[Turbowned]

^^ Two different beasts. I drove an Elise two weeks ago, and a Cayman base model today. While both were quite fun to drive, I would not take either one used over a BRZ Limited! A $30k 2005 Lotus that creaks and rattles as badly as my 1987 MR2 but with worse visibility and less legroom was not what I had in mind, nor was a $30k 2007 Porsche with an interior more plasticky than the Subaru. Both handled brilliantly, and once you wound them up, the engines sounded great, and had adequate accelatation/braking. Both had vague shifter linkages (my MR2's linkage feels better) and the plastic shift knob on the Porsche felt really lame compared to the Lotus's aluminum knob. Knowing that the 2.7L engine is a potential ticking time bomb is no comfort compared to the Lotus' Toyota/Yamaha-sourced 2ZZ engine (supposedly there's an aftermarket fix to the faulty intermediate shaft bearing). The Lotus had a lot of engine noise, like my MR2. The Porsche was quieter in the cabin, but had that nice raspy exhaust note. Both cars look gorgeous from the outside, yet living with the Porsche on a day-to-day basis would be much easier, yet not as easy as a BRZ. The Porsche had phenomenal turn-in characteristics, but felt a little uneasy/twitchy at times. I enjoyed the manual steering in the Lotus, and the power steering in the Porsche was good, too. The carpet in every used Porsche I've seen looks like crap for some reason; I can't figure it out! The Lotus I drove was owned by a smoker, and had just enough carpet on the sides of the car to absorb the smell

Unfortunately I still haven't driven a BRZ to compare, but everything about it thus far tells me I'm making the right choice to go with one over a used sports car. The only car I've got left to test is a Honda S2000, but I still think I'll want the BRZ over it.