Are BOXSTERS REALLY THIS TROUBLESOME
 

I just bought my boxster and joined this forum a few weeks ago. I enjoy reading it, however I'm starting to get the feeling that boxsters arent well built due to all the problems that are discussed here. From electrical problems, RMS leakage, multiple water leakage problems, etc. Should I be worried that I bought a boxster to begin with ?? I love the way it drives so far but now I'm waiting for the problems to start.

The boxster is no more problematic than most other cars. Drive it, enjoy it. Having read about some problems that can occur gives you power; Be comforted you are better informed to recognize and fix any of these issues if they happen to you. Don't let the negatives prevent you from having fun.

I nearly did not buy mine for the same reason, but in the end I came to the above realization and have not looked back. $0.02

I to felt this way at first. But after having the car for over 1 year now and having bought it used, the only problem was the RMS leak which I had fixed and it has NOT come back since. If you keep up with the maintenance you should be fine. As for my RMS issue, there really is no telling what the previous owner did as far as maintaining goes. I love my car and have had no other issues with it at all. Some people just don't take care of their cars and some times people just get a bad one from the start. I would like to say that if you keep your boxster in a garage you will less likely have water issues too. :cheers:

40K miles on my BoxsterS

non-maintenance repairs to date (with labor)

1. throttle body $300
2. one O2 sensor $150

Bought mine new 4 rys ago...0 problems, never been back to the dealership since I drove it off the lot. Oh wait, yeah the clutch pedal squeaks..oh well :rolleyes:

I have not had good luck, however all of the cost so far has been picked up via extended warranty. When people ask me this question, my response is always: It is a car, things break and need to be repaired just like any other car, however it is generally more expensive to repair than a Ford( or insert other "normal" make car here.)

Car Forums give that impression. Nobody posts, "My car was trouble free today, should I be happy? Oh, and by the way, it was trouble free yesterday and for several days prior to that, any advice?"

Anything with moving parts will need maintenance, do Boxsters require more than other cars? I don't think so. When they do, does it cost more? You bet your $700 foot-well lighting it does! :cool:

Agreed. Information on car forums (and I participate in several) must be taken in context.

First, nearly even one that participates is an enthusiast. Why else would you participate on a car forum? Given this, we probably are more aware (critical) and take a greater interest in our vehicles. Thus, a lot of minor issues are discussed at a level that gives them a greater spotlight.

Second, as Bob stated, typically no one posts their trouble free days here. That would be silly. However, we may post about truly enjoyable track days, drives, etc. that were enhanced because of the car.

Third, it is a car. Things do happen. However, the severity and frequency of issues must be kept in mind, many are more nuissances than anything truly serious - including the notorious RMS.

The Boxster is not only a terrific sports car, it's a terrific car period. So congratulations! Don't worry about it. Get out and enjoy it!

:cheers:

Every car has its own problems. There is no flawless car. Every car forum talks about its own problems. For example, I came from Z3 and E36 M3 forums since I owned them. You can read Z3 owners writing about subframe failure all day. E36 M3 owners crying about misshifting and blew their motor...

It's mostly perception. For every problem posted, there are probably 10's or hundreds of cars in the woodwork that have no problems. Like the RMS seal. I have 46k and no leaking (does look very very slightly wet though :eek: ). I'll replace it when the clutch slips.

Don't be scared. Enjoy the car. The design flaw risks are well worth the rewards of driving it.

Don’t fret,

People like myself turn here in desperation, that’s probably why you’ve got the impressions you have. Take a walk through any Porsche shop and you’d probably walk with the same conclusion, these are all hosed, wears my Camary.

These things are pretty good, but can be expensive to maintain. It’s Also fun here to check items of interest that might be an issue for you in the future. Or you can pipe in with your 2 cents.

Relax, enjoy, PK

I just bought my used 03' Box two weeks ago and I felt the same as you. However I have been educating myself of all the known problems the Box could manifest so I know what to look for and also when it does happen I won't be caught by surprised. I also just received my Bentley service manual I ordered last week, and I will be studying that to learn more about the parts of the car.

So far the car drives great, looks great and I really enjoy driving it! I find myself thinking up a longer route with less possible traffic to drive when I do take it out. Also I have been going out to dinner more often in the past two weeks cuz every night I want to drive it and dinner is a good excuse to take it out with the wife :D

yeah don't worry too much about it.
once something goes bad with any of our cars, we post about it, and most of the time figure out the problem.
like stated above, we don't post when the cars are doing great every day, so all the posts are regarding some 'problems'

Yes, but the intimidation is that we see alot of the same problem repeated thread after thread (even on Renntech.org). So that makes me think it will sooner or later happen to me too. It becomes not a matter of "IF" , but "WHEN" that cause the worrying.

