept the 944, but kids came along and I no longer worked for Ford, so I had to buy more 'sensible' cars. Thus followed a Peugeot 405 Mi16, Nissan 200SX, Vauxhall Carlton 3000GSI 24V,  and a BMW 330i.

By this time the kids were grown up and had flown the nest, so it was back to sports cars again! Starting with a Nissan 350Z, then a BMW Z4 3.0i, followed by a BMW 135i. At this point I fancied a 911, but having test driven a 997, I didn't like the "bobbing" front end sensation.

Then a local dealer got a black Boxster 987 2.9 manual in stock, so on a whim I went to test drive it, I was so impressed that I swapped the 135i for it on the spot!

I had this for a year, then traded up to a 981 Boxster in GT Silver (there's that nasty habit mentioned earlier rearing it's head). I loved this car but found it a little under powered so traded up to a 981 GTS in white with a red roof. Now this was a great car, we toured all over Europe in it and owned it for 2 years. But that all changed when I had a nasty car accident driving a Mini at night on the M6 coming back from a late work meeting. Basically I fell asleep at the wheel and careered through a coned off area onto a closed carriageway. No physical injuries but it messed me up mentally, I didn't get behind a wheel again for 6 months 

This also led to 6 months off work, which in turn led to my early retirement at age 55.

The 981 GTS had to go due to my reduced retirement income and I bought a cheaper 987 Black Edition PDK.

I had this for a couple of years, then got bored with retirement and went back to work part time in a totally new profession. This allowed me the funds to trade back up to a 981S again, great stuff!

One thing led to another at work, and after a year or so I was doing really well, so I traded back up to a 981 GTS in GT Silver, PDK again as I preferred it to the manual cars.

Then things really took off at work and I became the Managing Partner and was working full-time again in a job I loved. With no debts and plenty of disposable income...what does a petrolhead do with said income?

You got it, I finally decided to scratch the 911 itch and bought a brand new 992 Carrera 4 Coupe!

The fastest car I have ever owned and also the widest! A lovely thing to behold in GT Siver with its flared wheel arches, spyder wheels and trick electronic dashboard.

But I missed the open topped driving experience and 911 convertibles did nothing for me. It also felt a little unwieldy on the narrow roads that I drive on in the Scottish Borders.

Anyway, after a year or so I got the opportunity to buy a brand new 718 Spyder from OPC Leeds, at normal list price! It was a cancelled order due to Buttercup and they offered me what I paid for the 911 in part exchange, so I snapped their hand off!

It was great to get back into a Boxster again,especially with an uprated 4.0 litre engine! It was a real looker with its humps giving it a miniature 918 vibe! I had three issues with it though, first the manual hood was a real pain, second so was the manual gearbox, but the really big disappointment was the exhaust noise - or lack of it!

Having been spoiled by my 2 former 981 GTS's with their electric roofs, PDK gearboxes and amazing snap, crackle and pops from the Sports Exhausts, the Spyder failed to deliver by comparison really. After a year of ownership I was about to invest £5,000 into an after market exhaust to remedy the sound problem, when out of the blue....

The supplying dealer rang me to see if I wanted to sell it back to them, as they were short of stock. I was open to listening as they were offering me stupid money to buy it, by that I mean tens of thousands of pounds more than I paid for it just 12 months and 5000 miles earlier!

So I snapped their hands off again and jumped back into the model I enjoyed the most, the one that I consider to be the sweet spot In the whole Porsche model range...yes you guessed it, I bought another 981 GTS!

I actually bought it from a member on here, who sold it to buy a new 718 GTS 4.0...I did warn him about the exhaust! She is a well specified example in Carmine Red with platinum silver wheels, she also has a PDK gearbox and best of all sounds bloody lovely!

That's my journey of how I ended up in a Porsche folks, and here she is...

 

[½cwt]

7 hours ago, RBD914 v2 said:

My journey began with a Mini 1275GT purchased after passing my driving test aged 17.

I had two of these before getting bitten by the Ford bug via an Escort Mk1 Mexico in bright orange with the flared front arches. This was followed by several XR4 and Cosworth Sierras. I then actually went to work for Ford Mo. Co. so had the luxury of a brand new company Ford every 6 months or so...which gave me a nasty habit of changing cars regularly, more of which later on in the story...anyway with the family car being supplied courtesy of Ford, I started to get into the sports car market for real.

