Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Given the prices they're currently fetching, good idea. It's a lot of well-engineered car for the money, if you get a good one. I think @Dammit 's current Porsche experience reflects more on his OCD tendencies than on the wisdom of buying Porsches generally.

Yep. Good idea. There are a few potential issues to Google up on including popping out of 2nd and IMS bearings, but avoid those and they're an amazing car for £8k.

There is no such thing as a £5k one though. The ones that are £5k are £8k ones that need £2k spending.

As @danstuff says, @Dammit is just being a bit silly.

Mine is about to cost me nearly £500 on brakes to get it through the MoT. This brings the total repair expenditure over the two years I have owned it to somewhere around £1000. That doesn't seem too bad to me. The alternator stranded me, but nothing else ever broke. It's being traded in next week so if you want to buy mine be quick :-).

They are available at prices to suit all pockets but don't buy a cheap one unless you intend to drive it into the ground. Spend money on a good one and you shouldn't have to spend anything like Dammit-levels of cash on it.

The chassis is brilliant - the cornering and balance is superb, and the ride, even with the sports suspension, is really good. Seats are comfortable and the steering positive. Brakes feel dull but work very well. Electrics are sound, but the stereo is total crap.

Personally though, despite some great drives I've never really fallen in love with it. In making it so very capable when being driven hard, Porsche made it quite dull when being driven normally. And 'normally' is how I mostly drive.