Why doesn't everyone drive a Boxster?
 

Like the title says, why don't more people drive Boxsters?

1) Used price is very reasonable, and the body style has remained virtually unchanged
2) Repairs are expensive but they're worth it considering what you're driving
3) Gas consumption is better than most V8s or SUVs, especially with the 2.5/2.7 and a manual
4) 2-seater doesn't haul much, but I see plenty of convertible corvettes, SLKs, Miatas, etc and they have far less trunk space than us
5) The "impress friends/family/strangers" factor is high (at least in the Midwest) compared to any other vehicle in this price range, especially when purchased used

Perhaps the strangest part: even people that know exactly what this car costs used are impressed by it and want to drive it

"wow" story:
My dad was driving my Boxster while I sat in the passenger set on Saturday. We were driving through a small town with the top down and two 12-14 yr old boys were standing in front of a corner diner talking. As we slowed to take a turn I heard one say "Whoa, a Porsche!" I waved as we turned and they started cheering. We got a big kick out of that, made us feel like celebrities for a minute :D

i guess it depends on whether it's more important to spend money on a "status" symbol to keep it running, or put your money elsewhere and drive something that doesn't need as much upkeep.

makes hauling the wife, 2.5 kids and Fido around kind of tricky.


yet if everyone drove one that "factor" disappears.

Production numbers are among the lowest in the industry. Heck ALL model years combined would not provide enough cars for the state of Texas!

Just my .02

If everyone wanted to drive one, then the price would not be as depreciated as it is. Demand would be greater.

Probably because, like myself until a few years ago, many of them are probably thinking, based on the marque's prestige and associated high costs, that they "can't afford one of those". The only experience I ever had was back around 2005 or so with a '99 with 28k miles that went for about $25k. I did some looking around a few years ago for ha-ha's to see what prices were looking like now, and was rather surprised. Then I spotted one sitting in a dealer lot on my commuting route, saw that it was still there after a year, and ended up purchasing it.

She may not be "fast", but she sounds nice and handles better than anything else I own.

Because everyone I know has figured out how expensive they can be to maintain and upgrade.

I definitely will think long and hard about buying another Porsche that isn't at least CPO.
You may dodge the expensive repairs bullet but the longer you keep the more certain it is that your luck will run out, espcially if your Pcar is winter driven.


p.s.
regarding gas consumption from your list, the Escalade gets 18mpg highway. My Boxster does about 21 mpg.
The Ford Edge crossover/SUV thing gets 30 mpg higwhay.

1. I love the car. But some people just don't like the looks of Porsche's. To some, it is not muscular enough or boxy enough.

2. People think they are expensive to buy and insure. Many people thought I was rich. Someone thought my <$10,000 used 986 actually cost me $40,000. Another person thought I spent $25,000 and another guessed $18,000.

If you are a DIYer, it is cheap to maintain and repair. The only expensive issues that you need a mechanic for are IMS, transmission rebuild or replacement, clutch, engine rebuild or replacement. These are the only $1000+ issues I know of. Water Pump is a bit more complicated for DIY, but it can be done. It just cost me $600 for parts and labor for water pump replacement.

But belts, pulleys, throttle body, AOS, MAF sensor, oil change, air filter, exhaust pipes, O2 sensors, lightbulbs, and more are so easy to replace or fix yourself even for those without much experience with cars. All the how to guides are on pelicanparts or youtube. Even some of the suspension pieces like tie rods are easy to replace. All of these are $10-$500 parts with $0 labor potential.

For performance parts. Some are way overpriced when compared to Japanese cars like exhaust and forced induction and rims, but some are also the same price or cheaper like Underdrive pulleys, Performance Intakes, Suspension modifications.

^Those parts add up. I did the math on my $12-13K in repairs/upgrades and I'd say only 40% was labor, and there weren't really that many upgrades when I come to think of it.

It really depends on what you compare it to. I just got a sc430 I'm driving around and for everyday use I think I would pick it over the Boxster, better power, more torque, better stereo, better everyday seating, Hardtop is quite when up.

But if I'm going into the canyons I think I would take the Boxster, but not sure as I don't know how well the sc handles yet.

