97 boxster pricing

[tonycarreon]

There is a reserve price and their website shows an asking price of $9995...

So I'd say any buyer who pays over that got a bad deal.


I was driving around today and saw a yellow boxster, so I stopped and talked to the sales guy. Turns out it was an '06 base 5-speed. Previous owner had put cross-drilled rotors front and back, but they were quite rusty. Speed yellow (which I have to admit didn't look as bad as I had always imagined, since I had only seem pictures). Anyway, they were asking $36k - 6k miles on the odometer.

[husker boxster]

Interesting "bump" on the driver's door about 1/2 way down the seam between the door and fender. Looks like an outward dent in the door. Can't imagine you could create a dent like that without buckling the fender in. Don't expect a 13 yr old car with 79K to be pristine, but it makes me wonder.... Digital cameras can boost the price by $3K.

[RandallNeighbour]

Husker, good eye! But I think that puckered bit of sheet metal is on the passenger side... or there's a problem on BOTH doors.

Hehehe... if the seller only knew we were scrutinizing his car and listing publicly!

Keep those comments a coming. I'm enjoying this.

[husker boxster]

Yep, I meant passenger door.

[jcb986]

Detailing a car to look pristine is one thing. Mechanical is another. If that's the original engine and it's a 97'..well you guys know the rest of the story.

[RandallNeighbour]

jcb, I was thinking the same thing. 80k is right around the time a Porsche motor starts showing IMS issues.

[schoir]

Who put the 6-speed in there, and where did it come from? :chicken:

Regards, Maurice.

[pothole]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

jcb, I was thinking the same thing. 80k is right around the time a Porsche motor starts showing IMS issues.

Interesting, my understanding is that it was often much earlier than that. Certainly when I was looking to buy there were lots of cars that had had new engines around the 40-50k mile mark, sometimes earlier, and also cars on 100k with the original engine. I spoke to one of the outfits that rebuilds M96 lumps here in the UK and was told that if the IMS bearing had made it 70k, that was probably a good sign. Apparently one of the major issues (the following will not be their precise words, only from memory) is that the bearing is very tightly sealed / packed and can dry out leading to failure. Bearings that have made it to decent miles usually have opened out just enough to stay lubricated.

So many different opinions on this, and obviously these things can die on you at pretty much any mileage, but personally I'd rather have an early 2.5 on 70k than, say, one on 30k to 40k. I certainly wouldn't have any more confidence in the lower mile car regards the engine grenading. Too many examples of low mile engines going pop for that.

For me, the sweetspot for buying an early 2.5 would probably be around 60k with a new clutch and RMS...Any fewer miles than that and I would actually be more nervous about it, not less.

[blinkwatt]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

jcb, I was thinking the same thing. 80k is right around the time a Porsche motor starts showing IMS issues.

IMS wasn't a problem on the 97' 2.5L. The 98-99' had cracking sleeve issues. The 97's has some issue like a porous block or something,I don't remember anymore.

IMS issues mainly started when Porsche redesigned it for 00'+,mainly the 3.2L on the 986S and 3.4L on the 996 have the issue. People say it's a major problem on the 2.5L & 2.7L,it's not,go on the Rennlist 996 NA section,you'll see how much of a problem it really is. (proportionality speaking)

(not that people have said the 2.5L and 2.7L don't have IMS failures....just that out of all the shops I've talked to,all the post on all these boards on the net.....the 2.5L and 2.7L hardly have IMS failures).