Buying a 986 - Advice Needed

[Muzzle of Bees]

Originally Posted by Reddy Head

I have been reading these forums and finally decided to join. For years I've been wanting to experience the thrill of driving and owning a Porsche. Luckily for me, I am the position to buy.
My budget is 10K (11K if it's absolutely necessary)

I wanted your opinion on the route I should take. The way I see it, I can take two routes:
1. I can buy a base model at a very low price of about 6-7K and spend the rest of the money on upgrades. This would include taking preventative action and replacing the IMS, RMS, and Oil Seperators... Maybe even some aesthetic ones such as the CGT Headlight Retrofit done by ParticleWave. I have my eye on a few 97 & 98's to be exact. Two of them are one owner vehicles in arctic silver with the red leather interior and 65K miles. The other is in guards red with a tan interior and 130K miles(I can get this one for about $5,750).
2. I can get an "S" model or a very very clean base. I've seen a couple 2000's in this price range however none of them have had the IMS replaced. Specifically there is a 2002 Boxster S in arctic silver with 110K miles going for 10K, and another in guards red with 117K miles for 12K(If I can get him down to 10-11K it would be the ideal one for me as it is configured exactly how I want it).

I know the IMS failure only affected about 5% of these cars, and that a car over 40K is most likely fine at this point. This is not going to scare me away from purchasing a boxster. That being said, having those fixes done would give me peace of mind, as I'm sure most of you will agree.

PS. The reason why I'm stressing a little too much over this decision is that I live in El Paso, TX. There are no boxsters for sale within a 100mi. radius. Therefore whatever I buy, I will be driving it 400+ miles home or have to ship it(If it's below my 10-11K budget). I would hate to purchase my first Porsche and have something go wrong on the drive home... I would love to hear ya'lls thoughts.

Thank you, I appreciate the help.

If you are going to get a PPI in Austin, TPWS is a good one. I have talked to them numerous times. They are very knowledgable and friendly. I hear good things about them. I have not had them do any work yet since I do lots of my own work. But, for the big things they will get the nod.

[Reddy Head]

I was on pcarshop.com today and the closest service center to the vehicle is "Eurotech Car Care Center". Does anyone have any experience with them or know anyone who has?

Or would it be a worthy endeavor to try and convince the owner to let me, or have him, take the car a further distance to TPWS? As always, thank you for the advice.

[Muzzle of Bees]

Originally Posted by Reddy Head

I was on pcarshop.com today and the closest service center to the vehicle is "Eurotech Car Care Center". Does anyone have any experience with them or know anyone who has?

Or would it be a worthy endeavor to try and convince the owner to let me, or have him, take the car a further distance to TPWS? As always, thank you for the advice.

Eurotech Car Care Center is in Killeen, not really close to Austin. Killeen is not likely to have many Boxster owners either. I thought the car was in Austin?

[Reddy Head]

What had happened was that a few hours after posting when I was ready to confirm with the owner, it had been sold... Just my luck.

Now I'm going up to take a look at a 2002 Boxster S in Killeen, and at a quick glance of the map I honestly thought it was still the Austin area. From my understanding it is just north of Round Rock.
I apologize for not being more specific.

Along with this Boxster I plan on taking a look at a 2002 base in San Antonio. I figured I would have already driven 6-7 hours anyway so might as well take a look at others within a close radius around Austin. There are a few others in the area that I would look at but those two are first on my list.

It's amazing me how quick these cars get sold in the summer, so far I have had 3 I had been watching get sold within a week of entering the market. My approach has shifted a little from only considering the ones with all the options I wanted, to just being willing to pounce on a good example without everything I wanted.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by Muzzle of Bees

If you are going to get a PPI in Austin, TPWS is a good one. I have talked to them numerous times. They are very knowledgable and friendly. I hear good things about them. I have not had them do any work yet since I do lots of my own work. But, for the big things they will get the nod.

Make sure one of their "real" mechanics does the PPI.

When I sold my S last year -- the buyer took it to TPWS and frankly they did a crap job of things.

I had a SACH's stage 1 clutch in there, which means great for performance but
a heavy pedal.

They claimed it needed a new clutch. When I asked them how they inspected it,
they main mechanic said the owner's son did the PPI and that he typically just
presses the clutch in and if it doesn't feel right that they claim it is bad. Had they known
it had an aftermarket clutch they wouldn't have reported it bad.

Note the "mechanic" that did the PPI never drove it -- this head mechanic had
driven it back to the lift and back.

I asked that since they now know that the test was flawed would they update the report. They refused to do it.

That buyer backed out (understandably) and another snatched it up the next day,
having the opportunity to actually drive it themselves (and paid asking price).

Unless you get a compression check and leak down -- the PPI from TPWS appeared
to be little more than cosmetic/externally obvious issues. They did find a cracked coolant reservoir,
which I already knew about and had disclosed.

Fortunately, I do all my own work -- or have a friend/mechanic who does it when I don't have time. Based on this limited experience -- I wasn't impressed with TPWS.

However, I have other Porsche friends that have been pleased, but they had "work" done, not just a PPI.

YMMV,

Mike