Last weekend with the top down at a red light a Miata? owner yelled over to me and said "When my car grows up it will be a Porsche !!'' Then drove away and gave me a thumbs up !!. I am glad that I bought this car. Nothing is perfect and every repair garage is full of all kinds of broken cars. As long as it runs, I am in love.

Escalade gets 18mpg highway driving cross-country if you fill up, immediately get on the highway, cruise at 60 mph for 400 miles, get off highway and fill up again. By that comparison we get 30mpg

Proof from the mouth of owners:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=escalade%20mpg&source=web&cd=1&ve d=0CE4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftownhall-talk.edmunds.com%2Fdirect%2Fview%2F.f0da912&ei=yYz dTtqvKYKL2AXil9mVBQ&usg=AFQjCNFJyqiME2qTUWsVfv4pyj u15z4q3A&sig2=NQ-Wi3l2hCW8x9QOBtwfXA

And I know "oh we only average 6mpg better". That 6mpg is 40% more (15mpg vs 21mpg). That's actually pretty huge, 40% more than our 21mpg would be 29.4mpg. Only very modern (2008+) 4-cylinder cars or hybrids can even touch an average of 29.4mpg, so a 40% improvement is nothing to sneeze at.

Also improving gas mileage is an exercise in diminishing gains. Average person drives ~15,000 miles a year. It comes to a point in mpg that it doesn't make much sense to keep improving. 100mpg would only use 150 gallons instead of 300 gallons a year used by a 50mpg vehicle, but what vehicle gets 100mpg? A 50cc scooter? 50mpg vs 25mpg uses only 300 gallons instead of 600 gallons, but the only vehicle that could average 50mpg is a brand new Pruis. Sure that extra 300 gallons the 25mpg vehicle uses a year is $1000 more per year (averaging $3.33/gal), but if the new hybrid costs $10,000 more than the vehicle that averages 25mpg (which I'm sure it does) then you might as well get the 25mpg vehicle, and look at all the options you have for 25mpg vehicles?

Boxster 2.5/2.7 manual seem to offer reasonable mileage (low 20s) while still looking great and performing well.

Plenty of people buy civics and mustangs and camaros and spend thousands tricking them out to try and get the "wows" Porsches get stock.

Besides which is cheaper: paying $500/month for a recent Camaro or Mustang convertible, or $200-300/mo for a 10 yr old Boxster and setting aside $200/mo for upkeep?

This argument has always confused me the most because don't most men drive to work? Do they take the wife and kids and Fido to work with them? I drive to work alone so a 2-seater is more than plenty for a "work" vehicle. Wifey can keep the kids in the minivan/SUV

IMHO a Porsche is one of the few vehicles you'd not want to do "performance" upgrades to. If I wanted to constantly add upgrades to it I would have bought a V8 Mustang or Camaro, or maybe Civic or WRX. Cars like that have lots of performance parts available that I could sink thousands on but I'd still be left with a Mustang, Camaro, Civic or WRX.

Not that those are "bad" vehicles, but they're certainly not porsches. Some even have the same engines as their grocery-getter counterparts.

Everyone should own a Porsche in their lifetime, I just bought a 2002 Boxster in Oct. of this year, it had 68K miles on it and all maintenance done on it by the old owner. He had over $5,500.00 in resets for the car, I paid $ 9,000.00 for it.

My point is, a used Porsche Boxster is a bargain no matter how you look at it. for the money you can not find a better handling convertible. This is my second Boxster,my first one was a 99. I drove it for two years and sold it for more money then I bought for. If you work on your Boxster yourself you will save a ton of $$$ they are not hard to work on and also fun to work on, IMO.:)

As a guy who has been riding motorcycles for 40 years and have owned 33 bikes in that time and still have 3 of my own, I can tell you Boxstering is the closest thing to riding. My wife and I call them the "4 wheeled motorcycle". Sometimes it reminds me of flying the 2 seat single engine low wing plane I learned to fly in.

Well said IDAHO RED !!!!!

nice

:cheers:

I live within arm's reach of two major highways and I routinely drive to the other side of state (non-rush hour) to visit friends who also live within blocks off the parkway. I'd say very little of my driving doesn't occurr on the ultra smooth GSP on non-peak hours.
On full tanks and in nearly 8 years of owning this car I have NEVER been anywhere close to 30 mpg. I say I am lucky to even hit 23 mpg (all) highway and that's very smooth throttle, barely tapping the brake, on low revs which isn't at all good for the engine.

