New to Boxster ownership..thoughts
 

Hi All

This is my first post, I have only recently joined this forum, but have been looking at various posts on here leading up to the purchase of a 2004 Lapis blue Boxster S.
Having now driven the car about 500 miles on various types of roads in various conditions from sunny but cold 6 – 8 degrees to damp and cold. I have a few questions to put to anybody who would like to share their experiences.
I looked around for the best I could get for the money and ended up with the 2004 S with 71,000miles on the clock, previously owned by an older chap who did all his own minor servicing, all fluids where changed yearly whilst in his care. The car presents very well, with not a mark on the alloys or the interior and apart for some stone chips, the exterior is mint.
My first impressions are very positive, the car is extremely rapid through the gears and pulls well with a noticeable and audible shift at around 4500rpm and howls up to where I limit my gear changes at around 6500rpm. It seems to pull as well as my previous Porsche, a 928GTS, but with far superior feel.
There are a few minor niggles though, which maybe just a symptom of the cars characteristics or age…
The brakes though very powerful, have very little early bite, you have to use a considerable amount of force to get them to activate the ABS compared to my daily drive a 520BMW, brakes and pads have plenty of wear left. The car is very responsive to inputs, but seems a touch vague whilst in a straight line. And I was surprised that it felt like the backend was going to come round on a quick left hander over a crest, it has PSM and it was switched on, (it was a cold day though). There is also a very minor gearbox / diff noise when in lower gears, and what seems to be a minor whine from the rear nearside at around 45MPH to 70MPH, I checked for any lateral movement on the wheel whilst jacked up but it was solid as a rock. If anybody could give some advice on the noise, or any other of my early observation it would be appreciated.
Having highlighted the minor niggles, I have to say that without doubt this is the best sports car I have driven, It is the closest a car has come to providing the thrills of motorcycle riding without the discomfort, or worry for the missus.
Can't wait for some better weather to really put it through it's paces!
Look forward to hearing your replies.
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Rob, very nice, congrats! Good pics.

1) Brakes- may need a flush. Brake fluid should be flushed every 2 years.

2) Whine noise- maybe a wheel bearing.

Hi Rob,
Welcome, you car looks lovely. As flavor said, ref the brakes, they are huge solid calipers and tend to go through pads and discs on a frequent basis, and always benefit from a brake fluid flush to sharpen them up. This usually gets missed.
I also upgraded my rubber brake lines to stainless too, but to be honest, not a massive difference!
You get used to them...

Ref the whine, the flat 6 engine sounds like no other car and it could be that it just sounds different to the 928 engine, especially as its right behind you. The quickest way to check this is listen to another one!
True, it could be a bearing but don't rush in just yet.
Do you have an indie or Porsche dealer nearby? (The closest to me in S****************horpe is Sheffield!) - Listening to another Boxster may help.

Good luck PAL

Hi Rob, and welcome.
as an owner of a 2001 S, i can tell you this car has one of the best brakes i have experienced in any other car i drove.
the S model has bigger front calipers then the base, and slotted drilled rotors.
at the moment with 77K on the clock, i probably have less then 10% left on the original brakes and still the car stops on a dime.
if yours with 71K , still have a lot of "meat" on them, could be they were replaced with inferior replacement parts (in the boxster you cannot machine the discs, and they need to be replaced).
there are so many alternatives for brakes in our cars, from Chinese knockoffs, to high quality pads and rotors.
as far as i know the OEM brake system on the S , consists of Brambo caliper and pads, and Zimmerman rotors.
as the other mentioned, start with the fluid flush, its the cheaper and might solve your problem.
good luck, and enjoy your car.

welcome!!!

"And I was surprised that it felt like the backend was going to come round on a quick left hander over a crest, it has PSM and it was switched on, (it was a cold day though). "

Do not drive "spirited" with summer tires on during the winter. They are very slippery in cold weather. Many on the forum have found out the hard way that they have poor grip in the cold.

Rob:

1) Welcome to the forum. Overall, we're a good group with whom to associate.
2) Congrats on the year model, the color, and the fact that you got an S. I'm jealous all the way around. Glove box, glass rear windscreen, bigger motor, and although your steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car, the interior looks stellar...
3) I too own a BMW and had the same thought about the braking in comparison. To fix this on your boxster will not be expensive. In addition to bleeding out all the old brake fluid, you need to swap the reinforced plastic/rubber factory brake lines with braided steel lines. You don't even need expensive ones. I purchased cheap ones from eBay and WOW!!!! the car stops on a dime now. Try it and you'll see.

