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Old 03-11-2009, 11:54 AM   #1
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Question Boxster S - Approximate Maintenance Cost

Hi,

I'm looking into buying a Boxster S. I've already test driven one and I like it.
What is the approximate maintenance cost for a Boxster S? I know it depends on driving style, but just approximately.

At what mileage do you change the tires or the breaks? I'm not doing any high performance stuff, just regular daily driving. So I don't need any high performance tires or anything.

Also, I'm going to buy a used Boxster S. Model year is around 2002. How does the mileage correlate to maintenance cost? It seems that many people are doing a 15.000 maintenance interval, so will it matter whether it has 50,000 or 100,000 miles on it?

Any tips on what to look for when buying a used one?

Thank You
Mike

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Old 03-11-2009, 12:18 PM   #2
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Assuming nothing breaks, it shouldn't be too bad.

Oil change once a year, which will cost ~$75 if you do it yourself, or ~$150 at a dealer.
Tire life really depends on the tire and your driving style, but my non-S got 12k out of the 17" OE Pilot Sports, and they still had 1/2 tread when I took them off after 7 years (replaced for safety reasons).
Brakes? I don't know... my '01 only has 17k miles, so they're still fine.

Other stuff is more standard:
Brake fluid/clutch fluid should be changed every few years.
Coolant is supposed to be a 10 year system according to my dealer, but not sure how I feel about that.

I don't have my service manual in front of me, so not sure on the belt/plug/sensor intervals.

Tips? There are a bunch of guides out there, but I'd say one of the more common pieces of advise is if you can afford a certified car, go that route. Warranties can be nice.
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Old 03-11-2009, 12:21 PM   #3
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Welcome to the forum, Mike!

My best suggestion for you is to read through Mike Fock's web site and then my page of buyer's tips on my site (link in signature). I recommend Mike's first because he's invested far more time and energy to write about how to shop for a used boxster.

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

Quickly though, here's some off-the-cuff thoughts about your specific questions...

1. Rear tires can wear out in as little as 7500 miles if you drive hard or they are set up for the track. Typical wear is 10-12k. Fronts last a lot longer unless you corner hard.

2. Oil changes are $150 or about $100 if you do it yourself (easy if you have ramps and a filter tool) and should be done every year or XXXX miles... how long to go between changes is highly debated on this forum (I do mine every 7500 miles or once a year).

3. Brake pad wear is very subjective. Disks should be changed every 2-3 pad cycles and Porsche does not recommend you turn them. If you don't drive the car like you stole it you will find the brakes last as long as most other cars... but that is doubtful because it's a Porsche and you bought it to drive fast (at least I did!)

4. The suspension bits (wheel bearings, control arms) wear out faster on boxsters than all the other cars I have owned combined. Porsche says these are wear items like brake pads and they are not wrong. Do budget money each year of hard driving to replace one or two suspension parts and you'll be fine.

5. If you get bitten by the mod bug (which this site will do to you, so watch out ... you have been warned) you will spend far more money on your boxster than you or your wife could ever imagine possible. Everyone wants to make their car a little faster, a little better looking, and a little more unique it seems. I have spent as much as most anyone on the forum in this regard. Guilty as charged.

Driving this car is the most fun you will have with your clothes on. It's forgiving and amazingly fun to drive hard. I call it a one-man, self-directed roller coaster car.
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Old 03-11-2009, 04:02 PM   #4
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advice

Congratulations, you are asking exactly the right questions.

I just bought an 03 Boxster S and I don't know what dealer will change the oil for as little as $150.00. Brumos Porsche, of Jacksonville, FL, wanted to charge me $275.00 to change the oil. The dealer in Orlando wanted almost as much. I found two independent mechanics who would charge $155.00 and $135.00. I don't know how you would change the oil yourself if you don't own a car lift.

Furthermore, Brumos' service department told me they wanted $825.00 for annual maintenance. This consisted of an oil change, a new engine filter and they would then simply look over the car thoroughly to find what else they could charge me for. No joke.

Remember just because the value of your car has depreciated more than 70%, doesn't mean that the maintenance cost has gone down.

Before you buy your Boxster find and good local independent mechanic. How far will you have to drive to get your car serviced?

