It seems like a deal;

1998 base
Purchase Price $5,300.
Purchase date Sept. 14, 2017
Mileage 95,000.
Where purchased - San Francisco Bay area
Color - Arctic Silver/Grey
Tiptronic
Came with Factory Hardtop, Original Window Sticker, Owners Manuals, Center Wind Screen, Heated Memory Seats, Computer, Cruise Control.
Aftermarket Accessories; New uninstalled Softtop with Glass Rear Window, and New Bilstein Shocks.
History - 6 A few receipts from 2nd of two previous owners, Original owner had for 17 years.
Interior - 8
Exterior - 7 Several paint chips, a crack in the front bumper paint, minor curbing on 1 wheel
Mechanical - 7 Not a lot of records
Have replaced - Frunk and Trunk support struts, AOS, Coolant Tank, one CV Boot, Transmission filter and Fluid also had an alignment and the new softtop installed. Purchased 2 additional Keys.

It still feels like a good deal and cheap fun! Just turned 99,000. miles going to need tires soon.

There is just something wrong in this world when we can buy these cars in decent operating condition, for less than I paid for my freakin’ mountain bike. Just crazy.

Fair prices for these "S" Models?
Assume very good condition.

2000 S with 80k
2001 S with 45K
2003 S with 25K

1998 base
Purchase Price $6,500.
Purchase date July. 2020
Mileage 98,000.
Where purchased - Wilmington, DE
Color - Ocean Blue/Grey
Tiptronic

History - 9 - Service receipts for 10 years (2 owners)
Interior - 7 - Seats have come cracking and scuffs
Exterior - 8 Paint is good except peeling on bumper
Mechanical - 8 Runs great, will need AOS soon.

1998 Base - 4,000
Purchase Date: August 2020
64,444 miles
Where: Southern Maryland
Color: Silver
5 Speed

I’m the 4th owner
Been sitting parked for several years.

I'll play, even though I know I paid too much. The second owner moved into our neighborhood a few months ago and did not have space in his garage. That plus an upcoming wedding to pay for pushed him to sell. He also sold a nice boat.

It was nice to walk over to his house and see the car, take test drives etc. End of the day, I didn't want to push too hard on the price. The car had low miles, was garage kept, and seemed like in good shape. Wife and I said YOLO. Although in my mind $10,500 would have been a better and still fair price.

2001 Base - $11,500
Purchase Date: July 2020
47,800 miles
Where: Southern Maryland
Color: Seal Gray
Tiptronic, with Factory Hardtop

The first owner had this car from new until March 2019. Serviced at Porsche Arlington.
Arlington or Annapolis are 1.5-2hrs away, FYI.

Second owner drove the car about 1000 miles between March 2019 and when he sold it to me. He did nothing to the car other than an oil change in 2019.

Mine,
2002 Base
79000 miles
Paid: 9500.00
Purchased:: March 2019
Lapis Blue / Tan
repair receipts=11 K in the last year before I bought it.
complete clutch and RMS, ( no IMS but a new cover ) go figure.
5 spd,OBC,PSM,Bose system,heated seats,new top w glass window ( don't like it)
does not leak or burn oil.
what it needs: brakes soon,suspension work,chain rails/guides most likely.
Just love driving this car !!

broke about even...NOT
 

2001 986 S 6-speed black on black
Paid 7500
Purchased April 2016
72K
very well optioned, full leather, litronics, memory seats, speaker box, 18" wheels etc.
bad repair on the front bumper wrap and paint on the hood (it was scratched, no dent)
repair was 1200

I drove the car for years, 30K miles, and wrenching myself, I repaired and upgraded virtually everything on the car.
Beautiful car. Engine pulled strong and ran flawlessly.
Sold last month for 14K with 102,000 miles on it.
I got a good price and buyer got a good car.

That seems a matter of getting a crazy deal up front where the money was made.
And selling for a crazy price, as well. What sucker pays $14k for an S with 102k ?
Won on both sides. Very well done, but seems like a perfect storm.

I will play too.. fun to see trends, hopefully give new owners perspective on what they might expect (especially without good history)
Purchased Fall 2019

2001 986 S 6spd Seal Gray / Black interior / Black top
50300 Miles at purchase
Sport bucket seats (heated), Sport package, Sport design package (have to look up the difference of these two one day), 18" turbo twists w/color crests, PSM.
Body had a few scratches, nothing bad, no dents carfax 100% clean, no accidents etc..
I am the 5th owner... first 2 were short, 3rd had the car for most of it's life, 4th was friend of owner 3 and had it for 2 yrs.
Mechanically good a purchase but NO history, had a full fabspeed headers / cats / maxflo installed and tune, otherwise stock. The reverse lights were out so I had to replace the switch on the tranny for inspection (prev owner always parked in reverse)
Paid 10,500.

