Maintanance costs for a Boxter 986?

[dghii]

My take:

The key word is average....

I've owned my 2000S since 2008. I now have 125K miles (purchased with 76K). I've done the maintenance myself and so far have had no catasrophic, big $$ issues. The car is a blast and has been very reliable and has never left me stranded.

Besides regular oil changes, I did the 90K mile service a bit early. All fluids are up kept up to date.
My car is 15 years old. At this point, mantenance expenses are as much related to the age of the vehicle as opposed to its marque. Anyting with a seal is suspect. Anything that rotates is suspect.

I'm way under the 2K/year mark as I've been forunate enough to take care of all repairs and maintenance myself. I realize that tomorrow I could experience an issue that would put me right back up to the average. A big failure issue would not be a Boxster or Porsche issue, it would be a 15 year old car issue. It owes me nothing.

[oc-boxster]

Learn from my mistake. I did not do a PPI on my 2002 boxster S. It seemed to drive and run fairly well so I took a chance and bought it. I purchased the car in 2012 and 3 years later I have 11,000.00 in Receipts for repairs and replacement parts. Some things weren't absolutely neccessary(a new top with glass window for example). But I can only imagine the work a 6500.00 boxster will need.

[SoCalBlackbox]

Very little more expensive than a cheap Porsche. I would spend a little more up front and get a better lower mileage car. You are going to pay one way or the other.

[dghii]

Still goes back to weather you do the work yourself or pay someone.

I don't think I'd own a car out of warranty if I didn't do the majority of repairs myself.

Case in point: Torn CV boots. My repair cost (with the cost of lift rental) was $50 for 4 boot kits and $25 for the lift. My buddy spent $350 having two boots on one axle replaced on his 03S.

[BruceH]

A cheap BMW is going to cost you too. Find a one or two owner car that has been taken care of. Get the PPI, find out what you are in for. Fix what you can and find a good indie mechanic for the rest! You won't regret getting a Boxster

[jsceash]

I love Boxters but I don't want to spend a fortune on maintanace. If i buy a car for $6,500 in good condition I don't want to spend another $5,000 just to do some repairs. Is the Boxter out of the question if I feel this way?

If you check blue book, you, can't hardly buy a good condition Boxster for $6500. So what you're actually buying is some one else's headache they are giving up on.

If you are second guessing the cost versus the repair up keep buy some other car. There have been numerous post "I bought this car 1 week to 4 months ago without a PPI and now I need help"

Average Porsche dealer service is $125/hour. Specialized Mechanic shop $60 to $100/hr. $5000 is a clutch, IMS, and water pump replacement. If it's had a recent clutch IMS job you won't touch the car less than $10000.

[particlewave]

I really don't know where the high numbers come from...maybe some don't do their own wrenching or really drive the hell out of the car.

I've had mine for 4 years and have maybe spent a total of $1500-$1800 over that time (not every year). Half of that is probably optional mods. It's worth mentioning that I do all of my own work. Tires are expensive and expect to replace those every 15k-30k. Other than that...

BTW, she needs tires, brakes, and possibly a water pump, so that number is about to go up $600-$1000

[healthservices]

lol the cheaper the cost of the car, the more likely you will have higher maintenance cost as the previous owner probably did not take care of it.

[Myoung73]

Originally Posted by particlewave

I really don't know where the high numbers come from...maybe some don't do their own wrenching or really drive the hell out of the car.

I've had mine for 4 years and have maybe spent a total of $1500-$1800 over that time (not every year). Half of that is probably optional mods. It's worth mentioning that I do all of my own work. Tires are expensive and expect to replace those every 15k-30k. Other than that...

BTW, she needs tires, brakes, and possibly a water pump, so that number is about to go up $600-$1000

It's hard even to buy tires for the Boxster for $600 total not including mounting and balancing (which you will obviously do yourself). Not sure how you do all of that, even doing the work yourself, for $600 to $1000. Unless you just need brake pads and not rotors I can't see even getting the parts for that. But I'm new to this and certainly no expert.

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by Myoung73

It's hard even to buy tires for the Boxster for $600 total not including mounting and balancing (which you will obviously do yourself). Not sure how you do all of that, even doing the work yourself, for $600 to $1000. Unless you just need brake pads and not rotors I can't see even getting the parts for that. But I'm new to this and certainly no expert.

