Engine Life Expectancy Boxter vs 330i zhp - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Jim Miller · 10-14-2010, 07:40 AM

Thinking of buying a 1999 Boxter (past 71 911T owner). What is the engine life expectancy before a rebuild is needed. Can they go 200K.

Thinking of trading in my BMW 330i zhp for a Boxter - good move??

Jim

VGM911 · 10-14-2010, 09:46 AM

Is it a good move? Which would you rather own - a sports car (the Boxster) or a sports sedan (the BMW)?

Also, to be admitted into our fraternity, you have to remember that the correct spelling is Boxster, not Boxter.

jcb986 · 10-14-2010, 12:05 PM

There is no simularities between the two. Owning a Porsche is like having the hottest babe on the block...she blows you away. The BMW is jusy another pretty face.

Jim Miller · 10-14-2010, 01:13 PM

I guess it is not a good start mis-spelling Boxster. Sorry

The question I am really after is how many miles do you think you can get out of a Boxtster engine before a rebuild is needed? When I own my 911, not many made it past 100K.

JTP · 10-14-2010, 01:33 PM

Pedro just recently passed 200k miles on his 986. Search for his post, he gives a detailed list of what he has replaced.

Quickurt · 10-14-2010, 02:26 PM

It's pretty safe to say any modern engine should go 200k miles, as long as it is properly maintained. Many go well over 300k miles. Christophorus just had an article about a 911 in Europe that has gone 350k miles, with the original engine/trans.
Boxsters do have their share of catastrophic failures, but most seem to happen fairly early, before 60k miles, so...............
The problem, of course, with buying any used car is you can never be completely sure how it has been maintained and treated, so there is always that crap-shoot in there, as small as it probably is with a Boxster class car.
Good luck, and look to see you coming on and telling us all about it!!
Do your due dilligence and read all the threads on catastrophic failures and probabaly talk to Jake Raby about years and models to avoid.
I came on here and trolled for over a year before I bought, and it may have saved me a great deal of money.
I know for sure it helped me narrow down the list of what I wanted.

nasomi · 10-14-2010, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcb986

There is no simularities between the two. Owning a Porsche is like having the hottest babe on the block...she blows you away. The BMW is jusy another pretty face.

Thanks for the clarification, I had a similar dilemma.

VGM911 · 10-15-2010, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Miller

I guess it is not a good start mis-spelling Boxster. Sorry

The question I am really after is how many miles do you think you can get out of a Boxtster engine before a rebuild is needed? When I own my 911, not many made it past 100K.

You're teasing us with the misspellings, aren't you.

One of the posters on the Boxster boards has about 235,000 miles on his car. Is that common? I don't know, but it may indicate what good and faithful service can do for the longevity of an engine.

mikefocke · 10-15-2010, 07:15 AM

his engine just blew at 207k on the track. Understand the hundreds of days on the track it had already logged, the hundreds of AXs it had run and the excellent care it had received to that time. Hardly a typical car.

His car is now back on the road with a replacement engine.

Buying an 11 year old car with an uncertain history and then expecting it to last strikes me as the height of optimism. No engine design is perfect and our cars are getting old. There are steps that you can take in terms of preventative maintenance that can reduce the chances, and there are engines available at varying price points to replace yours if it fails. Are they fun cars...you bet. My 2 have been very very trouble free over a 6 year period. But realistically they could go bang tomorrow as could any of my other car's engines.

Change the oil frequently (4-5k miles), stay on top of preventative maintenance and drive it.

sasha055 · 10-16-2010, 12:41 PM

What Happened to Pedro's car? it cann't be IMS.. he just upgraded the bearing..

JTP · 10-16-2010, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikefocke

his engine just blew at 207k on the track.

Wow, I had no idea it blew. Still, with all the track days he has logged it's amazing that engine lasted as long as it did regardless of all the maintenance he has performed. It would be interesting to know what exactly failed.

Jake Raby · 10-16-2010, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sasha055

What Happened to Pedro's car? it cann't be IMS.. he just upgraded the bearing..

He told me that it snapped a connecting rod in half.. He called to see what I had engine wise, 2.5s are very hard for us to keep as "Certified Pre-Owned" engines these days..

The IMS bearing was not damaged in the scattering experience.. The failure that generally kills a track engine is a broken rod, I expected that to happen to him for well over two years..