From a lot of research for my own personal needs - I've come to the conclusion that at least for me, the 2006 and 2007 Boxsters are the best. 2005, unless you plan to do the IMS upgrade, are to be avoided as they seem to have the highest cases for failure. I have rarely if ever seen a 2006+ that had a failure.

Case in point: My 986 I had bought for around $13k, and in great condition at 54k miles. But very quickly the plastic window started to deteriorate, and I felt that I wanted to also do the IMS. These two items alone, along with some minor maintenance, and I was approaching the $4k mark quickly. A newer Boxster will eliminate at least the IMS and plastic window issue right off the bat, and they are now in the high teens and lower $20k's for a decent example.

Anyway, it's a matter of paying now or paying later: A cheaper Boxster may need some items a newer one will not.

Looking over the forum it seems most of you guys look at all this from a "worst case scenario."
I get the impression that many of you are 100% positive that every engine is going to blow from an IMS failure. Every one.
You guys say you replace this and replace that because you liken it to a ticking time bomb, then tell everyone the "maintenance" costs are so high.
That's NOT maintenance, that's spending money. If something breaks and you fix it, that's still not "maintenance" that's a repair.
I can soooorta see doing the IMS upgrade but only on certain year cars because if it does fail it is catastrophic, but most of the other stuff is just spending money.
If it aint broke, don't fix it.
C'mon guys, if these things were popping motors like is alluded to on this forum there wouldn't be any used Boxsters left.
Anyway, I figured I would make a counterpoint to most of what I read here.

Unfortunately and often members (owners) likes to describe what they don't like and how they (we) could make it better on a forum! You won't see Ahh My Porsche Is Great posts often so.... that gives the impression to some that the car in unreliable.

As for the IMS, I fully support your reasoning. As for myself couldn't care less if the IMS would blow up... I'm married to my wife, not my car engine (engineS can be easily replaced)! But you have to see it that many boxster owners LOVES this car so much that they want to keep it (original) as long as possible. Lots & Lots of genuine Boxster enthusiasts here mate so this is why you get the feeling that the IMS is major this and that to many.

I have never stated any mileage for water pump replacement. Thats because the pump is in service 24-7 whether the engine is operating or not. Its purely time based and my directive is every 36 months for my engines.

Cooling system flushes carried out annually extend life, because the Ph level of the coolant is what attacks the pump and leads to failure. Distilled water is also a key to keeping Ph levels in check longer.

We are working with JGR and Lubrizol on a conditioner for the cooling system that will help to keep the Ph level down and double as a lubricant for the pump. It just takes forever to gather real data that proves that it actually does work.

I drove my S for 6 years and 60,000 miles as a daily driver (my only car). In the rain, snow (and some sun) of the Northeast.

I paid slightly more than average for routine maintenance. I was very pro-active with things such as oil, filters, belts, spark plugs, etc. I did have a few things go wrong during ownership (wheel bearing, coolant, ignition switch etc.), but these things were know weak spots and were easily addressed.

When I first got the car, the check engine light wanted to come on and stay on. The solution was some techron and just drive it.

In the end, I sold the Boxster for $12K less than what I bought it for. So, that is $2K per year in depreciation.

You can't do much better than that with any car.

Overall, this car was an A+ for me.


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To other potential buyers reading the above, the IMS "reliability" imho should not be the primary consideration when it comes to picking a pre-09 Boxster. If you are going to decide based on the IMS (arguable, since other engine issues are more prevalent), then you should look for IMS "serviceability" instead. 2006 -2008 Boxsters only get two kinds of IMS bearings, the free one from the factory that has proven to be decent over the first 100K miles, and the $7-10K IMS bearing you'll be paying for to split the engine open in order to do the bearing swap once the factory unit is well past the sell by date... on account of the fact that sealed bearings are not lifetime parts. With a pre-2005 car, you don't have to pull the engine, thus the factory IMS bearing can be swapped in a day, when you replace the clutch. Personally speaking, I'd reather replace that bearing at a regular interval than to spend my nights crossing my fingers.

Perfectlap, do you feel the 2006-2008 are only really good to 100k miles in terms of the IMS? Have you seen them fail after that mileage?