ALL info/help GREATLY appreciated! - Student

[Pdwight]

Truth ...words of empirical wisdom

[The Radium King]

oh noes! the newbie thread death spiral!

it goes like this:

- newbie posts that they want to buy a boxster (or, often, a boxter) but have read about this ims thing and are a little concerned.

- resident tough guys tell newbie to either (a) buy a (insert favourite brand of Japanese car here) if they are worried about repair costs, or (b) use the search function as this has been asked a million times before. tough guys get to add more posts to their post count without even breaking a sweat (they can just cut and paste their last response to a newbie).

- helpful person tells them not to worry about the ims and just enjoy the car. typically helpful person has not experienced an ims failure.

- person who has experienced an ims failure, or is just a chronic worrier, responds that ims failure is real, quotes class action lawsuits, tales of woe they have personally experienced or read on the internet, etc.

- thread deteriorates into three to five pages of whether the ims fails or not, how often, on what years of cars, why it fails, how to prevent it, who's solution is better that the other guys, patents, testing, replacement ims failure rates, oil weight and change interval, driving habits, other failure modes to worry about even if the ims is replaced, etc etc etc.

- newbie gives up and buys a (insert favourite brand of Japanese car here).

conclusion? newbies should not be allowed to mention ims in their first 50 posts - it's like fentanyl around here (thought that i'd throw that in for the med student).

ps i'm joking.

[aczyzewski]

As Curley would say, we "resemble that remark." Thanks for the lighthearted poke at the curious mix of people we are. I remember my first post (CEL P0306) and being introduced to the ways of the forum...

Originally Posted by The Radium King

oh noes! the newbie thread death spiral!

it goes like this:

- newbie posts that they want to buy a boxster (or, often, a boxter) but have read about this ims thing and are a little concerned.

- resident tough guys tell newbie to either (a) buy a (insert favourite brand of Japanese car here) if they are worried about repair costs, or (b) use the search function as this has been asked a million times before. tough guys get to add more posts to their post count without even breaking a sweat (they can just cut and paste their last response to a newbie).

- helpful person tells them not to worry about the ims and just enjoy the car. typically helpful person has not experienced an ims failure.

- person who has experienced an ims failure, or is just a chronic worrier, responds that ims failure is real, quotes class action lawsuits, tales of woe they have personally experienced or read on the internet, etc.

- thread deteriorates into three to five pages of whether the ims fails or not, how often, on what years of cars, why it fails, how to prevent it, who's solution is better that the other guys, patents, testing, replacement ims failure rates, oil weight and change interval, driving habits, other failure modes to worry about even if the ims is replaced, etc etc etc.

- newbie gives up and buys a (insert favourite brand of Japanese car here).

conclusion? newbies should not be allowed to mention ims in their first 50 posts - it's like fentanyl around here (thought that i'd throw that in for the med student).

ps i'm joking.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by JayG

Low maintenance and Porsche do not go together

My older son is also a med student and was looking for a cool reliable performance car.

He bought a BMW E36 M3.

[jsceash]

Neal,
A couple of answers.
1. a 986 is a year 2004 and older. 2009 and 2010 are 987.(probably the wrong forum)
2. 2009 and 2010 have an upgraded motor the IMS doesn't apply.
3.Try Planet 9 and Rennlist forum. but if you think these guys are rough you haven't seen anything yet.
4. US buyers expect to pay a minimum of 24K to 32K non S and 32K to 40K for a S

Good luck

[Timco]

Just make sure both rear fog lights work before you buy.......

[Anker]

Originally Posted by Timco

Just make sure both rear fog lights work before you buy.......

Only the left rear fog light is wired from the factory.

[paulofto]

Originally Posted by Anker

Only the left rear fog light is wired from the factory.

Anker, That was Timco being Timco . . . . It's his standard welcome to a Newbie.

[Anker]

OK, will remember next time. :-)

[Timco]

Originally Posted by Anker

OK, will remember next time. :-)

I figured I'd throw it out there since this thread went south. Someone got bothered by this joke so I don't really do it anymore. It was all in fun and I say it knowing 2-4 members are always kind enough to correct me.

[Neal]

Man these 2009+ boxster's are expensive.
Average is around $23,000 USD.
Damn.

[jdraupp]

Originally Posted by Neal

Man these 2009+ boxster's are expensive.
Average is around $23,000 USD.
Damn.

Don't forget to factor in about 2,000 a year in maintenance.

These cars are a blast and very fun to own and drive. But as I hope you're getting a feel for, this isn't a Camry that you can buy and drive 300,000 miles with only tire, brake and oil changes. German cars required continuous scheduled maintenance and the boxster specifically has a long list of interval parts that are known to fail at specific mileages. I can afford to own one because I do a lot of the maintenance myself and I only put 3,000 miles a year on mine so there is less maintenance to do. Just an oil change at the dealer will set you back 180 bucks on this car.

Being that you are a med student and and are going to be fairly broke for some time, a quality daily driver like an accord might make more sense for you. If this is a second car, then just be aware that maintenance costs of 1-2k a year are not a joke. Some years it's more some it's less. Just trying to make you aware of the quirks of porsche ownership. It can get really expensive, and the cheapest car you buy will be the most expensive car you ever own.

[Neal]

Originally Posted by jdraupp

Don't forget to factor in about 2,000 a year in maintenance.

These cars are a blast and very fun to own and drive. But as I hope you're getting a feel for, this isn't a Camry that you can buy and drive 300,000 miles with only tire, brake and oil changes. German cars required continuous scheduled maintenance and the boxster specifically has a long list of interval parts that are known to fail at specific mileages. I can afford to own one because I do a lot of the maintenance myself and I only put 3,000 miles a year on mine so there is less maintenance to do. Just an oil change at the dealer will set you back 180 bucks on this car.

