Being a consistent folk, your humble authors there at Totally That Stupid tend to bat around the same questions over and over. These questions frequently have either no answer or many answers. However in one case, which is today’s case, the lack of final answer has everything to do with the many possible answers.

That question is: “Yeah, but what else could you get for the same money?”

Let’s start with reminding everyone the average price of a new car is now within an air kiss of $50,000. Empirically, that is a lot of money. But in the abstract, it also feels like a lot when you consider what the average new vehicle is: For many people, it’s a garden-variety people-moving lozenge with equipment that used to be considered posh but is now fairly commonplace.

As Frank N. Furter said in The Rocky Horror Picture Show: “I think we can do better than that.”

“We” are the car people who appreciate something different. “Better” in this case assumes that if you require some sort of people mover you already have one in your stable, and can thus look farther afield.

Our this-or-that question is for a sometimes car that can be driven all year. “Sometimes car” means while it’s not the primary vehicle, it’s also not a seasonal ride that has to stay hidden for some number of months per year. This car wouldn’t necessarily venture out every day, but it could because it would feature seat heaters, snow tires, and a monthly carwash pass for the cold, dark, and occasionally salty months.

Full disclosure at my company’s and client’s behest:

In my day job, in a roundabout way, I sell new Subaru vehicles. I’m a fan of the brand, and was even before they supplied my paycheck. Do I regularly drink the Kool-Aid? And do I like it? And is a large blue bucket of said Kool-Aid – in the form of a 2018 Outback 3.6R Touring – currently parked in my garage? Yes.

The 2024 Subaru BRZ

For a skosh under $34,000 you can have a brand-new 2024 Subaru BRZ Limited with heated seats, Apple CarPlay, and the correct number of places for your feet to move about. That proper, three-pedal, six-speed manual transmission sends adequate power through a standard limited-slip differential to the rear wheels. Two-hundred twenty-eight horsepower and 184 torques may not seem like a lot, but the 2.4-liter SUBARU BOXER engine only has about 2,800 pounds to shove around. Need a better power-to-weight ratio? Lay off the Christmas ham.

(Editor’s note: Christmas lasagna, but point taken.)

I really like the current BRZ design, modern but with classic proportions on the outside, simple yet handsome on the inside. The exterior has curves and bulges in the right places, and with a minimum of tacked-on rubbish. I particularly like the way the integrated rear spoiler draws the eye through the tail lights and down to the dual exhaust tips. Inside, the controls are mostly right where you’d want them – the seat heater switches should take precedence over the cupholders – and the infotainment unit isn’t an iPad glued to the top of the dashboard. The materials may not be exactly luxurious, but for me that’s an easy pass given the entry cost.

What else is in the segment? The Toyota GR Supra design is ongepotchket. I actually like it, but there is simply too much going on. I do think it would get tiresome if you had to look at it every day. The new Nissan Z tries really hard to conjure design elements from Z-cars past, but it all comes off as a bit dull and heavy. MSRPs on both of these  – over $46k and $42k, respectively – push them to the very fringe of the BRZ’s competitive set. The Chevrolet Camaro is dead (again). Most-often compared with the BRZ, the adorable Mazda MX-5 Miata is actually (and obviously) a very different kind of sports car.

The BRZ is very similar to cars I grew up driving in the late 1980s and into the 1990s; Relatively lightweight, powerful enough to be a blast on a backroad, and frequently rear-wheel-drive. While balance and feel outranked raw power, you could still steer them with the throttle. The BRZ is without a doubt the modern-day S13/S14 Nissan 240SX. Indeed, you can trace a BRZ all the way back to the Datsun 240Z, and the BRZ’s twin – the Toyota GR86 – back to the early Celica models.

Other small coupes from that era compare but not as directly. Second- and third-generation Honda Preludes? Excellent little weapons on a twisty road, sure, but wrong-wheel-drive. The Diamond-Star triplets? The really good ones were all-wheel-drive with turbochargers. They’re just a different thing, like the Toyota Celica All-Trac Turbo.

Where I live a BRZ would require snow tires, so in the corner of the garage there would be another stack of meats, probably mounted on bronze-finished alloys. The BRZ comes with a warranty that you’re unlikely to need.

So while it may then seem I am high on my own supply (see disclosure above), the BRZ is genuinely a car after my own heart, a completely attainable front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, manual-transmission sports car. Order up. However, you know what else you could get for a hair under the $34,000 mark?

The 996 Porsche 911

A lot of digital ink has been spilled on the 996. Thusly, we won’t be discussing the naturally aspirated M96 flat-six engine’s issues, including the IMS bearing, RMS, AOS, or cylinder bore scoring. We won’t be talking about how – following the venerated 993, the last “real” 911, that which ended the luftgekühlt epoch – the 996 shared a lot of parts with the Boxster. We also won’t mention early interior quality or anything to do with fried eggs.

