hi everyone. I've been lurking and posting here for months.
My dad has a 2000 base that is preparing to sell. I have driven his car numerous times and every time i get behind the wheel - I love it. I love the way it handles, the way it sounds - it's the most fun I have EVER had in a car. His car has 73000 miles on it. It had the RMS leak when it was new, Porsche put a new motor into it back when it had around 10-15k on it, and it's been running like a champ ever since. He might sell it to me "cheap"..not give it away, but cut me a deal to unlod it fast as he wants a new car. i dunno what he would sel lit to me for - we haven't talked $$ yet.. but i'm guessing 13-15k give or take. not dirt cheap, but a good deal.
his car has M030 suspension, 18"s, heated seats, windstop, cruise, full leather. Ocean blue, black interior. It looks nice.
Anyway - I was kinda getting fired up to buy his car. It would be not that much money out of my pocket - for a car that would be SOOOOOOOOOOO much fun to drive. then I start reading all these threads about "my motor failed", "another boxster owner motor blows up" and "My warranty company screwed me over after my motor blew" and I see the COST TO FIX the motor is $10,000+++.
All of a sudden, I'm rethinking this whole plan to buy his car. I start thinking - maybe a used boxster is not such a great deal. i can get the car cheap, and it will be fun to drive, but what do I do when the motor blows up on me? i'll be screwed. i can afford to buy his car for $15000, but i don't have 10000 just lying around to spend on new motors...
my big question is this - how common REALLY is the IMS failure? and what kind of engine mileage are people seeing on the 986 motors assuming they don't blow up? are there motors out there with 200k on them? given that the boxster has been out since the late 90s...there must be SOME people out there who are original owners who have 150-200k miles on the cars??
i know online - you typically see all the people posting their problems, and people don't log on and post "my car has 75000 miles and it runs fine"... you don't see those threads..so you can get a warped sense of the real problem...
does anyone have any kind of informed opinion - as to what % of the 986 motors have an IMS? it sounds like it happens at any time - so the fact that this motor on my dads car made it to 72k (something like 50-60k on this engine) means nothign. it could go tomorrow.. or could it go to 150,000??
am I making a mountain out of a molehill? I'm sure to THE ONE guy who buys a boxster and then sees the motor blow will think it's no molehill...and there's no sure things... but what is the REAL rate of failure of these engines?
i really want to get a boxster. i love the car. i have test driven s2000s, rx8s, evos, all sorts of "fun" "sporty" cars trying to sort out what it is that I would "WANT" and the boxster is it. it's so much fun. not necessarily fast..but just so much fun. i was really kind of bummed when I found out about how $$ the motor was to fix repalce. i mean, if an engine was 3000 like it is on a lot of other cars..you can figure it's a calculated risk..but when the cost is SO HIGH - it becomes a worry.
I was excited to think i was going to get a good deal from a family member and have such a fun car to drive. then my bubble was burst..
am I overreacting? is IMS really just a "one in a thousand" or "one in ten thousand" problems or is it more like "one in a hundred" or "one in ten"...??
does having 50-60k on the motor make it any more or less prone to this problem? sounds like it doens't.
does the year or size motor make it more or less prone? it's a 2.7 from 2000. i thin it got the new motor sometime in 2001.