My first convertible 2 seater was a Fiat X/19 SE which was a great handling little car, but a bit under powered. But I quite liked the open topped driving experience this provided, so this was followed by a MR2 T- Bar, the original dart shaped car, which in red looked like a miniature Ferrari, a great little car.

This led to a TVR 350i convertible with the V8 Rover Vitesse engine, which was always getting me into trouble with the local Plod due to it's noisy exhaust. What a car though, a beast to drive and it never let me down.

After the TVR I bought my first Porsche at age 28, a 924S which had a proper Porsche 2.5 litre engine in it, as opposed to the standard 924 which I think had a 2 litre VW LT Van engine in it! My wife was driving it one day when some idiot ran a red light and smashed into it, writing it off. Fortunately she escaped with whiplash and a sprained ankle. With the insurance payout though I bought a really serious piece of kit...an Alpine White Porsche 944 Turbo!

God was that thing fast once the Turbo came on boost, which was surprisingly quickly. Nothing could touch it for straight line acceleration in 1992. A lovely car in every way and it looked a million dollars.

I should have kept the 944, but kids came along and I no longer worked for Ford, so I had to buy more 'sensible' cars. Thus followed a Peugeot 405 Mi16, Nissan 200SX, Vauxhall Carlton 3000GSI 24V,  and a BMW 330i.

By this time the kids were grown up and had flown the nest, so it was back to sports cars again! Starting with a Nissan 350Z, then a BMW Z4 3.0i, followed by a BMW 135i. At this point I fancied a 911, but having test driven a 997, I didn't like the "bobbing" front end sensation.

Then a local dealer got a black Boxster 987 2.9 manual in stock, so on a whim I went to test drive it, I was so impressed that I swapped the 135i for it on the spot!

I had this for a year, then traded up to a 981 Boxster in GT Silver (there's that nasty habit mentioned earlier rearing it's head). I loved this car but found it a little under powered so traded up to a 981 GTS in white with a red roof. Now this was a great car, we toured all over Europe in it and owned it for 2 years. But that all changed when I had a nasty car accident driving a Mini at night on the M6 coming back from a late work meeting. Basically I fell asleep at the wheel and careered through a coned off area onto a closed carriageway. No physical injuries but it messed me up mentally, I didn't get behind a wheel again for 6 months 

This also led to 6 months off work, which in turn led to my early retirement at age 55.

The 981 GTS had to go due to my reduced retirement income and I bought a cheaper 987 Black Edition PDK.

I had this for a couple of years, then got bored with retirement and went back to work part time in a totally new profession. This allowed me the funds to trade back up to a 981S again, great stuff!

One thing led to another at work, and after a year or so I was doing really well, so I traded back up to a 981 GTS in GT Silver, PDK again as I preferred it to the manual cars.

Then things really took off at work and I became the Managing Partner and was working full-time again in a job I loved. With no debts and plenty of disposable income...what does a petrolhead do with said income?

You got it, I finally decided to scratch the 911 itch and bought a brand new 992 Carrera 4 Coupe!

The fastest car I have ever owned and also the widest! A lovely thing to behold in GT Siver with its flared wheel arches, spyder wheels and trick electronic dashboard.

But I missed the open topped driving experience and 911 convertibles did nothing for me. It also felt a little unwieldy on the narrow roads that I drive on in the Scottish Borders.

Anyway, after a year or so I got the opportunity to buy a brand new 718 Spyder from OPC Leeds, at normal list price! It was a cancelled order due to Buttercup and they offered me what I paid for the 911 in part exchange, so I snapped their hand off!

It was great to get back into a Boxster again,especially with an uprated 4.0 litre engine! It was a real looker with its humps giving it a miniature 918 vibe! I had three issues with it though, first the manual hood was a real pain, second so was the manual gearbox, but the really big disappointment was the exhaust noise - or lack of it!

Having been spoiled by my 2 former 981 GTS's with their electric roofs, PDK gearboxes and amazing snap, crackle and pops from the Sports Exhausts, the Spyder failed to deliver by comparison really. After a year of ownership I was about to invest £5,000 into an after market exhaust to remedy the sound problem, when out of the blue....

