987 Speedometer MPH/KPH?
 

I am currently living in Basel Switzerland on a 2yr assignment and thinking about getting a 987 Boxster here and bringing it back to the USA when my assignment is over. Should not be too hard to get federalized. If anyone has experience with that please share! But can anyone tell me if the digital part of the speedo can be switched between MPH and KPH?

thanks!

crcguy

You can on the 986 so I'd be pretty surprised if you can't on the 987

True, but you better check out the cost. It could be spendy. Don't want any surprises. :eek:

Buy turning the clock adjustment knob to the left for 5 to 10 seconds converts it from km/h to mph.

The KPH / MPH setting is selected under the Settings / Units section of your OBC on a 987. You can also convert metric to US for fuel consumption, temp from C to F, and tire pressure from bar to psi.

Very easy to do as already stated...I just brought my 987 up from the States and had the local Porsche dealer in Plano, Texas convert it for no charge.

as a follow up then, does anyone know what is involved in actually swapping out the analog part? is it as simple as a different gauge? or must there also be some kind of calibration change needed at the sensor? I honestly have no idea how a speedometer needle works these days. do they still use a cable? Or is it all electronic these days and the needle just moves according to the electronic input?

Hmmmm,

just a general thought:
Compare used car prices in Europe (Switzerland) and the US.
I noticed that (at least in Germany) prices for used Porsches seem to be around 20% higher than in the US (my source is the "Kleinanzeigen" in "Auto, Motor & Sport" - almost makes you think about starting an export business).
When you add in the cost for shipping, customs and last not least the conversion, it might be cheaper for you to buy a USED 987 in Switzerland (not a new one because they depreciate too fast), sell it when you leave Europe and from that money buy one in the US.

Chris,

Actually, you do have a good point. I'm doing just that in parallel. But I'm finding they are more like 40- 50% more here (in Switzerland or Germany). Are you sure you converted correctly from Euros? and you're right, I could just sell it. But there is something strange here. I spoke with a mechanic while waiting to meet with sales guy. mechanic spoke perfect english. He asked what model I was looking at. I said Boxster, but just a little nervous about reliability vs 911. we started discussing the motor issues, IMS etc from earlier models. he said they've never had a single engine failure at the shop. he's been there for the past 9 years. He said he's never seen any major issues on a Boxster. worst thing he's seen was a fried top motor. got me wondering if there is a difference in Boxsters intended for USA market vs EU. wouldn't surprise me. they do that kind of thing here. I see it all the time in other things (e.g. appliances). They send the crap to America--assuming they won't know the difference. And most times they're right. Our standard for Quality is different (read: lower) than it is here.

Almost everything here is about 1.5 times the cost in the USA. I just priced a new 987 with manual tranny, sports exhaust, PCM w/nav, sports seats and I'm at $105,000. most of the used 987s in the 2007/8 range are around $75-85k. it's disgusting. I can buy a 911 in the USA for the same coin as a boxster S here. again, the depreciation is not as great as the USA because they just don't seem to have the problems here that they do in USA. Would love to see some actual data. Could also be they drive them here like they were designed (read: autobahn)

But I'll take a look at the reference you cited. haven't been there. I was using autoscout. for entertainment, have a look.

http://www.autoscout24.ch/AS24Web/List.aspx?wl=1&lng=ger&from=Search&zipcountry=CH&m ake=57&model=1955&yearfrom=2006&yearto=2010&cur=CH F&total=72&eftotal=72&navpos=110&carsperpage=&page =3

check out 911 prices. it's crazy.... it's in german but easy to figure out!

crcguy