Reasons why not to...

[nickb55]

Thinking about what track car to get next...

and tho i've never been a fan of them, for some reason i thought i'd look in the classified for Boxsters, and was surprised at how cheap the older ones are, say 7-8k.

With some money spent on brakes, suspension etc, why wouldn't they make a good track car? ....am struggling to think of reaons myself, tho i guess you could get an Elise of similar age for the same sort of money.

[nickbell3]

If I was you I would spend 4-5k on an E36 M3 and the rest on suspension, brakes, cage etc.

[iguana]

You've driven a 2.5? pretty slow things really, 3.2S although more expensve are a lot better for what you have in mind, altho at only 200bhp/ton only on a par with some pretty un-exotic track prepped stuff.

[Slagathore]

If it's just for trackdays, you can get something faster for the money.

I'm sure the Porsche is a good car for the track, but I would spend it on something specifically for trackdays.

Also, there will be more things that can go wrong with the Boxster, as opposed to a more simple track specific car. And as it's going to spend most of its time getting hammered round a track, stuff may go wrong, particularly with an older car.

[Jubal]

One of my pals moved from a Boxster S to an Elise. It was fine for trackdays, on a par with other powerful road cars but it was the usual story of consumables, tyres etc and fear of damage costs that prompted the move.

[nickb55]

good advice/suggestions, thx v much. I had a day with Andy Walsh a while back, and he's a big fan of Elise's partly because the wear n tear items for track are relatively inexpensive.

It's the same problem that most of us have i guess in that if u want a track car that will only get occasional use, and wont cost the earth in consumables, there's a lot of cars to chose from, but then if u exclude front wheel drive, and want something that's not completely gutless, it narrows it down further. You could strip out an MX5, or at the other end of the (power) scale, there's an old RX7. Old M3? I've had a couple but, for track i think u come up against similar issues to the boxster. But the Elise is at least ready-made....

[Munter]

nickb55 said:

But the Elise is at least ready-made....

Although compromised compared to a Seven ... http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/577051.htm

Do you need a roof?

[boxsey]

I see that you're not getting much positive feedback about the boxster so here's a bit to balance things up. The 2.5 is all about the twisty parts of the track rather than grunt along the straights. And as usual with Porsches, great brakes. An old one (all are 9+ years now) will have proved it has a good engine and most of the common problems should have been resolved (e.g. coil packs, radiators, coolant tank). If you're handy with a spanner there's a lot you can do yourself (including the above) and won't cost you the earth e.g. brake discs are about £120 per axle and pads start at about £60 per axle. If you stick to 17 inch wheels then even the cost of tyres is not too bad.