Maintanance costs for a Boxter 986?
 

I'm considering buying a Boxter 1997-2002 with about 100k miles on it. How much should I expect to spend annually on maintenance?

Is it really around $2,000 a year that I found some sites say? Or does it depend on the condition of the car you find?

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?

Thanks

A Boxster can be had for that kind of money and no you don't have to spend $5,000. However you will be limited to taking selfies from the car's driver's seat in your driveway to post on Instagram to impress girls. And maybe driving to the gas station and back... if you make sure to choose the shortest distance both ways.

The exception to this is if you have the tools, time and space to work on your own cars. But even then those things are not free and the cost of parts remains high for any Porsche no matter the year. If you do not plan on working on your own cars then yes $2,000 average per year for a Boxster with more than 70K miles mostly driven in a four season state sounds about right. Also, If you don't plan on fixing the car yourself, you should have $5,000 ready to drop on a big repair or maybe consider a different car. In the roadster category nothing beats a Miata for the money. You can track/autocross the car, modify everything and not spend more than I did for my last suspension and exhaust overhaul.

p.s.
You should buy an issue (may be available for download) of 101 Projects for your Porsche Boxster by Wayne Dempsey. It pretty much lays out the cost, skill level, and time required for all the most common Boxster repairs that start to come up around 70K miles, at least that was the mark for my weekends only driven Boxster that was garage kept. Pretty darn reliable before 70K miles though.

Lol, I'd say it's true. I've probably spent $2,500 plus in my first year with my '98 and I have a list of maintenance and wear and tear items I want to tackle in the next year that will probably add up to $2k. After that, I'm thinking it will be less per year to own. Higher costs ( initially ) are true wirth any old, properly maintained used car. Cars end up being sold when an owner realizes there's a big service bill coming up, the new buyer saves some money with the acquisition but it eventually catches up in repair bills the first 2 yesrs of ownership. If you are ok with this, a DIYer, buy low and get fixing. If not, pay market value but get proof maintenance has been done, get an inspection and work with the seller with any known issues prior to purchase.

So, yes the Boxster as with any older used car is out of the question if you feel that way.
The Miata suggestion isn't bad. You can get a lot of Miata for $6500.

I love the Boxter such a great car. I'm also considering a BMW Z3 or Z4. Boxter is my first choice but if it really is around $2,000 annual maintenance costs I'm not sure if I want to go for it. I'm aware that cars like this cost cheap to buy but I want to know exactly what I'm getting myself into if I decide to go for the Boxter.

I've owned many used cars before and most of them don't cost $2,000 a year to maintain. Aside from the original things you have to do when you buy a used car I never really spent much money on used cars but I know how to shop and always made good purchases.

I'm the least mechanical person there is so I don't do any repairs myself.

What it sounds like is you guys are saying that any used car will cost about $2k a year in maintenance cost, did I get that right?

It depends how well maintained was the car you want to buy, if major issues have been addressed, where and how was the car driven. $2000 is a yearly estimate, not a fixed amount.
If you already doubt about the cost of ownership, don't go for it...

If you look through the forums (as you probably have already), the $2k is a fair average. Sometimes you can go a year with just an oil change, the next year it's an AOS, suspension links, and top motor. It's a $60,000 car that you can pick up for under $10k. You are still maintaining the $60,000 car.
You can mitigate the cost quite a bit if you can do most of the work yourself. They are different from working on a Ford/Chevy/Honda, but not any more difficult.

In the case of any Porsche there is no such thing as free (or cheap) puppy.

Keep in mind that a 986 Boxster even with the maintenance costs is great bang for the buck. If you only want to spend $6,500 on a Boxster including maintainance over the next couple of years then it's not for you. I can't even suggest another Porsche as they will certainly cost in total as much of more then the Boxster but not be as good. A 944, which the Boxster replaced, is going to cost you as much for one in similar condition to the Boxster. A Miata may be a great alternate option but for the extra cost of maintanance the Boxster offers alot more.

Well... I'll be the one to say if you want to buy a car and spend less than $2k in maintenance, you probably can by deferring preventative maintenance you should be doing now. But, it'll end up coming back to bite you.

I got a great deal on a 2000 S with 82k miles. It wasn't in perfect shape, and it wasn't maintained by a picky previous owner. Since I am anal, a lot needs to be done to the car. I have $990 in parts receipts within the past month and a half. And I expect to spend another $2400 over the next several months to finish a few major jobs (IMS, clutch, RMS, AOS, and new top).

Could I get by without spending all that now? Sure. Am I rolling the dice that something worse wouldn't happen if I held off? Absolutely.

Now, what about year 2, year 3, etc? Will costs go down? Probably not for the first few years as I would also like to replace the worn suspension, brakes, etc.

If you want to spend less in maintenance, buy a car thats been maintained, and spend the most you can up front. I could have spent more, but, I am of the mindset that if I didn't do it, it probably wasn't done or wouldn't have been done right or to my standards. So, I'd rather by a 'it needs' car than an 'its been done' car and replace the parts anyway.

