Looking to do buy a 2001 Boxster S - Some questions for the experts

[mikefocke]

I had a 90k service done at 42k upon assuming ownership. My choice. So it may be a plus, may be a minus. It also could be they did the 90k (which adds a transmission service on a TIP car to what is done for a 60k IIRC) but documented it as a 60k.

But where is the 30k, the 90k and it may be it needs a 120k given that the 60k was 6.5 years ago, tires, top, etc which could be $3k or more. I spent that on my second Boxster in the first month.

Then there is the body, paint issues.

I still think if you look you can do better. Even if the initial cost is a bit more.

[Wangta]

Originally Posted by mikefocke

I had a 90k service done at 42k upon assuming ownership. My choice. So it may be a plus, may be a minus. It also could be they did the 90k (which adds a transmission service on a TIP car to what is done for a 60k IIRC) but documented it as a 60k.

But where is the 30k, the 90k and it may be it needs a 120k given that the 60k was 6.5 years ago, tires, top, etc which could be $3k or more. I spent that on my second Boxster in the first month.

Then there is the body, paint issues.

I still think if you look you can do better. Even if the initial cost is a bit more.

Maybe you're right mikefocke. I've been looking for a couple months now and I honestly haven't seen anything that is priced right. Maybe for a standard Boxer (this one is an S)? For example, there is base that is for sale in Arizona now - a red 2003 base with the IMS ceramic bearing installed and 75k miles - asking $12.4k.

I've negotiated this Boxster S down to $7.2k with the hard top (no one wants an auto transmission!) - I plan to sell the hard top ($1k?) so that brings my total cost down to $6.2? No IMS issues per the oil filter test. I'd love to have the IMS solution installed ($5k?) which is superior to the ceramic bearing - so I'd be close to the same place (~$12k), and I end up with a Boxer S instead of a base, but I have 30k more miles? I dunno how to weigh all the pros and cons. At the end of the day, I gotta value my time a bit more and just bite the bullet on one?

This car isn't exactly for me either - it's for my parents who will drive it around their retirement community and golf range. They'll likely put 5 miles a day on this, so miles aren't going to go up very quickly. Perhaps I'm a bit warped by being in California, but 120k miles doesn't seem super high to me (my wife's old car had 275k on it before we decided to get rid of it - it was still running great!).