Planning to join the 986 Club

[oldskool73]

Recommendation is normally the other way around, a 98 will have the more robust dual row IMS, if it's lasted this long it's 'probably' not going to explode tomorrow (touch wood), but you may as well upgrade it for peace of mind when you have to do the clutch, as you expose the IMS as part of the clutch work anyway. LN is the de-facto standard, and the 'Solution' is their 'lifetime' product... but searching will bring up lots of alternatives if you want to be different.

There's some pretty standard servicing you can do quite easily... clean the front radiators, check the AOS, clean the throttle body, bleed the brakes, replace the belt, replace the water pump & fluids etc... searching and reading on here will give you ideas of the normal issues, and things like the Burners Cars YT channel covers most of these also @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIocrQqlYRWYPh7d9GmRbDQ/videos

Other than that just make sure everything is up to date on the service schedule (Maintenance Schedule - Porsche Boxster (986) FAQ) and fix stuff as it goes bad.

[kk2002s]

Many will jump to say use the search here.
I won't
BUT!!!! if you did use the search (I'm not saying use the Search), you will get many topics already covering your questions.
Also do the research on what the different years of the 986 both Base and S have to offer. Drive them to feel those differences.

Hopefully you'll join the ownership club soon

Not knowing your budget, the 987 is now at a price level that I paid for my 986 S 6 years ago with 52k miles on the clock