bought 03 S today

[pirahna]

Love the red interior.

[RandallNeighbour]

Watch out for carpet fading on red. Turns pink if you leave it parked in full sun with the top down.

[eightsandaces]

Hey man congrats an a beautiful car. I bought mine used and picked based on condition, as a result I ended up with my first white car, glacier white. All these years later, it has grown on me, enjoy the unit, the red is unique.

[jmatta]

Looks like a nice find...my friend recently sold a 996 Aero silver/red interior when he purchased his 997 CS Aero. I've found the red goes a long way and gets balanced nicely when you substitute black floor mats for the red ones. I have beige interior on my Box and the beige mats were too much for me (though they were like new) and did the same substitution.

[jacabean]

that's funny because the first thing i'm going to do is get black floor mats.

[Perfectlap]

the first option you should probably look into is upgrading the intermeditate shaft. Honestly. People spend thousands on upgrades (like I did) while crossing their fingers that they'll make it until it's time to change the clutch. And even then many don't upgrade the IMS. I think the cost is about $1200-$1500 if you only wanted to do the IMS. Seems crazy now that I think about it that one would spend $1500 on new wheels and tires, or aero or a great stereo system...only to wake up the next morning and discover that your engine just imploded with the repair costing nearly the value of the car.
It's a Russian roulette game of sorts, highly unlikely that it will be yours that bites the dust but why take the chance if your going to committ extra funds to the car on mods anyway? I'm sure the average Boxster enthusiast spends at least $4K on non-maintenance upgrades over the course of ownership. The other big advantage in doing this upgrade in my opinion is that it makes your car much more desireable to a buyer if you do decide to sell. Well if you sell it as having this upgrade that most won't have. I have my doubts that grenading engines is a big problem (compared to other engine makes) but as we see older and older boxsters pushed up in mileage it remains to be seen whether we start to hear of more IMS failures. Many current owners replaced clutches without upgrading the IMS and it seems crazy to think that a poorly though out item will hold up indefinitely. I'm having this done right now because my clutch bit the dust after 10 years. I found an independent Porsche shop to do it at $85 an hour x 12. Seems like a piece of cake for an experieced shop that's used to working on older more involved Porsche work. Unfortunately I'm also having to do the axle boots, starter and alternator...ces't la vie **************** doesn't last forever.

The black floor matts are good idea but you'll have your work cut out for you. Red interior is by far the easiest to keep clean looking. You wouldn't think so but a red lighly maintaned interior will look nearly new for years. I think I'd go about a half day on black floor matts before that just cleaned look was gone. And after a few weeks of not cleaning and it really starts to require some elbow grease. I use a 1 part woolite to three parts water mix in spray bottle and it looks good as new. Recently I picked up a portable Bissell carpet vac at Costco for the house ($60) and have been using it in the car. It does a nice job. I highly recommend using 1Z leather cleaner on the seats with terry cloth, it leaves no shiny residue. I have a black steering wheel, picked up a silver painted center console and black carbon shifter to break up all the red.

[jacabean]

i would only do the Ims when the clutch goes.