I live in your region, and on long haul drives (PA to Cape Cod, PA to upstate NY, etc.) I routinely get 29 MPG. It's slightly lower when I have a second person in the car (27 or 28 MPG) Maybe it's because I have the 2.5 engine? I also use the cruise control a lot on these trips because they are so long. I'll be honest though, I don't keep track of my milage on shorter trips when I do more "spirited" driving.

I bought mine because it's more exclusive than a SLK or Z3/Z4 and it's more reliable too. Oh and it has two trunks and no extra seats for for tag-a-longs :)

Alcohol is cheaper for an average folk?

as a new owner of an 02 S i feel the same as the op. i had looked at buying another mini or even an s2000, but couldn't believe that i could get a near perfect40k S for well under 20k. a similar mileage mini cooper jcw, albeit a newer model year, runs close to 16-17k. it just seems like a no-brainer. the maintenance costs are certainly an issue, but a base model for 10k vs. anything else out there is a bargain.

Yep. The 2.5 is a highway sipper compared to the 3.2 and it is also a lighter car than the last of the 986's.

I've learned that using cruise control, and boring driving doesn't give you drastically better mileage in the S. I think sometimes people forget that even at 250 HP, the 3.2 was a bigger engine for a Porsche than what we've now become use to seeing. The focus was power and no one was thinking about mpg when gas was $1 and change in the late 90's.

I ran a highway mileage check when I first got my car (99 2.5). Four hours, steady speed of 65 mph, straight line, dead flat prairie = 32 mpg. Two hours each way so wind wasn't a factor.

But normally I'm getting about 21-23 mixed hwy/city, driving briskly.

I have not got 300 miles on a gas tank yet, and I think I ran out of gas on one of my boxsters :eek:

That's never a good thing for any car. I did come dangerously close to an empty tank once with the Boxster...never again, that was more sweating than I'd like to do in that car.

I know what you mean about not getting a lot of mileage from a tank. I've been getting a pretty consistent 20.5mpg for each tank, though I rarely let the car go beyond an indicated 1/4 tank before filling up. I've yet to see more than maybe 280 miles out of a tank regardless of how much driving is city and highway, but I also make sure I don't lug the engine in 5th going 65, so I know this plays a part.

I didn't buy the car for its gas sipping, though. Nobody was thinking about 7-speed manuals back then.

There are some of us who like to enjoy and have fun with driving. Other people just want a car that has four wheels with maybe as many working brakes, enough oil to not seize up, at least one working door handle/headlight/signal (brake lights are optional), and just enough cylinders to get them from point A to point B and they could care less if it has 15 inch black steelies and plastic body panels. Still othes are trying in vain to trade in their older and/or less efficient cars for something aenemic like a Honda Fit that could get better mileage and have a bigger tank for a car its size to be worth its price. They think they're doing themselves a favor even though they may end up filling up just as frequently as I do, albeit on regular vs. premium, but if your Fit is getting 30mpg on a 10.5 gallon tank (and that's still a big IF), you're getting just over 300 miles from it, no better than my Corolla with the 2 extra gallons it holds.

For those of us who want to enjoy driving (even when people are just getting in your way :p ), there's a reason to buy and enjoy a sports car like a Porsche.

I'm the opposite. I rarely fill up even to half way unless I'm just about to embark upon a trip that definitely needs more than half a tank, which isn't often. You don't get a discount for buying in bulk, more gas means more weight and smaller amounts of fresh fuel is better than letting it sit in the tank and go off. It probably doesn't go much, but that's my reasoning.

Of course, the outrageous fuel prices in the UK rather discourage brimming it on a whim, too.

I rarely fill past the halfway mark either. i think of it like carrying around an extra 8 gallons of milk in the trunk.

I am always filling my Porsche with fuel. Thats because I find any excuse to take the car on an errand just about every day. The best $10K toy I ever bought !!! It's just a shame it took so long to buy one. I am trying to make up for lost time. We are all lucky to own one !!! Max

The SC430 does not compare to a Boxster, they're two completely different cars.

