Considering Boxster, Have Questions

[SoK]

I definately have my days where the radio stays off and I just listed to the car. He's right, it's seriously that good, especially with the top down.

[stephen wilson]

I think the "sound system+" in my '06 is pretty good. Much better than the 986 systems. I would think the "top-of-the-line" Bose with rear speakers would be better yet.

[Overdrive]

Write your book, no one's going to criticize, and you'll find your answers, but do try to search the forum first, as you will likely find most of your questions have already been asked in some way.

For the PPI, don't do a dealer, at least not the dealer you'd be getting the car from, obviously. Honestly, better to find an independent who knows these cars.

As I said before, stealing the line from RandallNeighbour, get the youngest car you can afford, and try to go for an S. The RS60s are nice and uncommon, and that mileage is rather low, but also shows that the car was drivena decent amount over 5-6 years.

Wikipedia actually has a good amount of information on the Boxster's development throughout its generations. Give that a read to answer some of your questions about the changes that have occured over the years.

The older your car is, the more money you should set aside per year for maintenance and any unforseen issues. Either way, I'd say have a few thousand dollars at the ready in case anything unexpected comes along, just so it's not such a hit to any of your immediate income. Stuff will wear and need replacement, that's just the nature of machines. These machines tend to be a little pricey when they break, but that's also why it's good to get a certified pre-owned car that will have some items covered under a warranty.

I'd say get the RS60, drive it, don't baby it, but take good care of it...though I'd also say if something younger and comparable comes along for similar money, go for that, and either way, be prepared to spend a little money right off the bat to get the car in good running shape for the long term, as it could be needed.

[RandallNeighbour]

Originally Posted by Overdrive

As I said before, stealing the line from RandallNeighbour, get the youngest car you can afford, and try to go for an S.

yeah, what he said! Um, and what I said too!

No red blooded American sits in their 3 year old Boxster S at a stop light and sees an older base model and thinks, "gee, I wish I'd bought that older one with the smaller motor instead"...

Every year the Boxster models get better in every way and more dependable and faster too. I can't wait until the 2013 Boxster S's are 5 year's old and affordable. It will be difficult for me to ignore them when I buy my turbo

[LightngSVT]

Yep, seems like 4-5 years is the sweet spot where these cars get very affordable. But with the new cars likely in the 65-70k range new I bet they'll cost more 4 years from now than an 08 does (duh I guess ).

The base car I drove really did have a sweet exhaust note, thats a sentance Ive almost never said of a stock vehicle. But...... while not quite an audiophile I am into sound quality both home and car. So an aftermarket headuint w/GPS, amp and speakers isnt a bad job in these cars?

Is it me or does it seem like the market for these cars is pretty small? Cars Ive looked at nearly a month ago are still for sale and dealers are starting to call with the sales pitches.

I guess Ill do some internet shopping this weekend and see whats out there, but the yellow 08 and an 08 Limited base are both really interesting right now, as is the "higher" mileage rs60 that is now advertised just under $40k (price dropped over $1500). Is there a point mileage-wise where these cars take a big hit in depreciation (not condition dependent) or the maintenace / wear items really start to go?

[thstone]

Originally Posted by LightngSVT

Is it me or does it seem like the market for these cars is pretty small? Cars Ive looked at nearly a month ago are still for sale and dealers are starting to call with the sales pitches.

In this down ecomomy it definitely a buyer's market. Even people who have the money don't *have* to buy a Porsche.

Also don't let a seller convince you that their Boxster is any type of collectable; no matter what year or what options or how well its been cared for or how few miles it has. Yes, there are some beautiful cream puff's out there and they might be worth a bit more money but at the end of the day, its still a Boxster.

When you find the right car, drive a hard bargain. Don't be insane and ask for the moon for free but with early 987's falling below $20K the buyer has more leverage than the seller these days. If the seller won't deal, walk away. There will be 3 more cars just as nice right around the corner.

[986_c6]

Buying a car and its problems are really a luck of the draw. Do your research and you will find majority of the Boxster owners have worry-free cars. 75k hard driven miles in my case and no real problems, 02 Base. My estimate would be much less than $1k/year if you do your own maintenance.

On the other hand, my then new 04 hand built NSX-T was the worse car I have ever owned, drove it ~15k miles and sold it after one year in a heartbeat.

[fatmike]

I drive an '02S because I like the "modern-classic" look of the 986 and I don't want to worry too much about it. I bought my car 4 years ago. If I was going to buy today, I'd probably buy a 2009 or 2010 model (maybe a Cayman).

