Looking for some info and hard numbers (Boston area)
 

I am looking to replace my motorcycle with something more baby-seat friendly. I have driven a few different sports cars over the last month and, sadly, of all of them I have chosen the Boxster. There are two that I am looking at. Both are 2001s. One is a base and the other is an S. Neither is coming from a "Loving Home" with that nice stack of receipts in the glove box. Both seem to be all right and I wold like to take the S in for a PPI. I left a message with the Porsche dealership's service person but have not heard back from him, implying, to me, that they are not exactly burning with a passion to be inspecting a bunch of random used cars from out in the world. I guess I understand that and it does lead me to my first question:

Can any one recommend a good indy mechanic/shop north of Boston?

Which leads me directly to the second question:

How much dough should I be expecting to spend on things like Oil Changes and regular PM. Neither car has more than 45k on them. What's next and how much does it cost? I'm a little put off that the engine is so hard to get to. I am a motorcycle owner and former Land Rover Owner so doing and paying for frequent maintainence isn't a deal breaker for me necessarily, I just can't find any information on how much this stuff will COST.

And lastly, Can I put a car seat in this thing? There is no airbag disconnect switch that I can find but I suppose it might be automatic, but no light comes on any where indicating that the computer has disabled the airbag. This IS a deal-breaker, unfortunately.

I know that you guys read a million of these things! Thank you for taking the time to read this one and help out.

Hello & Welcome!
Where are you in MA?
Where are the cars you're looking at?

Auto Engineering in Lexington is one of the best around: http://autoengineering.com/

Also have a look at http://www.bostonsportscar.com/ in Weston.

There used to be a shop on Main St in Andover that did great work on Porsche & Ferrari, but the business was sold and all the talent left.

Ok
 

Lets go to the child seat question first and get the deal breaker out of the way. There is a bar under the seat that is an extra cost option that enables the seatbelt off when a properly equipped child seat is installed. Talk to the dealer and remind him that Porsche typically pays for the installation.

Costs...$50 parts and $30 labor at my nearest quick oil place for an oil change...I bring my choice of oil, filter, crush ring. They do 6 a month. No issues. I watch like a hawk. Could you do it yourself...sure with a big enough catch pan and a wrench that fits the filter.

Cost..I'd do a 90k on a car this old immediately as it is the most comprehensive. Probably $1k-$1.5k depending where you live and who does it...dealer or independent Porsche specialist.

Do get a Pre-Purchase Inspection...

More about buying a Boxster here https://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/mikesporscheboxsterwebpages

I live up in Haverhill. The base car is at a used car dealer in Lowell, Highline Auto. The S is a private sale out of NH. I checked out Autoengenearing;s website. Thanks for the link. I thik that there is a BMW shop in Amesbury that is supposed to be pretty good. Perhaps he does Porsche as well...

Here's a couple of links worth checking out .
http://www.pcarshops.com/near/boston-ma/
http://www.porschenet.com/JCMS/content/view/54/1/