love this forum,but!!
 

i have found great diy info,but i find i get anxious about the durability and longevity of my o3 s after reading the posts here.i realize that these posts reflect problems and that often we dont post how reliable and durable our cars are .

I tell my friends: The new era of Porsche brought cars that are reliable but they aren't really durable.

An era of over-engineering cars and mass production (at these levels) are not really compatible anymore.

Even though I had an IMSB failure on my C4 at 46K miles, I currently have 3 porsches and have had many others in the past that have been very reliable. They also require a good deal of periodic maintenance to keep them reliable. Except for the IMSB I have never had one leave me on the side of the road and I probably consistently do around 35 to 40K miles a year in P cars. More expensive to drive than a Toyota, but worth it.

Judging by the happy-level of the members on this forum, I can tell you with very little stats that this sport car have made many happy. reliable or not, it clearly shows that it works just fine

For me anyway!

same here! I don't even want to drive my 03' anymore...

Don't let problems brought up on forum's ruin your enjoyment! Modern Porsche's are wonderful cars! I own two and am test driving 944's as we speak (might even buy one this weekend).

Look at this;

126,000 miles on Boxster with 70 track days - engine fine!
118,000 miles on 996 - engine fine!
204,000 miles on other Boxster when engine finally let go. 204K! Who can complain about that?

I truly believe that I am livin' the dream!

loved my 02 and now really love my 03. Yes, i have had the 03 for 3 weeks and have sunk about 3K into some things on it, but I really enjoy how this car makes me feel when I am driving it. ALL cars are money pits, some more than others, but I dont care. I own a Porsche and I am going to love every second in this car.

I have had my 03 S for a little over a year. I got it with 26,000 and now have about 46,000. So far all I have had to do is:

1) Replace a convertible tension cable. Did both even though one was still ok. Parts were $65.00, took me about 5 minutes of time. (and I am not mechanically inclined AT ALL!!!)

2) Had to have the convertible top re-glued at the base by the rear window. Cost $75.00

3) Had the oil changed, found a great shop that I trust and good word of mouth. Cost $85.00

4) Fill it full of gas. Lord knows how much that has cost me :eek:

I have noticed that my headlights won't turn on about 5% of the time, so I am sure I am going to have to replace the switch in the near future.

So let's see..... 10 year old sports car, driven daily, driven "enthusiastically". Repair/maintenance cost $225.00 in a little over a year and 20,000+ miles.

I'm good with that.

Remember these boards are where people come to find out about problems they might be having. It is not going to be a balanced representation of Porsche ownership.

Don't be paranoid. Drive her like the good Dr. ordered, and smile....

When I purchased my Boxster and became a member of this forum I had the same reaction :eek:! I was seriously wondering if my purchase was a huge mistake :eek:! However, after doing a little more research and digging I found out that the Porsche Boxster is actually a fairly reliable car. Yes, it has its issues that need to be watched but overal if you keep them maintained they are not any worse than most sports cars.

The main issue with Porsche's in general is the cost of maintenance. If you are not a DIY type of person it can get quite expensive.

Keep this in mind. People are not going to post "My car is running normal today" or "My water pump performed to perfection today". A large number of posts are people looking for answers to their problems or just to vent their frustrations. That is what these forums are founded on. Due to this, it may seem that the Boxster has nothing but problems lol. Check out other sports car forums, (BMW Z3, Mazda RX7) they all have their issues.

Enjoy your Porsche! Use this forum to gain knowledge but don't dwell on the possibility that something bad is going to happen. In my opinion, The 986 Porsche is one of the best bang for your buck sports cars of our time!!!:cool:

:cheers:

This is a common reaction of people who read any car forum. You hear about all of the possible problems and become overly anxious.

1. Deal with your IMS since you are in the highest risk zone (8-10%)
2. Change your oil often.
3. Find a trusted indy Porsche shop to fix stuff you would rather not deal with.

Enjoy and sleep well!

I have had the same feeling about my 2001 S with 88k miles - just bought it in January and subsequently upgraded the IMSB (stock was in good shape). Love the car but get nervous about things I read on boards, the odd 3,000 rpm resonance etc etc that makes me feel it is delicate.

Last night I drove an autocross event and decided to drive the car hard as fast as I could and not worry about my car, just drive it.

During my runs there was nothing that felt fragile about the car at all - it actually had a solid bulletproof feel when pushed and seemed to ask for more. It performed very well and helped me deliver consistently better times each run, and actually seemed kind of bored, like it was capable of far more. As a novice I turned in some very good times, largely due to the high levels of performance these cars are capable of.

As long as real problems are fixed and the cars are maintained, we should just get out there and enjoy them for what they are made to do - go fast with phenomenal handling.

