Base vs. Touring?

JoeD

Disagree.

I can certainly afford the Touring but decided against it. I personally think buying a Touring and not opting for navigation makes very little sense, so fully loaded, this car runs a hair north of $40K. I see that as paying $40K for a jazzed up $29K car, or a 30%+ increase in price. In that price-range, your options open up to a whole new level of car, most notably an almost brand new 2008 or 2009 Corvette (by almost brand-new, I mean <5K miles), late E46 M3, 335i, <10K mile CLK550, etc. Of course, I know you can't compare a used car to a brand-new one, but your options are there (I would never buy a used car unless it had <10K miles and a good portion of the warranty remaining anyway). Don't forget, those have already been titled, so if you change your mind and sell it a year later, you will lose relatively nothing.

This is a sports-car, and one of the purest available on the market. If heated-leather, Bluetooth, navigation, etc. are a priority in a car, shop elsewhere. The Base with the Sport package offers you a no-frills performance car at a price-level which can't be matched by many other, be it new or very slightly used.

I often see cars optioned out to the till, making me question why they didn't chose to buy a different model in the first place. Porsche makes the perfect example, where you can option out a base Cayman to more than a 911 Carrera S.