Any used German sports car. Sports car parts from Germany are fragile/lightweight.
Some are reliable, some are not but very few are durable.
On the other hand I don't think a VW Jetta would cost you $2k to maintain. But that's not a sports car.
Generally speaking, German Sports cars are engineered to drive at a high level of maintenance. If you don't maintain that level they drive like crap, if at all.

You have to look at this way. Any Porsche you buy costs at least $20K. You can buy it for $7K but if you intend to really rack up miles, you'll be paying for the other $13k one way or another. If you only take the car out once a week for a short drive maybe you can get away with not putting money into it. But that just destroys the engine as moisture turns the oil acidic and the build up creates oxidation. It has to run long enough to get real hot and burn off all that stuff.

Many good and informative posts here already. I will add my 2 cents. I also looked through the wealth of great information mainly on this site when I started looking for a 986. It almost scared me away from the 986 mainly due to the IMSB issues. I pretty much knew I would get the imsb done in whatever car I bought if I wasn't sure it had been done or had been done a while / many miles ago. This one had the IMSB done but almost 4 years ago and LN recommends replacing every 4 years or 50k miles. Ultimately I found a very good condition 2003 S with 76k miles on it. It was in much better shape than many others I had looked at. But the ppi indicated it needed new rotors and pads all around. I talked the guy down to 12k from $14k. Thought that was a pretty good price based on other S sales in my area. Only thing that absolutely needed to be done was brakes for about 1,700. But I also did clutch (was getting a bit low but could have lasted a bit longer), IMSB (dof), Aos, ignition coils (ppi indicated they were cracked and quite worn but they still worked), rms, and some other smaller stuff. Ultimately cost me over 5k. I did the work for the reasons stated above, didn't want some things now to become big problems later. Especially didn't want a tanked engine due to imsb. Lot of extra cash? Yes. Do I regret it? No. If the pull of driving / owning a Porsche and having the fun you can have in these cars is strong enough (and budget allows) then go for it. If not, like others have said, look elsewhere.

I'll summarize. It's a crap shoot. If you want to buy a $6,500 Boxster (which would be a dirt-cheap price) and you don't want to take a chance of spending $2,000 (or possibly more; $2,000/year is only an estimate) in maintenance, then DO NOT buy a Boxster.

Sports Cars = maintenance dollars
No way around it - If you only have $2K for Maintenance - I don't think I would make the purchase,

Yup agreed. But if you are buying a dirt cheap Boxster and not doing the work yourself you are tipping the scales in the wrong direction:)

Like you, I don't wrench - no talent, no tools. I bought a low mileage (10,800) 2000 S a little over a year ago. Car was well maintained - have all receipts - and was pristine. First year maintenance was an oil change.

I've added about 7000 miles since I bought it and am in my second season. So far haven't spent anything on repairs or maintenance this year.

For comparison my other cars are a 2004 Volvo Cross Country with 225k miles and a 2001 Acura CL-S with 202k. Both were bought with about 47k miles. I keep excellent records and know that both have averaged about $1375 per year including everything from repairs to tires to washer fluid.

I know I am looking at some expensive preventative maintenance on the Boxster in some time - it's quite a few miles before I will need a clutch so I plan on having the ISB done soon so there is the $2000 but I really love it and it is worth every buck.

Larry (The Bald Eagle)

As all of the others have said, it really is $2,000 per year (on average).

But I will also posit that there is no other car that will put a bigger grin on your face every time that you drive it. Every single time.

I can't thank you guys enough for all the feedback you're giving me. This confirmed to me that on average I am looking at on average at $2k a year. When I made the post for some reason I felt $2k a year for a lot but I agree with you guys for a car like this it's a bargain.

I've owned cars with high milage before way higher than 100k miles on it and as long as the car has been well taken care of they run well. Milage is not a big deal for well taken care of good cars.

I know $6,500 is a low price but I've been shopping around and I found a few ones in really good condition.

I'm very happy this forum is so embracing that all you guys stepped up and gave me so much good info. I really appreciate it.

Anything you guys can think of for a future owner I'd appreciate it.

No matter what - if you take the plunge, make sure you get a proper PPI done on it. Won't tell you everything, but will give you some good insight.

If you are concerned about maintenance costs, don't buy a Boxster. $2K a year is just an average guess. Spending $5k or even more at a single go is not unheard of. In Cypress, Boxster drivers have been known to sell their own mothers to repair their cars (not sure if that car ever got repaired). If that happens to you, you wont be happy. On the other hand, if you're strictly about the driving experience and can divorce yourself from the risk and cost, it's a great deal.

Just to add to what others have said...it's the cost of part that will kill your wallet faster than you can imagine.

Go to the Pelican Parts website and look up prices for a variety of parts that you'd expect to replace as maintenance items and then look at a few that might be unexpected replacement items

I just had to replace a header / catalytic converter. The new part cost $1700 and I thought that was a bargain compared to what the local dealer wanted to charge me.

Can you goes recommend a good place to use to do a PPI for me?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:cheers:

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.

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 :eek:

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.

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 :cool:

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

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!

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.

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.

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. ;)

^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.

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...

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psfpfnxtg6.jpg

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!

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 :)

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.