Try taking it out for a DE or autocross event and just have fun with it and see if it changes your perception, it certainly worked for me!

thanks for all the great posts.my box has 45k,i bought it with 37k and had clutch,axle boots,ims and rms done at that time.so far all i needed to do was battery,,fuse for radio after i blew it putting battery in and new coolant cap after tank overflowed.ive done this all myself(not ims clutch)) and plan to do all maintenance i can handle.i have a great indy as well.

i realize posts here are seeking answers for problems and thus can give a skewed view,but its nice to hear some of your positive posts and simialr experiences.

People don't generally come on forums like this to talk about how wonderful and reliable their cars are. That's just the nature of the beast...

One must remember that what one reads on these boards is a heavily biased sample.

For a start, we have seen many single-digit posters on here with catastrophic failures, those people would have never joined the forum if their car was running well.

The experts that post on these boards also greatly bias the sample. These guys have generally been around for some time, long enough to see just about everything and to create very good names for themselves in the Porsche community. This leads to them getting more and more work because of their reputation, then because they are so busy they will tend to increase their prices. Your average Joe will not pay a higher rate for a simple job that any mechanic can do, so they use the local guy for the simple stuff. When things go seriously wrong though, they hunt out the expert, money no object. This means that the experts will see far more than their fair share of serious failures. Also, when an expert shares their knowledge in a forum regarding IMS bearings or D-chunk failures or broken crankshafts or whatever, forum members actively seek them out when such a thing happens to their car, further compounding the sample bias of forum members.

All of what I am describing is completely innocent by the way. No one is out to scare you for their own benefit or anything like that, it is just that the statistics can be very deceiving without looking at where the sample data has been collected from.

My personal belief is that we are very fortunate to have this bank of knowledge as a reference point, just about every common and not so common failure is described somewhere on these boards, most of the time with a solution. Just like in every other aspect of life however, certainly in this "information age", we are bombarded with "information" and "mis-information" and the most successful people are those that filter out the noise from the message and more importantly interpret that message the correct way.

Just my 2c

By the way, I have a 2000S with 130k miles. Original IMS bearing, original clutch and flywheel until 3 weeks ago. I bought a new RMS to replace when the transmission was out but the mechanic refused to change it since the original was still such a perfect seal (no oil at all, completely dry) and he felt that the risk of creating a leak was not worth changing the part.

Total maintenance:

Oil and filter changes every 10k
2 AOS's
2x brake pads, 1x pads and discs
3x brake fluid change
1x water pump and coolant flush
1x clutch and flywheel (only 3 weeks ago)
4x tyre change

Reliability is not a problem. My 08 Cayman has been very reliable in 4 years and 17K miles of ownership (naturally, while under warranty). The problem with these cars is the risk that the engine breaks. On most cars, they might have a bad water pump or alternator or something like that. Easily repairable with a few hundred or maybe a thousand. Most people can handle that. I never heard of ANYONE with any other model of car whose entire engine blew up -- until I started reading this forum. Then, when the engine does blow, it's five figures to replace it, unless you just get another used engine with the same problem, and I know at least one person for whom lightning did indeed strike twice. And that five-figure repair bill -- together with the risk of accident and requirement for a tow from God-knows-where -- IS a problem.

I am fortunate that the 06-08 models seem to be statistically reliable in the IMS department. Good thing, too, because the IMS isn't reasonably replaceable from 06-08. If I had an older model with the replaceable IMS, I'd get the LN replacement or "IMS Solution" and just drive it moderately maintain it well, and there should be very little risk of big dollar repairs after that (I personally would never track my street vehicle, that is asking for trouble like scored cylinders or overrevs and the like, but to each his own). In fact, the older models with the LN IMS are probably one of the safest bets around. Not perfect, but close.

PM sent. ........

Go on any fórum about cars or motorcycles that you are about to buy and you would probably have the same reaction. Unreliable with loads of problems. But most fórums are usually just a fraction of the owners out there. Some people just love to complain because it's easy and from any fórum I've ever been on only a few participate. On this fórum fortunately there is a lot of great information and some truly bright people who know what they are talking about, that have made certain mysteries about the car pretty simple. And as far as reliability goes a lot of the people on this fórum have older cars. When you buy an older car there is always going to be something that can be restored or bettered. That being said I find the Boxster to be well made and after a year with my 2002 quite reliable.

I belong to a few different forums, for different subjects, and all forum members tend to fixate on specific picky points. Every forum, no matter what the subject, has it's "picky points". A lot of these points are things that the "normal" user of the product might not EVER notice or experience. But the forum members tend to fret about them. Here, it's the IMS, which in reality, occurs in a minority of Boxsters.

Enjoy your car and don't worry about it. All cars have issues sooner or later. That's because they're cars.

Just check the reliability/dependability ratings - Porsche is at the top year after year after year. And a big gap separates them from the industry average.