I've no clue about that whine so I will not comment on it.

Welcome to the forum Rob, your Box looks great.

Porsche uses oem rubber brake hoses on it's factory team GT3RS so that's what I use. Replacing mine now at 102,000 miles & 13 years.

Hi Rob...welcome.
Ahh Grantham - I used to know it very well a long time ago as I was brought up in Cleethorpes, but please don't hold that against me....

Brakes as per the guys above - I also found my S brakes initial bite a bit lacking, swapping to good quality pads made the difference but I found that the rotors were quite glazed.
A few 100kmh - zero soon unglazed them and there was a significant improvement.

The backend breaking loose could just be the cold weather affecting the tyres or perhaps the tyres are more than 5 years old and hardening. Plus at your mileage the shocks are probably a little below their absolute best.

Re the whine could also be the old / cold tyres "humming". With the top down you hear all sorts of noises not heard in tintops. My gearbox / transmission has a slight high pitched machine whine @ +/- 60-70kmh in 3 & 4th but the car has had that for most of its life.

Welcome, I'm a relative newb here as we'll. I bought my first P-car last summer (02 S).

Here's my take....

I submit that you may or may not have an issue with your brakes. While modern Porsches do have all of the "electronic nanny" options of other makes, they are as unobtrusive as possible by design. ABS is a great invention, but a car with the brakes held steadily at the point just before lock up will stop faster and maintain it's stability in a lateral G breaking maneuver than the same car with the brakes in pulsating ABS mode. I believe that this has been engineered into the car intentionally. In a true sports car, the only time ABS should intervene in a braking maneuver is when the driver is too panicked to properly modulate the peddle. I have to believe Porsche designed the complete system to allow the driver to get deep into the breaking threshold before electronic intervention. I believe that PSM is designed in the same vein (though personally, I'm glad to have found car without PSM).

As to initial bite, this could be a hardware issue, or it could be a matter of what you're used to (especially if you ride modern sport/touring bikes). Either way, a brake fluid flush is solid advice for the mileage, unless you no it was recently done.

My Boxster also has a slight gear whine, but it is very slight now. It used to be a LOT louder until I realized that a good part of it was altenator whine coming from the radio.

Thanks for all the replies.
I have just been out looking around the boxster and decided to de snork it, only to find that it had already been done.
I will flush the brakes at the earliest opportunity, check the current disc's, and pads for manufacturer.
I'll replace gearbox fluids soon as well.
Also I might try to blag a drive in a lower mileage boxster from a dealer just to compare.
Suns out here so I will be out for a drive later, the roads here are great, especially around the Lincolnshire and Leicestershire wolds.

Thanks

Blag a drive? Ha!

Write English, man! :)

Ahhhh..... the beauty of the English language. Sounds well sorted to me!
Rob I have sent u a pm. Enjoy the ride.

Great color - I have the same on an 01.

I love how international this forum is, and how we all enjoy our Boxsters and have similar questions!

Porsche also put a differential in the 996 GT3 that constantly breaks down if the car is used on a track (where it was designed to be used). Fortunately, there's a $1000 differential aftermarket unit you can put on a 996 GT3 that's far better than Porsche's factory unit and will be the last one you replace on the car.

If you've never driven two boxsters back to back, one with rubber brake hoses and one with SS brake lines, you'd be surprised at how much stiffer the braking is in the one with aftermarket SS lines in it.

Don't knock it until you've tried it.

So how tough is the install to put the SS lines in? That sounds like a mod I'm willing to take a shot at during the winter hibernation on my 02 S.

PoP !!

Rob, welcome to the boxster club! ironically along with the two 986 boxsters out front also have a928 GTS and went looking at another one yesterday.

if you do go the SS brake lines, also do the caliper pipes my 986 failed the mot last year on corrosion on the brake pipes (only surface corrosion - but that's mot testers for you) new ones from the main stealer were i think about £6 each, and i did the stainless hoses at the same time.

nice colour by the way, mine is blue on blue

1olddude, they're easy to install. Just two fittings to loosen and replace with a metric spanner.

Note to Americans: I was speaking British above. Spanner = wrench.