[JayG]

need a lot more info on the car

As far as the IMSB, IMHO, I would not lose sleep over it
I have an 04 S that I bought 1/5 years ago with 58k and original IMSB. I now have 72k. I have done a lot of spirited driving, some AX and track. It will probably be changed when i do the clutch

There are 100,000's of M96 engines running today, many with more than 100k and some with more than 200k with the original IMSB. does that mean it can't fail, of course not. Does that mean it will fail tomorrow, of course not.

There are ton and tons of threads her and other forums about he IMSB. Bear in mind that you will find more post about failed ones than ones that are OK as people generally don't post my IMSB is fine.

As far as 50k being the magic number, well that is one opinion and opinions are like buttholes, we all have them , just some are smelly and stinky

Changing it yourself is possible, but a lot of work that requires some skills that you may or may not have

A Boxster, hell any Porsche can cost a lot of $$ to maintain and repair, or they may cost almost nothing, just like any car. Generally a Porsche is more $$ to repair than a Toyota.

If you are thinking of buying one, you need to be prepared to spend some $$ on it at some point

Again,read the threads here and it should give you some idea of the plus and minus of Porsche ownership

Its probably also better to do some research on your own by reading this forum before making your first post "should I buy this car"