I'm taking the plunge-01 Boxster- need advice

[icedude]

Originally Posted by Boxtaboy

Icedude, I would not replace your AOS or MAF unless you are experiencing problems. If you see that you have a big plume of smoke coming from your tailpipe at startup for a few times in a row, then you may need to change out your AOS. If you don't see any CEL light come on, your MAF is ok. At 58k miles, I have yet to change either on my car.

Oh, and Geoff is correct- starting in 2001 model yr., Porsche offered the insulated liner for the top as standard equipment for the base Boxster. Came with the Boxster S in 2000 as standard. Your dealer didn't add the liner to your car...it came as standard in all 2001 model year Boxsters.

Thanks, my bad on the liner. You guys would know best - which is why I am open to advice/critique. Boxta, the brake discs are a bit rusty, which is common on all cars and I'd like to get new, colored shoes if I go with new rims. how do I shine up the discs. nice rims + rusty and drab discs and shoes = ugliness. Where in NJ are you? I work in Piscataway. Any recommended Porsche mechanics you can recommend?

[Boxtaboy]

Originally Posted by icedude

Thanks, my bad on the liner. You guys would know best - which is why I am open to advice/critique. Boxta, the brake discs are a bit rusty, which is common on all cars and I'd like to get new, colored shoes if I go with new rims. how do I shine up the discs. nice rims + rusty and drab discs and shoes = ugliness. Where in NJ are you? I work in Piscataway. Any recommended Porsche mechanics you can recommend?

There's probably not much you can do about the rusty brake rotors besides removing the rust and then painting the rotor hats. You can paint the calipers, as I did. Here's a link to my DIY instructions that a member from another board posted on his website: http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/paintingyourcalipers

I do most of the basic work on my car with the help of my other Boxster friends. We have an informal Tri-State Boxster Club where we get together a couple times a year for a work on cars day and even take annual trips together. Here's our website: www.tsbl.org

I live in the Edgewater, NJ area now.

Cheers.

[23109VC]

you will love the Boxster. I have driven my fair share of performance cars, and the Boxster is THE most fun car i have driven. Not the fastest, but the MOST FUN. Period.

my car, a 2000 base, with 18s, M030, and 75k miles still feels tight, runs VERY smoothly, and corners like it's on rails. Literally. you can't have more fun in a car for what you will pay for that car - period.

I also worried about IMS after reading all the stuff here and I said " go for it". you only live once. the odds of it happening are low. I too am a married guy with 3 kids, and this is a third toy car for me. I drive it to work on Friday... in about 20 min I"m hoping in it for lunch - can't wait!! - and like you, I really can't afford a 10-15k repair job... I can easily afford the car, but then another 15k just to fix it - no.

I have one GOOD car that is new/reliable that fits the whole family. New Acura MDX. I have an older, PAID off, reliable sedan I use as a DD. the box is for friday, weekends, date night, etc.

i figure in the UNLIKELY event that I suffered total failure - i'd just park it, cover it, and start saving for the 3.4L swap. it would suck, ut eventually i'd find a used 3.4L buy it, and find a mechanic who could swap it in for me and I'd just have to be patient. the end result would be one bad A$$ wicked boxster. i hope that never happens...but there would a silver lining to the cloud.... albeit it would be painful to have to cough up that money...

life is short. too short. if you are like me and you love cars - you WiLL get a substantial amount of pleasure from this car. i say the risk is worth it. but only you can say for sure what YOu are comforatable with.

extended warranties aren't cheap. i priced one for my car and with tax it would have been over $4000 for a 3 yr full warranty. even an "engine / drivetrain" only warranty was 3k+ - but my car has 75k miles. you might get a lower quote since your car has less miles - but not mch less. from what i saw, once the car was over 15k miles all the extended warranties were 2-3k+. IMHO not worth it. if you only drive the car 5-7k/year - you're paying a LOT for that peace of mind. and if it never happens - you wasted a lot of money.

take the risk, enjoy it. if you can wait a little and come up with more money to buy a CPO boxster - that might be a better idea, but it will cost more. if i could afford to blow $30k i'd be getting a newer one, but I wanted to be at or below 15k..so you have to bear some risk and get an older car.

good luck

[joshua6060]

I have an 01 Boxster, Love it, seriously, purchased it 3 years ago when it had 40,000 miles on it, now i'm up to 78,000 and still feels great.

Keep up on your maintenance and expect a few major repairs in the future, I have had a bad rear wheel bearing replaced, don't drop your top unless the temp is above 70 degrees or else the vinyl rear window will crack(speaking from experience) and you will need to get that replaced because riding around with a cracked rear window while driving a Boxster looks, well, stupid! A crack in the engine coolant tank cost a few bucks to fix. You can do a lot of work yourself on Boxsters, I changed my own Brake Pads, and oil, the stealerships wanted way to much!

Don't remember any of that stuff when I'm riding down the interstate with the top down and the engine humming behind me!!!!!