The Ying and Yang of Boxster Reliability

[linderpat]

It is an eye opener to me how less stout these cars are compared to my 928. The early Porsches were designed under a different paradigm, and had a lot less big corporate (and bean counting) influence. for sure the 928s have their issues, as do all older cars, but they do not fail at the rates I see consistently on the Boxster boards, and they are much easier to work on in my view. And three engine failures? That would have been it for me after the fisrt one.

[redeye280z]

I don't think these cars are less reliable, sure they do have some design issues but for the most part things start to fail after a certain amount of time. I 've had my car for 4 years now and this year I started having all the common problem AOS, Expansiontank, O2 senor ect. The car is also 14 years old so I take it all with a grain of salt.

The pleasure of driving a Boxster makes up for all those little hiccups.

[Giller]

Originally Posted by linderpat

It is an eye opener to me how less stout these cars are compared to my 928. The early Porsches were designed under a different paradigm, and had a lot less big corporate (and bean counting) influence. for sure the 928s have their issues, as do all older cars, but they do not fail at the rates I see consistently on the Boxster boards, and they are much easier to work on in my view. And three engine failures? That would have been it for me after the fisrt one.

The downside to these boards is they can give you false impressions. Boards like this are more prone to complaint and concerns. Rarely do we see someone post "No problems today!" but there are 1000's of Porsche drivers out there who experience this daily. No problems. For every engine failure, how many clean beautiful P-Cars are out there with little to no problems?

No doubt there was some "bean counting" done when the car was produced (as the majority of all mass-produced items are) but I still fail to see how that has dramatically reduced the overall reliability of this car vs. other manufactures of similar age. Sure, there are lots of people out there who say their 12 year old pickup is in better shape than the Porsche - but there are just as many saying the opposite.

[woodsman]

I've owned a lot of Japanese vehicles and my first German one has been a real eye opener: half the life-cycle! I think that the Porsche that built our cars was almost broke and learning new ways of operating just to survive much as many low-volume builders of the day were. Another problem is that Porsche seems to want to re-invent every single part with a new design which decreases overall reliability in place of building on past successes.
At the end of the day Porsche (and other luxury German marques) cares most about the buyer's perceived value of their product and their relatively short-term experience of it (2-5 yrs?) versus the overall economy of a longer term of ownership for the more mundane stuff.

[Giller]

Originally Posted by woodsman

I've owned a lot of Japanese vehicles and my first German one has been a real eye opener: half the life-cycle! I think that the Porsche that built our cars was almost broke and learning new ways of operating just to survive much as many low-volume builders of the day were. Another problem is that Porsche seems to want to re-invent every single part with a new design which decreases overall reliability in place of building on past successes.
At the end of the day Porsche (and other luxury German marques) cares most about the buyer's perceived value of their product and their relatively short-term experience of it (2-5 yrs?) versus the overall economy of a longer term of ownership for the more mundane stuff.

I think there is something to be said about the 'perceived value'. Porsche is a high end car - and they are marketed as such. These older cars don't make Porsche any money and most of us (not all) who own them own them because we can't afford a brand spanking new one. So yeah, Porshe's target audience is not us. It's the people who flip into a new one every few years.
That being said - if you cruise forums devoted to mature sportscars, you will hear a lot of the same thing. I know people who have old corvettes and they can experience some of the same pain we do. Cars age and sportscars are driven far more aggressively than say your Toyota Camry so will show their age earlier on.

[linderpat]

Originally Posted by Giller

The downside to these boards is they can give you false impressions. Boards like this are more prone to complaint and concerns. Rarely do we see someone post "No problems today!" but there are 1000's of Porsche drivers out there who experience this daily. No problems. For every engine failure, how many clean beautiful P-Cars are out there with little to no problems?

No doubt there was some "bean counting" done when the car was produced (as the majority of all mass-produced items are) but I still fail to see how that has dramatically reduced the overall reliability of this car vs. other manufactures of similar age. Sure, there are lots of people out there who say their 12 year old pickup is in better shape than the Porsche - but there are just as many saying the opposite.

I agree with all you said, but I wasn't comparing a fairly modern Boxster to a contemporary car of similar age from another manufacturer. Indeed, I would find the Boxster to be likely far more reliable and with a better build quality than most other cars of a similar vintage. Instead, my comparison was of the Boxster to older Porsches - take your pick - 928s, 944s, 911s (early), and the build quality and ability to work on them is far different (better imho) than the modern Porsches. My 928, for example, was hand built - as were all of the earlier sharks.
I do a lot of work on my cars, and to me the differences in the quality are noticeable. That said, I do think the Boxster is a great car, but it does seem to have more than a fair share of issues - at least the 986 version.

[mikefocke]

I owned a Honda, an Acura and a Boxster. All of the around the same vintage and mileage. The Boxster was by far the most reliable in terms of trips to the mechanic. It was also the cheapest to maintain despite me giving it extra love (Michelin N-spec tires, Optima AGM battery, an extra O2 sensor, etc.). It never left me stranded, not something I can say about either of the Honda products.

Unfortunately, it also depreciated the most.

[KRAM36]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

I owned a Honda, an Acura and a Boxster. All of the around the same vintage and mileage. The Boxster was by far the most reliable in terms of trips to the mechanic. It was also the cheapest to maintain despite me giving it extra love (Michelin N-spec tires, Optima AGM battery, an extra O2 sensor, etc.). It never left me stranded, not something I can say about either of the Honda products.

Unfortunately, it also depreciated the most.

My Boxster is a 2003, my daughter learned to drive in it and took her driver's test in it. When it came time to buy her a car she wanted a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. So we found one, a 2003 model with 80k miles on it. I have had to make more repairs to that car then my Boxster that has way more miles. I bought the Eclipse for $4,000 and I bet I have put $3,000 or more into it in less then 2 years.

Right front knuckle busted on it while she was doing 65 mph, which folded the wheel under the car and sent her into a median. Luckily the median was snow covered and the car didn't bite into the ground and flip over on her, but the car did at least three 360° spins and slid a football field length before a hill that went up to another highway stopped the car.

Had to rebuild the whole right side suspension. Along with new wheels and tires and a new strut for the left side. There is also damage to the front bumper cover and the inner finder liner. Did a temp bonding fix on those. but I have a new bumper and finder liner bought for it.



Just got done putting new brakes on it. The front rotors were warped. Of course I got a nice set of drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic pads all the way around.

Right now it's leaking oil from both valve covers, needs an O2 sensor, needs a new alternator. The car has developed a squeak when you start up and stop. I have not tracked down where the squeak is coming from. It is clearly coming from the side that was rebuilt. I didn't replace the strut mount, so it could be that and the sway bar bushings need to be replaced, so it could be that.

I have all the parts bought to fix it, just have not had the chance to put them in.

Car looks nice though.