That's apparent
Rear tires only and why would I replace the rotors simply because I need brakes? Rotors are fine (and even if they weren't, resurfacing is cheap), tires can be found for around $200 each if you do the research, mount and balance $10-15 each, and possibly a water pump...check your math.

Nice try, though. Keep at it

[mnc-i]

Myoung73,

I have to somewhat agree with Particlewave on this one.

I've put a lot of miles on my 99 Bosxter since I purchased it in 2009 with 104,000 miles.

This morning I changed my oil & filter. As I updated my three ring binders of maintenance records, I realized that some of the high maintenance costs can be attributed to poorly designed parts as much as labor costs and the cliché "When you buy a used $60,000 car for $10,000 the maintenance is still for a $60,000 car."

The AOS, the waterpump and the ignition switch come to mind concerning poorly designed parts.

I am not a great mechanic, but I now appreciate my father forcing me to help him work on the family cars.

I do all of my oil & filter changes, brake work (pads & rotors) minus brake fluid changes, accessory belt changes, and the replacement of minor parts (brake light switch, headlight & taillight bulbs, OEM radio, seats, underbody panels, fuel filter, air filter, sparkplug tubes as well as radiator cleaning.

I purchase most of my parts from RockAuto and Pelican Parts. My tires come from TireRack. I've not paid more than $550 for four tires including mounting & balancing. On one occasion I purchased newer model 17inch OEM wheels with four almost new tires (off brand, Cooper) for $420. I see no need to pay a boatload of money for tires that do not last all that long (rear tires due to the suspension design for optimal handling).
I've bought expensive 4-prong Bosch sparkplugs from RockAuto for about $7.00 per plug and got a $24.00 rebate from Bosch. The sparkplug tubes I got from RockAuto w/gaskets were about $4.00 each.
I've had to change the waterpump about three times since I purchased the car with 104,000 miles. I now have 251,724 miles. I've never had to change waterpumps as frequently with the Corvettes, Jeep, Mazda or Alfa Romeos I owned in the past.

Heads up, when Excellence Magazine writes that you should change the waterpump every 50,000 miles as preventive maintenance (broken impellers can damage the engine) you have to take that into consideration when purchasing a Porsche new or used.

I love my Boxster and once I reach 300,000 miles there is a 1999 911 in my future.

Just my two-cents
MNC-I

[Myoung73]

haha thanks for the math lesson guys.. Lots of variables in "needs new brakes" so no need to be rude. Anyway, if you needed rotors obviously that would push the cost up quite a bit, which is what I assumed. Yes you can turn them, to my knowledge you can't do that more than once or twice with these rotors as they are designed thin (to save weight, obviously depends on what you have). But yes if you just need pads, obviously the cost is much lower. Also, needs tires, assumed you needed 4. Just two? Yes, you should be able to get all that stuff for the price you mentioned and install yourself. Happy driving guys. Had some great rides today, which is really what it's all about!

[Giller]

Lots of people have spent lots, lots have spent little. There is s little something called luck of the draw. We also have a small sample size here....there are a ton more Boxsters on the road then there are active owners here.

To me, it comes down to a good PPI to start with and a crossing of the fingers that you got a good one.

Just too many variables beyond that IMO.

[CHRISP357]

Best bet? Don't do ppi's. You'll spend $150 and find something to scare you away from every car you find. Set a lower limit. Mine was 12 thousand. Anything under that I wouldn't look at. Buy a nice car, drive it, love and if it breaks, fix it.
Incidentally, this forum will cost you far more than average maintenance. Seems like every time I open this site it costs me money. We have a mad scientist who made these amazing projectors, some genius who cracks open headlights to install said projectors ridiculously cheap, some smart kid in Florida making these "must have" ball bearing short shifters. Just the other day, some jerk shows us this $900 steering wheel, it just goes on and on. Shoot, other than sticky tires and an oil change, I haven't had a chance or need to spend money or time on maintenance.