I bought my car for a song @ 11K miles and have put almost 60K on it over the past 4 years as my daily driver - rain, snow, sun, whatever. Yes it requires a bit more maintenance, but it's a 10 year old car now... After a while, all of the usual-suspect stuff breaks and then you have a well sorted daily driver. I think (hope...) I've reached that spot.

I've owned 3 BMWs and truthfully there is no comparison. The Porsche is a driver's car. BMW lost their way a long time ago.



Mike Focke's site still has a lot of great information about buying a Boxster:

mikesporscheboxsterwebpages - mikefocke2

[jb92563]

I did my own PPI on my recently acquired 2001 Boxster S, since I figured that none of the really important stuff can be discovered without taking the engine/transmission apart.

I spent 2 hours at a private sellers home looking stuff over like reading all the maintenance repair receipts, counting up the olil changes, decoding all the options.

From the records I started getting a feeling that the current and previous owner did regular maintenance and took good care of the car, a very good sign.

Then I tested everything in the car to make sure everything inside and out was functional and sound. (I forgot to try the wipers)

I crawled near/under and looked at everything exposed (I had a fiber optic camera from Harbor frieght $80 to look at inaccessible places)
Number one was that there was no Oil on the ground or on the engine at either end. I would check that again after the test drive and it was all clean, also a very good sign.

I felt confident I had a good 11 year old car with appropriate 55k worth of wear and tear. So I bought it after getting a discount of 500 for the rear tires that have a few k miles left on the tread.

When I got home the additional issues I discovered is the wiper spray did not work, thanks to this forum chances are good that it is only a disconnected line and I will fix it this weekend.
Also had a loose vent in the rear quarter panel which again was simple to reinstall properly so it was in tight.

I also had a stange noise behind the passenger seat over bumpy road and as others have described the same symptoms have found it to be nothing more that the top rubbing, which after an adjustment stopped.

I find that this forum has a solution/answer for every conceivable problem and question and is better than have just 1 mechanic at a shop guess/solve your problem.

I'm loving the Porsche 986 experience and looking forward to many years of pleasure. Did I mention that driving was out of this world.

I went to a track and guess what I saw, a lot of Porsches, what does that mean?
They are great performers and people buy them specifically for that purpose.

I love that folks who have driven all sorts of performance cars just think the Boxster is fantastic, can they all be wrong?!!!...I think not!

[NoGaBiker]

Originally Posted by LightngSVT

I was expecting something more inline with a BMW ...

Ha! I see what you did there!

[mcomet]

I agree with radio comments... My 03s radio was very disappointing... Although slightly better when I use a cd vs. radio and have adjusted the bass etc... I plan on putting on a PSE for exhaust ... Have been considering radio and such but not sure if that affects resale. But as mentioned you don't buy this car for the audio quality...heh.

[Perfectlap]

"affordable" and Porsches are somewhat misleading. These cars are expensive to run and maintain period. You should never go in thinking that this will be like owning a mass produced sports car. They require expensive parts and specialized labor. The longer you keep them the more expensiver they get. But on the other hand the newer you buy the bigger hit on depreciation you take. It's a trade off for sure.

p.s.
$1K a year for maintenance? Nope. At least $2K and if you drive in extreme hot or cold temps with crappy roads I'd say closer to $3K and be prepared to have $5K in cash on hand if you should need multiple expensive repairs in one short period. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever left my mechanics shop for anything under $600. And his rates are extremely reasonable, in fact the best in this area. If Porsches were cheap to own everyone would have one.

[LightngSVT]

I guess its all a matter of perspective, to me $30-40k isnt cheap, probably take me 8-12 months to pay off the balance. Compared to the various 911 models these are "affordable" cars, especially used. I can handle $3-5k repairs, but some are saying $500-1000/yr and that seems fine to me, I dont mind doing basic maintenance (filters, brakes, oil changes, etc) myself.

The Cayman is growing on me, seems to be a better DD, but they are hard to find. Im also thinking of selling my Harley, keeping my BMW, adding the Porsche and swapping DD duties between the 2. In that case the Boxster would make "more sense" as it would also be part toy.

Would you think that offering $31-32k for a 22k mile, 08 base Boxster, mint, speed yellow, stick, with power seats, heated seats, Bose, Climate control, painted roll bar, painted crest in wheels is lowballing? Its at a dealer whose had it for 5 months (not Porsche dealer). they started at $37995 and are calling me offering it for $34k. My wife likes the yellow, I do too but Im leaning more towards silver or blue if I can find one.

How is the 5 speed in daily driving or road trips compared to the 6 speed?

If I took a potential car to a Porsche dealer for a PPI, what should I expect to pay? Anything specific to ask them to do / look for?

I almost made an offer on an 08 LE, but without having ever seen one in person Im wondering if its a bit flashy, or over the top? I really like the RS60 but most are well in the $40's, was the red interior available in the base and S cars too? I like it alot but have never seen one, I love the silver / red combo!

