I think part of the hysteria has to do with the fact that high performance sports cars have issues. And the advent of enthusist boards for sports car makes have allowed us all to see what issues affect a small percentage of all Owners. Below are a few examples I have experienced.


Previous to my 987, I owned a 2000 MR2 Spyder. After purchasing, I learned that the 1.8 liter Toyota engine had an issue with the precats crumbling, causing to much backpressure, and killing engines. It was supposed to kill all engines over 30,000 miles. I became concerned and pulled my manifold once and month, and eventually replaced with headers to sleep better at night. And then there was the oil starvation issue if the car was tracked, causing the engine to throw a bearing if I recall. All the MR2 guys were buying a $600 custom oil pan to save the day. That was when I decided to sell the car, since I was spending to much $$$ to solve issues that may not be entirely real.

Going over to the Elise board, same thing, the Elise guys were experiencing blown engines due to oil starvation, and either installing new oil pans, or retrofitting a scavenger pump and reservior system.

My memory is fuzzy on this one, but before i purschased by MR2 Spyder, I was also considering used S2000's. The boards stated that they we having gearbox issues that the dealer would not correct, warranty or not (and the 3 year, 36,000 mile Honda warranty does not last long).

And then there was the dread BMW M3 Engine failures on the early SMG equipped cars.

So, from all the information gleaned on this site from many more knowledgable people than myself, if you want a Boxster, purchase the newest one you can. The 05's seem to be a good value (2.7L) and will have a year of warranty on them.

I resectfully disagree with your use of the term hysteria. The water cooled boxer engine has had issues from day 1 and it is 11 yrs later. Guys are STILL reporting cratered engines on cars that are still under warranty.

What does that suggest about the company?

Back when I was dealing Porsches (several years ago) the local Porsche service manager was just plain candid about the engines.

"Great performance, built like s**t!"

His words, not mine. I can tell you that this dealership has about 14 repair bays and 14 lifts that remove engine/trans units. I was constantly amazed at how many of these cars on any given day had the whole unit out of the car.

RMS, bad engine, whatever.

The SM told me that apparently the factory thought it was cheaper to replace than to reengineer the engine.

Go figure?

:confused:

you can see a good point here.. why worry about it? If you can, buy new.. if you buy used, you take the risk if engine failure.. of course the way I look at it is how many engines have failed compared to how many built.. its probably not that high..

BTW, anyone have a blown boxster engine I can do an autopsy on?? :)

this is kind of my point.. you know, if it was a major design flaw, and 75% of the engines out there were doomed to failure, they would redesign, cause it would be cheaper to.. if the failure rate was low enough, they would just replace engines.. makes sense to me...

the part that sucks for the customer is The factory has a time limit to its liability.. then its the owners problem....

The part that sucks for the customer is The factory has a time limit to its liability.. then its the owners problem....

Ya think? :D