Please help sway my opinion

Hi all, After getting my financial inplace, I'm ready to purchase my first high-performance car to be my leisure ride. My budget is ~35K - 45K. So far I have narrowed down between 2 cars: 99/00 996 C2 and a 97-00 Acura NSX as they both fall in my range. My biggest concern is future maitenance costs. I'm fully aware that owning either one of these is more expensive than other cars and I intend to use local independent specialist shops instead of the stealership to lower my costs of ownership. I live in south Orange County, Calif. and work in Carlsbad, North San Diego. I have done extensive research on most Porsche and NSX boards to locate competent local shops that won't break my wallet. There are two NSX shops that happen to be both in my residence and work areas which makes things very convenient for me and they both get extremely good comments from the NSX owners almost unanimously. They are both referred to be very knowledgable about the NSX, treat their customers right and be reasonable with their fee schedules. My problem is that I still prefer the 996 personally but so far I have not been able to locate a local shop in my area that other P owners recommend from this board. I know there are a few Porsche specialist shops in my area but there are mixed comments about them and they don't seem to save the customers much over the work done by a dealership anyway. Please help a newbee (especially from Porsche owners who happen to have owned NSX and those who live in south Orange County or North San Diego county). TIA

There is a new shop opening up in OC Costa Mesa Harbor/405 area... It is a big Porsche only Performance shop. That is all I can say for now. But it is going to change the way other Porsche shops in OC do business. Have no fear!

i would say wait 6 months and get an '02 or 03 porsche that will be in your budget ... the 997 will be out by then and youll be able to get a better porche for your money

PLEASE, a NSX is just a sporty looking jap car. A Porsche is a REAL SPORTS CAR.

Now wait just a second. I love my 996, and the NSX is also a very very cool car, and get this, the engine is in the right place! Compare the NSX and the 996 stat for stat...Its a hard decision. Also, I wouldn't/didn't buy a pre-2002 996 because of the smaller motor (I'm assuming this was OKHJOON190's point). What is a "real" sports car anyway?

You've obviously never driven one, but I guess ignorance is bliss. Enjoy your blinders.

Yes, the NSX is a very fine machine. Much different than a 996 though. That engine thrives above 6K RPM and sounds like an F1 car. I'd love to have an NSX and a 996

those who thinks NSX is just a sporty looking jap car is WRONG, dead WRONG. it's on par with 993 and 996's and not too far behind my GT3. it doesn't have the HP to compete with some modern porsches, but stock to stock, it can hang with any 996 993 corner after corner.

SANDOVAL, Now you got me interested. Could you tell me more about this place? If you don't want to post here, please PM me. Thanks

Mooty - I agree - the NSX until driven is thought of as a JAP sports car wannabe - NOT TRUE - I drove my friends 01- NSX for one week and fell in love - the car handles great, comfortable and fast enough, not to mention is very easy to maintain and cheap also - Daily driver - no problem, I was playing with my friend, me and my 03 Targa and Him in the 01 NSX - he was with me all the way up to 165mph and in every twist and turn. So it is a tough choice, I truly think there both fine cars - good luck

It is a really tough call, and on this board you're likely to get very biased opinions. Try to drive both and see which you like better. Other than RMS, there are not many big ticket repairs on the 996, and even the RMS is sub $1k (provided you don't need a new engine - but since you're looking at an older car, that would probably already have been determined).

I also think that there is an intangible that is missing. There are a lot of get togethers with other Porsche owners for fun and games. Just this month, the Santa Barbara region of the PCA has had their monthly breakfast (about 50 cars and 75 people), the annual summer picnic (about 40 cars and 75 people), and this weekend someone put together a little ride through the canyons, stopping at someone's house for snacks, and then off to a group dinner. Next month we have a three day trip up to Yosemite planned. Getting together will others of common interest is part of the fun of owning a Porsche. I doubt the NSX crowd is as active. By the way, you REALLY need to change your screen name if you get a Porsche.

I had to hire a professional appraiser once to value a ZZZ car for my insurance company. He deals with a lot of cars, and told me that he admires Porsches the most because "they are the closest thing to an exotic supercar that you can actually drive every day." I happen to agree with him, which is why I have a pile of Porsches instead of the Ferrari 330 GTC of my dreams. Steve 99 996 76 930 - fs 64 356C 62 356B hopefully on the way

I've been a BMW fan for long time. Both my wife and I drive bimmers, thus my username. I'm just ready for a real sports car and the M3 doesn't really stir my soul so I'm looking at the other cars. When I get another sport car, I may change my username. I don't want to start any flaming thread here. As stated in my post, I've followed closely the boards for both cars. The main board for the NSX is www.nsxprime.com. If you visit that board you will see that the NSX owners are as proud and close knit as the P-owners. They have their own clubs, events and gettogethers just like the P ones. One thing you can detect from their board, and missing from the P board, is that all of them think their supercar is extremely reliable, easy and inexpensive to maintain, retain value really well, and still a beauty to look at even after 13 years in production. There's even a thread to see who has the most mileage and still running strong. And like someone who have driven them both mentioned, the NSX is a very capable sports car. Most NSX owners keep buying the same car over and over because they think its the most reliable Ferrari, oops, supercar on the planet. FWIW, I'm still leaning towards the 996. Again, my biggest concern is long-term cost of ownership and now the dreaded RMS issue starts affecting my decision here. Without being able to locate a reliable, inexpensive local P shop doesn't help.

a reliable local p-shop in o.c.? there's no bigger name than andial in santa ana. i too came from bimmers. if you were active in the 'cca, and liked tracking your car, then i think the nsx will not satisfy in the long run. reliability of the 996 is above average for a car of this caliber and repairs are more reasonable than an nsx (co-worker sold his for a 996). and if you bend the metal on an nsx, repairs will cost you (aluminium skin).