Porsche Boxster (986)
Why 7.0: The Porsche nobody worried about crashing for two decades, which meant it actually got used the way a mid-engine roadster should be. Values bottomed out below a good used Camry before the affordable-classic crowd noticed what was underneath the badge stigma.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The M96 flat-six sits directly behind your head with only a fabric roof above it, so the thrum and induction hiss arrive unfiltered. But it is the softest flat-six Porsche made, coarse rather than tuneful, and done at 6,500. Firmly mid-table.
6-cylinder · naturally aspirated · 6,500 rpm redline · rated 6.2 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €39k (1997) → €15k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
There aren't any — strict two-seater.
Porsche's period system for the 986: a genuine Porsche child seat's buckle clips into a deactivation bar under the passenger seat, mechanically switching the airbag off — no ISOFIX bracket or dash key switch involved.
Same clip-bar family of system as the 993; the dash/glovebox key switch came later.
Porsche Club of America tech Q&A, "Child Seat w/ Pass. Airbag Deactivation" (986 Boxster) (owner-community sourced, not manufacturer documentation)
The long version
For most of its life this was simply the cheapest way into a new Porsche, an also-ran next to the 911 in enthusiast conversation and priced accordingly once the depreciation curve flattened out near nothing. That combination produced exactly the ownership pattern the mid-engine chassis deserved: bought by people who wanted to drive a Porsche daily, not preserve one, racking up real miles without much thought for resale. The IMS bearing concerns that haunt this generation kept prices honest longer than they should have, but clean, well-documented examples are finally firming as the entry-Porsche story gets rediscovered.