looking at a boxster to buy

[husker boxster]

Nice looking car from the pics. A couple of items:

The ad says 'no IMS issues'. What does that mean? Unless there is documentation that it's been changed, those are hollow words. Just b/c there are no IMS issues today doesn't mean an original bearing won't have trouble tomorrow. Not going to open the IMS can of worms, but worth checking if the IMS has been changed or not. Then you decide how that affects you. But it will cost at least $2K to change it.

An 02 is a less favorable yr just because the 03 had great improvements - a glass rear window and a glove box. The top on this one looks very nice, but it looks like it has the plastic rear window, which means you may have to do the 'chop' to get it to fold right when putting it down. So an 02 is less desirable because if you're spending the $$$ for an 02, you might as well chip in a few more and buy an 03.

They list their KBB price comparison but the value is highly inflated because of the mileage. It has a tip, which may be what you want, but a tip is $2-3K less than a manual (PDK is a diff story). Their value is at least $2K too high and that's NOT taking the IMS into consideration. A 60K mi car would be sev $1Ks less and could be in just as good of condition.

Final thought. If this is exactly the car for you and you've been looking for a long time and know what you want, then don't worry about spending a bit more for it. I know this is counter to what I just told you, but if you get the exact car you're looking for, you'll forget you paid $1-2K more for it due to the fun it provides. I paid close to retail on my 08 Cayman S Sport when I bought it in 2012 and have never regretted it.