$3000 fear suck!

[Ghostrider 310]

While its certainly true every car has its weaknesses, most Porsche vehicles are coddled. Extra fluid changes, no rough weather. I have owned two Ford trucks. If we were in Vegas and the bet was Ford 150 against the newest Porsche for which one will crack 100K without fuss, I'm going with the truck.

On a side note, when you tell a Ford dealer that you are arranging finance for Monday and he tells you they have accepted the parameters of the deal. You typically don't get an email that afternoon telling you they have a pending deal with someone else. Buying a P car on the net is horrible, not only can they eff you with hidden damage, they treat you even worse. I've been pissed about it all night. I emailed the dealer and congratulated the sales rep. I hope that sale is as solid as you say because if he backs out I'm not buying it or anything else you have. It's beginning to look a lot like no more sports car at all. Porsche we pray there is no substitute because if someone comes up with one we will become a German Eastman Kodak.

[Ghostrider 310]

My last words, the problem with car sales is it is not a repeat business especially over the net. That gives the seller huge leverage. I sold to hospitals, if you screwed someone it could impact business for years sometimes decades, not so in car sales. Screw em, take their money and move is the battlefield. If I do buy one of these cars which feels wrong this morning it will be no more Mr. courtesy, they want my money they are going to Smith Barney earn it or they get none. These salesman, its really nice to be financially dehumanized by people who likely have half your net worth, I love the cars but the acquisition process is god awful.

[wizzel]

I've been lucky to have mainly good experiences with car dealers from Mazda, Honda, Chevy, and Fiat where I recently bought my used Boxster which I found on ebay. One must remember that the seller and product are two different issues. If I didn't like a dealer I walked and I suggest you do the same. No one enjoys dropping a large sum of money and receiving piss poor service in return. Good luck

[recycledsixtie]

Originally Posted by Chasaboo

Intriguing. I started looking at older Boxsters and found one that I thought was worth taking to a mechanic for an inspection. I looked up the local Porsche mechanic and stopped by one afternoon to arrange the inspection.

The gentleman who owned the shop was shall we say a grizzled veteran of repairing Porsches. When I asked if it was possible to make an appointment to inspect a Boxster he flat refused to do it.

He said, "I'll save you the money, don't buy a used Boxster. Their engines are crap. Look out there, I'm fixing two of them now with engines that are bad. The white one is the second time I've replaced the engine. Do you have that kind of money to lose? If you want to buy a Porsche get a 911 with an air cooled engine, those are worth fixing up. That or get a new one with a warranty."

Needless to say I was shocked, I appreciated his candor but what a major buzz kill. I even tried a second time during our conversation to get him to look at the car and he flat out refused.

After reading all the point / counterpoints here I think I have an idea of what he's up against as a used Porsche mechanic.

Truly one of the strangest experiences I've had at a mechanic and I've had several over the years. My plan now is to wait for the new Boxster to come out this summer.

This is only one person's opinion. I bought my 2001 Boxster with eyes wide open and did lots of research. So it's either like u do and buy a new one(expensive) or like me, buy a used one and put $$ into it(expensive too). I have had installed the IMS guardian though.

[Ghostrider 310]

I had a deal, the sales rep should have given me an opportunity to match if he got a higher bid or asked for a grand yesterday; I would have gladly given it to him. That would have been the ethical approach. Now I'm just pissed off because this car was as if I ordered it myself in terms of how it was configured and it only had 2,200 on it.

[Dave S.]

Originally Posted by madmods

My IMS' early warning are my eyes. I turn on the micro-eagle-vision ON when I change the oil at every 2,500km on my 97 with 115,000km on the clock (cheap job, and it can't hurt). A good inspection of the oil filter is required at that point and if any failure, it will first reveal plastics/rubber debris. At that stage (normally) the balls have started to change shape however they will start to disintegrate a "few thousand" km after the bearing plastic goes so there is plenty of time to catch it before it completely blows up.

That's what a 22+ experienced Porsche engineer (based in Leipzig) told me to do when I childishly visit the factory a few months ago while on business trip in Germany. He also added that if you use Porsche approved oils & viscosity and change at recommended intervals the chances that you have a failure is 0.01%. Sounded very simple to him

If I understood... the IMS bearing failures are related to poor maintenance and careless owners. Sure many owners high-rev their porsche with cheap oil that has 5000k more (cokacola!) and then wonders.... why are my bearings failing %*&^^%$$

From everything I've read on this forum, I understand the IMS bearing is not lubricated by the engine oil. It is a sealed bearing. I don't understand how changing your oil more frequently or using a different grade of engine oil, or even inspecting the oil while you are draining it would show you any signs of impending failure. Is there something I don't understand here?

[coreseller]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

I had a deal, the sales rep should have given me an opportunity to match if he got a higher bid or asked for a grand yesterday; I would have gladly given it to him. That would have been the ethical approach. Now I'm just pissed off because this car was as if I ordered it myself in terms of how it was configured and it only had 2,200 on it.

With all due respect, you were dealing with a used car salesman, what did you expect?. While there are some good ones out there they are generally the slime of the sales profession (which I am in). Time to get over it and move on, anything else is kicking a dead horse IMO.

P.S. I experienced something VERY similar 5 years back on a 911 Cab, and I had money down. Luckily I got it back and yes I was furious but realized complaining was pointless.

[Ghostrider 310]

I hear ya coreseller, I'm off the podium. Ethics is the decision of individuals. There was a time when medical x-ray film was about 1,200 a case. It was easy to order as start up product and a few bad apples would over order and sell it back to the dealers. As you can imagine it ranged into the thousands in extra cash. Another manager was fired for outfitting his house with furniture by building it into getting the office done. So what did I expect? The same vanishing metrics of ethics you detailed. No matter what, I'm glad I was the guy who didn't steal film. I'm proud to have been the guy who washed his hands between every patient, used proper sterile techniques, protected the health of everyone like they were my own family. It's how I was raised. In my family whether you were scouping dog poo or selling used cars you did it with pride.

[Brucelee]

This is bunk. How can this be so when my friend's new Box (back in 05) had 11K miles on it and failed sitting at a stop light.

Self serving cover up for a bad design.

[Brucelee]

BTW- I used to sell Porsche's and consider myself quite ethical. I cannot speak for others.

[Ghostrider 310]

Bruce, I'm sure you did work with a conscience, I'm also sure you took it with you to the next career which is my point.

[blue2000s]

NSX's came with automatics. I bet you could find an awesome late model one for half of what you're budgeting for the Boxster.

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=usedcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=82717801&listingRecNum=26&criteria=sf1Dir%3DDESC%26mkId%3D20001%26stkTyp%3DU %26mdId%3D21685%26rd%3D100000%26crSrtFlds%3DstkTyp Id-feedSegId-mkId-mdId%26zc%3D98109%26rn%3D0%26PMmt%3D1-1-0%26stkTypId%3D28881%26sf2Dir%3DASC%26sf1Nm%3Dpric e%26sf2Nm%3Dmiles%26isDealerGrouping%3Dfalse%26rpp %3D50%26feedSegId%3D28705&aff=national&listType=1

[Ghostrider 310]

They were pretty cool but without PDK I would not enjoy an automatic. I'm going to step back and see what else comes. My friend is in the industry, he told be about dealerrater.com. Apparently even the manufacturers look at those posts. Sure some may be an errant complaint. However, as my friend points out if you see a trend you can quickly know what to expect post sale. It's not perfect but it is free. Someone kicked the Roc NY dealer in the shin, i thought I recognized the post name as a member here.