The ultimate question with buying a used Boxster, or any other used high-end vehicle, is yes, you can afford the used car however, can you afford the maintenance? Others may disagree with me but I would say, for an 02 Boxster S, make sure you have at least $4k in cash after you buy the car, just for repairs, just in case.

In my humble opinion, Porsches are meant to be driven hard and repaired frequently. If you go in expecting that, you may not be disappointed.

That said, I love my Porsche. I've never driven anything like it. Good luck and I hope you do join us as an owner.
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Old 03-11-2009, 04:38 PM   #5
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+ 1 for Mike Focke's website.

I researched his site and others quite a bit before I purchased my '01 S. You need to be aware of everything involved with ownership as it can be pricey. I was so impressed with Mike's site, and since I have emailed him questions and received very quick responses.

Tires:

My original sport contacts were replaced not long after I had possession of the car. They had 13,200 miles and were still ok, but due to the inherent camber setup on the 986, the insides were worn and coupled with the age (Porsche does not recommend keeping tires over 6 years), I replaced accordingly with N spec pilot sport cups. The tires you can get from the tirerack and my dealer in Nashville was cool with me having them drop shipped to their door. Otherwise, the tires would have cost me $100 more per tire. Mine has the 18" wheel option. See picts.

Dealers are expensive, but also note that correct documentation is important to me as when I go to eventually sell, the person on the receiving end will get a great well taken care of documented car.

Try to buy a low mileage car, but definately have a PPI done by an authorized specialist or dealer. You need this to know what you have ok.

When I purchased mine, I also had the 15k service performed. It cost me about 700, but I figured with the age of the car, it was time for fluid changeouts and other stuff. I will probably get an oil change later on this spring as I have accumulated a little over 3000 miles since a year + of ownership.

You will love the S model and quite frankly, that's all I would be looking at. It is a very quick, balanced, and well engineered car. Looks are impressive too....still cannot stop looking at it! You will get all kinds of looks at gas stations...it's pretty funny.

It's not a drag racer, and I would never treat it as such, but I have smoked a Rousch prepped mustang and blew his doors off on the high end about a month ago. I had no problems keeping up with him and we hit a long stretch of intertsate where there was plenty of visiblity. He was in the right lane just a length in front of me when he hit it full bore. As an ex mustang gt convertible driver, I just had to see what this car could do.

Anyhow, I took it to almost 7000 rpm in 4th, then through 5th, and the last thing I remember was passing him shifting into 6th at just over 160 mph. He was pissed, but I kept on going to eventually let the car gradually slow down without doing any hard braking. At the next ramp, we both exited and he asked me what I had under the hood. I told him the truth...it's totally stock...

Pretty funny when a 250 + hp porsche can outrun a 400 + hp mustang, but he was bouncing off hit rev limiter at 155....and yes, although dangerous, the car behaves rock solid in higher triple digit territory. Porsche definately designed this car for the autobahn.

Mods:

Mods are very expensive and do very little, unless you perform a complete engine swap and take displacement from 3.2 to 3.6. This will cost 20,000, but I assure you from my statement above, the stock S is fast and it's hard to imagine what another 100 hp would do in this light of a car. It would be ridiculous fast...

Everything else like chipping, exhaust, intake, etc.. will not yield more than about 20 - 25 extra hp, and it can / will cost thousands to get it. A big name on this site is Fabspeed and their stuff is not cheap. Check them out on the web. There are some very reputable others too, but stay clear of the cheap stuff as it can do damage.

Know Factory Options:

Do your research, find that special car that has all the options. Not all 986 S models are created equally...

This is where I studied up on the car. Some nice options to have are full leather (just makes the car), litronics, 18" wheels, sport package, PSE which is basically OEM Tequipment Sport Exhaust. '00-'02's have the coolest PSE as it has polished bypass pipes and a really nice sound. See my picts.

Any questions, feel free to pm me. Jon
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Old 03-11-2009, 06:24 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boxster1
a new engine filter
What's an engine filter? Is that sort of like blinker fluids that is on certain cars?
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Old 03-11-2009, 06:34 PM   #7
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jwade wrote:
"Anyhow, I took it to almost 7000 rpm in 4th, then through 5th, and the last thing I remember was passing him shifting into 6th at just over 160 mph."

