Thinking of buying a Boxster ? - MUST READ ! - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

NickCats · 12-19-2007, 08:38 AM

The following are great sources of information for those interested in purchasing a Boxster :

http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/mikesporscheboxsterwebpages

http://www.iwantaporsche.net/

http://www.986faq.com/

Happy hunting !

Nick

dcporsche99 · 12-19-2007, 10:09 AM

I agree Nick! Should also add Randall's link on that must read list!

Edit: Nick beat me to it! It was already there!! Good catch Nick! Thanks for letting me know!

t2-bxtrs · 12-23-2007, 06:59 PM

Folks,
How much of a deciding factor would a Rear Main Seal Leak (final decision for purchase) after all checked out good on a low mileage(23K)03'S ??

Perfectlap · 12-27-2007, 09:27 AM

RMS is not the biggest expense you can have in a Boxster or Carrera but there is no gurantee that replacing the seal will fix the leak. You could end up with another RMS leak a short while later. The shaft could be out of center in a big way and throwing another seal at it is just a band aid solution. I would pass on this Boxster unless they offered you a substantial reduction, at least $4-5K or a extended factory warranty on the drive train.

jarquis · 05-08-2008, 05:25 PM

I have a 2004 Boxster that I've owned from new since July 2005.
In January I had the rms leak so had that replaced.
3 weeks ago, at only 10,181 miles the intermediate shaft did it's party trick and wrecked the engine. Porsche replaced it with a reworked one.
Today I take it for it's free detail after my recent 'inconvenience' only to have the/a power steering line break before I got to the dealer!
Am I really unlucky or is the reliability I can expect from Porsche?

ROMES · 06-23-2008, 06:58 PM

weird ive had my boxster for 5years now over 100k miles...only issues i had so far was the AOS @ about 80k and my "drain holes" were plugged apparently its our responsibility to make sure plugs dont get plugged! well anyways it ended up flooding into the cabin and my head unit for the security/key was ruined couldnt lock the doors and couldnt do it manually due to the fact there is no key hole on my doors :troll:

Brucelee · 06-23-2008, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jarquis

I have a 2004 Boxster that I've owned from new since July 2005.
In January I had the rms leak so had that replaced.
3 weeks ago, at only 10,181 miles the intermediate shaft did it's party trick and wrecked the engine. Porsche replaced it with a reworked one.
Today I take it for it's free detail after my recent 'inconvenience' only to have the/a power steering line break before I got to the dealer!
Am I really unlucky or is the reliability I can expect from Porsche?

My neighbor's 04 had the IMS at around 12K.

Go figure.

Norminhouston · 06-23-2008, 07:21 PM

No way I would own any Porsche without a warranty. Too many horror stories lately.

rick3000 · 06-23-2008, 11:26 PM

I would not worry about the horror stories.

Think about it. How likely is someone without a problem to search the internet and join a Boxster forum vs. a person who has a problem and is searching the net for answers? You get a lot more people posting problems. Of the 200,000 Boxster owners, how many have posted on the net about engine failures?

The numbers on the internet are disproportionate and slightly biassed. That is just something to consider, when your considering the horror stores.

Brucelee · 06-24-2008, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick3000

I would not worry about the horror stories.

Think about it. How likely is someone without a problem to search the internet and join a Boxster forum vs. a person who has a problem and is searching the net for answers? You get a lot more people posting problems. Of the 200,000 Boxster owners, how many have posted on the net about engine failures?

The numbers on the internet are disproportionate and slightly biassed. That is just something to consider, when your considering the horror stores.

Actually, there are TONS of IMS failures on reputable Porsche websites.

No one is claiming that this is a statisticaly valid sample.

However, to ignore the chance of a 12K meldown is not necessarily smart either.

I sat next to a Corvette head on the plane yesterday. We tried to remember examples of total engine failure in the C5 and C6 models.

Could not cite even one.

Does it prove anything? Nope.

However, I have owned plently of vettes and never was concerned about the drive train in any way.

Can't say the same for Porsche experience.

Bottom line, Porsche has some design work to do, IMHO.

Still, I love the Box, only with a warranty please./

ekam · 06-24-2008, 07:52 AM

I used to own a Toyota Camry and part of a the largest Toyota club online called Toyota Nation, out of all the people I know both online or off, I've never heard from anyone within that circle that have infamous engine oil slush problem which was all over the news at one point in time.

All of these are just fear-mongering from the media or from very selected few that have the problem and blow it up on the internet.

Again, you will never hear from people that have no problem with their cars.

Brucelee · 06-24-2008, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekam

I used to own a Toyota Camry and part of a the largest Toyota club online called Toyota Nation, out of all the people I know both online or off, I've never heard from anyone within that circle that have infamous engine oil slush problem which was all over the news at one point in time.

All of these are just fear-mongering from the media or from very selected few that have the problem and blow it up on the internet.

Again, you will never hear from people that have no problem with their cars.

