986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

Perfectlap · 03-02-2009, 08:15 AM

^ sure there are pitfalls with owning the 996/986 engine, but there have been engine pitfalls with virtually every Porsche! Choose your poison $6K crate water cooled or $14-$20K air cooled rebuild (I'm guessing those rates have DOWN recently). It's always buyer beware with Porsche yet there is still a decent pool of enthusisasts for all the Porsche's 928, 944, 911, 993. You could well argue that the 986 and 996 are probably the lowest cost of ownership of any 'enthusiast' owned Porsche. Personally speaking my BoxsterS, believe it or not, has been the most trouble free 50K miles of any car I or any relative in my family has ever owned. Yes the Boxster!! The 2000 and newer evolution of Porsche reliability has been ground-breaking. Of course the engine design flawes are still a source of anxiety.

As for as performance.... Well there are a few cars out there that could give a Boxster a run for the money, certainly on a dollar basis. But I'll tell you what, if you sold my BoxsterS at current market values and I told you that you had to buy another car with an equal level of fun factor/excitement, classic styling, brand prestiege and performance--ALL these things not just a few-- You couldn't come back with a better car without spending more.
Well put it this way, park a second hand:

Porsche BoxsterS,
BMW Z3,
BMW Z4,
Honda S2000,
Mazda Miata Turbo,
Mercedes Benz SLK
Pontinac Solstice,
Saturn Sky

all parked next to each other (wow there are not many roadsters!), all with terrific maintenance and records, A+ condition, all with at least 50K miles, from different years-- to bring them all down to the same second hand price point let's say $12K....Which car is going to get the most buyers?

03-02-2009, 08:15 AM	#14
Perfectlap Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 8,709	^ sure there are pitfalls with owning the 996/986 engine, but there have been engine pitfalls with virtually every Porsche! Choose your poison $6K crate water cooled or $14-$20K air cooled rebuild (I'm guessing those rates have DOWN recently). It's always buyer beware with Porsche yet there is still a decent pool of enthusisasts for all the Porsche's 928, 944, 911, 993. You could well argue that the 986 and 996 are probably the lowest cost of ownership of any 'enthusiast' owned Porsche. Personally speaking my BoxsterS, believe it or not, has been the most trouble free 50K miles of any car I or any relative in my family has ever owned. Yes the Boxster!! The 2000 and newer evolution of Porsche reliability has been ground-breaking. Of course the engine design flawes are still a source of anxiety. As for as performance.... Well there are a few cars out there that could give a Boxster a run for the money, certainly on a dollar basis. But I'll tell you what, if you sold my BoxsterS at current market values and I told you that you had to buy another car with an equal level of fun factor/excitement, classic styling, brand prestiege and performance--ALL these things not just a few-- You couldn't come back with a better car without spending more. Well put it this way, park a second hand: Porsche BoxsterS, BMW Z3, BMW Z4, Honda S2000, Mazda Miata Turbo, Mercedes Benz SLK Pontinac Solstice, Saturn Sky all parked next to each other (wow there are not many roadsters!), all with terrific maintenance and records, A+ condition, all with at least 50K miles, from different years-- to bring them all down to the same second hand price point let's say $12K....Which car is going to get the most buyers? __________________ GT3 Recaro Seats - Boxster Red GT3 Aero / Carrera 18" 5 spoke / Potenza RE-11 Fabspeed Headers & Noise Maker BORN: March 2000 - FINLAND IMS#1 REPLACED: April 2010 - NEW JERSEY -- LNE DUAL ROW Last edited by Perfectlap; 03-02-2009 at 08:19 AM.