The supplying dealer rang me to see if I wanted to sell it back to them, as they were short of stock. I was open to listening as they were offering me stupid money to buy it, by that I mean tens of thousands of pounds more than I paid for it just 12 months and 5000 miles earlier!

So I snapped their hands off again and jumped back into the model I enjoyed the most, the one that I consider to be the sweet spot In the whole Porsche model range...yes you guessed it, I bought another 981 GTS!

I actually bought it from a member on here, who sold it to buy a new 718 GTS 4.0...I did warn him about the exhaust! She is a well specified example in Carmine Red with platinum silver wheels, she also has a PDK gearbox and best of all sounds bloody lovely!

That's my journey of how I ended up in a Porsche folks, and here she is...

 

Nice to see another 24v GSI come up:

 

[moospeed]

13 hours ago, RBD914 v2 said:

My journey began with a Mini 1275GT purchased after passing my driving test aged 17.

I had two of these before getting bitten by the Ford bug via an Escort Mk1 Mexico in bright orange with the flared front arches. This was followed by several XR4 and Cosworth Sierras. I then actually went to work for Ford Mo. Co. so had the luxury of a brand new company Ford every 6 months or so...which gave me a nasty habit of changing cars regularly, more of which later on in the story...anyway with the family car being supplied courtesy of Ford, I started to get into the sports car market for real.

My first convertible 2 seater was a Fiat X/19 SE which was a great handling little car, but a bit under powered. But I quite liked the open topped driving experience this provided, so this was followed by a MR2 T- Bar, the original dart shaped car, which in red looked like a miniature Ferrari, a great little car.

This led to a TVR 350i convertible with the V8 Rover Vitesse engine, which was always getting me into trouble with the local Plod due to it's noisy exhaust. What a car though, a beast to drive and it never let me down.

After the TVR I bought my first Porsche at age 28, a 924S which had a proper Porsche 2.5 litre engine in it, as opposed to the standard 924 which I think had a 2 litre VW LT Van engine in it! My wife was driving it one day when some idiot ran a red light and smashed into it, writing it off. Fortunately she escaped with whiplash and a sprained ankle. With the insurance payout though I bought a really serious piece of kit...an Alpine White Porsche 944 Turbo!

God was that thing fast once the Turbo came on boost, which was surprisingly quickly. Nothing could touch it for straight line acceleration in 1992. A lovely car in every way and it looked a million dollars.

I should have kept the 944, but kids came along and I no longer worked for Ford, so I had to buy more 'sensible' cars. Thus followed a Peugeot 405 Mi16, Nissan 200SX, Vauxhall Carlton 3000GSI 24V,  and a BMW 330i.

By this time the kids were grown up and had flown the nest, so it was back to sports cars again! Starting with a Nissan 350Z, then a BMW Z4 3.0i, followed by a BMW 135i. At this point I fancied a 911, but having test driven a 997, I didn't like the "bobbing" front end sensation.

Then a local dealer got a black Boxster 987 2.9 manual in stock, so on a whim I went to test drive it, I was so impressed that I swapped the 135i for it on the spot!

I had this for a year, then traded up to a 981 Boxster in GT Silver (there's that nasty habit mentioned earlier rearing it's head). I loved this car but found it a little under powered so traded up to a 981 GTS in white with a red roof. Now this was a great car, we toured all over Europe in it and owned it for 2 years. But that all changed when I had a nasty car accident driving a Mini at night on the M6 coming back from a late work meeting. Basically I fell asleep at the wheel and careered through a coned off area onto a closed carriageway. No physical injuries but it messed me up mentally, I didn't get behind a wheel again for 6 months 

This also led to 6 months off work, which in turn led to my early retirement at age 55.

The 981 GTS had to go due to my reduced retirement income and I bought a cheaper 987 Black Edition PDK.

I had this for a couple of years, then got bored with retirement and went back to work part time in a totally new profession. This allowed me the funds to trade back up to a 981S again, great stuff!

One thing led to another at work, and after a year or so I was doing really well, so I traded back up to a 981 GTS in GT Silver, PDK again as I preferred it to the manual cars.

Then things really took off at work and I became the Managing Partner and was working full-time again in a job I loved. With no debts and plenty of disposable income...what does a petrolhead do with said income?