I will disagree with you on this one. If say, the Corvette owners had engines grenading, you would see it all over the forums. You don't.

You DO see it on all Porsche forums that I have seen, including our own.

Face it, these engines have issues. These issues have even hit the Porsche magazines, where the tech guys have illustrated the IMS and RMS design flaws.

Warranty takes care of that, if it is a good one.

rick3000 · 06-24-2008, 09:49 AM

No one said that Porsche's don't have engine problems, which they shouldn't have. It is just debatable how often they actually happen. Of the 200,000+ Boxster's how many people have actually had a problem.
I have heard a lot of people talk about IMS and RMS but I have seen very few people post about having it actually happen to them. It does happen, but I think that the forums constantly mentioning it makes it seem as if it happens more often than it actually does.
Just my take on it!

AddictionRacing · 07-03-2008, 05:25 PM

It happened to me. Don't buy a boxster.

Quickurt · 07-03-2008, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AddictionRacing

It happened to me. Don't buy a boxster.

I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I would say your comment is unfair.
Every car, every manufacture has it's issues, it's good year models and not-so-good year models.
I did a lot of research and looking and searching before purchasing my Boxster.
No matter what price range I was in, I would not have bought any Boxster older than 2004, because of the plastic rear window and some more serious reliability issues. The IMS can happen on any of them, but I haven't heard about it as much on the 3.2. Ruled out a base.
I was going to pay cash for the newest one I could afford, but opted for doing a big down payment on a post 2005 with certification and financed the difference. I did this on the insistance of my oldest bestest buddy who is an 30 years experienced indy Porsche mechanic. As it was I waited nearly a year longer than I would have liked to keep the financing to a minimum, while being able to purchase a very new, low mile car with 89,000 miles and nearly 5 years of full factory warranty, precisely because I have owned expensive cars with expensive failure issues in the past. It's called high performance, which usually includes high risk on high strung, heavily stressed mechanical apparati which are also built as light as possible. If you note my avatar you will see I understand what I'm saying. Been there, done that, wrote the checks.
Buying a nine year old car with 66k miles on it, from any manufacture, that you have NO IDEA how many times it's been run to and above the redline, then taking it to a speed event yourself, where it failed, is a risk you should have understood before taking it.

rick3000 · 07-03-2008, 06:59 PM

I have to agree with Quickurt that it is an unfair comment. I see your point of view but you're one of a select few Boxster's to have been unlucky enough to have an engine failure. Just because a few Boxster's have problems doesn't mean they all do and you shouldn't buy one.
I would also like to add that IMS is very rare on pre'-01 Boxster's. Which in my opinion makes pre-'01 Boxster's safer because you only have to worry about RMS which can be caught ahead of time and fixed. But there is nothing wrong with any year Boxster.

ocdbilly · 08-04-2008, 07:57 AM

I want to thank www.iwantaporsche.net. I purchased my '00 Boxster S last December. My wife noticed that there were a couple of oil drops in the garage. Based on what I had read from the above site, I took it in for service. Not happy to say that $6,000 later (RMS, clutch, 'o' rings, axles, 60,000 mile service, the list is long) I know it sounds expensive, but I chose to get everything wrong fixed. The Porsche service department said they couldn't think of anything else that could go wrong (fingers crossed). I believe $6, 000 is beter than $12,000 (new engine) on a car I paid $18,000 for.

Again, thank you to www.iwantaporsche.net for the tremendous insight.

Oh yeah, moral of the story being that if you don't like your Boxster or want to tell everyone that they are a problem and not worth the money, then go buy yourself a Mini.

9eighty6 · 08-04-2008, 09:43 AM

I also don't think it's fair to say that boxsters in general are poor and not worth the cost. They are efficient, fun to drive and wonderful when maintained properly. Even if the engine does let go, you can put in a bigger one for about the same cost (ok, maybe slightly more). And in the end you will still have a wonderful handling car. Just do your homework and make sure that you have the ability to make an expensive repair if necessary!

Happy hunting to those looking!

kabel · 08-11-2008, 08:09 AM

I really, really, like my Boxster.

I'm the second owner, bought the car with 78k - car now has 102,214 miles on the odometer.

The Boxster is my daily driver & I drive my Boxster in a sensible but spirited fashion most of the time. I autocross it an average of once a month, which means it sees the rev limiter occasionally. I have only had to take care of normal ware items thus far (knock on wood) like having the oil changed ever 8-10k. And as far as I can determine, it has the original engine.

Windrestrictor · 08-16-2008, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kabel

I really, really, like my Boxster.

I'm the second owner, bought the car with 78k - car now has 102,214 miles on the odometer.

The Boxster is my daily driver & I drive my Boxster in a sensible but spirited fashion most of the time. I autocross it an average of once a month, which means it sees the rev limiter occasionally. I have only had to take care of normal ware items thus far (knock on wood) like having the oil changed ever 8-10k. And as far as I can determine, it has the original engine.

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