I think the RMS problem is a legit issue. Made worse because there is no statement coming out of Porsche. There seems to be 4 or 5 generations of "fixes" out so far but the problem seems to be other than the seal. Crankshaft oscillation making most sense to me.

We as enthusiasts, respect engineering. Flaws nagg us.

My '04 doesn't leak. If it did I probably wouldn't like it as much since there is no definitive solution. I haven't heard how well the Cayenne "style" rms is holding up.

My '01 Harley is an old tech marvel. It doesn't leak and likely won't. Cheap to fix and is bulletproof.

I had several issues with my 02 S, when I purchased it in April of this year. Most were from the previous owner not maintaining the car the way it should have been. I had to replace the rear axles because the rubber boots covering the CV joints were not coated with silicone on a regular basis. A new top, due anyway since it was five years old and new tires.
But it's all worth it. The car runs great and is a joy to drive. It fits my definition of a sports car. You're smiling when you walk up to it; you're smiling when you're driving it; and you're smiling when you're walking away from it and turn to take that one last look. Happy Driving.

I had a great trouble-free day yesterday. knock wood. attacked some twisties. opened her up in third on the freeway. ah, it was good times.

First long trip
 

Took our first long trip from NY to PA on Wed. 2 1/2 hrs each way at 75 to 80 mph with a few short bursts above that while passing. Car ran great and got good mileage which was 26.5 mpg on the first half tank of gas which included trip on I-84 thru Pocono mtns. and a lot of driving twistys in PA with friend in his MX-5. We both had wives on board so car was at maximum weight. I love this car!!!!! Drive yours and enjoy.

AKL

When I first got my used Boxster, I also started to read about all the problems that they have. For the first month or 2 I was just waiting for the whole car to blow up and melt into a lump. 10K miles later and a MAF I realize that maintenance and no Moronic over revs and the car is as good , if not better , than any other performance car. If you want bulletproof get a Miata and pretend. Ed
PS I like Miatas, but.

My Boxster was just sitting in the garage when the rear window cracked from a stiff breeze, which set off the horn. The strong noise from the horn jarred the RMS open, which started leaking like crazy. At that point, the faulty MAF shorted against itself and the car burst into flames.

The Boxster has two main design issues that are concerning, the RMS and the IMS engine meltdown problem. Obviously, the RMS issue is the most frequent lyissue mentioned.

It has other weak points that seem to come up frequently, including the ignition switch and an propensity to eat brake pads, rotors and tires.

Older Boxes had issues with the tops, plastic windows and cables.

If I recall correctly, the Box comes in the middle of the pack on the three year JD Powers survey.

Beyond that, we have no data.

Not a cheap car to fix, but there are not many of those anymore. A great car to drive, period.

Good luck.

:)

HI, OTFLMAO :)

The truth is that boxster owners are real men not shy confessing their shortcomings and this is the place for ADD patients also, so please keep reading and posting, you'll feel much better after a few years of 986 medicine. :cheers:

OH OK Me Love My BOX, me go wash it now :D

Had a camshaft tensioners failure at 66000km. An $5k repair job at the dealer! Still love the car though :)

52k miles, 3 owners
 

Driven 3 years 10k on my watch.
one O2 sensor replaced with generic equivalent at muffler shop for $50 labor (I didn't have access to as lift)
one intake leak, resolved by independent mechanic moving parts around which cured leak.
3 trips to dealer to resolve airbag/seatbelt warning light. One I paid for, 2 dealer/PNA paid for.

Repair needed once every 9 months. No disabling failures.

Total cost in unscheduled maintenance for 3 years less than $20/month.

Enjoyment....priceless.

If you can afford the depreciation, you can afford the repairs.

The only thing I would really be worried about is IMS failure - low probability, disasterous results. If I spring a small RMS leak, I probably will not even do anything about it.

It does seem like most of the issues are more toward the "minor/stupid/annoyance" classification. But the IMS failure issue, the lack of public acknowledgement, standardized processes for financial relief, and porsche's subtle admission of the failure is certainly not something I like.