You got it, I finally decided to scratch the 911 itch and bought a brand new 992 Carrera 4 Coupe!

The fastest car I have ever owned and also the widest! A lovely thing to behold in GT Siver with its flared wheel arches, spyder wheels and trick electronic dashboard.

But I missed the open topped driving experience and 911 convertibles did nothing for me. It also felt a little unwieldy on the narrow roads that I drive on in the Scottish Borders.

Anyway, after a year or so I got the opportunity to buy a brand new 718 Spyder from OPC Leeds, at normal list price! It was a cancelled order due to Buttercup and they offered me what I paid for the 911 in part exchange, so I snapped their hand off!

It was great to get back into a Boxster again,especially with an uprated 4.0 litre engine! It was a real looker with its humps giving it a miniature 918 vibe! I had three issues with it though, first the manual hood was a real pain, second so was the manual gearbox, but the really big disappointment was the exhaust noise - or lack of it!

Having been spoiled by my 2 former 981 GTS's with their electric roofs, PDK gearboxes and amazing snap, crackle and pops from the Sports Exhausts, the Spyder failed to deliver by comparison really. After a year of ownership I was about to invest £5,000 into an after market exhaust to remedy the sound problem, when out of the blue....

The supplying dealer rang me to see if I wanted to sell it back to them, as they were short of stock. I was open to listening as they were offering me stupid money to buy it, by that I mean tens of thousands of pounds more than I paid for it just 12 months and 5000 miles earlier!

So I snapped their hands off again and jumped back into the model I enjoyed the most, the one that I consider to be the sweet spot In the whole Porsche model range...yes you guessed it, I bought another 981 GTS!

I actually bought it from a member on here, who sold it to buy a new 718 GTS 4.0...I did warn him about the exhaust! She is a well specified example in Carmine Red with platinum silver wheels, she also has a PDK gearbox and best of all sounds bloody lovely!

That's my journey of how I ended up in a Porsche folks, and here she is...

 

What a journey!! Career wise as well as car wise…

It’s good to hear the logic and background of people’s stories.

Joe Public seeing me (or any of you) driving past in a Boxster might well think “flash git”, “couldn’t afford a 911”, “obviously well off”, etc. a statement in their mind fashioned from their own life perspective. But there’s always far more to it than that. I’ve yet to meet anyone that’s bought one of these flippantly. 
 

[AMacdonald]

It's safe to describe my car history as largely lamentable. My very first car was a 1973 Mini 1275GT too, bought at auction and needing an immediate engine transplant. It had Cooper twin carbs, almost no floor and lasted for about a year until a valve dropped out. Probably my fault, that. From then on it was a selection of terrible, middle-aged saloons and hatches, ranging in size from a Mini 1000 to a Seat Alhambra, all of them unexceptional. I've never owned a new car and probably never will. Modern cars seem to be built to last as long as the lease agreement only and the combination of my Wife and our dogs makes a lease untenable, even if I wasn't so morally against them.

For my 40th birthday in 2005 though I went on a driving experience day in Evesham. I went mainly for the Ferrari 355 and Lamborghini Murcielago, but the standout experience of the day was actually a tired green 996 that had been hideously mis-specced by its first owner. It just felt so, so right, even if its green on green aesthetics were painful.

Fast forward a decade and I was driving home along the A55 in sweltering heat with all the windows on my Passat estate open and it occurred to me that I quite fancied a convertible. After musing on that for a bit I realised that a sporty convertible would be even better since I live in North Wales and it would be a pity to waste that fact, and if it was going to be sporty it might as well be a two-seater. As a toy, I didn't want something that was going to rust for fun on the driveway (bye-bye MX5 and MR2) and then that 996 experience came back to me....

A couple of months later, just a week after my 50th, I collected my base-spec (I hate cars packed with needless stuff), one-lady-owner 986 and I've loved it every day since. I've never had a drive that was anything but grin-inducingly enjoyable, the car is way more capable than I am and the quality of the engineering never fails to impress me. It's been my most reliable car ever and will definitely be with me until one of us breaks terminally.

Edited December 29, 2022 by AMacdonald

[Gdaybruce]

I never really thought about owning a Porsche, despite owning a range of more or less sporty cars over the years. Indeed, the Boxster's styling left me cold.