This may digress from the thread topic but, I must say, holy cow!
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Old 03-11-2009, 06:43 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ekam
What's an engine filter? Is that sort of like blinker fluids that is on certain cars?
Thank you, I meant air filter.
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Old 03-11-2009, 06:57 PM   #9
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Welcome to the Forum!
Maintenance costs aren't too bad, unless you need a repair. My 30k mile service was about $600-800 (I can't remember), oil changes at a my mechanic are about $100 (it takes 9 quarts), and tire wear seems to be fair.
I drive fairly spirited, and my tear wear is probably better than what most people are quoting here. My snow tires have about 10k miles on them and the tread is still very good, I think I can get another 20k miles out of them. The rears do go faster though.

I would recommend you read as much as you can and look at as many Boxsters as possible before making a decision, good luck!
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Old 03-11-2009, 07:24 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boxster1
I don't know how you would change the oil yourself if you don't own a car lift.

In my humble opinion, Porsches are meant to be driven hard and repaired frequently. If you go in expecting that, you may not be disappointed.
The car comes with a scissor jack, so with that and $30 in jack stands and a drain pan, you're golden. You can also get a decent hydraulic floor jack for under $100, if you want to speed things up a bit.

I might change your last line from "repaired frequently" to "maintained properly"... these may not be the highest quality cars out there, but they shouldn't be breaking on a regular basis. Preventative maintenance goes a long way in keeping things working. But about the odd engine blowing up for no apparent reason, well... just hope that doesn't happen.
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Old 03-11-2009, 07:57 PM   #11
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Learn how to do the maintenance yourself, most of it is very easy.
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Old 03-11-2009, 09:16 PM   #12
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Smile

Thank you so much for the warm welcome everybody

My friend just bought a 97 Boxster. He didn't do any research, but he got it for $9,000 . We added up all the options on this thing and came up with $18,000 worth of options, everything original Porsche…don't get me started…

Anyway, he needs new tires. What do you guys think about these:
Link
They seem to be pretty affordable. I'm in CA so no need for winter tires

I noticed that there are tires where the manufacture guarantees a tread life of 40,000 miles. If Porsches really burn through tires that fast, wouldn't that mean that one could get new tires all the time?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jwade

Try to buy a low mileage car, but definately have a PPI done by an authorized specialist or dealer. You need this to know what you have ok.
what's a PPI?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

My best suggestion for you is to read through Mike Fock's web site and then my page of buyer's tips on my site (link in signature).
http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/mikesporscheboxsterwebpages
Thanks for the links. Lots of interesting articles. That will keep me busy.
Also, I noticed that you bought your 97 Boxster for $15,500 that needed repairs and you thought it was cheap.

I was just offered a 2002 Boxster S with 52,000 mile, $8,000 worth of options, new tires, breaks and rotors + full dealer maintenance history for $16,000

Last edited by Mike Shiver; 03-11-2009 at 09:18 PM.
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Old 03-12-2009, 03:45 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by boxster1
jwade wrote:
"Anyhow, I took it to almost 7000 rpm in 4th, then through 5th, and the last thing I remember was passing him shifting into 6th at just over 160 mph."

This may digress from the thread topic but, I must say, holy cow!
Don't want to say I do this much at all anymore, but just really couldn't resist it. Especially considering the other driver wanted to go the distance.

I am just one of those go all the way or don't go at all people...what can I say.

Felt awesome too.
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Old 03-12-2009, 03:49 AM   #14
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A PPI is a Porsche pre-owned inspection and you need it done to check for potential problems.
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Old 03-12-2009, 06:11 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Shiver
Also, I noticed that you bought your 97 Boxster for $15,500 that needed repairs and you thought it was cheap.

I was just offered a 2002 Boxster S with 52,000 mile, $8,000 worth of options, new tires, breaks and rotors + full dealer maintenance history for $16,000
I bought my 1997 in 2004 and the blue book wholesale prices was $21,500 at the time, thinking if I had to put a couple of thousand into repairs I'd still be ahead on the value.

Of course, I didn't consider the continued depreciation, the full extent of the repairs required on a worn out Porsche suspension and transmission, and the very unhealthy desire to make the car look like a much newer 2002 model with new headlamps, tail lamps, rims, rocker panels, updated interior, and a performance exhaust system. I've invested a total of $38k in my car. What can I say? It's a hobby, not an investment.

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