Best Years, Years to Avoid, Miles vs. Age?
 

I'm looking at used Boxsters and S's, too. Probably in the $20-30K range.
Seems to me for the same price you can get an S that is a year older or with more miles. I have a couple of general questions.

Would you recommend an older S or a newer Boxster.
Would you recommend an S with higher miles or a Boxster with lower miles?
Are there any model years to avoid for the Boxster or the S?
What models have glass rear windows?

Thanks in Advance.

Glass window, 2003 and up.

I would find a Boxster S over a standard Boxster for many reasons.

Any year S would be fine, lower miles, condition and service history would be my preference.

That is the SHORT answer.

Good luck.

:cheers:

The 03-04 models have glass rear windows and a glovebox. Also slight exterior cosmetic changes such as rear air diffuser and body matched grills. Newer is always better in boxsterdom. Get the newest model you can..and get the S.

The '97 and '98s had some problems with porosity in the cylinder block, plus some problems with cylinder liners. The latter problem was traced to a decision made by the company manufacturing geniuses to retrofit some marginal (read failed inspection) blocks with a liner which was susceptible to cracking around the top thereby causing the liner to shift in the bore. The factory knows which engines these are by serial number, and have replaced problem engines under warranty. From what I understand, I wouldn't bother trying to find out whether any particular engine number falls into that category, as the response is likely to be "What problem engines?".
Typically these engines failed within a few thousand miles of new, and the factory replaced them under warranty. Engines that have say 30k miles or so on them are probably OK, or have been replaced already.
If you have access to Porsche Panorama, the Porsche club monthly magazine, it had an excellent discussion of these problems in the most recent issue.
I'm sure others will chime in on the std vs S question, as some folks think the std car has adequate power, while others think there is no such thing as enough.

Our local Porsche shop said the same thing about 97/98 blocks.
S vs. non-S: I was looking in a same price range (about $25,000). Saw some good cars on ebay $22-$23, but was reluctant to but a car on ebay. A local 2001 (non-S) popped up - pampered to the max with 13,000 miles for $28.5: I took it. Is more power (S) better? Always! But on the used market it kinda depends on what happens along. Low mileage 2001 Ss were mostly over $30.
Happy hunting!

That's what I ran into when searching for mine. I didn't want to go any older than a 2001, and while an S would've been ideal, I came across a pampered 2001 Boxster with low miles and a budget fitting price. All of the S's I came across that fit my criteria were $33 and up. With the difference in price, I was able to use the money for upgrades and mods that made it different from the rest of the Box's that I would see. I couldn't be happier with the car.

Go S and go as new as you can afford.

I ended up buying mine new because I couldn't find any used '03-'04 at the time with the options I wanted at a price that made sense. Reason I wanted '03+ is because of the glass rear window and a host of other little improvements such as a glovebox.

Good luck. :cheers:


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When we started looking - we first eliminated colors, both interior and exterior. The ideal: BRITE Silver with natural (not orange paint) hide simply didn't exist - Damn!

We then fixated on a price - but the range started to swing almost $10k - Damn! I passed on a very good base 02 in St Louis for $24k, another good 01 for $22k and drove to VA Bch to look at an 01-S for $33k (well optioned piece of merde)

In December there were about 500 01-02's to choose from at cars.com. P-dealers had a load of lease returns but stoopid pricing - Damn. (I would have felt more comfortable with P-certified - but got over it fast. As the cars they had were not really any better/worse than any other's that came off lease...)

We found an 01-S at a Chevy dealer in CT. The only thing they knew how to do was clean it up. I got things like heated seats and Litronics for nothing because the dealer didn't have a clue what was 'optional' to the first owner. They only knew what some little book told them it was worth.

The business about an 'S' means more to me in the future than today. I've always figured a well optioned car with low mileage will carry a better sell price than a base car runout. I figure I got all the options - and the S - for nothing.

jim

my brother is a porsche mechanic. When my dad finally decided to buy a boxster my brother told him to buy one that 2000 or newer because he felt that they had most of the kinks worked out by then. but thats just what he says.

-andrew