After being given a company diesel Vauxhall I decided I had to find something for weekend fun so I went through a couple of cheap MX5s which I also used for occasional track days. From the MX5s I made the logical jump to a Honda S2000 and eventually found myself wondering what should come next. At that point a friend told me about someone he knew who was selling his 987 3.2S so I went to see it and after a test drive I was smitten - all previous indifference to Boxsters went out the window!

That was in May 2017 and I'm still running the same car with no intention of selling any time soon. The mix of performance, chassis balance, practicality and (so far) low maintenance costs tick every box for me. Long may it continue!

[Ol' Shatterhand]

It was a picture of the Boxster concept car in a 1993 car mag that did it for pre-teen me. On those split rims it looked like it would eat a TVR Griffith (another dream car from the period) for breakfast and I thought that when it came out in production form it would be even more unattainable than a 911, which I respected but never lusted after (I hadn't yet appreciated the beauty of chrome trimmed pre-'74 911s).

Despite the fact it was lauded for its handling, I was disappointed when the 2.5l 986 arrived with a 0-62mph time of more than 6.5 seconds, which at the time was my mental threshold between quick and slow cars. It did look good though... And when the pebble-shaped 996.1 came out the following year I really liked its swoopy looks and was in awe of its quoted 0-62mph time of 5.2 seconds and the promise of rear engined dynamics that wouldn't kill you, according to the press. Gone were the rain gutters and upright windscreen. The raked 959-style headlights of the 993 had been a step in the right direction, but here was the beautiful nose of the Boxster on a car that looked like a two-seat version of the very Bauhaus 989 concept I had seen a few years earlier. (I was still a couple of years away from legally being allowed to get behind the wheel of an actual car, let alone making my own money to be able to buy and run one).

My dreams turned mid-engined and classic in the very late 90s and early 00s, mostly because I fell in love with the mid-engined architecture as an engineering concept and exotic 70s wedges looked tantalisingly attainable in the classifieds (just as soon as I made my first money...), starting from £5k for an Esprit S1, and all the way up to £40k for Countach LP400!

By the time I was in gainful employment and building up NCB years on my insurance, the prices had gone crazy and it was too late to dream anymore. In hindsight, when my first sharesave plan matured I should have put the money into a desireable but undervalued car. Who knew that what looked like folly at the time could have turned out to be a shrewd financial investment?

Anyway, away from the clouds in the real world, after about a decade of faithful service, my trusty Y-reg VW Polo S finally gave up the ghost in mid-2016. A pay uplift from a couple of business trips to the US earlier in that year meant I had cash in the bank and it was finally time to buy something interesting, while I was still young and single.

A 996 (in the only spec I actually like: pre-facelift, manual rear wheel drive, fixed roof coupé) was very briefly within reach, but I felt the rear-engined handling would be too big of a leap for me as a driver with no previous experience of a performance car. I dismissed the VX220 / Elise S1 on the grounds of practicality, chassis repairability and a reputation for lift-off oversteer. Mk1 MX-5? Too slow. And a turquoise example in the car park at work had so much rust around the scuttle it put me off. S2000? Reports of no torque, no steering feel, and wayward handling (at least for the AP.1 cars). Bangle Z4? Yuck. And they don't ride well, apparently (well, maybe they do on modern non-run-flat tyres). Corvette C4? Would have loved one of those, but LHD meant I couldn't daily it. How do you get through ticket barriers?

No, the only real choice was an old Boxster. I never really liked the looks of the 987, especially the inverted triangle headlights, which make it look cross-eyed, and the side intakes, which make it look fat. They ruined the looks of the 986 when they facelifted it to 986.2, so that limited my search range to pre-2003 cars. A non-S would have been just fine, I test drove a 2.5 and it didn't feel slow, if anything it felt lower and rawer than the subsequent cars I drove. A 2.7 felt OK. But I feared that eventually I would end up wondering if I'm missing out on the extra go of the S (the inner child was particularly impressed by one number: 5.9 seconds), and the idea of 996 brakes and an extra cog also appealed. PSM was a must, further limiting my search criteria.

