My conclusions after 2 years of ....
 

ownership of my 2001 Boxster base. When I got it it had 30k miles. Now has 40k miles.

Pros:
Enough power for me
Great handling
Reliable
Warm in winter
Cool in summer

Cons:
Something always needs to be fixed as have done the following:
CV joints
Idler arm

Needs to be done but not urgent:
Noise from alternator
Spoiler disabled
Suspension rattles from front end when hitting a bump
Mist on bottom of engine from leaky RMS

I really don't expect much to change in the future as regards niggling problems
but will try a local indy garage to see if it is cheaper to fix. The other indy garage is on the other side of town is good but expensive.

Feel free to comment if you consider these kind of problems normal. Do they get you down or do you accept them as the price of admission?

Thanks for input in advance and I always enjoy your comments.:)

Keep in mind that you can't tell if it's the RMS or IMS leaking until you pull off the tranny.

good points.

But people have to remember that this is a sports car. It's like a sensitive spouse. It will always be on edge. that's how it peforms, if its not operating within a certain range it needs to be attended to. Most people don't do this and the small problems become bigger ones. (wait am I talking about the car or marriage LOL).
And as you can imagine things that perform in a narrower range are rarely built for durability since that usually involves higher weight or worse significantly higher costs.
A street sports car can give you some good things but to keep costs down below exotic car territory they have to take short-cuts and play the odds as well as hoping that the owner is proactive in changing things before they actually fail.

The only low hassle sports cars are either not very crash-worthy, live only at the track, or have less feedback due to using more common build/materials. I think sometimes people use passenger sedan mentality and wonder why their sports car can't be cheap like that while being fun too.

Sounds like a pretty reliable car! Remember, its 12 years old and things are going to need fixing based on age, not only miles.

Good points both of you. As regards rms vs. ims I have the IMS Guardian installed so I have no intention of taking the engine apart until the clutch needs doing. I think the Canadian winters are hard on the car particularly the suspension as I have way more rattles since I bought it. The previous owner did not drive it in winter. :)

I'm thinking of doing the Guardian myself, but we have to remember that by the time it lets us know there's a problem, it's probably too late for any relatively simple fix. All we likely have at that point is a viable core for rebuild. That's still big bucks in my world.

noisy suspension up front...

I'm working on a 98 with 119K miles that had lots of noise and vibration up front when I purchased it.

The car would make noise over rough and bumpy roads and get really nasty over about 65 mph.

I went ti replaced the front struts and found the drop links looked very rough. Both items were replaced and the car feels very tight again. I think the drop links were responsible for all the low speed noise.

I kind of wish I'd replaced them first and then driven the car to see what affect it had on the noise, but my mission that day was to do the struts.

The drop links are not expensive (under $100) and very easy to change. You might want to give it a go and see if it helps with your noise.

who do you use in Edmonton? Eurasia probably the best indy I've been to.

do you wish to disable your spoiler, or is it not working and you wish to fix it? disabling the spoiler should just require removing one fuse.

You're a very smart man but I think you're overthinking this and making excuses for a car that you love. I think Porsche couldn't care less about durability because they're only concerned with the first buyer. Cars age differently because of how they're engineered period. If you look at consumers report's data you'll see that Mercedes ages the worst. Pity, I say. A high quality vehicle lasts, period. Of course the Porsche that's building cars today is much different than the one that built my car. Maybe the newer stuff won't age as fast! They're definitely back from the brink.

I think ( after visiting Edmonton many,many times during the winter) that Porsche should be paying you for valuable, in depth, foul, COLD, real-world, weather testing. Even the temperatures there in the winter are hard on a car! Having said that, it must be fun sliding around. Do you have a hard top?

The spoiler was disabled when I bought it. Disabled by the Porsche dealer.
Eurasia is good but expensive. There is an indy shop 2 blocks from me. The owner has just bought a Porsche so I might give him a try....

It is easy to spin the tires even with snow tires. I don't have a hardtop - car is warm without it. One more thing to clutter the garage.

I have a pst2 and will be in Edmonton for a track day on the 21st sept (7 am to 12 pm-ish). come by stratotech and I might be able to turn it back on (provided the dealer didn't pull the fuse or unplug it as well).

Ice concerns? I don't think it does anything anyways, so probably just leave it that way unless it's just the fuse.

Same year 2001 base, bought at 73000 k now 87000 k absolutely no issues what so ever, but did spend a lot of time finding it. Service it myself.