Trading in my 2002 Porsche 996 Cab for a 04 S2K. Am I crazy?

[Paul_SF]

Hi,

I have had 3 Porsche 996s since 1999. Two coupes and a cab. Over the last 12 months, I have gotten serious with high performance driving and probably did at least one track event per month. I had race seats and roll bar put on my 2002 Porsche 996 Cab.

On the other hand, I am feeling more and more uneasy throwing an $85K car around on the track and letting it take the abuse. As I start turning off the electronics (Porsche Stability Management) and taking more risks, I feel even worse that I am doing it on an expensive car.

So, I am now thinking trading in my 996 for a 04 2004. I negotiated the pricing to $31,900 at a local dealer and I am about to bit the bullet. That will leave me a lot of extra $$$$ to get other toys and may be get a nice car for my wife - she deserves it.

Are there anyone here that have taken a similar track (trading from a Porsche). What am I going to miss?

BTW, my other choice is the WRX Sti, but it's just difficult driving the thing to work with such a boy racer look. My collegues whom are not car people are already thinking I am stupid to trade "down" from a Porsche to a Honda. But I dont' care about the brand. I care about driving pleasures.

BTW, I am tired to doing too many mods and hope to leave the car as close to stock as possible. I don't race and normally run with the intermediate groups at track events. Do they let S2K run with stock roll bars?

[Halo]

Honestly, I wouldn't track without a welded aftermarket roll bar, but some events do allow stock bars only.

The S is an amazing track car. You can get it for a grand less than what you quoted if you are near any of the dealers involved in this deal:
http://marketplace.s2ki.com/docs/2004S2000/index.php

I don't think there's anything crazy about trading 'down' for a car that is going to be primarily a track car. In fact, you might even consider going to an older, used model for a track car.

[Mutlu]

In the last 5 years I have driven several nice cars (NSX, P Boxster, P 996 Cab, S4 and M3). After the NSX and loosing a grip of money on the car, my wife only lets me lease cars now. I lease them for 3 years and sell them in 2. My last car was a 02 E46 M3 and I sold that in November to get the 04 S2000. A lot of my friends were telling me I was crazy to trade in my M3 for a 2000, but I really don't care. I test drove several other cars first, including the STI, EVO and the new S4. I really really like the S2000 and think it is a great car for the money. It is a lot of fun on the track and is probably one of the best handling cars around today. The only other car I was considering was the Elise but with ony 2500 coming to the US this year and probably a mark as high as anything else right now it's not a good time to buy/lease it now.

You will greatly enjoy the S and knowing it's a Honda should give you a lot less headache than most other cars. I say go for it!

BTW, I bought Rick's badges on my S and it's funny how many people dont' even know what cars it is. In fact, I get as many compliments on the S as I did in the M3, which was modded to the max and looked really nice.