I was lucky to find a car with an upgraded glass rear window and the 74mm throttle body and IPD plenum, and full service history, for a very reasonable price. Wasn't too keen on the aftermarket wheels, but it was the best of several cars I had seen, so I bought it and finally discovered the beauty of the Peak District that had been on my doorstep all along. Hopefully I'll never have to sell it. Will it even be worth anything anytime soon? Who cares?

Edited December 30, 2022 by Ol' Shatterhand

[GTSMarky]

On 12/28/2022 at 10:07 PM, EXY said:

More than a few on here with trials bikes, myself included.

We even have a thread somewhere.

Me too.. I have x2 Cotas.

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by GTSMarky

[GTSMarky]

Car wise I spent 2010 onwards reworking & fairly seriously upgrading a Triumph TR4a that eventually became a bit of a nuisance due to the fact it forever needed something doing to it.  We wanted a weekend away car with the kids more grown up and I had my heart completely set on this in September 29th 2017:

Went for a couple of test drives and I was sold, but my wife simply said it was not a way to entice her off for weekends due to contortions required to get in & out, plus the lack of space to take even 2 pairs of walking boots.  She was (& still is!) correct although that night whilst away in the Cotswolds in a loaned Alfa Romeo Giulia (company car replacement potential) I had a seriously wobbly bottom lip and was pathetically distraught at the disappointment.

No matter I thought so we swerved the next day into Porsche Silverstone rather than looking for a Golf Club Sport to replace her 2.0 GT Tdi Golf on the way home and within the hour had bought this:

I kept the TR for a few years and then sold it to my classic car tours co-driver who still has it today and we are on tour in March 23 in it, so a complete bonus I still get to drive what is a really well sorted car.

The BGTS is still a cracking car and it was the right choice - still..  I may opt for a 4.0 Cayman otherwise I'll just keep it.

I've driven company cars since the early '90's and am infinitely more interested in motorcycles than cars.

So my Porsche journey was a bit accidental!!

[moospeed]

On 12/28/2022 at 5:28 PM, Boxer boy said:

…Testarossa stuff…

Excellent write up, thank you.  I don’t want to go off topic on this thread but had to ask…

When they were at their lowest price-wise they were still so far out of my budget they may as well have been a few million quid.  However with a bit of man-maths, inheritance and ignoring the need for a hefty slush fund it could become a reality if they don’t explode in price in the next couple of years.

Luckily the monospecchio and 512M are the most expensive ones, because I don’t like them so much 😂

I’ve had quicker cars (up to 100) and better driving cars, I’m aware of their shortcomings, but none of it matters - it’s always been the daddy in my eyes.

[RBD914 v2]

Postscript to my Porsche journey post - they say pictures are worth a thousand words...so I dug these old photos out:-

Fiat X/19 SE with huge sports exhaust....

TVR 350i with huge whale tail boot spoiler..  

Finally, the ballistically fast Porsche 944 Turbo...complete with a very proud and very young, yours truly!

 

[Menoporsche]

But after all that, you never had a 914?!

[½cwt]

34 minutes ago, Menoporsche said:

But after all that, you never had a 914?!

yet.....

[map]

Grew up with a Petrol Head Father - he still is a Petrol Head albeit he's slowed down in recent years.  We lived near Silverstone so I have many memories of motorsport there as well as at Brands and Oulton Park.  Before I was 10 I was given a radio controlled 935-77 - I still have it and it still make me smile.  Mum and Dad had their own business so they tended to have more discrete quick cars.  Nothing outrageous, usually de-badged and if he'd had his way de-winged too.  At one point he had a factory order for an original 323i with LSD, dog leg 5 speeder and various other go quicker goodies (badged as a 316) but the dealership screwed up and it never arrived - he ended up with an Opel Ascona which was way better than expected.

He finally threw in the towel with performance saloons when he just missed the list for a Sierra Cosworth RS500 - he bought a lot of Ford cars and Trucks so was offered a place on this list on the basis that others would cancel and he'd end up with one.  He didn't - so he took on his Sales Manager's diesel Sierra and discovered he was quicker cross country in that than he was in the XR4i - he found a new game and in my early teens I loved it - drive an underdog car smoothly, with maximum momentum and minimal braking to see just how quickly you can cover the ground.  40 years on I still play that "underdog fast" game.