One thing I feel would be great is to have somebody take some pretty detailed measurements of the high cost segment of porsche box issues and survey a whole bunch of owners. Everything we hear is anecdotal and it would be great to document what really "is" with hard facts and establish a baseline for problems/costs.

i picked up my low milage '99 6 months ago and managed to hit RMS leak, shift linkage failure, clutch replacement, and MAF sensor failure. i think i had every issue discussed in this forum but the IMS failure in that 6 months. shift linkage failure kinda pissed me off since i was stuck in downtown DC rush hour with broken Porsche waiting for a tow truck. a bit embarrasing... but thankfully, most of these were covered under extended warrenty.

after all this, i still love the car. i knew i wasn't getting a bullet proof Honda when i made decision to purchase one. the way car looks and how it performs out weighs the problems for me.

HI, I just wonder are we FOOLS for buying these cars ,check this out , not too impressive :eek: what are we paying for :o

To read this better, copy and paste on desktop and then zoom the highlighted area.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...mriser0002.jpg

Franco, funny you put that up - I was just looking at it a few days ago. To me, those charts are meaningless. I could not find the basis for these ratings. For these to be meaningful measurements, the rationale behind these ratings needs to be clearly explained and defined for each reliability metric.

They also seem to fluctuate wildly over time and time related variability is not correctly explained (clearly to the reader). I recall looking at a very old issue of this and seeing my box year's rating to be substantially higher. I feel it is very difficult to interpret some of these results :(.

Furthermore, (I beleive those ratings are based on frequency of occ.) there are many more factors to consider than mere frequency. For example, cost and cost normalized for MSRP should also be included to further understanding of true reliability problems. After all, isn't everyone's bottom-line here long run expected cost of repairs?

My car is now in the shop with possible serious engine damage/issues. It will be looked at tomorrow before I know for sure. I guess I pissed off the car gods or didn't knock on wood after I posted this...oh well what can you do. :matchup:

gmboxster
 

At the risk of sounding stupid, what is the IMS failure you guys keep mentioning.

I have recently bought my first Boxster and decided to have a full service carried out by my local Porsche Centre in Devon UK. I duly delivered the car and left it for the work to be carried out. About one hour later I received a call from the centre to tell me that the engineer had tested the car and found a vibration !! and having removed the oil filter had found metal particles in the oil. They asked if they could investigate further and would require the sump to be taken off and inspected, as I was obviously worried I agreed to have this done. I then some 3 hours later had another call telling me that the intermediate shaft bearing was failing and it would cost £7000.00 + VAT $14000 to be repaired. I could not beleive this as the car has only covered 28000 miles in its life and is in perfect condition. The car drove well and did not show any signs of any engine damage to this point. To cut a long story short I spend about 2 hours on the net and found what I think is probably the best Porsche specialists in England who will not only repair the engine for £3600.00 but will uprate and modify the intermediate shaft to prevent this happening again. The porsche centre would only repair as the original which would have probably failed again. My car is a 1998 986 which was bought from a personal freind and has been serviced and very well looked after all its life, that said why has this engine failed at such a low mileage surely this being a Porsche it should have lasted much longer than this, I can only say that my lifetime dream of owning a Porsche has very sadly been very disapointing and what I feel is a complete disaster, I wish I had bought a BMW as I have never had one let me down. Porsche as far as I am concerned are a rip off and I will never use a service centre again as long as I own the car. To crown it all the Porsche centre had charged me £919.00 for the privalige of telling me that my engine is knackered and they never even carried out any of the service. Porsche needs to have a customer service department that lends a sympathetic ear to it's customers and explains why their engineering failed at a very low mileage, I have no doubt however that Porsche are only interested in making money instead of listening to its owners.

Quote:

"We both had wives on board so car was at maximum weight."

Posted by Allen K. Littlefield.

Wow, dude. Better hope your wives don't read that post.

I had no major issues with my Boxster S, Just sold it at 45K miles, I can only hope my 996 3.6 will be as reliable

re: RMS
 

Hi,

I'm new here... I'm looking to get into a 03 or later Boxster S in the low $30K price range. I don't have one yet, hopefully have some money by the spring.

Does RMS in Porschese translate to 'Rear Main Seal'?

My Rear Main Seal on my 2002 Jetta 1.8T 5 speed is leaking.... not enough to actually drip on the garage floor, but it is wet..... A mechanic I had look at it while it was in for the waterpump, timing belt said to keep an eye on it.....

This IMS thing is a little worrysome....

P