[Retroman1969]

If you're wanting a higher end old used car but don't want to (or can't) spend much on maintenance, then you're grabbing the tail of the dragon, especially by trying to buy one cheap.
And I'm not trying to be contrary, I'd just hate to see anyone become heartbroken or lose money they can't afford to lose (been there!).
If you're just driving it on weekends or every day but just to your office a few miles away and the corner store with an occasional weekend jaunt, I'd say it would be fine. But if you plan on driving it a lot, be prepared to have a fairly maintenance-heavy vehicle. You have to really love the car. Most people who keep them for the long haul do.
If you buy a $6,500 Porsche you're more likely than not going to have to shell out several thousand dollars up front to have a totally healthy car that you can press into daily service, and then likely spend at least a couple thousand a year to keep it healthy. This is assuming you don't do all your own work on it.
I don't mean to sound like a downer, because properly maintained, these can be very very dependable cars, and they're very satisfying to drive.
My clean low mileage weekender has needed nothing in two years but oil services and checkups.
My well used daily has needed $6,000 in repairs since December, but it has never stranded me, I drive it over 3,000 miles a month, it's 16 years old, and has over 140,000 miles on it. I always have to keep that in mind.
Hopefully that will give you a better idea of what you're looking at.

[Perfectlap]

^my weekender needed nothing for the first 70k miles. Most reliable car ever owned.

Then the streak came to and end in a hurry. I looked at all my bills once when I went over the $13k mark. Cost of parts was about 2/3's the money spent. On one invoice for repairs which included tires and wheel straightening among many other things for about $5k, the labor was only 25%. And even if you DIY $4k of that total $13k was the IMS/RMS/FW which is not worth saving on the labor to DIY given the risks.
Additionally you have to factor in the cost of tools, space and time which are not free. But the big thing is the cost of parts. even though we have online shopping and ebay that hasn't really kept Porsche parts from being expensive given their far from stellar durability.

The more miles the more addictive and costly the habit. But last time it went in for repairs I had the shakes and night terrors from midengine withdrawal.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

I looked at all my bills once...

I hope that it was just a quick glance. Never look at all of the bills. Never. Ever.

Legend says that you'll be turned to stone.

Look what happened to this guy when he started reviewing receipts...

[daveccpa]

I bought my car about a year ago with about 55K miles. In that year I did the brakes, tires, cv joints, MAF sensor, oil change and I just changed the plugs and spark plug tubes. I have spent about 3K but that was all at the shop except the plugs and tubes. Most of this is my fault for not getting a PPI and relying on the dealers PPI. The only thing I would change is getting the PPI. The car is a blast to drive unless your in traffic. Plus I look great driving it!

[newBgeek]

In less than 1 year of ownership, I have spent just over $2000 (CAD) ***just in parts*** as I'm a DIYer. I replaced both radiator fans, ignition switch, battery, spark plugs and tube o-rings, sway bar end-links, coolant reservoir tank, hood struts, alternator pulley, tensioner pulley, and lower idler pulley, air/oil separator and oil change. Note that none of these issues were due to a CEL or drivability issues. They are all maintenance or problems that I discovered because I'm actively looking for issues. So another owner may have gotten away with spending nothing (until one of those issues cascaded into a CEL or breakdown). And the previous owner spent over $6000 in the previous year.

So this is not a cheap car to maintain, yet it is still one of the least expensive cars I have owned, cheaper than my newer "economy car". In the year I have owned my Boxster, my other car depreciated over $4000, while the Boxster has stayed the same (actually gone up slightly). It is depreciation, not maintenance, that is the number 1 cost of most vehicles.

However, if you are not the type to do your own work, or have a buddy that can, then I would seriously consider getting something newer like a 2009 or newer Boxster. The cost of ownership will likely be a bit higher due to depreciation, but you will be driving a newer car.

I you love working on your own car like I do (it's part of the ownership experience), then these older 986 Boxsters are a bargain if you can find a good one.

While changing the AOS (as a maintenance item), I noticed I have a power steering leak. So there is a pump and high pressure line in my near future. Can't wait

[orioner00]

when i got my 99 box I had to replace the clutch,new struts,arms, sway bars, all fluids ,all filters engine mounts trans mount,etc just to keep it in good running form more than 3000 usd there, now i got cel lights on and codes are pointing to o2 sensors i hope the spending slows down after this. but i absolutely love the car so I can't complain.