Since:
I did the AOS within a month of purchase as it failed cleaned intake / throttle body /plenum (self - ~145)
Filters (cabin / air / fuel) (self ~$90)
Pioneer 2550NEX head unit (self - ~$350) vent debris fix ($10? self)
Front trunk struts (self $24)
Plugs / tune up (self $53)
Replaced both visor mirrors (euro style without airbag sticker) (self ~$175)
Water pump / Thermostat (preventative / maintenance) (self ~$550 w/ porsche coolant)
expansion tank (leaking / repair ) (self ~$300)
Motor mount (old) (self ~$200 with carrier)
right door microswitch (just started acting up) (self $40)
so: $1927 in on top so far, but am feeling really good that I have done a lot of the major stuff. Oil analysis came back excellent and she pulls like hell.

I also spent ~450$ on 2003 style oem headlights and euro sidemarkers from a forum member recently but this was completely optional. My stock eggs were okay. My mileage sits at 53000 now.
I do also acknowledge that I will have a clutch / IMS eventually (prob 1-2 years). Unless I purchase a lift this is something I will find a good indie shop to do.

Hope that helps, I hope it adds some real numbers to the "without history" cost. My negotiated price had accounted for this.

purchased my 01 S in 2015

24000 miles
Seal Grey
3d owner
optional wheels
litronic lights
$10,000

.......post deleted by OP........

Ok - Here we go - Bought my 2001 Boxster S from the 4th owner from Boulder, CO in June/2020. 61,000 miles. My second Boxster(first was a 987) and 3rd Porsche (also owned a 1985 911). Paid $10,500. Came with a brand new already installed glass window top.
Changed the oil and filter immediately.

Took to Autowerks East in Lafayette, CO to do the following on June 24th of 2020:
PPI, replace tranny fluid, water pump, thermostat and drive belt and replace coolant. Brake and clutch flush, refinish headlights and replace bulbs, replace fuel filter, New spark plugs, air filter, cabin filter. Total cost - $3300

July 6th - AWE again - did the following:
LN IMS "Solution" installed. Mine had had the double row bearing in questionable condition.
New OEM clutch kit installed, flywheel bolts, pressure plate bolts, Clutch pivot pin, Clutch lever(it was shot), new OEM flywheel. Total - $5400.
I had already changed the oil and sent to Blackstone. Came back all normal there. Car is a happy camper. Hope to keep for a long time.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/2001...0A0018B3-M.jpg

2001 Boxster S, purchased in early 2020

110,000 miles
Arctic Silver, paint in rough shape
8th owner
I paid $4800

$1500 for a 1999 Base model 5 speed. 160 000 miles Artic silver.
IDK how many owners (never understood why that mattered).


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1606189015.jpg




And then add 11 months and wee bit of cash.




http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1606189263.jpg

I never got that either. What if it had one owner that didn't do crap for maintenance? In my opinion. People get compliant with ownership and generally lack with maintenance towards their vehicle. They fall out of love to say. New owners on the other hand are full of love towards their new vehicle and shower it with affection. There are exceptions though. The best porsches I ever bought were female one owner cars. My theory is that they listen to their mechanics and almost over maintain. Something about female porsche owners over other brands that set them apart. I would put them at the top of vehicles to buy from. Followed by old men selling old trucks

I don't think mileage was the big deal on this car.
I've had 4 different 986 S through the recent years. This car was the best of the bunch. I was going to sell it for around 11K and reconsidered when I looked at what else was out there. I didn't make money, but got back some of the parts. My labor was free.
The new owner wasn't a sucker, they had a great deal of experience and had been shopping nationwide. They dropped a nonrefundable deposit sight unseen and traveled to inspect it several weeks later. After this, they noted how tight and refreshed the car was, even against others that had far fewer miles. Cosmetically the car was a 6 or 7, but mechanically it was a 10. When you drove it, it was solid, predictable and fast. If you looked at the car on a lift you were impressed.
I am really going to miss it.

Look at the photo, and you have your answer.

Hah...someone is after Maytag's "crown of snark." Well done! :+)

Haha... Nice :D

TBH I wanna say 2 or three owners.. The meth head I bought it from was the mechanic for the previous owner (or at least the most current owner other than myself). Might be 4 or more; when I was getting power for all the things I needed power for I noticed some oddities in the key wiring. The kind of stuff that would resemble tracking from a used car lot.

That would suggest a first owner, then a second from a used car lot, and then the meth head I got the car from.


I personally don't put bias on a vehicle based on number of previous owners. I just look at the condition and what I've gotta fix.

Then again I have been known to buy stuff from junkyards; so I'm kind of a special breed of stupid.


End of the day I knew what I was buying and the price seemed right cause the chassis looked strait enough and rust free. Kinda wished it had a tan interior cause I wanted to paint the car BR green, but hey what ya gonna do.


EDIT: car, and every nut and bolt accounted for I'm in less than $12 000. That top was a whopper of $2000 and the adaptor plate/clutch/starter was another big one at $1500. The engine with all the machine work, carb, supercharger and yada yada was just under $1500. Oh and the suspension was VERY costly $2000 for all the little control arms and dampeners and whatnot. I had planed for all of this. Getting the car cheaper would have been nice, but I wanted this DONE.