Instead of a Boxster I wish I would have bought....

[RandallNeighbour]

You know, these last few posts have a lot of truth in them, but also a lot of potential for assumption on the part of the uneducated reader lurking here to learn about our cars in hopes of purchasing one sooner or later.

So many of the problems I've faced with my particular boxster could have been avoided. Here's a laundry list of my mistakes that lurkers should consider and avoid:

• I didn't even get this far into a boxster forum before purchasing my car. That was my biggest mistake. Had I spent a couple of months reading posts and asking owners questions the way I see many future owners doing here as of late, I would not have purchased my particular car that required hundreds of dollars in repairs each month for the first three years of ownership.

• I bought a car off eBay sight unseen. Boy howdy was the wholesaler good at photography! The price was just so good ($7k off blue book resale) that I lost all my common senses. Yes, this qualified for my shameful (and thankfully short) list of "the most foolish things a person can do."

• I bought a Porsche without a PPI. Had my car been looked over, I would have been told it had a new motor recently (which the wholesaler and I didn't know before the transaction) and that the new motor was quite a strain on the old tranny and it would need replacing, along with the cracked coolant overflow tank, the primary radiator fan, and so forth.

• I bought a 97, not knowing the subframe would not support 18 inch wheels and would not keep a good resale value, especially when the 98's and 99s are selling very well to the spec racing enthusiasts and new owners always want large rims with very low profile tires for that aggressive look.

• I have spent quite a bit of money attempting to eek out a modest 10% HP increase out of what I feel is an underpowered motor. I should have waited and purchased an 03S in 2005 instead of a 97 in 2004. The money I spent on mods and repairs would have covered the price difference easily.

So posting members above say you should budget $200 a month for your Porsche, and I somewhat agree and somewhat disagree. For me, $200 was the minimum I had to spend because I bought the wrong car the wrong way at the wrong time.

However, if you purchase the right boxster (clean, maintained, loved!) the right way (with a PPI) at the right time (when you have the money for the best example you can find... even if it takes a full year) you can put that $200 in the bank for tires and brake pads and DE participation fees!

So I hope this helps bring some balance to anyone lurking here and reading this thread. Buy a car right and the regrets are few.

[986_inquiry]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

You know, these last few posts have a lot of truth in them, but also a lot of potential for assumption on the part of the uneducated reader lurking here to learn about our cars in hopes of purchasing one sooner or later.

So many of the problems I've faced with my particular boxster could have been avoided. Here's a laundry list of my mistakes that lurkers should consider and avoid:

• I didn't even get this far into a boxster forum before purchasing my car. That was my biggest mistake. Had I spent a couple of months reading posts and asking owners questions the way I see many future owners doing here as of late, I would not have purchased my particular car that required hundreds of dollars in repairs each month for the first three years of ownership.

• I bought a car off eBay sight unseen. Boy howdy was the wholesaler good at photography! The price was just so good ($7k off blue book resale) that I lost all my common senses. Yes, this qualified for my shameful (and thankfully short) list of "the most foolish things a person can do."

• I bought a Porsche without a PPI. Had my car been looked over, I would have been told it had a new motor recently (which the wholesaler and I didn't know before the transaction) and that the new motor was quite a strain on the old tranny and it would need replacing, along with the cracked coolant overflow tank, the primary radiator fan, and so forth.

• I bought a 97, not knowing the subframe would not support 18 inch wheels and would not keep a good resale value, especially when the 98's and 99s are selling very well to the spec racing enthusiasts and new owners always want large rims with very low profile tires for that aggressive look.

• I have spent quite a bit of money attempting to eek out a modest 10% HP increase out of what I feel is an underpowered motor. I should have waited and purchased an 03S in 2005 instead of a 97 in 2004. The money I spent on mods and repairs would have covered the price difference easily.

So posting members above say you should budget $200 a month for your Porsche, and I somewhat agree and somewhat disagree. For me, $200 was the minimum I had to spend because I bought the wrong car the wrong way at the wrong time.

However, if you purchase the right boxster (clean, maintained, loved!) the right way (with a PPI) at the right time (when you have the money for the best example you can find... even if it takes a full year) you can put that $200 in the bank for tires and brake pads and DE participation fees!

So I hope this helps bring some balance to anyone lurking here and reading this thread. Buy a car right and the regrets are few.

I feel I must comment on the 2.5's power because I feel it gets a bad rap.

If your daily driver is a 1999 Trans Am the 2.5 will feel underpowered. But if your daily driver is a 200-240hp V6 (or less powerful engine) in a 4-door sedan then a 2.5 manual will be plenty fast. Remember the 2.5 has a 0-60 time of 6-6.2 and 14.5-14.7 quarter according to several magazines
Weissach.net - Boxster/Cayman Road Test Summary

That's equal to modern 2010 300hp v6 camaros and mustangs.

If you get an automatic it will always be slow compared to anything you are currently driving

[Mike_Yi]

Originally Posted by thstone

Mike, $10K in 3 years and still needs another $3,500? Can you give us a run down of the issues?

Issues I've spent the money on....
MAF
O2 sensors
Brake rotors
used engine + LNE IMS Retrofit (labor done by me)
Water pump
thermostat
About 10 gallons of Porsche anti-freeze before I wised up and switched to Prestone

Issues need to have money spent on....
replace rear window
Head gaskets and all associated miscellany

Originally Posted by 986_inquiry

That's about $300 a month, a little high but not excessively so, I bought mine knowing I should put at least $200/mo aside for repairs and maintenance based on information on Porsche forums. These are exotic sports cars made by a company that only makes sports cars (until recently). You didn't buy a Ford or Toyota, Porsches will cost more to maintain.

I won't debate with you whether or not these are exotic cars (I personally do not think they are). If you are okay with spending the value of the car to keep it running every 3 years, then you have a different expectation of quality than I do. Maybe you're okay with those kinds of costs. I'm not.

Originally Posted by thstone

However, if you purchase the right boxster (clean, maintained, loved!) the right way (with a PPI) at the right time (when you have the money for the best example you can find... even if it takes a full year) you can put that $200 in the bank for tires and brake pads and DE participation fees!

I would take exception to that statement. If you are a potential Boxster buyer and think this would be a great car to take to the track, think again. You might get lucky and have no problems. You will probably want to play it safe though and make some mods to give it a better chance of surviving the track, and that will cost you thousands of dollars on top of the cost of the car, and WILL NOT be any kind of guarantee that your engine won't be destroyed by DEs. This car was not built to be taken to the track.