What will be talking about, then? A world-class sports car for approximately the same money as a new Subaru BRZ, perhaps even a bit less. Let’s set a few parameters and see where we (read: I) land.

I don’t want a Carrera Cabriolet. I already have a four-place convertible, one I’m not allowed to sell. I also don’t want the Tiptronic two-pedal sadness package or all-wheel-drive. I’ve run rear-wheel-drive cars for years with four snow tires and they do just fine; No reason to think a 911 won’t do the same. That leaves a rear-wheel-drive Carrera Coupe or Carrera Targa.

There are arguments for and against both the 996.1 or 996.2 Carrera. The 996.1 is considered more pure. The earliest cars still had cable-actuated throttles, a leftover from throwback to the 993. Power jumped from 296 to 320 horse-equivalents in the 996.2, and torques from 258 to 273. Are they fast? They are both plenty fast.

I don’t mind the infamous headlights and appreciate the simpler exterior adornments of the 996.1. However, I do like the updated 996.2 interior appointments (I have a thing for glove compartments) and updated materials. Call me crazy, but when I see a really tidy 996.1 interior I always think it won’t last. But you know what for me really seals the 996.2 deal? The glass-roofed Targa.

Available here in the States for three model years (2002-2004), the 996.2 Targa featured a giant retractable panoramic moonroof rather than a removable hard panel, a design switch that began with the 993. Basically, almost everything from the windshield header to the engine lid is glass. Push a button at any speed and the glass moonroof panel drops down and slides back under the inside of the rear window.

Purists will argue these are not real Targa models because of that change. But let me tell you: My TTS cohort had a 1988 G50-body Targa. He said the removable hard panel was a pain – it allegedly folds up for storage inside the car but please dear god don’t ever do that – and that wind buffeting was nasty with the panel removed. The Targa part of the 996 is just a very large moonroof, one that lets in all sorts of light whether open or closed (or not, with the power shade drawn).

The 996.2 Targa also has a glass hatch that opens wide for loading things into the fold-down rear seat area.

There’s a little bit of peripheral precedent with a Porsche, too. Over the years my family has almost bought a 911 a few times. Dad was always a fan, and Mom became a fan after she saw a bright red 911 coupe in the showroom with a bow on it the day we picked up our new 1985 Audi 5000S. Later, Dad tried to buy Mom a late-1960s 911S, but Mom didn’t want to learn how to drive stick. Missed opportunities, and all that. But I feel like even from the great beyond she’d be okay with me selling what was her BMW Z3 to partially fund a 911.

Philosophy

To be clear, I don’t feel like this is some kind of midlife crisis thing. I’m not even convinced I’m still in the “mid” part of life, but that’s a conversation for a different time. I’ve just always liked and driven cars similar to these. If you’ll pardon the cliché, life is short. You should drive something you really want to, to the best of your budget.

At this point, my TTS cohort will chime in with:

So we’ve been having this conversation literally for months. I like the 986/996 generation Porsches, and have even had a couple of them. They are brilliant, fun cars and much better than we’ve been led to believe by the naysayers. Find one that’s been well taken care of, keep on top of it, and you should have a reasonably reliable car suited to everyday use.

But the idea of a new, relatively affordable daily driver that’s just as much fun as one of those Porsches for approximately the same money is compelling. So after all of the back and forth and speculation that your TTS team has had on the matter, I just decided to go and drive a new Toyota GR86.

Long story short: Yes. Not yes, actually, but HELL YES.

For my use, which involves bombing around twisty, winding, hilly back roads on the way to get my coffee or groceries, this car is perfect. I’ve owned and driven a lot of cars and don’t use the term lightly. It’s not as fast as a 996, but frankly I’m more in the camp of using a car’s whole range, which the GR86 lets me do. More importantly, it felt fast enough for my purposes.

Look, 25 years ago 0-60 in six seconds was fast. These days it’s sort of above average, but I didn’t find myself wanting for more speed at all. It was glued to the road and had oodles of pull across the revs. Couple that with the obligatory rear-wheel drive and razor-sharp steering. And, oh yeah, it’s a new Toyota/Subaru that won’t require the care and feeding of a 25-year-old Porsche.

I kinda think I want one.

For me, having two SUBARU BOXER engines in the garage is a neat idea. But I also like the idea of having two flat-six engines from two very different manufacturers. The 911 Coupe is a little cheaper (sometimes) but the Targa is a little weirder (always). I like the weird. No retailer within 300 miles has a new BRZ on the lot, so I’d have to order it… a car I’ve not actually driven before.

Old-school old or old-school new? The 911 is a proper sports car. But so is the BRZ, and in spades. They’re just different philosophies. Which Kool-Aid do you drink?