In my early 20's life got pretty difficult in a very short space of time - I've written about this previously - at my lowest point I set myself the objective of one day owning a sports car.  During the intervening years I owned an Austin Metro 1l Van Conversion that I re-converted, a Rover 214SLi, then drove lots of company diesel workhorses one of which I purchased when I changed job.  

All of them were driven "underdog fast".

Then I met a girl who one day said to me - "Why don't you go and find that sports car which you very rarely mention but clearly means so much?" and this is the start of how I ended up with my 986.  Just as importantly some years later the same girl was mad enough to say "Yes" and let me become her husband.

not_yet_mrs_map started looking at sports cars and it was her that found the 986S at Mole Valley - "just go and have a look" when I complained that I didn't like the 986 shape.  So I popped in to Mole Valley one lunchtime and drove it.  I knew almost instantly that I wanted this car, I could feel what was going on - it was like opening the doors to a rock concert - everything I'd driven to that point was muffled, and then I drove this.

I didn't like how it looked (am growing to appreciate it now though), I'd really wanted a black one - it's silver and any number of other minor negatives.  But driving it just smothered all those doubts with the feedback, noise and the view out of the windscreen down to the road between the wings.

That was 15 years ago - I still own it.  It's on its 4th engine, 2nd clutch and heaven knows how many sets of tyres over the 100K+ miles I've driven it.  It's been to that place where others would have given up and yet I wouldn't because it's such an important part of my life.

Today my 986 is at first glance a slightly tired version of the car I purchased 15 years ago.  Thing is it is almost nothing like the car I bought then and my driving has developed along with the tweaks over time.

One thing I never expected to find was the people that make up Car Culture's Sub-Cultures - this forum is a wonderful example of great car people.

We don't see him much round these parts now but @plynchy is the star who trailered my car with the failed Porsche refurbed engine to a place where the AA would collect it.  People like @Araf and @Boxsey who made track days accessible to a newbie. Then there are the forum runs - organised by  @Cocky & @RBD914 v2. Plus my co-conspirators for the Highlands Run @fat haggis & @Scubaregs.  I've bumped into folk at the Channel Tunnel going to Spa who wandered over because as car-nutters they realised the 986 wasn't standard.  Those two (The HooliGannons - not of this neighbourhood) introduced me to driving properly quickly which  boosted my confidence in my own abilities as well as being the lone voices encouraging further tweaks to my 986 which have made it "underdog faster 2.0"

And remember that 935-77 model?  I now get to watch a FIA Papered 935 being built - not mine - but all the stuff that fascinated me about that model is coming to life full sized.

And all of this is down to my 986.

Edited December 30, 2022 by map

[Scubaregs]

@map great story and explains why your car means so much to you. Women eh, all about finding the right one. 

[EXY]

10 hours ago, GTSMarky said:

Me too.. I have x2 Cotas.

 

Very nice,

Strange to see a Trials bike without a X11 rear tyre.

[Cocky]

22 hours ago, GTSMarky said:

Me too.. I have x2 Cotas.

 

Dad was big into trials when I was a sprog he at a younger age rode for Colin Appleyards & then for John Lampkin Beta down in the village. I wasn't great on the Moto but picked up the bike trials very quickly and got hooked. 

That's now sprouted my little collection of Retro Monty & Montessa cyclo trials bikes (all resto). 

 

 

[Cocky]

Good read @map it just makes your car that bit more special. 

My journey is pretty basic when I waited for the school bus someone used to get dropped off by their dad in a 986 Boxster & I think it just sat in the back of my mind as a car I'd love to one day own. When I bought my 986 it wasn't intended to be used how I now use my cars it was just to have a nice clean car to get into after a week in the works van. 

Now my works vans usually cleaner than my car & my car just gets thrown around the B roads 😂 

I have this forum to thanks for just how much I fell in love with the 986 especially @Mr96er for getting me out on some runs. 

 

All we need to do now @map is errrr? Drive em! 

[GTSMarky]

1 hour ago, Cocky said:

Dad was big into trials when I was a sprog he at a younger age rode for Colin Appleyards & then for John Lampkin Beta down in the village. I wasn't great on the Moto but picked up the bike trials very quickly and got hooked. 

That's now sprouted my little collection of Retro Monty & Montessa cyclo trials bikes (all resto). 

 

 

Fantastic - love the little Monty cycle too..  Front end looks quite unforgiving!