More pictures please.

Not sure if these pics will be much more helpful… this is the only area of the house where the vinyl can be pulled back and the cedar underneath is exposed. On the rest of the house, there is a foam layer between the vinyl and the cedar. Thanks for any insights!

1. Don't do Hardie. LP is superior and not breathing in cancer causing dust is just a bonus.

2. You'll need to pull back some more to get a real health evaluation on the boards. If they are okay, you can paint/stain them but that will be a consistent maintenance item as compared to a pre-finished product from LP.

Cedar holds paint quite well or you could use a solid color stain. It’s impossible to tell the condition or how much paint is on it from this one photo.

If the cedar siding was covered with vinyl siding after only three years of exposure there's a good chance it's still in good shape--unless the foam layer trapped moisture in the cedar. Take a look so you can make a more informed decision. If the cedar siding is in reasonable shape, I think you'll be well served to keep it. If you do need to replace it, I'd go for the Hardie. LP Smartside is anything but, in my opinion.

Thanks, all, for your input. At some point, we will take down a much larger section of vinyl and see exactly what we have underneath...keeping my fingers crossed that it's in good shape. Will post more pics when we get to that point.

After reading everybody’s comments, curiosity finally got the better of me, and I pulled off a larger chunk of vinyl. Thoughts on the cedar? It looks pretty good to me, maybe a little dry… I already like it better than the vinyl!!

Here are more recent pics

The siding you've exposed is protected by the porch roof. You may find the condition of siding that was exposed to the weather to be different. It appears that the siding was neither stained nor painted.

If all the siding (or most) looks like this you can use a solid color stain pretty easily. Sherwin Williams woodscapes is my favorite

If you get it cleaned well, you may even be able to use a semi transparent stain, so you can see all the graining.

Be prepared to find surprises, like trim removed, windows moved or blocked in and the like. That's what I found when I removed the siding from two different houses.

@Seabornman - How did you work with those "surprises"? Were you able to match the original siding? Or do you more often have to look for a custom (ie, expensive) solution? We will need to remove siding from the area where the addition will attach; I'm hoping we may be able to salvage some of it to fill in for those inevitable surprises....

@Esperanza Marichino - my first effort I tried to put new siding over the old. That did not work well, so I tore off all of the original siding and started over.

Your cedar is still readily available

Once you clean the cedar siding, new cedar will match in with your old, should you need to replace some.

@HALLETT & Co. Thank you! That is excellent news!! Can you tell me what type it is, or should I just bring in a sample piece when it is time to look for replacement boards?

Always bring in a sample board when you are trying to match something.