The SC430 is heavy, slow, sucks gas and has no trunk

>>> weighs 3,840 lbs
>>> claimed 0-60 in high 5s or low 6s, but 15.6 quarter
>>> 16/22mpg
>>> automatic transmission, no manual available
>>> the hard top convertible takes up almost the entire trunk. Here's a photo with the convertible top down and taking up most the trunk space:
http://i43.tinypic.com/9kxovr.jpg
that little space in the back is the trunk.

It's very much a secretary's or real estate agent's car, the Lexus version of a Toyota Solara, but at least the Solara has a trunk:
http://i40.tinypic.com/2583xhw.jpg

Really? I just filled mine up today, 290 miles, put in 13 gallons so I had 2 gallons to spare :) stupid 98's and their tiny 15 gallon gas tank :( guess that gives me more time to chat with the ladies at the pump though ;)

But I'm still learning how to drive a stick so I'm sure it'll improve a bit more as soon as I figure out that I don't need to revv it to 4000 rpms to start moving in 1st :D

mpg so far:
--1st tank = 22.4
--2nd tank = 20.4
--3rd tank = 22.3

This is going to sound silly but.... the two trunks were a big selling point for me.

There's almost no other convertible that offers as much trunk space as the Boxster does with the top down, and certainly no convertible with as much space AND is as well reviewed.

Every magazine, every reviewer, absolutely loves the Boxster. It's very difficult to find anyone saying anything negative. It's... almost weird, like they were all paid off, or they were all on happy pills while reviewing the car. But after buying one I can honestly say it deserves all the praise it receives. It's the perfect car.

Yes they are, they may be heavy but its got more torque than the boxsters and you feel torque in the city not HP

I have not hit 20 in either one of my Boxsters yet...

In the city and commuting, auto is ok for me, even though both my Boxsters are manual.

But look at how much space you have if the top is up. It is there if you really need it.

There is a reason there are so many different cars, everybody has different needs and sometimes one car cannot fit all those needs.

besides the sound system on the Boxster :barf:


In other words "Why doesn't everyone drive a Boxster?

because I drive 2!



don't get me wrong I like the Boxsters, otherwise why would I have two?

my S has more torque than any of my vehicles in town, effortless acceleration!!!!

my other vehicles are a BMW X3 2.5i and a highly tuned Saab 9-3 putting down about 260hp to the wheels.....the Saab has more violent acceleration (pushing about 23psi boost) but with the turbo lag I think my S is just as fast if not faster accelerating, top speed is no contest going to the S and handling is also no contest also in favor of the S.....but the Saab gets over 30MPG on the highway and has 4 seats and is an auto, so its the daily driver for the wife.

Why doesn't everyone drive a Boxster?
 

Back to the original question. And so you can all stop wondering, I have figured it out. Everyone isn't as cool as we are.

Not much, it's shallow above that area, and that's why I bought a convertible, to leave the top up :rolleyes:

You mean the engine? Sounds great to me! ;)

ghetto cruisers need "sound systems", we have Porsches :D If I wanted a sound system I'd drive an escalade and fill it full of subwoofers

:cool:
:dance:

"If I wanted a sound system I'd drive an escalade and fill it full of subwoofers"

Nothing bugs me more than being stopped at a red light and my mirrors are vibrating because some punk has his subwoofers cranked and all I can hear and feel is this " boom boom boom". If I had my way, anyone caught with a subwoofer in their car would be hauled out of it and beaten to a pulp, followed by their car being towed away and crushed to a cube.

ha ha Just because i enjoy music does not mean I go to the extremes you guys are thinking.

Some punk kid in his escalade lol - YouTube

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lZGiGtC832s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I don't want everyone to drive a Boxster. Takes the fun out of being different. ;)

I've pulled 400 miles out of a tank on my '04 2.7 before, usually get about 360+ these days.

Sure, I could have gotten a "better" car, but the realization finally came that I could afford one of these beauts. :D I remember first seeing a Boxster in the flesh in 1997/1998. I was in Sarasota (Longboat Key) with my family on vacation, and went to a marina to rent jet skis. There it was, one in Arena Red over saddle leather. I was awestruck on just how damned good that car looked.

Normally I drive my '95 E320 as the daily commuter, however since I lent the car to my partner (due to his older VW crapping out :rolleyes: ), I've been doing the work-trip in the Box. More smiles. :D