[mjbliemel]

21K for the '98 sounds fairly much where it should be. Though I 'd try to talk the dealer down as much as possible of course. I'd also get a CarFax report on the VIN. At least that provides you with some information on the car's history. Does the dealer have full records on it? Have to be careful with used ones, who knows where it came from and what it has been through. Be as thorough as you can be.

As for the difference in the two you drove, I don't know why that would be. You'd think the S would come out on top in that regard. Both manual transmissions? Or, was one manual ('98) and the other a tiptronic perhaps?

That said, I'd be really careful with any '98 or '99 due to problems with engine failures due to s slipped sleeve. There is a certain production window where Porsche had some porous engine castings where they then inserted sleeves into the bad ones. If you are unfortunate enough to get one of those (fairly rare of course to have this happen, but it can) and it blows up on you one day, it will be very expensive and require a replacement engine. If you can go a bit more $$, try to go for a 2000 at least. I wouldn't be too concerned about the small ding, a paintless dent removal service can probably do a good job on that. I also would not be concerned about the small chips and scrapes underneath. Unless of course you are one of those really anal Boxster owners. That kind of thing, paint chips on the nose, while not ideal of course, is something I have learned to live with. It's a friggin' car after all and cars get stuff like that in the course of time. Scrapes on the underside of the front -- big deal, not visible anyway unless you spend your time on your knees looking at them. Right?

I have a '99 with 72K on it, no problems fortunately.

Good luck and I hope we see you here with a Boxster soon! You will love it!