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by LightngSVT

I almost made an offer on an 08 LE, but without having ever seen one in person Im wondering if its a bit flashy, or over the top? !

Yes, an LE is flashy. I was a bit concerned when I bought my LE that I'd flame out on the color in 6 mo. Well, 4 yrs later I still love the color. But it's not stealth. It draws a lot of attn - both good and bad (police like to pull you over if it's after 11pm). I joke that I can be seen from the Intl Space Station. It's also fun to have people hanging out of their cars at stop lights taking pics of you with their cell.

You ask if it's OK to make an offer on the Speed Yellow Boxster. Why not? What can they say, no? The audience to SY is limited - some love them, some don't. You can use that to your advantage when buying it (which may be why the dealer's had it so long) but you may have issues when it's time to move on from it.

An RS60 is a beautiful automobile. The color combo is perfect (and this from someone who isn't a big fan of silver).

In a previous post you asked about changing out systems. If it comes with Bose, you could have issues changing it out. Bose uses a unique amperage than everyone else. Contact an audio store for details. You might be able to change the head unit but speakers might be another story.

[mcomet]

A few thoughts...As I just went thru all this about 2.5 weeks ago...

First as mentioned you can certainly ask for whatever price...then be prepared to negotiate... That said the biggest thing I hear from you is you haven't decided what you want. My advice would be to figure out what it is you want out of the car, type, etc things that are important vs. things that are able do without.

For example in my case I realize I wanted a certain year or later, and the S version. I actually cared less about color, and more about the car and mileage.

Then find the car you are interested in, and get some info from the seller on it. If it sounds good then move forward with a PPI. Let the seller know you will talk about price AFTER the PPI. You don't know what the PPI will show. On the first car I looked at, a silver S it ended up needing quite a bit of work and while I negotiated a price I ended up passing after thinking it over. A good rule is don't get too attached to any car until it is a done deal... It's hard emotionally, I failed on that repeatedly but I tried.

Anyhow after the PPI come back to the seller with your offer and use any info from the PPI to your advantage to negotiate.

I ended up finding the car I have now with less miles and for less cost with a bit less repair work. It also ended up being yellow. Wasn't my first choice but remember I decided I was open... I thought about it and it actually grew on me. Ends up I really like it. Actually I would LOVE the orange above heheh but this is good too. I realized I wanted a special color car as this is a weekend driver for me..and I have had plenty of silver or gray or black cars...I want it to standout ...yellow does. On the ride home we counted yellow cars on the way back..amazing how many silver, gray, etc there are vs. yellow..hehe.

As for the PPI plan to pay around $350 with an actual porsche dealer depending on where you are located. You would probably save around 100 off that with a mechanic... Just make sure it is a good Porsche mechanic if you go that route. They will know what to look for and will give you info but I'd ask about things like tire wear, brakes, battery,clutch pedal etc.. Also if the car is not in the same city ie out of town...feel free to ask them to report on any interior and exterior things they notice as well.

I will say this...I had an isuzu vehicross back in the day... I loved the silver black exterior and the red black interior ...very cool color combo... The rs60 is definitely a nice car. But again I would think about what it is you are trying to get out if the purchase ... Write a list down,think about it,and go from there.

Good luck!

[LightngSVT]

Thanks guys, good advice. On the SL car I was asking more if the offer seemed out of line, I have no issue making an offer to a dealer low or not. They wouldnt call me everyday if they werent really wanting to sell the car.

Though it doesnt come across that way I do have some priorities in line already, top one's are price, year (08+), condition, color matters but I dont have to have a particular color. I think the interior is the coolest part of the LE. But price no object I'd get an RS60 for sure.

[Squozen]

Originally Posted by LightngSVT

Thanks guys, good advice. On the SL car I was asking more if the offer seemed out of line, I have no issue making an offer to a dealer low or not. They wouldnt call me everyday if they werent really wanting to sell the car.

Though it doesnt come across that way I do have some priorities in line already, top one's are price, year (08+), condition, color matters but I dont have to have a particular color. I think the interior is the coolest part of the LE. But price no object I'd get an RS60 for sure.

Cool coloured interiors are definitely the way to go!

[Overdrive]

Go with the RS60, in my opinion. Yes, some other Boxsters could come with red interior, but why spend time digging around searching for one when you've got it right there available to you? If everything checks out well and it's a car you like, go for it. It's an S, miles are decent, and you know it was actually driven, and therefore, more likely to be regularly maintained.

[jcb986]

Checkout my 2000S:
Boxster S pictures by OldHippieYoungHeart - Photobucket