Being that you are a med student and and are going to be fairly broke for some time, a quality daily driver like an accord might make more sense for you. If this is a second car, then just be aware that maintenance costs of 1-2k a year are not a joke. Some years it's more some it's less. Just trying to make you aware of the quirks of porsche ownership. It can get really expensive, and the cheapest car you buy will be the most expensive car you ever own.

Should I just grab a ford mustang, dodge challenger, mazda mx-5 miata, audi tt quattro, bmw z4 3.0, honda s2000, honda civic, or toyota carolla/camry for now? If you wanted to stay in the SAFE zone in terms of maintenance & wanted to be around the $10,000 mark which one would you personally go for taking into account my situation?

[ttmedical]

Repost. Moderator please delete this post. Thank you!

[ttmedical]

Hey Neal, I think it's awesome that you are thinking of buying a new-to-you boxster! I was actually a second year medical student when I got mine and am now a PGY1. I daily drive the snot out of it, minimum 60 miles roundtrip a day. In total, I've racked up 60K miles (now at 120K) in 3 years (and that's on the low side compared to some members here!!). I was shopping for a 986/987 and ended up with an '03 that I found from an independent dealer off of craigslist. Yes, I wasn't car smart, and yes, I knew this would be a risky move, but I did some research and heavily researched PPIs and a trustworthy shop to do it. I'll try to give you my 2 cents based on my experiences of being a medical student shopping for car that others will say is unnecessary lol.

1) I was very lucky that most of my rotations were in the same city that I did my didactic years in, with the exception of 4th year "aways". This meant that I had the luxury of finding an apartment complex with a private garage. Now, I lived in West Texas at that time which means that Porsche knowledgeable shops are far and few (nonexistent for me within a 300 miles radius, no joke). I had never even done a filter change on a car prior to buying my boxster but I was an engineer prior to medical school and I like working with my hands. Which leads us to my second point:

2) 986forums and Pelican Parts. Remember these two sites and use them. Heck, peruse them often since something posted in the past may be useful to you in the future. I have gone from only knowing how to put gas and washer fluid in a car to doing things like brakes, rotors, suspension work, oil changes, fluid flushes, bulb changes, alternator and AOS replacements, and even learned to hardwire things like a dash cam, all from these two sites (and some google-ing). And experienced members can and will do far more things like entire engine swaps. Problems will creep up on your car, even if you get a 2009-10 boxster. The how-to guides and the members' knowledge is incredibly valuable. Especially since dealerships, while your car may have cost $10-20K, will charge you at the $60K+ level. As I mentioned before, I had garage space which was very useful for me being able to not only do my own maintenance but also fix things that prevent the car from running. This brings us to my third point:

3) If you plan on doing any of your own work, you will either need to have space or find space. Sometimes, a project may take more than one day, either due to a part that got broken or sheer frustration (I'm looking at you, alternator lol) in which case you will need the space at least overnight. You mentioned you will be at different clinic sites in (what I assume is) your 3rd and 4th years. This also means you need to be physically at the hospital or clinic, meaning you need to ensure you have alternate transport available. In medical school, I was lucky to have financed a beater car for an incredible deal so the one time I did get stranded back then I had the car towed to my apartment and could use the other car to go to work. Now that I only have the boxster, I either bum a ride from the wife (who has her own residency to attend to) or use Uber. I have been stranded by my car twice (once for the alternator giving out in the Middle of Literally Nowhere, Texas and the second time for an AOS that blew a smoke bomb all over the interstate), both of which would at the dealer have cost me $1.7k and $750 to get fixed, not even counting towing from West Texas region to Dallas (I fixed these myself for $400 and $100, respectively, not counting tools that I have collected over the years as I did different projects). Regardless, this is definitely something to keep in mind.

4) Like you, I picked up the car hundreds of miles from home. This required placing a small deposit to hold the car, finding a shop that would do the PPI that I could trust, negotiating a price, and then driving her home. Here I should note that I paid the car in cash so I was fortunate that any money I would have spent in monthly payments went straight into a checking account solely for parts and tools. Anyway, I was early in my second year and luckily the block I was on did not require attendance in class (we were fortunate that lectures at that time were also video recorded so I could speed them up to 2x and study on my own). You will also need to figure out things like this. And, if you are currently studying for Step 1, I would HIGHLY recommend putting this off until after the exam. You don't want to sacrifice a high score that could set you up for life for car shopping.

Sorry if this seems like a giant run on sentence. I'm just putting my thoughts into a semi-cohesive post. I'm almost done with a 30+ hour shift (and no, no one in the surgical world cares about resident 80hr per week limits hahaha....hah.... :'( ...). so this may come off with some grammatical errors and/or ramblings of a mad man. If you have any questions regarding shopping for the car, feel free to PM me. Good luck with school, happy hunting, and we hope to see you around on here!

[Luccia at Pelican Parts]

Let's keep this thread on topic and continue to answer questions for the OP. He is here for a Boxster so let's post helpful information for his search for a Boxster.

[BirdDog]

Sorry, I think I missed the posts where everyone wasn't doing that.

Were posts deleted or something? My internet's been down the last couple of days while Google Fiber was being installed, so I could have missed a few posts...

Originally Posted by Luccia at Pelican Parts

Let's keep this thread on topic and continue to answer questions for the OP. He is here for a Boxster so let's post helpful information for his search for a Boxster.

[Anker]

Old Chinese proverb: When in doubt, don't!