Ektar does not give "punchy" color, unless punchy color is resident in the actual scene. It's fairly accurate for a color film. But neither does it
artificially soften things like skintones, which is something Porta 160 does. Nor does it forgive errors in color balance as easily. If you are comfortable shooting chromes, Ektar should be easy to learn. If you want something more forgiving of exposure error, go Portra. These films are tightly engineered for specific categories of use. And consistency is one thing you tend to get in quality products like these. If you want high quality results, then the learning curve is going to be more consistent too. Any mistakes which come out in the end result are likely to be your own. But you might pay a dollar more a roll for that privilege. Amateur films are made and marketed under less stringent conditions, and often have a buffer zone for sloppy use, so that you get "something", yet at the expense of something else.