986forum is dead

[The Radium King]

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

….the difference here is that you have a car with a $30,000 engine replacement cost.

I can buy a NA Miata engine for $1,000.

Poor folks can’t afford to tinker with a 986 and risk a catastrophic failure that bricks the car.

On top of that Sword of Damocles, all the other parts are freaking expensive. Everything from convertible tops to coffin arms.

Bottom feeders in the market just cannot afford these cars, even if you got a 986 as a gift for free, the care and feeding is not affordable.

It’s all about the Benjamins.

the 986 was always an entry-level porsche. that hasn't changed. same type of owner as 5 or 10 years ago. rennline and pelican going strong. and the 911 wasn't always a $100k collector car.

[10/10ths]

….but when new, a Boxster was still $40,000 to $65,000 in 2004.

I bought my 2004 Boxster S “50 Years of the 550 Spyder Edition” in 2015.

I paid $28,000.

If my engine grenades, it’s a $30,000 bill. The car isn’t worth that much.

My 986 is THE most expensive 986 they ever built.

A lot of the early 986’s are selling for less than $10,000 today.

But how many people want to buy a $10,000 Porsche knowing that they are an IMS away from a $30,000 repair?

It scares away the shade tree mechanics

Again, a large number of these cars have been abused and passed from failed owner to failed owner over the past 25 years. Years of bottom feeding have thinned the herd.

Time marches on and the forum is dead because the market for these cars has dried up.

Porsche sells about 3,000 Boxsters a year in the USA now. The entire sports car market has collapsed. The death of this forum just reflects what is happening in the car world in general.

People just don’t buy sports cars anymore. Especially convertibles.

Pile on the internet and Uber and texting and online dating instead of drive-in movies and only 8% of the population able to drive a manual transmission, et al, and here we are.

It is what it is.

[DarkStar]

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

….but when new, a Boxster was still $40,000 to $65,000 in 2004. I bought my 2004 Boxster S “50 Years of the 550 Spyder Edition” in 2015. I paid $28,000.

I believe my original paperwork said my 01S with some special interior package was 68k when I got it in 2014. I paid 21[/B]

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

But how many people want to buy a $10,000 Porsche knowing that they are an IMS away from a $30,000 repair?

The whole reason I lost my interest was because of the engine and transmission. First few months of owning it, 2nd gear was completely gone. I already forgot but just to tear the trans apart was a huge bill in itself. Then the engine takes a dump 1 month after I got my title in the mail from paying it off.

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

It scares away the shade tree mechanics

No shade tree mechanic here but I legit don't want to rebuild the M96 and have trouble paying for the rebuild of the G86. I really don't want to get rid of it, and wish that my business would just take back off after the past 2-3 year BS that killed it so I could restore/rebuild mine. But that's not in the cards. Its all a money thing and not having enough.

Originally Posted by Javi Cooper

Anytime I have a question like that I post on FB (as much as I hate their format).

I personally cannot stand FB but its the only decent way to communicate with the people I know now. I always will think Forums are far superior when it comes to a thing like information sharing of a vehicle. Sure you can still "search" and go back through posts on FB. But its not as easy or forward about it. Forum, as long as its active, its a easy to navigate full blown memory bank. And with how old these cars are, I bet any question I could have, possibly has been asked and is readily available for me to read people talk about it, debate it etc.